I have a secret. In the 90s, I was a Bulls fan. Michael Jordan, Jackson, Pippen, etc. I bought Air Jordans, had a Bulls cap, watched all the Bulls games, followed the Bulls scores on the newspapers, got a Bulls pin, etc...then Jerry Krause, the former general manager for the Bulls decided that he was going to replace the champions with an entire new lineup. As a Bulls fan, I gave it a chance, but hopes of a newly revived Bulls franchise quickly evaporated (as did the NBA ratings) after the Bulls lost game after game. I watched basketball games here and there during playoffs (ie: Lakers), but it wasn't the same. They weren't the Bulls.
But thankfully, Jerry Krause left, everyone came back to the drawing board and now we're seeing for the first time in almost a decade, a new Bulls franchise that has a chance of winning...
Tonight, Bulls defeated the defending NBA champions, the Miami Heat, 92-79. Which means the Bulls won the best of 7 series by winning four straight games in a row against the Miami Heat. This is basketball history and a reminder of what the Bulls once were: record breaking champions.
"A champion hadn't been swept from the first round of the playoffs in 50 years."
Source: Washington Post, Michael Wilbon, April 30, 2007
My hats off to the Chicago Bulls. They still have a long road ahead of them, but this incidental step that made history is significant and if they win anymore games, perhaps I'll have an excuse to turn on the television.
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