I am still kind of new to Chicago (I’ve only been here for two years), but I am certainly not new to the championship swag this city has had in the past in basketball. One name – Jordan. Michael Jordan and his other Hall of Fame teammates brought six championships to Chicago. SIX….that dynasty era will never be forgotten.
As champion-caliber cities do, Chicago suffered a drought. A drought which lasted for a while until that first pick in the 2008 NBA Draft of Chicago Native, Derrick Rose. It takes time to rebuild a championship city, so the rewards were not granted to a starving fan base right away. However, as loyal fans do, they stick behind their team and support them. Chicago knew with that first pick, Derrick Rose would lead them back to that championship, winning mentality.
This year Rose’s labor of love, passion, and sacrifice for his game have paid off. During this season, he willed is team to the best record in the Eastern Conference, coming only second to the San Antonio Spurs with the best record in the NBA. Rose and his teammates continued to persevere through hardships as two of their key members (Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah) missed games due to significant injuries. Rose had an MVP-like regular season and everyone knew he would get the call.
The NBA put to rest all the speculation this week and named Rose the 2010-2011 Most Valuable Player. What an accomplishment! He is now among the elite – Russell, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, Bird, Johnson, and many more. He is the youngest, at 22, to join this class of great players.
Derrick Rose credited his personal work ethic and his determination to work on his game during the offseason, so that he could be the MVP. Rose set a goal to be the MVP this year and he did achieve this goal. He also credited his mother Brenda. With a moving testimony to his mother, Rose began to shed tears. Certainly they were tears of joy and appreciation. Rose is so humble and even with all of his fame, realizes who continues with him on his journey. Rose is a humble young man, and that will definitely gain you cred on and off of the court.
The Bulls beat those pesky Indiana Pacers in the first round of this year’s playoffs and are battling a tough Atlanta Hawks team (Hawks lead 1-0). Who knows how far this Chicago Bulls team will go this year, but one thing is for certain, they have brought back the Championship-swag to this city. No, I don’t think it is too early to claim that because even if the Bulls don’t go further in the playoffs, they brought back the mojo to a city which has waited to feel again.
Meanwhile, they continue to support the Bulls and I think the fans here will say this was a good year after the playoffs finish. An MVP and the Coach of the Year (Tom Thibodeau), aint too bad.
SPEAK ON IT =)
Rebecca K. Roussell
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