At the end of the day, "The Last Dance" by Michael Jordan reeked of desperation.
Yes, I did say "The Last Dance" BY Michael Jordan. MJ was producer, director and star of this episodic infomercial. He owned the footage and had final edit.
Why is an athlete’s on-field performance not enough?
Why do they feel the need to serve up a manipulated version of themselves?
Why are they so insecure?
Am I calling Michael Jordan insecure?
Yes.
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Hey, maybe the guy is human after all. I find this extremely disappointing, though. I admire the MJ who stuck the Jazz in the heart — while suffering from bad pizza? — and walked off the floor with Stockton and Malone’s internal organs in his hands. That version of Jordan does not have to sell me anything.
Am I being unfair? Absolutely.
This really struck me when I saw him jamming out in the back of the plane to Earth, Wind and Fire. It just looked so damn staged.
Hell, the whole film was staged. In the past, the only stage that mattered to MJ was the hardwood. Sorry, Mike, you do not have a competition problem; you’re an addict. You’re not perfect. Welcome to the human race.
Quick side note: Julian Edelman’s doc was authentic. He did not hide from the PED suspension and was up front about the division it created between him and his father. That was compelling stuff because it was real.
"Tom vs. Time" was the same deal as "The Last Dance."
Yes, Tom, you and Josh McDaniels got along. Yes, Tom, you are a great father. Yes, Tom, no one works harder than you in the summer heat, sporting around in your helmet and pads. Like "The Last Dance," "Tom vs. Time" was an example of the greatest of his sport needing to portray himself in a positive light to feel better about himself.
Bummer.
Twelve championships and world domination between the two are just not enough, I guess.
The truth is, like all of us, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady can be ass@#$&! So what?
We saw during his home movies, Jordan berated his teammates for not performing up to his expectations. From what I have been told, this was tame compared to how he really treated some of these guys.
Brady’s sisters have told stories of when their brother was a kid, he hated losing so much he would throw the game board across the room when he lost in Chutes and Ladders. (Full confession: I am not sure if the game was Chutes and Ladders. I just went with it. Maybe it was Yahtzee, Monopoly or even Clue.)
I would’ve loved to see Brady go completely bonkers after a loss of any kind in his home movies. Too bad Gotham Chopra’s camera wasn’t rolling when, according to Danny Amendola, Tom got so pissed after losing a game of ping pong to his wide receiver he threw the paddle at him.
Maybe after 25 years of covering thousands of professional athletes, I have become tainted.
Nooooo, Gary. Not you.
Okay, guilty as charged. Right now, I long for a great athlete to simply let their play do the talking and not have the need to show me their home movies.