No Bull Tour: Pippen, Grant, Longley to share perspective on The Last Dance

[jnrjr79]

Again, why are you assuming that the entire talking tour is going to be about those 3 former players slinging mud the entire time? You're being upset about something that hasn't even happened. That's what I don't get. And yet at the same time, a lot of people loved The Last Dance and all the reminiscing of the past, even though it was heavily curated for something that has happened 30 years ago. I'm afraid to say, history isn't all rainbows and sunshine, and like with all stories, there are different sides of the story from different perspectives. The double standards here is just out of whack.

All the reporting on it is framing it as a rejoinder to the documentary, so that’s why I view it as such. If it’s not that, great.

In any event, I’m not saying these guys don’t have the right to air their perspectives, but if it is what it’s framed as being - an opportunity to push back against MJ and the doc (which didn’t even seem that critical of these guys in the first place) - it just comes off as kind of sad. They’re obviously welcome to do whatever they want to do, but if anyone makes millions of bucks playing basketball and wins a bunch of titles and they wanted to spend their golden years re-litigating decades-old grievances, I don’t understand how anyone wouldn’t view that as a fairly sad enterprise. Lord knows I’d view my own life pretty dismally if I felt the need when I was 60 years old to do a speaking tour about how my coworkers thirty years earlier had wronged me. So I hope this is something other than that.

What if you got paid millions of dollars to do a speaking tour paid by people who are your fans? Would it still be sad?

The income would not be sad, but if I used the time to spend it complaining about how though I was a great success in life, I had a ton of axes to grind with my old colleagues who I hate, and it still grinds my gears years later, then yeah, that would probably be a bit of a bummer for the attendees. Like, IRL, I do actually have hard feelings toward a couple of my old law firm partners, but if years later I was yammering on about it and hadn't moved on with my life, I would find that depressing. I don't think it's healthy for anyone to be obsessed with decades-old grievances in life - that's all I'm really saying here.

Maybe this won't be that, but the media coverage of it to date makes it seem like that's the point of it all. If it isn't just a complain-fest, then great, I'm sure some attendees will enjoy it.

[nekorajo]

Scottie Pippen's tv interview in Australia. Uploaded by "The Project" on YouTube.

"I had a great long career playing with the Chicago Bulls. A lot of great stories with guys like Horace, Luke. And we're just looking forward to getting together and telling some great stories about some of the great times and the cost of what it takes to be the best."

[RSP83]

There's really zero to little upside of doing this for Pippen, Grant, and Longley.

Financially, there's nothing to gain. Neither of them have any platform or large fanbase.

For older fans we watched that team and knew who they are and we're already holding them to high regards despite Last Dance. We older fans are thankful for those years, and we don't discount their contribution. So doing this won't change anything for me as part of old Bulls fanbase. They don't have to do this. We get it. We still love you.

For younger fans, they won't care. How much do I care about Bob Love's legacy who was way beyond my time? Do I care if he stepped up call out an ex-teammate for their past toxic behavior? No, and neither will the younger generation Bulls fans on this No Bull Tour.

The only people who care about this are those whose main interest is reducing MJ's legacy for whatever reason (e.g., the Lebron-sexuals). And for media and content creator this drives traffic into their platform.

The biggest losers are Pippen, Grant, and Longley themselves. I can't imagine they get meaningful gain out of this, unless they're so fragile mentally that they really need this to set them straight.

I wonder how many times you write posts like this when MJ would do something to promote his own interests.

This hero worship crap about professional athletes, actors, musicians, TV personalities never made a lick of sense to me. Even when I was young and not the crotchety old man I am today.

These guys are just regular flawed human beings who are elite at something that entertains us. That’s it. If you admire things they do in their private lives (like Luol Deng for example) that’s great and they should be complimented and respected for specific acts. But we still don’t know them.

