YOUR Basketball Story

[bledredwine]

I grew up in the Chicago area as a child watching the dynasty and my father was an avid fan.
I was first enamored by both the three ball (ironic) by Paxson and BJ Armstrong, and by Jordan's nonstop heroics.
As a competitive person, I was particularly drawn later by the mindset of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman in tandem.

My first basketball memory is from seeing Jordan's 13 field goals in a row capped with "the move" at a hospital waiting on my aunt.
I didn't truly understand it but knew it was something amazing by the hospital crowd's reactions.

I remember watching Home Alone on one tv and the 93 finals on one next to it at a Christmas party.

I remain a diehard on the inside, even if I don't watch a single game today. That part of you from childhood
never truly leaves.

I just can't stand watching the modern game and don't consider it good fundamental basketball.
Maybe someday far into the future, that will all change since the chairman soft banana boat era has come to a close.
I won't miss any of those fake competitors and you know exactly the players I'm referring to.

Nice thread like this and you can't resist the urge to complain about the game and the player that is always on your mind.

I get to express my thoughts here and most of us are actual bulls fans unlike you. Get over it. I’m clearly the poster who’s always on your mind.

But yeah, clearly he must be on my mind, seeing as Jordan is slaughtering lebrick, your favorite player by 4x the votes in the goat poll

[ScrantonBulls]

I grew up in the Chicago area as a child watching the dynasty and my father was an avid fan.
I was first enamored by both the three ball (ironic) by Paxson and BJ Armstrong, and by Jordan's nonstop heroics.
As a competitive person, I was particularly drawn later by the mindset of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman in tandem.

My first basketball memory is from seeing Jordan's 13 field goals in a row capped with "the move" at a hospital waiting on my aunt.
I didn't truly understand it but knew it was something amazing by the hospital crowd's reactions.

I remember watching Home Alone on one tv and the 93 finals on one next to it at a Christmas party.

I remain a diehard on the inside, even if I don't watch a single game today. That part of you from childhood
never truly leaves.

I just can't stand watching the modern game and don't consider it good fundamental basketball.
Maybe someday far into the future, that will all change since the chairman soft banana boat era has come to a close.
I won't miss any of those fake competitors and you know exactly the players I'm referring to.

Nice thread like this and you can't resist the urge to complain about the game and the player that is always on your mind.

I get to express my thoughts here and most of us are actual bulls fans unlike you. Get over it. I’m clearly the poster who’s always on your mind.

But yeah, clearly he must be on my mind, seeing as Jordan is slaughtering lebrick, your favorite player by 4x the votes in the goat poll

I just think it's kind of sad when I see people claiming they love the game but don't watch a single games because the modern game is so "bad" and "unwatchable". I can't imagine not watching the game I love, the game I grew up watching with my grandfather. It would take something drastic like the Bulls moving cities or something. The Bulls are a fun team right now and there is SO much absurd talent in the league like Wemby. The players are more skilled than ever.

And I truly think the opinion that the game is horribly unwatchable is ill-founded. I think it revolves around extreme nostalgia and an unreleastic expectation of what people nostalgically "remember" how the game used to be. All the people that hate the game also seem to share an unhealthy hate for a certain modern player as well.

I hope you can learn to love the game again. It's not going to change much though, so maybe you'll never watch it again. It's on you to learn to like the modern game. When the Bulls are good, the game and this forum feel like an addiction. I just love it.

[The 6ft Hurdle]

I remember a few moments and circumstances that conspired to drag me into basketball, specifically Chicago Bulls fandom.

When I turned 8, someone had given me one of those kiddie basketball hoop sets.

This was roughly the same time the Bulls were taking on the Knicks, which eventually led to the NBA Finals. I don't remember specifically watching any games. But my parents, already living in LA by this time, taped Game 6 of the NBA 1992 NBA Finals on VCR. The previous year as a 1st grader the Bulls had taken on the hometown Lakers. I actually cried that my parents were pulling for the Bulls; it was as if they hated everyone with whom we lived with in LA. I don't remember really caring about the Bulls until the Summer of 1992.

Summer of 1992 also happened to be the debut of the Dream Team.

At some point, I somehow got a copy of Michael Jordan's playground. As with VCR tapes back in the day and the kiddie hoop indoors with a wood floor, you can only guess what I eventually ended up doing.

Also my older cousin had gotten into collecting Sports cards. I remember there was a fake-ish Michael Jordan card, and for whatever reason, somehow I just started following that Dream Team.

Finally around September or October of that year at the magazine section of our supermarket I spotted a Petersen's preview for the 1992-1993 season. That was the first time I became "intentional" about my fandom. There was an MJ hologram on the cover. This also coincided when they put up the re-installed the basketball courts at our school.

My grade school years were punctuated by the Bulls rise and fall. I graduated the only school I knew to that point in '98. We all know what was happening at that time.

