The 1982 movie “My Favorite Year” with Peter O’Toole and Mark Linn Baker (yes, Cousin Larry) is a very funny movie about a writer (Baker) on a TV variety show in the ’50s who needs to get a big star to guest on the show. He finds an aging has-been movie star (O’Toole) named Alan Swann to do the show, and he basically has to keep him sober long enough to actually do the show.
Despite his faults, despite his efforts to be disliked, Swann is likeable. That just reminds me of Scottie Pippen. He did a lot of dumb stuff in Chicago. He fought with the media over his perception that they liked Toni Kukoc because he was white. That’s not true, Toni wasn’t white. Well he started out that way, but his lack of showering made him kind of grey. He got caught with an unregistered hand gun. He scattered baby’s mama’s all over the country. He threw a chair onto the court during a game. He got a migrane headache in the 1990 Conference Finals. And most memorably, he sat out the last 1.8 seconds of a playoff game…against the Knicks. That just made it worse.
And yet, of all of the Bulls during the run that started in 1989 and ended in 1998, I always found myself drawn to Scottie. Michael Jordan demanded your attention. You knew he was the best. You knew he’d come through. There was no mystery with him. You admired him. You had to pull for Scottie. Scottie made you work to like him. I always liked that.
You couldn’t identify with Michael. He was too good. Scottie was the hero for the rest of us. He was a towel boy at a little college in Arkansas who had a growth spurt and four years later was in the NBA. He could do everything that Jordan could do…just not quite as well. But then, nobody’s ever been able to do the things Michael could do as well.
Scottie will never get his just due. He was, in my opinion, one of the five greatest all-around basketball players we’ve ever seen. He just happened to line up next to the best. Scottie grew into a freak of nature. He was 6’7, with a wingspan of better than 7’0. He could guard everybody on the court, literally. He was one of the best passers in the league. He was a tremendously underrated rebounder. Nobody ever destroyed a passing lane better than Scottie Pippen. How many times did you sit at home, comfortably perched on the Barcalounger (do people still own Barcaloungers?) and see another team’s point guard make what he thought was a safe pass to the wing, only to see a blur of red and white and Scottie dunking on the other end?
He wasn’t a great shooter, but how many huge shots did he make? Ask Cleveland or Boston or the Knicks or the Pistons or the Blazers or especially the Jazz. They remember.
He was always his teammates’ favorite teammate. Scottie would get you the ball. Scottie would cover your back on defense. Scottie made it easier for everybody else. He made it easier to be John Paxson. He made it easier to be Horace Grant. And yes, he even made it easier to be Michael Jordan.
If anything, Scottie’s presence only made the greatest player ever…greater. Jordan had spent his first years in Chicago doing everything. He scored all the points, he got most of the rebounds and on defense he had to clean up everybody else’s messes. Jawaan Oldham got smoked again? MJ would swoop in and block a shot. Quentin Dailey stopped checking Doc Rivers so he could steal a kid’s popcorn and get the kid’s mom’s phone number? MJ would come off his man, check Doc, then go check the guy Doc passed it to. Reggie Theus left the court to “huddle” with the Luvabulls? MJ would pick up the slack.
When Scottie “arrived” (not just physically, but as a basketball player) Michael’s workload got managable (at least by superhero standards). Defensively the NBA has never seen anything like Jordan and Pippen. Clyde Drexler still sees them in his nightmares.
Johnny Bach called them “the Dobermans” and it didn’t matter if their third wheel was Horace or Dennis, because 23 and 33 were doing all the work.
Opponents to this day tell stories about Scottie yelling out the play their team was running before half the guys on their team knew which one it was.
Would Michael Jordan have won an NBA title without Scottie? Of course he would have. He was Michael Jordan. Would he have won six? Not on your life.
Scottie was the perfect foil for MJ. Here was a guy who could do everything he could, but didn’t need the ball as much, and when Scottie had it, he was always able to get it back to Jordan in a spot where MJ could inflict maximum damage to the opponents.
Scottie was just Scottie. And that was enough for me. For me those will always be the Jordan-Pippen Bulls. Without the other one both were great, but with each other…? They were a matched set, and there are six shiny gold trophies to prove it.
Thanks, Scottie.
—–
The Cubs continue to fan the flames of the most ridiculous “controversy” in the long and storied history of ridiculous Cubs’ controversies. The whole Jim Hendry-Dusty Baker-Steve Stone thing isn’t just absurd, but it’s getting a little tedious. The saddest part is that it seems to have been ignited by Steve’s utter disenchantment over the departure of Chip.
