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the film O.J. Made in America. We recently saw selected moments from more than 500 hours of recorded material for the rst time, and ma- de the most shocking discovery that he was pretty aggre- ssive. He pushed his teammates to the max, exhausting them verbally and mentally, with the intention of ensu- ring the pressure of the match was nothing compared to the pressure he applied. e public reaction was divi- ded, with some condemning Michael and others explai- ning that it was in this way that he made champions of his teammates. “I have that competitive gene in me. I don’t want anyone else to succeed. I hate most other people,” said Michael one occasion, best describing his own patholo- gical need for success. Production was accelerated in order for the lm to be released during the pandemic, which ensured the premie- re of each episode was watched by 6.7 million people in the United States alone! Jordan’s own narcissism ensured that ESPN only got the green light to work on the docu- mentary in 2016, because it was then that his title as the best of all time was seriously brought into question. at season was the rst time in the history of the league that a team had recovered from a 3:1 de cit to win, with LeBron James and Cleveland doing so to beat Golden State in the nals, a team that had as many as three All-Star players in its ranks (Curry, ompson and Green). Michael could not reconcile himself with being in his shadow for even a single day. He gave the green light that same evening. Over the course of 10 episodes we had the opportu- nity to hear excerpts from 106 interviews with former NBA players, businessmen, but also politicians (former U.S. President Barack Obama was captioned as a “Chicago resident”). Michael allowed the cameras to record almost every nook and cranny of his life, but under one condition. His house was not allowed to appear in the documentary, because that is the only grain of privacy he has left. is left director Jason Hehir with a problem, so they condu- cted interviews with Michael at his weekend property, but also in locations where “Jordan could have lived”. Michael would lean back in his chair, sip the brand of tequila he’d bought (costing $1,800 per bottle) and occa- sionally lit a cigar. And that’s precisely how we imagine him spending his free time. However, modern technology allowed us to have a treat of a special kind. Whenever the interview came to a standstill, Hehir would take out a ta- blet and show Michael some footage. His every reaction became an internet mime. We also found out that he can’t stand Isiah omas, his arch-rival from his playing days, when he watched what he’d said in an interview. Jordan wouldn’t have been what he is without his teammates. According to him, Scottie Pippen was his best ever team- mate, but we found out that Pippen also had angry out- bursts. He refused to play the last 30 seconds of a play- o match because Toni Kukoč was supposed to nish the match, he refused to have surgery during the summer, opting instead to do so when the season was already well underway, he openly mocked Bulls general manager Jerry Krause when he didn’t give him the money he deserved. e focus was precisely on the fact that he was underpa- id, so he was presented in the documentary as a totally dissatis ed guy.
Izmenio je košarku, medije, markentinški biznis... Čovek sa Midinim dodirom He brought change to basketball, the media, the marketing business... The man with the Midas touch
T he ‘last dance’ was how Bulls coach Phil Jack- son dubbed the 1997/1998 season, because it was known in advance that the team would col- lapse regardless of what happened. However, the story begins 23 years earlier (it is no coin- cidence that this is precisely the number worn by Michael on his shirt), when ESPN gained the exclusive right to fol- low Jordan’s every move throughout the season. ey were with him in hotels, cars, at games, in the locker room... It was only in the toilet that he had a little respite from this real life Truman Show. Among the producers of the series was Serb Nina Krstić, who had already created a master- piece and won an Oscar for the best documentary with What have we discovered about His flying Highness?
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