The parking lot at O’Hare Airport has used a sports theme as their mnemonic device for a decade or so. Each floor highlights a different Chicago-based sports team.
I’ve been used to this for a while, but last week when I went to get Deirdre from the airport, I was pretty much overtaken with emotion when I entered the fifth floor elevator bank.
The fifth floor is the Chicago Bulls. The walls are painted red, the signage has Bulls logos all over it, and– most importantly– the speakers pipe in some of the greatest moments in Bulls history as called by Johnny “Red” Kerr.
The one that got me right in the heart was the night of The Great Charles Smith Denial. Game 5 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals on our way to our third straight championship.
We were up by one with 10 seconds left. Knicks inbound the ball and get it in to one of their big men, Charles Smith, right underneath the basket. He goes up– denied by Horace Grant. Goes up again– Jordan knocks it out of his hands. Gets it back, goes up– Scottie Pippen slaps it. Goes up again– Scottie knocks it completely loose. Horace picks it up, chest-pumps it to Jordan, three dribbles, sails it to BJ Armstrong, who goes in for a dunk as time expires. Everyone just runs straight off the court into the Madison Square Garden locker rooms, not even stopping to celebrate.
The way Kerr calls it– “Smith, no. Smith Again No. Smith Again No. Smith Again No. Jordan, BJ, Bulls Win!” was crushing to me. Made me remember what it’s like to love winners. To be so enmeshed with a team that their schedule was yours. To be so passionate about a group of people who never ever gave up, never let you down. To be rewarded for your loyalty and time every single year. Even the two years Jordan was out & we didn’t win the championships– they were still worth it, they still deserved our love.
This group of men who played basketball together in the 1990s are personally responsible for maybe a dozen of the top 50 moments of my life. It’s like going to pick up the woman you love at the airport, getting off the elevator, and seeing your high school graduation pictures splattered on the wall. Or hearing a play-by-play of your first Little League home run.
All hail the Chicago Bulls.