The Trump Presidency

Distract, Distract, Distract - It's The Trump Mantra

Once again, the guy we call our "president" is at it again.
Distract, Distract, Distract.

Donald J. Trump is attempting to put forward "executive action" to thwart Twitter (the very popular social media site he frequents) from putting fact checks against his tweets. I blocked him from my timeline five years ago right after he announced his candidacy for President of the United States.
Fact is, if Trump didn't lie so much, it wouldn't be a problem, but he cannot help himself. Trump telling the truth is actually national news whenever that does happen.
This guy always slams someone personally or else attacks institutions or reputable businesses in this country (or a foreign country) if they don't agree with his point of view or if they are critical of him. It is rather pathetic that he chooses to go after twitter in an attempt to distract from the fact that over 100,000 American people are dead due to COVID-19 and most of that is a result of his administration's inactivity to the pandemic back in the winter. Plus the fact that 41-plus MILLION Americans are unemployed. All of this on his watch.
Trump always attempts to overstep his boundaries as president and he is doing it again over petty arguments because he is so thin skinned. Typical bully he is. He can dish it out, but he definitely cannot take it.
As I have been hearing quite a bit from a lot of Americans, November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough so we can get rid of this "orange menace."
In the meantime, I myself will continue to tweet out against Trump whenever his idiocy looms large and that's usually every single day.

The Last Dance - Bulls Go Back to Back, Then Get The Three-peat

The 1991-92 Back-to-Back Champion Chicago Bulls.

The 1991-92 Chicago Bulls season started off with a bang as the team received their championship rings from the previous year and then proceeded to roll to a 39-9 record, which included a 13-game winning streak during the month of January, by the NBA's All-Star break.
The Bulls would finish the regular season with a 67-15 record, the best in the NBA, including a 36-5 record at home and 31-10 on the road. Michael Jordan led the league in scoring once again, averaging 30.1 points per game. Scottie Pippen averaged 21.0 points per game while Horace Grant scored 14.2 PPG and averaged ten rebounds per game to lead the team.
Once the playoffs began, everyone was expecting the Bulls to cruise to another title, but this road to the NBA championship was much tougher than in 1990-91 (15-2 in post-season) as they finished 15-7 in the post-season, including a rugged seven-game series against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Bulls would sweep the Miami Heat in three games in the opening round of the playoffs, including two blowout wins at Chicago Stadium before finishing things up with a 119-114 victory in Miami.
In the semi-finals, the Knicks stunned the Bulls by winning the opener in Chicago, 94-89 with Knicks center Patrick Ewing leading all scorers with 34 points (and 11 rebounds) to lead the way. The New York bench outscored Chicago's subs, 28-9 to help make the difference. Game two was a hard fought battle once again, with the Bulls getting an 86-78 win as Jordan scored 27 to lead the way. B.J. Armstrong contributed 18 points off the bench for Chicago as the Bulls reserves put 27 points on the board this time to help even the series 1-1 heading back to New York.
The teams would split the two games in Madison Square Garden and the Bulls won the pivotal game five, 96-88 back in Chicago. The Knicks blasted the Bulls, 100-86 in game six back in NYC to force the game seven in Chicago Stadium, which turned out to be no contest as the Bulls steam rolled the Knicks, 110-81 with a huge second half as they outscored the Knicks, 54-30 with MJ leading the way with 42 points while Pippen had a triple-double (17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) to put the stubborn Knicks away for good.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls knocked out the Cleveland Cavaliers, four games to two, wrapping up the series in Cleveland with a 99-94 victory. The series had been tied 2-2 as the teams split the home and road games evenly. The Bulls blasted the Cavs, 112-89 in the crucial game five at Chicago Stadium as Jordan hung 37 points on them. The Bulls bench was key in the win, outscoring the Cavs' reserves by a 38-25 count. In the series clincher, Jordan and Pippen each poured in 29 points while Grant added 20 points to seal things up and send the Bulls back to the NBA Finals.
In the 1992 NBA Finals, Chicago outlasted the Portland Trail Blazers, four games to two to win back-to-back NBA championships. It marked the third consecutive time for back-to-back title winners in the NBA as the Detroit Pistons (1989-90) and the Los Angeles Lakers (1987-88) also accomplished the feat.
The Bulls crushed the Blazers in game one in Chicago Stadium, 122-89 as Michael Jordan scored 39 points while the Bulls shot 55 percent from the floor. Jordan made an NBA record six three-point field goals in the first half. The Bulls led 66-51 at the half and 104-68 after three quarters. In game two, Portland evened things up with a 115-104 overtime win as six players (including the starting five players) scored in double figures with Clyde Drexler leading the way with 26 points. Jordan led the Bulls with 39 points in defeat.
The next three games out west saw the Bulls get two out of three to send the finals back to Chicago

