Thankfully, the Last Dance begins with the first fame.

I was wondering the other day about how many people under 30 know where Michael Jordan played in college? Some do, especially if they are from North Carolina or have a family history of rooting for the Tar Heels, but many more know he won six NBA titles with the Bulls.

That is why I am glad the 10-part ESPN special that debuts Sunday night isn’t only about Jordan’s last season in Chicago. It actually begins with his childhood in Wilmington and his college days in Chapel Hill. And all is related to him becoming the all-time GOAT.

Jordan was cut down to the junior varsity as a sophomore at Laney High School, and he never forgot the slight. He mentioned it in his Hall of Fame induction speech and says his parents told him to take the negative and turn it into a positive. So, he arrived at UNC as the ultimate competitor even if his game was yet to mature.

He credits Dean Smith for teaching him all aspects of basketball. Early on, Jordan had the nickname “Magic,” and Smith told him, “You know there is already a basketball player named Magic? Why not just Michael.”

In the 1982 Carolina brochure, the 6’5” freshman was listed as “Mike” Jordan because the publication went to press before the kid and the coach had that little chat. And when the role player on a team with Worthy and Perkins hit the shot that beat Georgetown, he says Michael Jordan was born to all hoop fans.

One more sidebar that probably didn’t make it into the docuseries. When Jordan broke his foot early in his second year with the Bulls, team doctors told him to heal up and take the rest of the season off. Jordan went back to Chapel Hill to work out. When Smith saw him play in Carmichael one day, rumors began that the Bulls were more interested in the next NBA draft than making the playoffs.

Smith urged Jordan to return to the team. The eighth-seeded Bulls lost to the Celtics, but not before Michael torched them for 63 points in the second game 34 years ago this Monday. Afterward, Larry Bird said something like, “I just saw God on the basketball court.”

 

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related Stories
‹
Chansky's Notebook: Bailing Out
Roy Williams probably had reasons for the soft statements. Carolina fans reacted strongly to the video of a team party after the win over Duke. Only Armando Bacot and Day’Ron Sharpe were in the video, but a statement from players and managers said it was supposed to be a closed event that other students and […]
Chansky's Notebook: Please, Go In!
UNC men's basketball faces what is an early season must-win at Georgia Tech. Art Chansky says a look at the statistics is painful, but not terminal.
Chansky's Notebook: Leaky Steps Up
Dean Smith used to say he’ll be happy with a one-point win. The legendary UNC basketball coach struggled spiritually between playing well according to his teachings, regardless of outcome, and winning no matter how poorly you play. Since his job was to win and he was so competitive, he chose the latter. If he was […]
Chansky's Notebook: Rock(et) Star
Ben Kiernan was UNC’s MVP of the Notre Dame game. When Mack Brown went over the 31-17 loss, he gave mixed reviews to the two main branches of his Tar Heels’ play. He said the offense was good in the first half and then “went dead” in a scoreless second half. He praised the Tar […]
Chansky's Notebook: Goals and Ambitions
Garrison Brooks has both opportunity and pressure. On paper, the ACC looks as weak as it has been in some time due to widespread losses to graduation and early departures to the NBA, and no sure-shot superstars in the incoming recruiting classes. A beneficiary of this development is Brooks, the Carolina senior who was second-team All-ACC last year and earned the league’s […]
Chansky's Notebook: A COVID Debate
Clemson was livid that Florida State wouldn’t play the game. Let’s be lawyers, and make a case for each of the teams that did not play its scheduled game over the weekend. Clemson had traveled to Florida State when it learned a player with mild symptoms who had practiced with the team all week tested […]
Chansky's Notebook: Draft Dodgers
Carolina and Duke players have lost ground in the NBA draft. Like everything else with sports in the COVID era, the NBA draft goes off tonight after being postponed for five months. And if you look at the various mock draft boards, certain things jump off your screen. First of all, about half the names […]
Chansky's Notebook: A Two-Thirds Bet?
What if Phil Mickelson and Mack Brown amended their bet? With the Masters being moved back to this weekend due to COVID, perhaps the three-time champion should revisit the fun bet he made with Carolina’s football coach back in 2003. The famed lefthander was still seeking his first Green Jacket when he partnered with the Texas football coach at the […]
Chansky's Notebook: Kudos To Carolina
UNC teams did a commendable job beating the odds. Who among us thought the ACC would be playing football and other fall sports last summer? With the pandemic upon us and the medical experts still learning, the seasons looked like a long shot. While other conferences pumped the breaks and/or called off football, the ACC […]
Chansky's Notebook: Extra Motivation
Carolina’s schedule could be working to its advantage. When the COVID-revised list of games came out, it looked troublesome for the Tar Heels with Virginia Tech and Florida State basically bookending Notre Dame and Miami with four rivalry games in a row right in the middle. Coaches usually don’t like that because it takes a […]
›