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Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

7 Jul

A shared executive. A shared Finals. Even a shared players intro song.

The Phoenix Suns are in the #NBAFinals and they’ve got a long shared history with our Chicago Bulls. Here are 18 facts (and one bonus) that bind our two franchises.

A thread.

Between 1966 and 1970, the NBA added eight expansion teams, going from nine teams to 17. Two of those teams were the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns.

As we’ll see in this thread, they shared a helluva lot, starting with their first employee.

Chicago Heights’ Jerry Colangelo.

@IlliniMBB

Bulls-Suns history #1, March 1966: Expansion Bulls hire Jerry Colangelo as the team's first employee.

Bulls founder Dick Klein scoops up Chicago Heights native and @IlliniMBB captain Colangelo to serve as head scout and head of marketing.

historicalleague.org/historymakers/…

Read 21 tweets

Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

18 Mar

On Feb. 1, 1995, Michael Jordan was the projected left fielder for the AAA Nashville Sounds while Scottie Pippen was desperate to get himself traded off the Bulls.

45 days later, on March 18, they were reunited.

This is the day-by-day account of those 45 days.

A thread.

@nbcschicago

Last year, @nbcschicago & I teamed up to tell the full story of “I’m Back.” I wanted to show how close MJ came to staying in baseball and how close Pip came to getting traded. I love the piece, but a bare bones look at the daily events is compelling too.

nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/…

What we have here is a confrontation with a scary truth: the 2nd three-peat came very close to not happening. A look at the daily events by stripping away the narrative reveals how a major piece of Chicago sports history changed day by day.

Read 49 tweets

Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

13 Feb

https://twitter.com/markpotash/status/1360439079167483904

Great question/conversation here from Mark! I’m taking Red Grange.

https://twitter.com/markpotash/status/1360439079167483904

My Grange argument:

Red Grange made one of the most clutch plays in Bears history. Down 23-21 in the '33 championship, the Giants could have scored on the final play via lateral. Grange tackled Dale Burnett high, pinning the ball to his chest to prevent the lateral to Mel Hein. Game over. Champs.

Read 4 tweets

Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

13 Feb

@RealBillRussell

Happy 87th Birthday to a great man and leader and the greatest winner American team sports have ever seen. Salute to you, @RealBillRussell!

Nobody wins like Bill Russell.

🏆🏆'55-'56 NCAA champ
🥇'56 Olympic gold
#2 overall pick, 1956
🏆'57 NBA CHAMP
❌'58 NBA Finals runner-up
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 '59-'66 NBA CHAMP
Replaces Red Auerbach as head coach while still playing
❌'67 East finals
🏆🏆 '68-'69 CHAMP

Retires

https://twitter.com/readjack/status/1331586930753069056

To win the way Bill Russell won, you have to LOVE winning and hate losing. The pursuit of victory must never dim. The joy of victory must never fade. Look at these three celebrating their 7th title together. They look like they've only won their first.

https://twitter.com/readjack/status/1331586930753069056

Read 12 tweets

Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

7 Feb

Fumble return touchdowns! A backup QB! 4th quarter comebacks!

World Series heroics?

Here is the true story of two wild weeks at Soldier Field, and the iconic playmaking of a man Bears fans love.

The magical, the memorable, the magnificent.

The Mike Brown Games.

A thread.

In consecutive weeks in 2001, Oct. 28 & Nov. 4, the great Mike Brown delivered two of the most memorable plays in Bears history: a pair of walkoff OT interceptions.

These TDs fueled that great 2001 season, and shared connections to memorable Bears games before and after.

@JeffJoniak

While Mike Brown's career was far more than just two plays in two weeks, these plays epitomized what we all loved about #30: leadership, instincts, joy, winning games and the flair for the moment.

Here he is discussing them in 2019 with @JeffJoniak.

Read 111 tweets

Jack M Silverstein

@readjack

14 Jan

I was talking to a Bears fan friend today after the press conference, discussing the basis for Bears fan fury, and it led me to look at some key numbers of the past 25 years comparing us, the Packers, and the Lions. And frankly, we're closer to being the Lions than the Packers.

I summed up my personal Bears frustration with this, but even that wasn’t quite right, because no one is the Patriots. I’d settle for being a millionaire in this scenario, and that’s Green Bay.

I know we all got annoyed when Lions fans tried to equate a six-game winning streak to the entire damn history of our two franchises. That was a ballsy maneuver for one of only two clubs from prior to the Super Bowl era that has never been to a Super Bowl.

But they had a point.