Bulls win it all again.

Stadium with the Bulls up, 3-2 and a chance to win the title at home. The Bulls took game three, 94-84 and the Blazers pulled back even at 2-2 with a fourth quarter comeback win in game four, 93-88 as Drexler and Jerome Kersey each had 21 points.
The pivotal game five went to the Bulls in pretty easy fashion, 119-106 as they raced out to a 39-26 lead after the first quarter and cruised the rest of the way, once again shooting 55 percent from the field. Jordan led all scorers with 46 points while Pippen added 24 and Drexler had 30 for Portland in the loss.
The deciding game six was a thriller for the ages as the Bulls overcame a 15-point fourth quarter deficit thanks mainly to the bench players effort, including Bobby Hansen (a mid-season acquisition) who hit a big three-point shot and then made a steal to fuel the come from behind effort.
After the Bulls got back into it, Jordan (game high 33 points) and company put the finishing touches on it. Scottie Pippen added 26 points as the Bulls outscored Portland, 33-14 in the final quarter for the 97-93 final score that gave the Bulls their second consecutive NBA championship.

                                        Chicago Bulls --  Back-to-Back NBA Champions ! 




The 1992-93 season saw the Bulls get out to a 21-7 start with the highlight being an 89-77 mauling of the rival New York Knicks at Chicago Stadium on Christmas Day. A rough stretch in January (7-8) cost the Bulls the chance for home court advantage throughout the East playoffs this season (Knicks

finished first in the East in 1992-93 with a 60-22 mark) as the Bulls rebounded to go 29-10 the final three months of the season to finish 57-25 (32-9 at home and 25-16 on the road) heading to the playoffs. Jordan did lead the NBA in scoring once again in the '92-'93 season, averaging 32.6 points per game.
Once the playoffs began, the Chicago Bulls rolled out to seven straight wins, sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the first round then the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East semi-finals to pave the way to another playoff showdown against the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals.
The Bulls disposed of Atlanta with two blowout wins at home and then a 98-88 victory in Atlanta to move forward. The Bulls didn't mess around with Cleveland in this season's playoffs like what happened the year before (4-2 series win in 1992 playoffs) as they completed the four-game sweep when Michael Jordan hit the shot at the buzzer in game four to win it, 103-101 and wrap things up.
The Eastern Conference finals started in New York this time around and the Knicks won the first two games in Madison Square Garden, including a 96-91 decision in game two as the Bulls shot just 43 percent from the field.
Game three back in Chicago was all Bulls as they raced out to a 62-43 halftime lead and never looked back en route to an easy 103-83 win. Game four was more of the same as Chicago jumped ahead early once again and won it, 105-95 as Jordan scored 54 points to get the series even at two games each.
The pivotal game five back in New York came down to the wire and the Bulls defense rose up in a 97-94 win as Horace Grant blocked Charles Smith's layup attempt in the closing seconds. Jordan scored 29 points to lead the Bulls while Pippen had 28 points. Patrick Ewing led the Knicks with 33 points in defeat.
The series clincher back in Chicago went to the Bulls, 96-88 as they started strong (29-21 lead after first quarter) and held off the Knicks to win the series and advance to their third straight NBA Finals. Jordan and Pippen once again led the way, scoring 25 and 24 points, respectively.
In the NBA Finals, the Phoenix Suns were waiting and had home court advantage as they had the NBA's best record that season. Led by Most Valuable Player Charles Barkley, the Suns split the two

