The Musings of a Giant Idiot

I had a great time in college, made some great friends, watched one of the best football teams in the country in one of football’s legendary stadiums, and for four years lived in one of the underrated college towns, Lincoln, Nebraska.

I have many great memories of my time at Nebraska but one of my favorites is the summer of 1998. I took both sessions of summer school and it was not because I wanted to get ahead so I could graduate on time. No, I took 4 classes that summer to replace some pretty harsh grades from the spring semester. My spring semester report card made Bluto from “Animal House” look like a Rhodes Scholar.

One of the classes I had to retake was a Sociology class that I failed because I did not buy one of the books. I did not realize this until the day of the final (would have known this if I went to class more than twice) and saw that we were supposed to read this book. I spent the morning scouring the libraries and used book stores to find the book, I did not find it and made a feeble attempt to pass the exam. Of the 5 classes I took that spring semester I got a D or worse in 4 of them and those were the 4 I took that summer.

The summer was going to be extremely busy, I was taking 4 classes, I was working close to full time, I was turning 21, I had to see “Saving Private Ryan” and of course hang out with my friends. Summer school started around the same time as the NBA play-offs. My friends and I would the watch games and then go to the playground and play for hours. We all loved watching Michael Jordan play and just marveled at how he could do anything he wanted on the court. That year the Bulls played the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. The Pacers were coached by the legend Larry Bird and were led on the court by Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose.

It would be one of the best play-off series I had ever seen. In Game 4, Reggie Miller hit a game winner and Bird’s reaction was priceless, he did not crack a smile just looked at the clock because there was still time for Jordan to knock one down. Jordan missed the shot in Game 4 but the Bulls ended up winning the series in 7 games and would face the Utah Jazz in the finals for the second straight year. For only the second time in the Jordan era the Bulls would not have home court advantage during the NBA Finals. For this reason some experts thought the Jazz had a good chance of winning if it went to 7 games.

My friends and I felt that this was going to be the last time to watch Jordan and the Bulls and we watched all the games we could so we did not miss anything. The Bulls took control of the series and were leading 3-1 with a chance to clinch the title in Chicago. The Jazz were able to win Game 5 and the series went back to Utah for Games 6 and 7. With less than a minute to go it looked like the Jazz were going to win and force a Game 7 and possibly defeat Jordan for the first time in the NBA Finals. Of course Jordan did not let that happen and in an unbelievable sequence Jordan single handily won the title for the Bulls. He made a lay-up to cut the Jazz lead to one. On the next Jazz possession he stole the ball from NBA MVP Karl Malone and then set up one of the legendary clutch shots. Crossing over Bryon Russell and of course knocking down the jumper.

The celebration had barely started before speculation of the breaking up of the Bulls began. That off-season Scottie Pippen signed a big contract with the Houston Rockets, Phil Jackson retired and Michael Jordan also retired. The 1999 season was delayed because of a lockout and my interest in the NBA went away. When Jordan left it amplified how wretched the game had become. Many teams had adopted the wrestling style of the Knicks and Heat teams coached by Pat Riley. Offense suffered and I think a lot of fans left because of this.

Thankfully the NBA made some rule changes that made the game more fun to watch. Along with the rule changes an influx of talent entered the league which has also helped. After a 10 year absence I am back to watching NBA games. I enjoy watching Kobe’s all around game, LeBron’s power drives to the hoop that end badly for the defender, Allen Iverson still giving it all for the game despite being the smallest guy on the floor and Ray Allen’s jump shot. It has been a long time but I am glad to be following the NBA again.

Back to the summer of ‘98, my summer school experience turned out very well all of my Bluto grades were replaced with A’s and B’s. I saw “Saving Private Ryan” and thought I had seen one of the greatest movies of all time, of course the Academy had a different idea for best picture but that is best left for another post.