After the big break up, I entered high school, which also happened to be the dawn of widespread internet usage. I was drawn to looking for news about the Bears and Bulls. I traveled through AOL sports message boards, Sportstalk.

Somehow I started to become a Jerry Krause apologist. I'm not sure why. I guess it felt like he was being bullied by everyone.

Through the Summer of 2000, I watched Jerry Krause make 6 draft picks. Fizer, Crawford, Bagaric, AJ Guyton, Voskuhl, and El-Amin. I was at Sportstalk following the rumors about Tracy McGrady, then maybe Eddie Jones. I'd ruled out Grant Hill and Tim Duncan and was jealous of the Orlando Magic. Eventually ended up with Mercer and Brad Miller. I was still excited at the possibilities.

I guess I was excited cause Crawford looked cool with that Michigan jersey and a headband? I was kind of excited about AJ Guyton, but I was wondering what we were doing with El-Amin and Voskuhl. El-Amin surprised a little bit, but Voskuhl was mediocre in college, wtf were we expecting in the NBA. Fizer might've turned out different had we not already had Elton Brand nor had we not traded for Curry and Chandler a year later.

In retrospect in the 25 years of following the Bulls through means of message boards, I see we've happened upon some great pieces of talent but in the ultra-competitive landscape of NBA basketball, we've needed more to make a championship contender. The few times we have been awarded the chance to select clear cut franchise-altering talents, we've suffered immense loss (Jay Williams and D-Rose). 2009 with rookie D-Rose and Ben Gordon and 2022 pre Lonzo Ball injury have been my favorite post-Jordan years. Holding to those few bits of positivity --- I always wanted to know what it was like to be a Warriors fan pre Steph Curry --- I guess that's been it --- holding on to bits of positivity.

Living in Lakers land for practically my entire lifetime (and at one point trying to convert myself to become a Kobe fan --- never happened), I've depended on message boards rather than local TV or local fandom. With my local TV and local fans being about Lakers and to a much lesser extent about the Clippers, I've come to the point where I'm just wondering why the Bulls don't just steal at least mimic the Lakers' tactics in re-loading and re-freshing their talent pool.

I'd taken something of a hiatus from following the Bulls after 2016 when Derrick got traded. I'd check in on message boards on occasion and to be honest started to get into international soccer.

Now as a father of 3 school-age boys, I've had much less time to follow, but I've had some resurgence in my fandom when my oldest started talking about Coby White. I didn't know who the eff Coby White was when the pandemic bubble began. That was the least I'd ever followed the Bulls.

My son and I became hyped about the 2022 Bulls. Lonzo and Lavine are/were UCLA Bruins so that had a lot of meaning for me as UCLA is my alma mater, even though incidentally, I'm a very fairweather Bruins fan and only become an expert around tourney time if they get that far. Lavine I've always tried liking, but couldn't help but notice that he wasn't quite the clutch, net-positive player. Kind of got dis-illusioned after Lonzo's return and then his trading this past Summer. I was trying to keep hope that "Old Lonzo" would come back.

This past summer, I have not followed the Bulls other than occasional updated from my son.

But yes, I have taken note of their 4-0 start WITHOUT Coby White. What's happening? Damn, I have zero idea, but OK. Lets go!

[MalagaBulls]

I will give it a shot but not much to tell. I grew up on the far south side and followed Chet Walker, Norm Vanlier, and the big Atrain. My love exploded during the dynasty years. I have never played organized basketball but enjoy all Chicago teams, Palehose excluded. I've been overseas for over 40 yrars and Malaga, Spain has been my home for the last 26.
This year's edition might prompt me to come back, but that would be later on in the season as I have been on hiatus from all things Bulls for over a year now.

[bledredwine]

Nice thread like this and you can't resist the urge to complain about the game and the player that is always on your mind.

I get to express my thoughts here and most of us are actual bulls fans unlike you. Get over it. I’m clearly the poster who’s always on your mind.

But yeah, clearly he must be on my mind, seeing as Jordan is slaughtering lebrick, your favorite player by 4x the votes in the goat poll

I just think it's kind of sad when I see people claiming they love the game but don't watch a single games because the modern game is so "bad" and "unwatchable". I can't imagine not watching the game I love, the game I grew up watching with my grandfather. It would take something drastic like the Bulls moving cities or something. The Bulls are a fun team right now and there is SO much absurd talent in the league like Wemby. The players are more skilled than ever.

And I truly think the opinion that the game is horribly unwatchable is ill-founded. I think it revolves around extreme nostalgia and an unreleastic expectation of what people nostalgically "remember" how the game used to be. All the people that hate the game also seem to share an unhealthy hate for a certain modern player as well.

I hope you can learn to love the game again. It's not going to change much though, so maybe you'll never watch it again. It's on you to learn to like the modern game. When the Bulls are good, the game and this forum feel like an addiction. I just love it.