Three time  NBA champions.

regular season games with the Bulls as each team won on the road. That would prove to play out once again in these finals.
Chicago won the first two games in Phoenix, taking game one, 100-92 as Jordan scored 31 points and Pippen had 27 and then won game two, 111-108 behind 42 points from Jordan, 24 points by Horace Grant and a triple-double by Pippen, who finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.
Game three in Chicago went into triple overtime as the Suns survived with a 129-121 win to get back into the series. Seven Phoenix players scored in double figures (led by 28 from Dan Majerle) as they outscored Chicago 15-7 in the third extra session. Jordan scored 44 points in defeat while B.J. Armstrong and Pippen added 21 points and 26 points, respectively.
Game four was all Michael Jordan as he scored 55 points to lead the Bulls to a 111-105 decision and a commanding three games to one lead in the series. The Bulls were looking to wrap things up two nights later at home, but the Suns had other ideas as they outplayed the Bulls the entire game and came away with a relatively easy 108-98 win in game five. Charles Barkley scored 24 points while Kevin Johnson and Richard Dumas each added 25 points. Jordan led Chicago with 41 points as the series went back to Phoenix with the Bulls holding a 3-2 series lead.

Game six was Sunday, June 20, 1993 in Phoenix and was one for the record books as the Bulls

Paxson nails the deciding three pointer.

Bulls get the Three-peat.

completed the three-peat with an exciting 99-98 victory as John Paxson (eight points) nailed a three-point shot with just four seconds remaining and then Horace Grant blocked Kevin Johnson's jumper as time expired.


Jordan scored 33 points in the clincher while Pippen had 23 points as the Bulls jumped out to a 37-28 lead after the first quarter. But the Suns, led by balanced scoring from Barkley and Majerle (21 points each) and Johnson (19 points) forged ahead in the second half before the late game heroics by Paxson and Grant.

Michael Jordan was named Finals MVP, averaging 41 points per game and the Chicago Bulls had done the impossible . . .   "Three-peat" three time NBA champions !

The Last Dance - A Look Back At Bulls First NBA Championship Season

1990-91 Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls.
What is the first thing sports fans think of when they hear that?
No doubt the championship run of the 1990's when the Bulls won six NBA championships in eight
years before Michael Jordan retired for the second time and Phil Jackson, the Head Coach for nine seasons and all six title teams, took a one-year hiatus from the league following the 1997-98 season.
While writing this blog for the past eleven years, I haven't done a whole lot on the Chicago Bulls teams from the Michael Jordan era, which lasted from 1984-93 and then again from 1995-98 as he left the game for 17 months following the Bulls' third consecutive championship in the 1992-93 season.
The last post put up on Heftyinfo was from my own perspective of the team from various seasons having served as the Bulls music and sound operator at Chicago Stadium from 1987-94 and it included some anecdotes about Jordan outside of game activity along with some offbeat incidents during those years.
As the 1994-95 season rolled around and the team moved on from historic Chicago Stadium into the United Center just across on Madison street, my tenure was ending as my life had taken a change and I wasn't going to be able to commit to being available in the same capacity for every home game. Having worked the first three games in the brand new building with the entourage of people up in the new sound and video room on Level Three, the transition was underway and those folks were going to be able to enjoy the second three-peat over the next four years even though they weren't aware of it just yet. Jordan was still in retirement at the time.
This post is part one of two posts that will focus on the team during the first three-peat run.
Following up will be re-prints of some very old articles and columns that I wrote for The Star Newspaper (which eventually merged with the Daily Southtown News many years later) that coincided during my tenure with the Bulls.
Those were the best of times for sure and having worked with the Bulls front office staff and public address announcers Tommy Edwards and Ray Clay was a treat. More on all of that in future posts, but for now let's take a look back at the first three championship teams, starting with 'The First Dance.'


