No I’m not referring to the 2013-14 NBA season, I’m harking back to the 1995-96 season, one might say it was the year of “Da Bulls”.
This twenty minute video hosted by the WGN team of Wayne Larivee and the late, great, Johnny Red Kerr looks back on the Bulls achievements over the course of the season and highlights some of the great moments including the record 72 game winning record they set, as well as the franchise’s fourth title that decade.
For those that weren’t fortunate to live through that era, you think the modern era Miami Heat are dominant, well that Bulls team truly was something else. The NBA had never had a team prior that garnered such attention and media coverage, not just locally, but on a national and global scale.
“I don’t think anybody, outside of Muhammad Ali, outside of The Beatles, had seen the adulation that America has for this Chicago Bulls team” Johnny Kerr remarks at the 10:15 mark when recalling the frenzy that surrounded the team due to the popularity of it’s players and their on court exploits.
To paraphrase Dennis Rodman, they truly were “a rock star team”.
From the MJ dunk package to Dennis’s head butt on official Ted Bernhardt to the Grant Park celebration footage (cheesy 90′s dancing and bad fashion included), this video has a little bit of something for everybody. Even the Polka fans amongst you.
After watching it, it’s hard to believe almost twenty years have passed since the Bulls rampaged through that season, in some respects it seems like only yesterday. Thankfully the invention of youtube once again pays nostalgic dividends and allows the memories to live on in the web based time capsule.
Oh man Adam, I remember watching this live, I still have a VHS recording.
One of these days man, I’m gonna convert those to .mpg and share them with you.
Gaz I’m always on the look out for rare footage, man please hit me up with anything you see fit for the blog.