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It nourished starving sports pages and basketball podcasts.
It felt like the greatest sports documentary ever produced.
It is also, in the cold light of day, a flawed and dubiously motivated documentary.
(See also:King, Tiger.)
Yet the soul of the documentary was more difficult to locate.
Ditto Barack Obama, former Chicago resident.
Theyre not adding substance so much as buttressing a monument.
(It helps that Jordans grievance-based approach to competition links to every triumph in his career.
As fuel to this engine, Jerry Krause should have a statue outside Chicagos United Center, too.)
- ButThe Last Dancewas notO.J.
Made in America, the multipart ESPN documentary that became an early point of comparison.
From the start,Made in Americawas always bigger than O.J.
Hehir may get the credit, but Jordan is a Pippen-level creative facilitator.
And yetThe Last Dancewas revealing of Jordans character all the same.
When the endorphin rush is over, youd rather not be like Mike.