The 1990-91 season was the 25th Anniversary season for the Chicago Bulls and what a way to celebrate it. World Champions of the NBA following a four games to one victory over the  Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The season started off rocky with an 0-3 start in early November with three close losses. The Bulls would eventually get it going and wound up with a 9-6 record during the first month of the NBA season.
During the month of December, the Bulls went 11-3 which included big wins at home against the Los

Michael Jordan guards 'Magic' Johnson

Angeles Lakers and a 98-86 win over the two-time defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons in front of a national television audience on NBC on Christmas Day. Michael Jordan led the way with 37 points.
The team would put it on cruise control from there on out as they finished with a 61-21 record and had home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs in the Eastern Conference.



In the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls swept the New York Knicks in three games, which included a 41-point blowout win (126-85) in the opener.
The Eastern Conference semi-finals saw the Bulls take out the Philadelphia 76ers, four games to one with the only loss by just two points (99-97) in Game Three in Philly. After that, the Detroit Pistons, the team that had eliminated the Bulls in each of the past three seasons in the playoffs, were waiting in the East finals.
The Bulls were ready this time around and smashed the Pistons in a four-game sweep to make it to the NBA Finals for the first time in team history. The first two games at Chicago Stadium were won rather easily and then they took Game Three, 113-107 for a commanding 3-0 series lead. Game Four was on Memorial Day and the Bulls wrapped it up with a 115-94 blowout win. That was the infamous moment for Detroit when a majority of their players (led by Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer) walked off the court in the closing seconds, refusing to shake hands with Bulls players.

Six days later, on Sunday, June 2, 1991 at Chicago Stadium, the Bulls faced the Los Angeles Lakers, who had taken out the Portland Trail Blazers in six games in the Western Conference Finals. A dream matchup for the NBA with Michael Jordan and the Bulls playing the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Earvin 'Magic' Johnson.
The Lakers drew first blood in the series, sneaking away with a 93-91 win as Sam Perkins hit a three-point shot in the closing seconds to seal it. However, the Bulls were not daunted and led by Jordan (33 points), all five starters reached double figures in scoring as Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant each had 20 points in a 107-86 win to tie the series (1-1) as the next three were going back to Los

Bulls celebrate first ever NBA title.

Angeles.
In Game Three, the Bulls rallied back in the fourth quarter to force overtime and they beat the Lakers, 104-96 and then smashed L.A. in Game Four, 97-82 for a commanding 3-1 series lead. To this point, MJ led the team with a 31.5 scoring average as they looked to close it out three nights later.
Indeed, the Chicago Bulls did close out the series in Los Angeles, winning Game Five, 108-101 as John Paxson drilled shot after shot in the fourth quarter to put the game away after an 80-80 tie after three quarters. Scottie Pippen led all scorers with 32 points and also grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out seven assists in a monster game. Jordan scored 30 and finished the series with a 31.2 PPG average and earned Most Valuable Player honors for the finals.

Finally, it could be said -- Chicago Bulls -- NBA Champions! 