Of more importance is the Cubs’ continued slander campaign on Sammy Sosa. Look, I’m the biggest Sammy apologist you are likely to ever find. I can’t defend what he did on Sunday and I can’t defend what he said on Sunday night. I also still laugh every time I think about him saying, “inference.” I’m on the side of the fence that thinks Sammy has to be in another uniform next year. For Sammy, for the Cubs, for everybody. And so it’s my sincere advice to the Cubs that they need to shut up. It’s like trying to sell your car while standing in front of it yelling things like, “You get horrible gas mileage, and the stereo doesn’t work and I have no idea what that pinging noise is!”
Phil Rogers is trying to find logical landing spots for Cirque du Sosa. He mentions Kansas City, Texas and of course, the Mets.
In any of the trades the Cubs will have to take on a “bad” salary. From Kansas City it’d be Mike Sweeney, from the Rangers it’d be Chan Ho Park and from the Mets it’d be Cliff Floyd. I’m scared because I immediately thought of Kansas City for the same reasons Phil did. Jeff Pentland, Mike Sweeney and Tony Pena. I will now pause to go take a shower. Ewww.
What would the Cubs do with Sweeney? Well, they’d probably trade him to back to the American League, and have to eat some salary in the process. But I’ll bet if the Cubs were paying part of the freight, it’d be pretty easy to spin Sweeney to the A’s or Blue Jays.
Regardless, you’ll hear lots of Sammy trade rumors in the coming weeks and months. For once, it looks like one of them will actually be right.
—-
Did anybody else catch the moment on the Fox pregame show when Alex Rodriguez (easily one of the dumbest baseball players in the world) said, “I feel like there’s a 12 year old inside of me. He wants to come out!” Better get the sheriff’s department over to Alex’s version of Neverland Ranch, I guess.
The best thing about YES Network’s postgame coverage is that they always carry A-Rod’s press conferences and he always misuses big words. It’s like the scene in Anchorman where Veronica says to Ron, “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.” A-Rod will say things like, “We’ve had to overcome a lot of adversary this year.” It never gets old.
—–
Groucho on Scottie.
Former coaches and teammates chime in on Scottie.
The Sunshine Band with some of Scottie’s most memorable moments. He left out Scottie playing with a bad back in game six of the 1998 Finals.
Even the Jockey has to be tired of this by now.
Ed Sherman on the likelihood that Steve Stone will back and on of the off chance he’s gone, who takes his place. How about my old drinking buddy, Bobby Dernier?
KC on the Bulls, he says Eddy not pulling his hammy on day one already puts the Bulls ahead of last year. And he wonders if Chris Duhon can beat out Jannero Pargo or Mike Wilks. I don’t even know who Mike Wilks is. Is he Jamal’s kid? And I see that Andres Nocioni has a translator…does Eddie Robinson have one?
Steve Kline is glad the Cubs aren’t in the playoffs. And then he says all kinds of nice things about the Cubs. Gee, guess who’s a free agent this offseason?
Will anybody play defense in a Stanford-Notre Dame matchup?
I’d like to give a big Internet hug to John Jackson. But wait, you don’t think he read Monday’s Dose do you? If Dan Shulman gets the job, I want a percentage.
By the way, aren’t those Chicago Marathon ads on the Sun-Times Web site the creepiest damn things you’ve ever seen? Yikes.
Moran Kline from Chris DeLuca. Wow, there’s a conversation. Chris DeLuca and Steve Kline. I’m surprised the gates of hell didn’t open and swallow them whole.
Mike Kiley wonders what will happen to Sammy. He’s going to keep cashing big paychecks is what.
Gary Sheffield also thinks there might have been some steroids in the honey he lapped off a stripper in 2001.
Mariotti puts down the doughnut to say the good outweighed the bad with Scottie. Gee, ya think?
The Wizard of Roz advises the Cubs to just let it go.
This just in, Johan Santana is good.
Sports Guy’s diary of yesterday’s Red Sox win. And is it a shock that media whore Curt Schilling was booked to do Jimmy Kimmel Live last night? Actually the only thing that surprises me is that the assbag didn’t do it on the phone from the hospital.
Honestly, why can’t Spanish-yes.com give me a series to cover like this? Or this? I’m made for this crap.
