CHICAGO _ His voice is starting to crack. Michael Jordan is struggling to fight back a tear. The 14-time NBA All-Star, a five-time league MVP and six-time champion is now in his mid-50s, reflecting on what it all meant to him.
In this particular moment, a defining scene within the ESPN Films documentary "The Last Dance," Jordan is attempting to explain his wiring, ruminating on who he was and how he was perceived as a teammate.
"Look," he says, his passion emanating. "Winning has a price. And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn't want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn't want to be challenged. And I earned that right. Because my teammates who came after me, they didn't endure all the things I had endured."
Along the climb, along his taxing voyage to lift the Bulls to the grandest of heights and keep them there, Jordan set a standard that he expected everyone around him to adhere to.
"You ask all my teammates," Jordan continues, " 'the one thing about Michael Jordan is he never asked me to do something that he didn't (bleeping) do.' When people see this, they're going to say, 'He really wasn't a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.' Well, that's you. Because you never won anything.
"I wanted to win. But I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. ... That's how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don't want to play that way, then don't play that way."
The tear is clouding Jordan's eye now. He needs a moment to gather himself.
"Break," he says.
He stands and walks away.
End scene.
The Chicago Tribune obtained a sneak peek at the first eight episodes of "The Last Dance," the 10-episode documentary series directed by Jason Hehir and produced by Michael Tollin, that will begin airing this weekend on ESPN with two episodes running each Sunday until May 17.
It's a time capsule from the 1990s and the most impressive run in Chicago sports history. The film puts the slides of the Jordan-era Bulls under a microscope then turns it to high power, examining the catalysts of the team's most exhilarating successes while exploring the tension and strains that brought the journey to an end.
As a primer for the premiere, here are 23 things to keep an eye out for in the weeks ahead.
