Bringing Back the 90s! – The Decade in Sports
It’s the last Friday of the month, so it’s that time where I inundate the web with all kinds of nostalgia to kickstart the big 1990s retro fad! Here’s a recap of my monthly quest to bring back the 90s:
April – Yes, I went Hootie on you.
May – Acoustic guitars, life changers
June – Ten (yes TEN) memorable movie songs
And now – Sports!
Yeah, you got the wrong guy. I really don’t follow much sports. I’ve never been one of those guys that sat around all day watching all those ex-jocks in their boxy suits on ESPN or SportsCenter.
Damn, Hedonist! That’s a beautiful salad you made. (bleacherreport.com)
But I’ve never shied away from talking definitively on topics I know absolutely nothing about. So I won’t start now.
Football
The 49ers and Cowboys were pretty dominant, having won five Super Bowls between them. But the bigger story is that the Buffalo Bills lost the big game four years in a row. Sure it’s a great achievement to even make it to the championship game, but no one ever remembers that detail. Fast forward to the present, it seems the Bills have done a lot of work to improve their team this offseason. So maybe they’ll make a return to their 1990s glory and continue their proud history of being also-rans.
Baseball
Honestly, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about baseball. NEXT.
Hockey
See “Baseball”
Basketball
NOW we’re talking. The big story here was the dominance of the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls, who won six NBA championships in the 90s. I was young, post-college, and living in Chicago when all of those happened. To say I was a big fan is like saying the Beatles were a pretty good band. You’d think that after the fourth championship it’d get monotonous. It wasn’t – every single one was huge and we cherished every one.
andrewmcgraw.blogspot.com
Even if you weren’t from Chicago or even a basketball fan, there was something in it for everyone. There was the drama of overcoming their nemesis – the Detroit Pistons – on way to winning their first championship. There’s also Jordan’s heart-wrenching retirement after his father’s murder. Those who love comedy could turn to watching him swing a bat when he tried to become a professional baseball player. And those who love a feel-good triumph stories would enjoy his return to win three more. Let’s not forget his teammate Dennis Rodman, who elevated the art of athlete-as-entertainer to new heights. Or lows.
badgesociety.com
Let’s also not forget the cultural impact that Jordan outside of basketball. If you were traveling around the world before then, when you told people that you were from Chicago, they’d say, “Ohhh, Chicago. Al Capone! Bang Bang!” Nowadays, there’s a good chance they’d say, “Ohhh, Chicago. Michael Jordan! Bang Bang!” (I think “Bang Bang” is French for “you ugly American pig dog”.) And, of course, there’s his impact on athletic shoes.
Yes, these are my golf shoes.
So let’s raise a toast to the Bulls, the Bills, and whoever the hell won in baseball and hockey. But mainly the Bulls. In honor of their achievements, here’s one from a great Chicago band from the 90s.
Wow, I totally forgot Billy Corgan had hair. I guess that’s another Jordan influence because Corgan has been sporting a shaved head since then.
So who’d you root for in the 90s?
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9 Comments on “Bringing Back the 90s! – The Decade in Sports”
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Unlike. Unlike. Unlike.
Sincerely,
Pistons fan.
Haha. Wait, Pistons fans don’t like Smashing Pumpkins?
You were a Bulls fan- but I was a Knick’s fan (specifically Pat Riley) so you can imagine how unhappy I was in 1994 when they felt the need to interupt the Knicks vs Rockets game 5 final to watch OJ Simpson drive 35 miles an hour down a highway followed by 20 cop cars. Had it been anyone else the cops were chasing- it would have been done and over within 5 minutes. I haven’t been able to watch basketball since then.
When the Olympics were on and I only moved to occasionally eat and change a poopy diaper (not mine, my baby’s), I thought to myself “I need to go back and watch EVERY SINGLE dream team basketball game from the ’92 Olympics. That was some crazy shit!!!!! I haven’t done it yet, but I say that to affirm you in your leanings, here. I grew up in Waukegan, so I was a die hard Bulls fan.
In other news, have you ever been to Graham Elliot’s restaurant in Chicago? I like him on Master Chef, but I don’t wanna waste my time if the Hedonist says no.
Yes, I have! It’s excellent – haute cuisine that’s also very playful (e.g. foie gras lollipops dipped in pop rocks). Background music was 80s hair bands. I haven’t been to his lunchtime place Grahamwich outside of the lobster corn dog at Lollapalooza (see my post on it – http://wp.me/p1ByJK-64). I’ve heard it’s good, but also heard Xoco (Rick Bayless’ place) and Slurping Turtle are much better.
Woohoo, Waukegan!
I still get a lady boner watching those ’92 dream team games.
Lol.. It did feel good to hand the competition’s asses to them. Olympics were a glaring omission from that post. And I probably should’ve had more Olympics-themed posts. And by “more” I mean “at least one”.
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