(next up - The Bulls capture two more titles to go back-to-back and then get the Three-peat)

The Last Dance - Bravo! . . . And A Little Something Extra

First championship for Chicago Bulls, leading the way to 'The Last Dance'

The ESPN documentary of the 1990's Chicago Bulls dynasty called 'The Last Dance' just concluded and it was excellent, no doubt about it.
Prior to all the hoopla of the Bulls winning those six NBA championships was the build up to the team they would become as Michael Jordan showed in the highlights from his rookie year of 1984-85 all the way through the 1997-98 championship season.
Jordan was obviously the central figure on all the title teams. Scottie Pippen was the other main cog in the machine and along with Head Coach Phil Jackson, the trio formed the winning combination throughout that decade.
Earlier in the run power forward Horace Grant was a key figure on the team. Grant was drafted out of Clemson in the 1987 NBA Draft along with fellow rookie Pippen (Central Arkansas) and that duo, paired with Jordan was the beginning of the run the team would eventually have from the 1990-91 through 1992-93 seasons during the Bulls' original "three-peat" title teams.
Dennis Rodman came along later on when the team was reforming around Jordan and Pippen after MJ came back from his year-and-a-half retirement in March of 1995. That was all documented and during the ten episodes the timelines jumped around from that final season of '97-'98 back to the early '90's and of course the beginning of Jordan's career with the team.
Having been associated directly with the team from 1987 through 1994 as the Bulls sound engineer at all home games, I noticed there were some things amiss during the jumping around on the timeline throughout the ten episodes. But that was because it was Jordan's career path alone being followed for the production of 'The Last Dance.'
I remember seeing a lot of the folks who were behind the scenes featured in the documentary, including the security detail guy named John Michael Wozniak, who was tossing quarters with Jordan and also Gus Lett, whom MJ remembered quite fondly. Both of those fellows passed away in recent years.
They had been around since the days of the Chicago Stadium, (wearing yellow "security" windbreakers instead of the lavish suitcoats and fancy ties of the United Center days) where they would escort Jordan around and through the throngs of people mobbing him as he made his way from that memorable old arena located at 1800 West Madison street on Chicago's west side.
Jordan loved Chicago Stadium, so much in fact that when he played in Scottie Pippen's All-Star charity game on September 9th, 1994, he kissed the Chicago Bulls logo at center court after scoring 52 points in what was the last event ever held at Chicago Stadium. That was the last time the Bulls music staples of Rock and Roll Part 2 and the Sirius intro. theme played at the old barn.
That moment of MJ wasn't included in the timeline during the documentary even though it was his  first basketball action in public in over a year before his famous comeback.
Another key part in the development of the Bulls team during the 1980's that was left out of the timeline was the big brawl at Chicago Stadium during a game with the hated Detroit Pistons. It occurred in a game during the 1987-88 season and was really the beginning of the heated rivalry between the Bulls and Pistons that would run through four seasons as the Bulls would eventually knock out Detroit in a four-game sweep in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals en route to their first ever NBA championship. Former Bulls Head Coach Doug Collins was flattened by Pistons forward Rick Mahorn during the scrum and afterward had a nice shiner under his eye.
Another incident that was a funny one happened during the 1989-90 season prior to the change of public address announcers when Tommy Edwards was still the man behind the microphone at Bulls games.
The Bulls were playing the Detroit Pistons that night and prior to tip off, Pistons center Bill Laimbeer was mean mugging, making faces and pointing over at the Bulls layup line along with teammates and pretty much taunting the Bulls. Tommy saw the game ball sitting on the table in front of us and then remarked how Laimbeer was such an ass and then he took the basketball and scribbled something on it   . . .   Bill L. blows  was what he wrote.
So of course during the game, Laimbeer ends up at the foul line for free throws and he sees the words and he bitched and whined to the refs about the expletive written about him in between free throws. The game was stopped so the refs could get a new basketball in there and Tommy and myself are doing all we can to keep from busting out loud with laughter.
But Laimbeer is the same guy who in the documentary was calling the Bulls players whiners and saying they need to get over the fact that most of the Pistons' players walked off the court in the closing seconds of that famous Game Four, refusing to shake hands, when the Bulls were wrapping up the 1991 sweep of the Pistons.
Typical Laimbeer. Screw the 'Bad Boy' Detroit Pistons. Bill L. still blows . . . Tommy Edwards had it right all along.