Niedermeyer! Dead! Marmalard! Dead! Wormer! Dead! Dangerfield…
America’s finest news source says that a Park City, Utah youth is blaming his older brother for “cushion fort prisoner abuse.”
Phil also mentioned Neagle and Preston Wilson for Sosa. Neagle is due about 19 million and Peston about 12 million. The Rockies must have some severe idiots running that team. Look at the contracts they have been associated with in the past:
Larry Walker
Denny Neagle
Mike Hampton
Preston Wilson
Vinny Castilla
They also owe Helton a load in the future. I think Wilson for a year as a Cub wouldn’t be horrible(not good) but Neagle, please. The Rockies are just going to have to eat that just like we will eat Sosa’s.
I think the model for those Sun-Times Chicago Marathon ads was Gail Fisher.
A-Rod doesn’t know the correct usage of "adversary?" INCONCEIVABLE!
The ads for the marathon on the Sun-Times site are lower on the Creep-O-Meter than the Burger King TV ads.
I’ll take the slow version of the heart attack from the Burger King breakfast sammich over the instant version caused by "waking up with the [freakish, smiling, ceramic-headed] King" with its human limbs shoving a congealed sausage and egg at me as a wake-up call.
While my constant Boston fanboy status cannot be repressed in any article I write, and I have an annoying penchant for giving shout-outs to my slacker homie friends, I have made a great point on the sheer stupidity of Fox using a flame graphic each time the pitch speed posts on the score bar at the top of the TV screen.
Yesterday’s Trib article indicated that I couldn’t pick up a bat after being hit in the hand by Carlos Zambrano. Am I playing today?
I must keel Chipper Jones!
The Sun-Time marathon ads are as annoying as the Marvel Comics ones they ran earlier this summer, where the Flash crashed out of the ad banner, right into your lap.
The Burger King ads are off the Creep-O-Meter, indeed. Nothing makes me want to run out to BK first thing in the morning than a Medieval character appearing in my bed, complete with crown, royal finery, and immovable mask face.
Hey, tune into the Astros-Braves GameCast at 3 p.m. today to see if Larry Wayne can pick up anything heavier than a Hooters waitress!
"The Burger King ads are off the Creep-O-Meter, indeed. Nothing makes me want to run out to BK first thing in the morning than a Medieval character appearing in my bed, complete with crown, royal finery, and immovable mask face."
Phew. I thought it was Gail.
Jeff Vorva of the Southtown quotes Hendry as saying he’s going to punish Sammy for his actions. If he wants to raise Sosa’s trade value, he should just fine him 35 million dollars.
As for creepy ads, one of the most disturbing commercials I’ve seen in a while was the Ballpark hot dog one, where the guy is talking about the "girth" of the hot dogs, then takes a huge bite of one.
Exactly, CT. I’d have nothing to say about that.
The only good thing that has happened lately is that the Cubs have shaken off the "lovable loser" image. There is nothing lovable about what we are observing. They are just losers.
Shut up Fehr, you jackass. If it wasn’t for your meddling, we’d have A-Rod right now.
I’m so popular on Desipio nowadays! But I’m bringing the rest of my posse with me.
What is Steve Kline trying to do?
He should know dang well almost all Cubs’ fans will never like him.
So why is he saying good stuff about the Cubs?
At least I taught the young fellas a thing or two before leaving the NBA. Nice to see King James take up the tradition!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1896256
I think it’s Kline’s passive/aggressive way of making fun of the Cubs. Just like all the clowns at the Urinal Cake yesterday who were wearing shirts that said "Hey Chicago, how’s the reception on TV?". Once again, instead of just worrying about themselves, they gotta drag the Cubs into it.
Here’s the thing, Dave B: what percentage of inbreeders was wearing the shirt? 1, 2 percent? Far cry from the 75% that are wearing "Cubs Suck" shirts over at the Cell.
LeBron James should transfer to a college closer to his kid.
What’s a high school drop out’s opinion on college opinion worth? I mean, more than a shake of celery salt?
What’s a high school drop out’s opinion on college worth? I mean, more than a shake of celery salt?
"Hey Chicago, how’s the reception on TV?"? That’s supposed to be insulting? Funny? What? Man is that weak.
That’s what I said Chuck. Of course, I only said it once.
Only in St. Louis would they think people still use an antenna to get their TV signals.
Hell, half of Missouri is probably without TV or electricity.
buts i gots it worken withen someof that alunimen foil i did
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