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Before the Bulls won all their championships, back when they were trying to get past the NBA champion Detroit Pistons, the great Charles Cherney took a fantastic shot of Michael Jordan. It found him crumpled on the Bulls’ bench, having been beaten into submission by the “Bad Boy” Pistons during what must have been the 1990 NBA Eastern Conference finals. I clipped that picture and attached it to my framed Norman Rockwell Cubs print — the one with Charlie Grimm and the Cubs despondent in the dugout. Also in the frame, under the glass, were my 1984 Cubs World Series tickets and my 1989 series ticket. It was my shrine to Chicago sports honor in defeat, but after the Bulls began winning their championships in sets of three I had to take it down to the basement. It no longer resonated (well, except for the Cubs). I hated those Pistons and how they just simply pounded Jordan to keep him down, and it was the sweetest sports pleasure when the Bulls swept Detroit in 1991 on the way to their first championship.