You’re going to have to get used to others having opinions.

I love the game when it involves aggression and more defense, not free buckets in the paint. If you don’t like my taste, that’s tough luck, but you should be able to accept that and get on just fine. If you can’t accept that and the fact that I will express it, then it shows a real lack of emotional awareness and maturity. Just as bad is that despite all of our exchanges, you still haven’t learned that provoking only magnifies a situation. That is the only thing that is truly sad in this scenario.

[DuckIII]

During my HS years played on the same team as 1 player that made the NBA briefly, and 2 others that Played D1 basketball. Our AAU team had 4 NBA players (none of which still play however). Played through my Sophomore year of junior college before injury set in. Had scholarship to transfer to a small D1 school but couldn't take it after injuries. Later went back to my home town, coached 5 years of Jr. High Basketball, before taking the local HS Varsity coaching job, did that for five more seasons before my JUCO offered me an assistant / recruiting role, been doing that for the last 3 years. Lots of fun being able to go scout, watch games all over the state and region regularly. Coached at numerous levels but would ultimately love to end up at a D1 school in some capacity down the line, it would be a dream come true. Want no part of the NBA though, game is just not nearly as pure nor is any NBA coaching job worth the backlash (besides Money).

Good luck with it!

[League Circles]

I remember a few moments and circumstances that conspired to drag me into basketball, specifically Chicago Bulls fandom.

When I turned 8, someone had given me one of those kiddie basketball hoop sets.

This was roughly the same time the Bulls were taking on the Knicks, which eventually led to the NBA Finals. I don't remember specifically watching any games. But my parents, already living in LA by this time, taped Game 6 of the NBA 1992 NBA Finals on VCR. The previous year as a 1st grader the Bulls had taken on the hometown Lakers. I actually cried that my parents were pulling for the Bulls; it was as if they hated everyone with whom we lived with in LA. I don't remember really caring about the Bulls until the Summer of 1992.

Summer of 1992 also happened to be the debut of the Dream Team.

At some point, I somehow got a copy of Michael Jordan's playground. As with VCR tapes back in the day and the kiddie hoop indoors with a wood floor, you can only guess what I eventually ended up doing.

Also my older cousin had gotten into collecting Sports cards. I remember there was a fake-ish Michael Jordan card, and for whatever reason, somehow I just started following that Dream Team.

Finally around September or October of that year at the magazine section of our supermarket I spotted a Petersen's preview for the 1992-1993 season. That was the first time I became "intentional" about my fandom. There was an MJ hologram on the cover. This also coincided when they put up the re-installed the basketball courts at our school.

My grade school years were punctuated by the Bulls rise and fall. I graduated the only school I knew to that point in '98. We all know what was happening at that time.

After the big break up, I entered high school, which also happened to be the dawn of widespread internet usage. I was drawn to looking for news about the Bears and Bulls. I traveled through AOL sports message boards, Sportstalk.

Somehow I started to become a Jerry Krause apologist. I'm not sure why. I guess it felt like he was being bullied by everyone.

Through the Summer of 2000, I watched Jerry Krause make 6 draft picks. Fizer, Crawford, Bagaric, AJ Guyton, Voskuhl, and El-Amin. I was at Sportstalk following the rumors about Tracy McGrady, then maybe Eddie Jones. I'd ruled out Grant Hill and Tim Duncan and was jealous of the Orlando Magic. Eventually ended up with Mercer and Brad Miller. I was still excited at the possibilities.

I guess I was excited cause Crawford looked cool with that Michigan jersey and a headband? I was kind of excited about AJ Guyton, but I was wondering what we were doing with El-Amin and Voskuhl. El-Amin surprised a little bit, but Voskuhl was mediocre in college, wtf were we expecting in the NBA. Fizer might've turned out different had we not already had Elton Brand nor had we not traded for Curry and Chandler a year later.

In retrospect in the 25 years of following the Bulls through means of message boards, I see we've happened upon some great pieces of talent but in the ultra-competitive landscape of NBA basketball, we've needed more to make a championship contender. The few times we have been awarded the chance to select clear cut franchise-altering talents, we've suffered immense loss (Jay Williams and D-Rose). 2009 with rookie D-Rose and Ben Gordon and 2022 pre Lonzo Ball injury have been my favorite post-Jordan years. Holding to those few bits of positivity --- I always wanted to know what it was like to be a Warriors fan pre Steph Curry --- I guess that's been it --- holding on to bits of positivity.

Living in Lakers land for practically my entire lifetime (and at one point trying to convert myself to become a Kobe fan --- never happened), I've depended on message boards rather than local TV or local fandom. With my local TV and local fans being about Lakers and to a much lesser extent about the Clippers, I've come to the point where I'm just wondering why the Bulls don't just steal at least mimic the Lakers' tactics in re-loading and re-freshing their talent pool.

