Love and Basketball

It's March Madness!!!

Two legends in The Last Dance (2020).

This month marks the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it feels extremely bleak to commemorate that time in our lives. My memories are blurry. But in the early days of the plague, what I remember most is: 1) cabin fever; 2) washing my hands like a goddamn pro, like the overachieving Eldest Daughter that I am; 3) the maddening lack of new, quality content on the streaming platforms.

I abstained from watching Tiger King because I HAVE STANDARDS, people. Thank goodness for The Last Dance, which could not have arrived at a better time. The documentary miniseries debuted on ESPN in April 2020, with fresh episodes dropping weekly — a leisurely, old-school pace that gave me something to look forward to during lockdown. For one month, I made The Last Dance my entire personality. I grew up outside Chicago during the 1990s, when the Chicago Bulls dominated professional basketball, scoring six — six! — NBA Championship trophies during the 1990s. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman weren’t athletes. They were gods. And they had blessed The Second City with the greatest team that ever was, and that ever will be. Miraculously, The Last Dance documentarians got their lucky hands on behind-the-scenes footage from the Bulls’ glory days. We saw Jordan, a.k.a. His Airness, being competitive and petty and funny and flawed and filled with uncommon grace, athleticism and artistry. We saw Rodman playing hooky in Vegas, and Jordan dragging him out of bed and back to practice. We saw Scottie struggling in Jordan’s large shadow. Despite the backstage dramatics, the men always came together on the court, bonded by their shared love of the game.

This is all a long way of saying that if you haven’t seen The Last Dance, then you’re really in for a treat. Meanwhile, March Madness has kicked off in earnest. LET THE GAMES BEGIN. In tribute to the season, I have curated my other favorite basketball-adjacent cultural gems. Without further ado:

THE MOVIES

• Love & Basketball (2000): Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan shine in Gina-Prince Bythewood’s directorial debut, one of the most romantic pictures ever made. It follows two childhood pals and pro ball players who drift apart as their careers take different paths. One night, however, they find themselves on the same court. (Cue the swoons.)

• Air (2023): I should probably delete what I’m about to write, but whatever, I’ll just hit send. Ben Affleck — Dunkin Donuts ambassador, ex-husband to Jennifers, a walking meme — managed to direct damn good sports biopic that I happen to like very much. Affleck plays the president of Nike, that little-known shoe company, and Matt Damon is his marketing VP. Together, they make history by signing Jordan, then a glorified rookie, to a game-changing endorsement deal.

• Hoosiers (1986): This sacred sports drama makes grown men weep. It stars the late, great Gene Hackman stars as the intense but inspiring coach of a high school basketball team in 1950s rural Indiana, and a heartbreaking Dennis Hooper as a player’s alcoholic father, whom Hackman recruits to be his assistant. There are riveting, action-packed shots on the court, featuring local kids rather than actors, and elegant cinematography capturing a melancholy that ripples like a quiet wooded creak. These folks, in this part of the country, had been forgotten.

• Hoop Dreams (1994): A masterpiece, plain and simple. The documentary was, yes, a slam dunk, a rare combination of critical darling and commercial success. It trailed two Black high school students from inner-city Chicago as they chased their dream of joining the NBA. Young William Gates lived in the Cabrini-Green projects, right near the United Center, where Jordan and the Bulls reigned amid their heyday. While the team’s white suburban fans feared the neighborhood, filmmaker Steve James took his camera inside Cabrini and shattered perceptions, revealing the humanity within.

THE SHOW

Running Point is the Netflix comedy that I wanted but never knew I needed. It is wickedly funny and compulsively watchable, showcasing the limitless charms of Kate Hudson, who plays the unlikely owner of The Los Angeles Waves, a team not unlike the Lakers. As Isla Gordon, Kate channels an atypical Girlboss: She wasn’t born in a pantsuit, like Miranda Priestley. No, no. She’s growing into her power and navigating a male-dominated field while making plenty of mistakes along the way. (Her outfits, however, are flawless.) Fabulous work by an underrated comedienne. Strong assists from Scott MacArthur, Brenda Song, Drew Tarver, Justin Theroux and, no joke: CHET HANKS.

THE BOOKS

B-ball lovers, you gotta make room on your shelves for There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib, In My Skin by Brittany Griner and I Came As a Shadow, an autobiography from Georgetown’s legendary coach John Thompson, which The New York Times praised as “plainspoken and profound.” Thompson wrote the book with Jesse Washington, who inexplicably took a chance and hired me at The Associated Press when I was a wee journalist, and yeah, I’m gonna brag about that!!!

THE STYLE

Last week, I got the opportunity to attend the launch of DannijoPro, a fabulously cool line of NBA merch. I have my eye on their cropped satin Bulls jacket. (I’m too Midwestern to splurge on this hand-painted Warriors button-down, but if you’re a super-fan and you’ve got the funds, go forth and put the money down! It’s wearable art.)

Did my list skip your faves? Would you trade Hoosiers for Space Jam? Sound off in the comments!