Staley Da Bear
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- Mar 16, 2019
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More than 100 Air Jordan I, IV, XII and XIIIs were distributed. Among those who received a pair were Bears owner Virginia McCaskey, chairman George H. McCaskey and his wife, Barb, and CEO/president Ted Phillips.
Nagy is a big fan of Michael Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships. The coach has shown Bears players clips of "The Last Dance," a compelling 10-hour documentary about Jordan and the Bulls that aired this spring to great fanfare.
"I'm a huge basketball fan, especially of MJ," Nagy said. "Just a ton of respect for him being the ultimate competitor and how important success was to him and the sacrifices he made to be the absolute best. I really enjoyed The Last Dance, as a fan and as a coach. Very motivational and applicable to our team and what we are trying to do, so we have shown many clips of the series to our team all offseason and a couple tonight in our team meeting as we prepare to face Detroit. I thought this was a fun way to carry that message through on our trip to Detroit."
Nagy felt it was appropriate to give away the Air Jordans on the Bears' trip to Detroit, given the rivalry between the Bulls and Detroit Pistons. The Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs by the Pistons for three straight years from 1988-90 before defeating Detroit in 1991 en route to winning their first NBA title.
"I thought this was a good tie into the Detroit trip because of the Bulls' battles versus the Pistons in the late '80s and early '90s," Nagy said. "Those games were nasty and the Bulls' win in the '91 playoffs was a testament to the work the Bulls put in, led by Michael, to get over that hump."