I'd taken something of a hiatus from following the Bulls after 2016 when Derrick got traded. I'd check in on message boards on occasion and to be honest started to get into international soccer.

Now as a father of 3 school-age boys, I've had much less time to follow, but I've had some resurgence in my fandom when my oldest started talking about Coby White. I didn't know who the eff Coby White was when the pandemic bubble began. That was the least I'd ever followed the Bulls.

My son and I became hyped about the 2022 Bulls. Lonzo and Lavine are/were UCLA Bruins so that had a lot of meaning for me as UCLA is my alma mater, even though incidentally, I'm a very fairweather Bruins fan and only become an expert around tourney time if they get that far. Lavine I've always tried liking, but couldn't help but notice that he wasn't quite the clutch, net-positive player. Kind of got dis-illusioned after Lonzo's return and then his trading this past Summer. I was trying to keep hope that "Old Lonzo" would come back.

This past summer, I have not followed the Bulls other than occasional updated from my son.

But yes, I have taken note of their 4-0 start WITHOUT Coby White. What's happening? Damn, I have zero idea, but OK. Lets go!

Wow man, good post, I can't believe you reminded me about Sportstalk. I was part of the migration from there to here a quarter **** century ago lol!

[DuckIII]

Thanks for all the posts. I enjoyed reading them.

[League Circles]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

[ScrantonBulls]

I get to express my thoughts here and most of us are actual bulls fans unlike you. Get over it. I’m clearly the poster who’s always on your mind.

But yeah, clearly he must be on my mind, seeing as Jordan is slaughtering lebrick, your favorite player by 4x the votes in the goat poll

I just think it's kind of sad when I see people claiming they love the game but don't watch a single games because the modern game is so "bad" and "unwatchable". I can't imagine not watching the game I love, the game I grew up watching with my grandfather. It would take something drastic like the Bulls moving cities or something. The Bulls are a fun team right now and there is SO much absurd talent in the league like Wemby. The players are more skilled than ever.

And I truly think the opinion that the game is horribly unwatchable is ill-founded. I think it revolves around extreme nostalgia and an unreleastic expectation of what people nostalgically "remember" how the game used to be. All the people that hate the game also seem to share an unhealthy hate for a certain modern player as well.

I hope you can learn to love the game again. It's not going to change much though, so maybe you'll never watch it again. It's on you to learn to like the modern game. When the Bulls are good, the game and this forum feel like an addiction. I just love it.

You’re going to have to get used to others having opinions.

I love the game when it involves aggression and more defense, not free buckets in the paint. If you don’t like my taste, that’s tough luck, but you should be able to accept that and get on just fine. If you can’t accept that and the fact that I will express it, then it shows a real lack of emotional awareness and maturity. Just as bad is that despite all of our exchanges, you still haven’t learned that provoking only magnifies a situation. That is the only thing that is truly sad in this scenario.

You gotta let go of some of this hate brother. The league is never going back to the illegal defense, post heavy days of the 90s. It just is what it is. The Bulls are playing such exciting basketball. Perfect team play basically. Every game day I'm excited to watch this team play. Talking on the boards about our players developing and who had a great performance. Giddey, Matas, Ayo, Huerter, Vuc, Pat, Tre Jones. Everybody is balling their freaking brains out and it's awesome to watch.

Everybody on this board is loving the current Bulls squad. I hope you can join in on the fun and excitement that is the 2025-26 Bulls. This team is sharing the ball as well as any team I've ever seen. It's been so fun to watch. Give it a shot for a game and see if you can stomach it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Chi town]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

I’m a child of the glory days too!

[ScrantonBulls]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

[League Circles]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Yeah I remember it well

[ScrantonBulls]

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Yeah I remember it well

How old were you during it?

[GoBlue72391]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Nope. I have some vague memories of my family watching the Bulls games while I played on the floor with my toys. Didn't start watching basketball until around 2002 and didn't get super into it until 2004.

[Chi town]

As a fan I'm just a pure youth dynasty era product and never ever **** looked back! Greatest cultural product experience I can think of.

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Born in 81. The dynasty was my childhood.

[ScrantonBulls]

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Born in 81. The dynasty was my childhood.

That's great. You were definitely the perfect age for that.

[ScrantonBulls]

I’m a child of the glory days too!

Were you guys old enough to remember the dynasty days? I'm just young enough where I don't have too much memory of those days. Unfortunately the Tim Floyd era was when I first started watching and remembering clearly. The Baby Bulls were the first team I really loved.

Nope. I have some vague memories of my family watching the Bulls games while I played on the floor with my toys. Didn't start watching basketball until around 2002 and didn't get super into it until 2004.

Same here. I'm 34 and didn't really get into it until the years you are describing. I don't have much of an emotional connection to the championship teams because of that.