- That Kobe segment is crushing. Such a poignant reminder about how public discourse often doesn't know shit about reality. All the debates "we" have about them being something he wanted no part of. Must have fucked Mike up something ridiculous to see that again. As cutthroat as he was, for him to take his only heir apparent under his wing like that, was beautiful.

- "Gimme the fortune, keep the fame." Man shit, just watching a few parts of that and imagining that everyday was suffocating. THIS, to me, is why private schools are necessary, so that the kids of celebrities can have some semblance of a normal life. We like to think we'd know how to deal with top 5 worldwide status but we don't have a fucking clue.

- Politics as usual. I can understand how his singular focus was basketball, and he didn't want to delve into politics. Activism didn't seem to be ingrained in him, so it's not exactly surprising that he wasn't comfortable with attaching himself to a candidate, even if he donates to their cause. If it had been a personal friend, he probably does get more involved (like Dave did with Ben Jealous in MD), but ultimately a reminder that even when we're impressed by it, the expectation that prominent black people demonstrate activism is unrealistic. Would have been a great time to focus on Craig Hodges, though.

- THE KNICKS. Damn those series were great. That Game 5 in 93 was a classic for so many reasons, which they expounded on in the SportsCenter that followed. Mike getting the wind knocked out of him, then making the next 7 shots, the ending with Charles Smith, but the back and forth throughout, just bananas.

- Jerry Krause. His own words. He spent so much time talking about the "organization" and mentioned the team almost like a sidenote. Like he just HAD to get that credit and diminish the most important aspect of their collective success. It's amazing that they were able to sustain greatness as long as they did with such acrimony. The Cowboys with Jimmy and Jerry is the only other comparable example I can think of.

- MJ "knowing how to win." That segment with BJ was incredible and validating. I thought it was childhood nostalgia, but with all the WGN games I was logging in (forget all the nationally covered stuff), there was a tv sitcom-like convention to Bulls games. Mike would either get folks involved early and work within the grand scheme of things, take over late if necessary, or he'd sense the need to 'score the basketball' early and often. I don't know how deeply they will go into it but his basketball IQ was second to none.

- I recently read up on the guys convicted of murdering his dad (one is appealing the sentence), and it had a lot of layers. I will be surprised if they spend a lot of time on it since the Jordan family has taken a fairly unified stance on not going very deep on the matter.

If nothing else, these last two episodes illustrate how mentally fatigued Mike was in that spotlight, and that was BEFORE his dad was murdered.

Can't believe we're more than halfway home already.