This is especially so in MJ’s case when virtually everything about him off the basketball court suggests that on a personal level there is very little to admire. If you took what you know about Michael Jordan and strip away the basketball part, it’s kinda ugly.

To some extent I admit this is a pet peeve of mine that extends beyond MJ to fame-deference in general. So I’m probably extra harsh. I don’t understand hero worship of humans as people simply because of a skill. Admire the skill? Love the skill? Respect the work and craft? Absolutely. But the rest of it, I’ll just never understand it. Especially taking it to the point of tearing down others for doing the same thing (even on a smaller scale) as the perceived hero, like in this thread.

My post had nothing to do about defending MJ. More about questioning the motive of this No Bull Tour. Btw I just watched the clips that are available, so far it's just some teasers that they're going to share stories about those years. They did hint that they're going to address some of the things they didn't like in the Last Dance. Well, it's their rights to tell their own story, and stick it up to MJ. And apparently they also get paid a good deal.

I agree to your point about hero worship is stupid. And that's why I kinda like the Last Dance from the perspective that shows MJ was such a flawed character despite his global image. I wasn't as critical of MJ about the Last Dance because I think many already sort of knew about MJ being a tyrant, the disfunction. I mean I've read up pretty much everything about that Bulls team over the years. So not much surprises there.

[prolific passer]

Did anybody get their tickets for a future engagement of this no bull thingy yet?

[DuckIII]

There's really zero to little upside of doing this for Pippen, Grant, and Longley.

Financially, there's nothing to gain. Neither of them have any platform or large fanbase.

For older fans we watched that team and knew who they are and we're already holding them to high regards despite Last Dance. We older fans are thankful for those years, and we don't discount their contribution. So doing this won't change anything for me as part of old Bulls fanbase. They don't have to do this. We get it. We still love you.

For younger fans, they won't care. How much do I care about Bob Love's legacy who was way beyond my time? Do I care if he stepped up call out an ex-teammate for their past toxic behavior? No, and neither will the younger generation Bulls fans on this No Bull Tour.

The only people who care about this are those whose main interest is reducing MJ's legacy for whatever reason (e.g., the Lebron-sexuals). And for media and content creator this drives traffic into their platform.

The biggest losers are Pippen, Grant, and Longley themselves. I can't imagine they get meaningful gain out of this, unless they're so fragile mentally that they really need this to set them straight.

I wonder how many times you write posts like this when MJ would do something to promote his own interests.

This hero worship crap about professional athletes, actors, musicians, TV personalities never made a lick of sense to me. Even when I was young and not the crotchety old man I am today.

These guys are just regular flawed human beings who are elite at something that entertains us. That’s it. If you admire things they do in their private lives (like Luol Deng for example) that’s great and they should be complimented and respected for specific acts. But we still don’t know them.

This is especially so in MJ’s case when virtually everything about him off the basketball court suggests that on a personal level there is very little to admire. If you took what you know about Michael Jordan and strip away the basketball part, it’s kinda ugly.

To some extent I admit this is a pet peeve of mine that extends beyond MJ to fame-deference in general. So I’m probably extra harsh. I don’t understand hero worship of humans as people simply because of a skill. Admire the skill? Love the skill? Respect the work and craft? Absolutely. But the rest of it, I’ll just never understand it. Especially taking it to the point of tearing down others for doing the same thing (even on a smaller scale) as the perceived hero, like in this thread.

My post had nothing to do about defending MJ. More about questioning the motive of this No Bull Tour. Btw I just watched the clips that are available, so far it's just some teasers that they're going to share stories about those years. They did hint that they're going to address some of the things they didn't like in the Last Dance. Well, it's their rights to tell their own story, and stick it up to MJ. And apparently they also get paid a good deal.