MJ waiting to get back in the game (from left to right behind scorer's table) as official scorer Bob Rosenberg, Bulls PA announcer Tommy Edwards and myself running sound board look on at old Chicago Stadium during 1988-89 season.

A couple more to wrap things up -- Back in 1988 prior to the start of the season, the Bulls had a 'meet and greet' for the season ticket holders at Chicago Stadium to get autographs and all that sort of thing. That was the second season I was involved with the team as sound man and the team management wanted to have a "game atmosphere" for the fans to enjoy so we had the music going in a low key manner while the throngs of fans lined up at various spots of the stadium to meet the players prior to a brief practice session for the people.
Over at the west end of the stadium was the main entrance to the basketball court area and Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were seated there to sign autographs, so of course that was where the most fans were at and that's when I noticed MJ had stopped signing autographs and was walking toward the center court scorer's table where the music set up was located. 
Apparently, he was a big fan of Bobby Brown and the song "My Prerogative" had been playing until one of the front office people faded the song out and went into a different song while I was organizing some music tapes to play as the event went on. When MJ asked why the song was cut off, the management rep told him the fans may not recognize it and the music is for them. Needless to say after a short exchange, they asked me to recue the Bobby Brown song and MJ went back to the area to continue signing autographs, head bobbing to the music as he did so.
Reason to bring it up is because a few years later during the 1990-91 season, MJ had scored his 15,000th career point in a road game against the Philadelphia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks were in town two nights later and that was the game where Bulls marketing director Steve Schanwald decided it would be good to announce Michael  first and give him recognition for the feat during the famous 'lights out' introduction song.
By that time, Ray Clay was the Bulls' PA announcer and the music set up was in the organ loft on the east end of Chicago Stadium and it was a first of its kind computerized system in professional sports. When MJ was notified of the decision over the two-way radio, he wasn't happy about it during his shoot around session a couple of hours before game time. But this time, he relented and that was the only time in his Bulls career he was not the last player introduced during a home game in the pre-game ritual.
Wonder if MJ remembers that particular night in January of 1991 because he always wanted things to be a certain way with the game routine as he pointed out during 'The Last Dance' documentary. He let Schanwald know that, but that was (as MJ said it would be) the first and only time that would happen. The Bulls won that game as Jordan scored 31 points to lead the way.
Those were just some more of the behind the scenes activities of the Chicago Bulls during the championship years and prior years. Everyone has their own memories as well from those times, so it's always great to be able to remember and share those times.
That's what sports is all about and 'The Last Dance' helped bring it all back again.
Bravo! 

Ignore Trump And Live Longer

In the wake of the still increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported as well as the mounting death toll across the United States of America, many states are "re-opening" their borders and economies.


WTF !!

As Dr. Anthony Fauci has said over and over again, the coronavirus will determine the timeline of when things are safe for all of us. It's not up to business moguls and politicians across the country to just declare the pandemic is over with and everyone can go about business as usual like it's 2019 again.
It's not over.
Donald J. Trump, our nation's president, is looking to go around the country spreading his propaganda again in the days and weeks ahead at his silly rallies to try and convince the gullible to go out and live your lives like everything is just fine.
Well folks, if you feel that's the thing to do, then do so at your own peril because all that's going to come from that sort of thing is another wave of the COVID-19 virus infecting more people and more of our loved ones needlessly dying.
And for what? So Trump and his minions can look better for their chances to get re-elected?
No chance.
Don't be stupid.
Until the real medical experts say things are more normal for people to go about their daily routines without the virus being spread, the best thing to do is continue the stay-at-home orders and live healthy so others can do the same.
And don't (as Trump has advised) drink or inject Lysol or Clorox bleach products to beat the COVID-19 virus.
In fact, don't listen to Trump at all about anything and everyone stay safe and continue to look out for each other.