Imaginary Sports Writer

I’ve been trying to think of a good way to introduce myself on Today.com. Here is a column that I originally wrote before the 2007 Bulls season for MVN.com’s Bull Riding page. I took some time to correct some things and whatever, but hopefully this gives you a better idea of where I’m coming from in my writing.

When I was younger I worshiped the Bulls. As an elementary school student in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, my life revolved around Chicago sports.

I can’t remember a book report that didn’t involve Michael Jordan. In ’91, when the Bulls game started and the Alan Parsons Project’s Sirius came on, my parents would turn the lights off, and I would run from the kitchen into the living room as they announced the starting line-up.

Looking back, the only thing that I wish I could change about that embarrassing story is that I were a little more ridiculous and crazy 12-year old running around the house, and not a slightly more sane five-year old.

As much as I loved the ‘90s Bulls teams I think younger Bulls fans and I didn’t fully appreciate how great those teams were. I’m not talking about the players or the coaches, because I think most Bulls fans still gush about watching Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the gang, but I don’t know if we really appreciated what they did.

How could we?

The easy answer is that we were just too young. Personally, I have a pretty hazy memory of the first couple of championships. The first solid Bulls memory that I have is of John Paxson hitting the clinching three-pointer in the ’93 series. But, for me at least, it is more than just a lack of memory.

Yeah, I was young, but I also had little experience as a sports fans.

All fans, at one point or another, learn that following sports is usually more struggle then triumph. It just took other Bulls fans and myself a little longer to learn that lesson.

As a kid, my summer started out by the Bulls winning the NBA Championship. That’s just how it was. The two years they didn’t, we had the obvious excuse that it was the first year without Jordan and in ‘95 he was still getting into shape. Plus, Hugh Hollins screwed them in ‘94.

We never had to endure the agony of watching a struggling franchise just beginning to make strides. Each year getting a little closer, winning one more round in the playoffs.

Older fans had to go through the pre-Jordan era, and had to worry about what piece they were going to add each off-season to become a real contender. To me, that was ancient history and I couldn’t have cared less. All I cared about was that they were winning.

I can only imagine what it must have felt like to watch the Bulls finally beat the hated Pistons. At that time, I was just growing into my own as a Bulls fan and just expected them to win.

The next few years did nothing to change my expectations. As young fans, I think we all became extremely confident, borderline arrogant, that the Bulls would prevail no matter the situation.

There was no experience that we could think back on and say, “Remember when they failed.”

Even tough spots seemed easy.

Down by six with 30 seconds left, don’t worry Jordan is going to take over. There was never anything to worry about. We were all spoiled as basketball fans and I think we all would love to be spoiled again.

The most amazing part about the arrogance that we had was the Bulls were facing some amazing teams in the ‘90s. Before expansion crushed the NBA’s talent pool there were deep, talented teams all over the league.

Like, the ’92-’93 Suns with Charles Barkley, Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson, Cedric Ceballos, Danny Ainge. That was a really good team, and even though the Suns had a better record, in my naïve mind it wasn’t a matter of if the Bulls will win, but in how many games.

Now, all the arrogance is gone. For the first time we are watching the steps that a franchise must take to win a championship.

We watched their star player, Toni Kukoc, lead them to 13 wins in ’98-’99 and experience the great free agent signing that was Eddie Robinson. (Even now I get mad when I think about the Robinson signing.)

We are watching the steps, seeing them get a little closer each year, and hopefully continue to go a little further in the playoffs.

Call me crazy, but this isn’t as much fun as watching them win a championship every year and I think all young Bulls fans realized this. We had become just like every other NBA fan.

Like everyone else, we had to worry about the team’s holes, who are they going to get to fill them, and why can’t (insert team’s best player’s name here) get it going.

If you are the fan of another team and you are reading this, you probably think why is this Bulls fan whining.

Trust me, I understand that too. (I’m also a Cubs fan.) That’s why I wish I could have been a little older and a little wiser when the Bulls were dominating the NBA.

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