I agree to your point about hero worship is stupid. And that's why I kinda like the Last Dance from the perspective that shows MJ was such a flawed character despite his global image. I wasn't as critical of MJ about the Last Dance because I think many already sort of knew about MJ being a tyrant, the disfunction. I mean I've read up pretty much everything about that Bulls team over the years. So not much surprises there.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a surprise. Your response is to question and criticize his teammates but not him. And you aren’t alone. It doesn’t take a road map to know why.

[NZB2323]

All the reporting on it is framing it as a rejoinder to the documentary, so that’s why I view it as such. If it’s not that, great.

In any event, I’m not saying these guys don’t have the right to air their perspectives, but if it is what it’s framed as being - an opportunity to push back against MJ and the doc (which didn’t even seem that critical of these guys in the first place) - it just comes off as kind of sad. They’re obviously welcome to do whatever they want to do, but if anyone makes millions of bucks playing basketball and wins a bunch of titles and they wanted to spend their golden years re-litigating decades-old grievances, I don’t understand how anyone wouldn’t view that as a fairly sad enterprise. Lord knows I’d view my own life pretty dismally if I felt the need when I was 60 years old to do a speaking tour about how my coworkers thirty years earlier had wronged me. So I hope this is something other than that.

What if you got paid millions of dollars to do a speaking tour paid by people who are your fans? Would it still be sad?

The income would not be sad, but if I used the time to spend it complaining about how though I was a great success in life, I had a ton of axes to grind with my old colleagues who I hate, and it still grinds my gears years later, then yeah, that would probably be a bit of a bummer for the attendees. Like, IRL, I do actually have hard feelings toward a couple of my old law firm partners, but if years later I was yammering on about it and hadn't moved on with my life, I would find that depressing. I don't think it's healthy for anyone to be obsessed with decades-old grievances in life - that's all I'm really saying here.

Maybe this won't be that, but the media coverage of it to date makes it seem like that's the point of it all. If it isn't just a complain-fest, then great, I'm sure some attendees will enjoy it.

NBA players tend to obsess about the game, that's what makes them great.

But did you watch the videos in the OP? These guys are smiling, laughing, and joking with each other. They also talked about how much they loved winning championships together and how their teammates are like brothers to them. At the same time, I'm sure they'll have some criticism and add their own perspective.

And I don't think it's necessarily decades-old grievances. I think it's grievances for how they were portrayed in the Last Dance. 100% of the footage of Luc Longley was cut from the documentary. I'm sure that Horace Grant will talk more about how he wasn't the source for The Jordan Rules. Pippen will probably talk about how he had to put an arm around a teammate after Jordan yelled at them.

What if one of your old law firm partners made a documentary about the firm and you felt that they didn't portray you in the best light and it was the most watched show on the planet and you wanted to give your side of the story? Would that still be sad?

[R3AL1TY]

I think this doc won't be about the Last Dance or having beef with MJ but will be marketed that way to get viewership. Will they address a few things in the Last Dance? Yes, but it won't take up much time IMO. It's their way of getting a slice of the pie and attention when it comes to the Bulls Dynasty.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Pippen drop a few more ridiculous statements.

[SalmonsSuperfan]

the no bull tour should be renamed the yes grift tour.

[biggestbullsfan]

Read on Twitter

[DuckIII]

Read on Twitter

Too late, they are a bunch of Benedict Arnolds. They had the temerity to self-promote, which Michael "Ghandhi" Jordan would never do for commercial gain. These three guys make me wanna puke.

[Michael Jackson]

Read on Twitter

Too late, they are a bunch of Benedict Arnolds. They had the temerity to self-promote, which Michael "Ghandhi" Jordan would never do for commercial gain. These three guys make me wanna puke.

I know you know but this is over most peoples heads.


I get why The General Board talks about The Cult of Jordan. Grranted most of them are just as hypocritical because they are The Cult of LeBron but christ can't we just appreciate all these guys from a sport we all love?

[prolific passer]

Read on Twitter

Too late, they are a bunch of Benedict Arnolds. They had the temerity to self-promote, which Michael "Ghandhi" Jordan would never do for commercial gain. These three guys make me wanna puke.

