Jerry Reinsdorf ALMOST Went The Entire Jordan Doc Without Pissing Off White Sox Fans
It's kinda funny - each week after the MJ doc, I'd get to the office Monday and tell Eddie, "Reinsdorf looks pretty good in this thing, everything considered."
Then the last 5 mins of the last episode happened.
You can tell this quote from Jerry Reinsdorf made MJ's blood fucking boil, as it absolutely should have. It made my blood boil and I wasn't the one that got the chance of a 7th championship ripped from my arms. Don't be shocked if he comes out of retirement again and there's another doc on "The New Last Dance" where MJ is quoted saying, "I heard what Jerry Reinsdorf said and that was all the motivation I needed to go and win my 7th".
Only *kinda* kidding there.
I mean did Reinsdorf and Krause even have conversations with Pippen and the role/complementary players on the team about taking 1 year deals and a crack at 7? Because Reinsdorf makes it sound as if that didn't even happen. I mean holy shit, Sox and Bulls fans just cannot escape this guy. It's a goddamn travesty that that core was broken up without attempting everything possible to keep it together.
And Reinsdorf had 22 years to come up with a better excuse for blowing up the Bulls. 22!!! And of course money was the reason why. He didn't deem any of those role players as "worth it". Nauseating.
John Jackson, Bulls beat writer for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1994-1999: “[General manager] Jerry Krause was ready to break up the team at that point and [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t want to bring back the team because the Bulls’ payroll in 1997-98 was around $61.3 million and to bring the team back, it would’ve been at least $80 million. Winning championships was great for Reinsdorf, but considering the revenue they brought in in 1997-98, that wasn’t one of their more profitable years. The 1998-99 season was probably their most profitable year ever because the payroll was around $28.6 million and their revenue was roughly the same. So, Reinsdorf wasn’t opposed to breaking up the team either.”
Now to play devil's advocate for Reinsdorf (which is hard for me to do), I have never heard a bad thing about him from anyone who's ever worked or played for him, that is other than Jack McDowell. Even a few of the long time Sox beat writers I know say he's great once you get to know him.
This quote was directly from the horses mouth!!! "I didn't want to pay them because I didn't think they were going to be worth it". Sure, it's his money, his business. He calls the shots and if money and revenue is what's most important to him as a business owner, that's his prerogative. That will never, ever sit well with fans though.
This "they weren't gonna be worth it" speech coupled with Starting 9's interview with Bryce Harper last week is just not what Sox fans need to hear. Thank god just about every position around the diamond is locked down for 5+ years with the early extensions the players signed. But after hearing this and watching how both the Bulls and Sox have operated for... my entire life... we can effectively kiss any run at Mookie Betts as the lynchpin signing goodbye.
Moncada, Eloy, Robert, TA7 and Co. will win regardless, and win a lot. That's still a promise.
PS - Our "Last Dance" Merch was awesome throughout the series, capped off with this one
MJ quit, so other teams won.
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