As I watched a late-night NBATV special last night documenting Scottie Pippen's career as he is now being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame soon, I realized two things: 1) how under-appreciated Pippen was considering the amount of intangibles he contributed to the Bulls empire in the 1990's, and 2)he exhibits less voice inflection in interviews than Ben Stein. In fact, I am convinced that if Pippen taught Consumer Economics at my high school, I definitely wouldn't have graduated and would probably be pedaling Dum Dums suckers for nickels and dimes outside Ogilvy Train Station. Regardless, for some reason people tend to scrutinize "Pip" (not the character from Great Expectations) for a variety of reasons. I don't know how this rumor possibly spread throughout the entire city limits of Chicago, but he is almost always castigated by Chicago civilians and referred to as "No Tippin Pippen". Did every Bulls fan from 1991-1998 tend bar at LaSalle Power Company for an extended period of time to learn this information? I even heard once that Pippen and his wife would rent outfits from expensive department stores downtown only to return them the next day. If this is true, I wouldn't be so much disgusted with Pip as I would be applauding Scottie's frugality. He was just giving that outfit a "test-drive" and it didn't flatter is 6'9'' figure. When you're 6'9'' and have to buy tailored suits, you have the right to make fun of him. If not, go back to Jos A. Bank with your coworkers on your lunch break and raid the clearance rack during the 2 for 1 dress shirt sale--because that's not being cheap, right?.
Also, people knock Scottie for "taking himself out" when the Zen master opted to let Kukoc take the final shot against the Knicks in 1994 (a shot Kukoc made). Scottie got pissed, overreacted, and threw a hissy fit and people have always chastised him and questioned his loyalty as a teammate to the Bulls. This was Pippen's one lump on his legacy. Some people forgot about you effortlessly grabbing huge second-chance boards and relentlessly feeding Luc Longley in the post (thank god that is not true). He established himself as one of the most versatile players in NBA history. Pippen was the all-inclusive drink deal of professional basketball in the 1990's. You can drink Bombay and Tonics until you don't know your social security number (or ATM pin) when drinks are free, but as soon as you lose Pippen, or start having to pay full price for drinks, you're constantly getting free refills on your Diet Coke because you don't want to throw away next months rent. People took Pippen for granted. Phil Jackson did, Jerry Krause did, even Jordan did. The truth is, Scottie's one of the fifty best ever, and he deserves to have that legacy. Not some penny pushing, ingenuous Small Forward who just happened to have the best player who ever lived fall into his lap and get handed 6 rings like he was a cashier at a Cash for Gold resale shop.
Speaking of Jordan, I'm not sure that when Jordan inducts Pippen into the hall as his guest speaker next week, if he will indulge us with another Kenny Powers-esque self-loathing rant, or reiterate the sentiments laid out to you in this article. Either way, Scottie should be remembered for the good things he did for the bulls and the "hammer and nail" attitude he brought toward building their dynasty. And of course, for having humongous facial features that made the job of the caricature artists at Great America extremely easy. Enjoy your ceremony Scottie, just tip your valet guy when you get there.
As for pick of the day, after watching the Cincinnati Reds roll through the North Side of town making the Cubs look like the Rockford Peaches (Rosie O'Donnel included), the Pulse Man is going to take the Reds after they dropped their own series opener Monday against the Cardinals. He likes John "Chili con" Cueto to win on the moneyline at (-130). He needs this one because he's sitting at (8-8) right now so he will undoubtedly be sitting in his parents living room hitting refresh on the Reds website like some 14 waiting for the welivetogether.com (no, I'm not gonna link that perv) site to boot up. Let's all hope it's a blowout, right Pauly D?
Pick of the Day: Reds @ Cardinals- moneyline REDS (-130)
Record :(8-8-0)
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