I know you know but this is over most peoples heads.


I get why The General Board talks about The Cult of Jordan. Grranted most of them are just as hypocritical because they are The Cult of LeBron but christ can't we just appreciate all these guys from a sport we all love?

As great as Jordan and those bulls teams of the 90s were. He is not my favorite bull and player in general of all time.

[bledredwine]

“Believe me. I would have kicked Dennis Rodman’s ass”- Horace Grant, within the first few minutes of the interview.

A few months ago “Michael Jordan was a terrible player”- Pippen

That’s all you need to know reguarding how full of **** these three are.

[dougthonus]

Too late, they are a bunch of Benedict Arnolds. They had the temerity to self-promote, which Michael "Ghandhi" Jordan would never do for commercial gain. These three guys make me wanna puke.

I think that over simplifies things. No one cares about them self-promoting. They are advertising trashing Jordan to create tabloid like controversy to get attention, and then when you get there, they're also bait and switching the product and just giving you normal basketball stories.

No one would even bat an eye if they just went out and told their story. It's the way they positioned it as if it would be controversial to get attention that is the problem, and that's generally a societal problem in general. You catastrophize news and blow up stories to make them sell, they certainly aren't alone there, but that's what is bothering people, not that they want their stories out. They've been telling their stories for the past 25 years.

[League Circles]

I think this doc won't be about the Last Dance or having beef with MJ but will be marketed that way to get viewership. Will they address a few things in the Last Dance? Yes, but it won't take up much time IMO. It's their way of getting a slice of the pie and attention when it comes to the Bulls Dynasty.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if Pippen drop a few more ridiculous statements.

I think you've put this well with each point. Probably nothing much to see here.

[League Circles]

It's amazing to me that there's a market in Australia for three guys like this to get paid to stand on stage and simply talk about a team from 30 years ago. Pippen is an outright poor speaker IMO. Grant and Longley might be better but I don't ever recall them saying much interesting in my limited exposure to them.

Not sure if that means Australian fans are really pretty **** awesome fans or desperate for entertainment LOL. I'll assume the former.

[prolific passer]

It's amazing to me that there's a market in Australia for three guys like this to get paid to stand on stage and simply talk about a team from 30 years ago. Pippen is an outright poor speaker IMO. Grant and Longley might be better but I don't ever recall them saying much interesting in my limited exposure to them.

Not sure if that means Australian fans are really pretty **** awesome fans or desperate for entertainment LOL. I'll assume the former.

I wonder where they are going to speak in the U.S. and how many people will actually show up to it?

[League Circles]

It's amazing to me that there's a market in Australia for three guys like this to get paid to stand on stage and simply talk about a team from 30 years ago. Pippen is an outright poor speaker IMO. Grant and Longley might be better but I don't ever recall them saying much interesting in my limited exposure to them.

Not sure if that means Australian fans are really pretty **** awesome fans or desperate for entertainment LOL. I'll assume the former.

I wonder where they are going to speak in the U.S. and how many people will actually show up to it?

**** I didn't even know they were doing US dates lol. I would pay $15 if it was within a 10 minute drive from my house haha.

[League Circles]

They should talk in front of Pippen or MJs old houses lol

[prolific passer]

It's amazing to me that there's a market in Australia for three guys like this to get paid to stand on stage and simply talk about a team from 30 years ago. Pippen is an outright poor speaker IMO. Grant and Longley might be better but I don't ever recall them saying much interesting in my limited exposure to them.

Not sure if that means Australian fans are really pretty **** awesome fans or desperate for entertainment LOL. I'll assume the former.

I wonder where they are going to speak in the U.S. and how many people will actually show up to it?

**** I didn't even know they were doing US dates lol. I would pay $15 if it was within a 10 minute drive from my house haha.

Well if this is going to be only a small thing in Australia then this no bull tour has a bull in it.