Jordan 3000

On April 16, 1987, the Chicago Bulls lost their penultimate regular season game 117-114 to the first place Atlanta Hawks. But don’t blame Michael Jordan. His Airness, the 1986 Slam Dunk Champion, finished with a cool 61 points, 10 boards, 4 steals, a block and an assist in 41 minutes. Jordan’s 61-point outburst was his third straight game with 50 or more points and, during the third quarter, he put up an incredible 23 straight points, a National Basketball Association record. Two of those 23 points, a lay-up, put Jordan past the 3,000-point mark for the season, making him only the second player-- the first since Wilt Chamberlain-- to scale such lofty heights.

The following night, against the Boston Celtics, Jordan scored a comparably pedestrian 17 points, which brought his season total to a ridiculous 3,041 points, or 240 less than his total minutes played for the entire season. Amazingly, Jordan averaged an unconscious 37 points per 40 minutes that year.

Via Chicago

I just returned from a long weekend in Chicago, quite possibly the coldest place I ever hope to visit. I ate a ton of pizza, and nearly got blown away into Lake Michigan, like a two-dollar umbrella. If you've never been, I highly recommend visiting, although I'd wait until at least mid-May for the ice to thaw and the wind to die down, which usually happens, I've been told, around the same time the oppressive humidity kicks in.  

I'm still a bit out of sorts, and hope to get readjusted to blog-time in a day or so. Despite arriving home to 12 inches of snow, spring is, thankfully, right around the corner, which means March Madness and, at last, the return of Major League Baseball. I have some interesting things planned for the blog this month and throughout the rest of the summer. In the meantime, here are three clips that I couldn't help but think about while riding the El. 

Enjoy, as always.