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Riveting Netflix Michael Jordan documentary exceeds all expectations – Smash Newz

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5 years ago

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A lot of people became basketball fans during the Toronto Raptors’ stir for the NBA title last year. If you’re one of them, you’re probably missing hangers right now. Netflix is ​​starting to fill some of that void, and whether you’re a long-time basketball junkie or a reality show fan, there’s a lot to be excited about. That’s because more than 20 years after the scenes were recorded by Michael Jordan’s final season and championship with the Chicago Bulls, the resulting documentary finally sees the light of day.

A co-production of ESPN movies and Netflix, the 10-part The Last Dance, was moved up from a scheduled June turnout this Sunday in the U.S. and Monday in Canada. Episodes hit Netflix in the country two at a time, starting Monday, until the last two go live on May 18.

(Embed) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Peh9Yqf1GXc (/ embed)

The series begins with a shot from behind of a seated Jordan looking out at the horizon while a crawl sets up where things stood at the time, Star Wars style. To recap: Jordan’s Bulls had won five titles in the last seven seasons and were preparing to try for the third time, but everyone wondered if this would be one of the biggest runs in sports history at because of various tough feelings in the front office and among some of the players mainly due to jealousy and monetary disputes.

Coincidental clips of Jordan’s franchise-saving arrival in Chicago in 1984 with the man himself, appropriately addressed the United Center crowd 23 years later with five NBA championship trophies put out in front of him, The Last Dance rolling and immediately drawing viewers in. never stops doing that, at least over the first four episodes that Postmedia was given to the screen.

For starters, it’s a bit jarring to see a young, humble, low-key Jordan with hair vs. all the intersecting later shots of the most dominant player in NBA history doing his thing, along with the reflections of the current business titan, now in his late fifties.

Unlike VHS tapes and DVDs of the 1980s and 90s that built up the Jordan legend where he put him in a class, as someone interviewed in the document, only with the likes of Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali, this work is not just hagiography. Jordan is presented with warts and all. From cruelly ripping longtime Bulls general manager Jerry Krause – the driving force of the ill-conceived desire to tear the team apart – to his face, to being merciless with his teammates during tough stretches, that’s why Jordan has told director Jason Hehir (Andre the giant, The Fab Five, The ’85 Bears) that people will think he’s “a horrible guy” and don’t understand why he acted the way he did when watching the movie. “My innate personality is winning at all costs. If I have to do it myself, (I will) do it … It drives me insane when I can’t, ”Jordan says years later in trying to explain his thinking and actions. His mother, Deloris, and brother, Ronnie, also provide some insight into where he got these traits from, based on his upbringing.

And that’s the true triumph of the series. Amazingly, Jordan, one of the most famous and controlled people on the planet for over 35 years, is now presented as a human being. When do you ever remember Jordan being revealed as such? Not just as a myth, but as a living, breathing person. It’s impossible not to chuck when Jordan is handed a tablet showing a video of his mother reading a letter a teenager Jordan wrote to her while in college in North Carolina. In it, Jordan, who is now a billionaire and owns the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, says he’s down to his last $ 20, so he could use a handout with some stamps from his parents. “And sorry about the phone bill,” Jordan adds. In another moment, Jordan laughs and tells a story when asked about the cocaine problems of some of his team of rookie seasons.

While sports provide much of the background to the journey, there is so much more here. There are Survivor and Big Brother elements because of the rare, close and personal recordings that were simply not done at the time. Jordan commissioned the crew when it became clear that 1997-98 would be the end of a notable era and head coach Phil Jackson and ownership were on board. What they revealed was the devastating nature of the organization at the time. All the intrigues of the palace are there. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf tries to explain the still astounding reasoning behind tearing down the iconic group and starting a rebuild, recalling that the Bulls almost made a mistake a year earlier after the fifth title. It’s something to see Jordan openly challenge leadership and ownership while on a dais right after winning number five. The same night, Jordan’s running mate Scottie Pippen, who also appears strong throughout, especially in Section 2, holds nothing back in talking about being underpaid and not respected by the Bulls. Jordan is also there, saying he won’t play for another coach if Jackson is pushed out by Krause, who basically forced the ownership hand to give Jackson another year. Jackson called last season “The Last Dance.”

Jordan talked about how angry the idea of ​​not trying to win again made him.

“We have the right to defend what we have until we lose it.” Then he mocked the idea of ​​rebuilding and burying the Chicago Cubs by saying they had rebuilt for 42 years, took a shot at ownership by saying they should have respect for the people who made them profitable – an open answer to Krause, who said organizations win championships, not players – that came under Jordan’s skin. Krause would unsuccessfully try to clean up the controversial offer by saying he said players and coaches alone are not winning championships.

“We felt like we were the greatest team ever,” Pippen says at one point, making it clear that he still doesn’t understand why some were so eager to move on.

And, yes, yes, there are plenty of Dennis Rodman, the most unique athlete we’ve ever seen, as well as thoughts from those like Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Jordan’s Canadian Bulls teammate Bill Wennington (who provides strong insights into whole), former Raptor and the close Jordan pal Charles Oakley (who memorably appears abusive with an overly confident rookie Pippen). Bill Clinton, a fellow in Arkansas, even seems to be discussing watching Pippen play for the first time since Clinton was still governor of this state.

The late David Stern and Krause and even Chicago native Barack Obama, who speaks of not being able to afford a ticket in Jordan’s early years when the hanger icon had saved the franchise and nearly tripled their attendance, all provide some historical context.

Jordan can’t save the world, but thanks to his foresight in hiring the camera crew and so many working in the decades to make The Last Dance happen, he and his friends and enemies can at least lighten up our days a little bit the next couple of weeks.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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9 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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19 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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19 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

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