Spoken record: Michael refused to play with Isiah
Even after 28 years, it’s the story that just won’t die.
ESPN’s recently aired documentary series “The Last Dance,” chronicling Michael Jordan’s last championship season with the Bulls, rekindled interest in Jordan’s long-running feud with Isiah Thomas, including how the Pistons star was left off the 1992 Dream Team that won Olympic gold in Barcelona.
Author Jack McCallum addressed the controversy in the most recent episode of his “The Dream Team Tapes” podcast series. McCallum said Jordan brought up the issue of Thomas in a 2011 interview.
“When they called me and asked me to play — Rod Thorn called me. I said, ‘Rod, I won’t play if Isiah Thomas is on the team.’ He assured me. He said, ‘Chuck doesn’t want Isiah. So Isiah is not going to be part of the team,’ ” Jordan said on the recording that McCallum played during the podcast.
Chuck, of course, referred to Chuck Daly, the U.S. Olympic team coach who also coached Thomas with the Pistons. McCallum went on to address the argument that Jordan should not have had the power to exclude Thomas from the team, saying it was quite clear at the time that Jordan wasn’t the only one who didn’t want him on the roster.
NOTE: All IDNR sites open Friday. Hours will return to usual site hours.
AREA LAKES: Spawning activity heats up. Forest Preserves of Cook County have not decided when trout waters open. Pete Lamar: Bluegills, especially, and largemouth going strong; carp spawning. Ken “Husker’’ O’Malley: Find cleanest water; largemouth good on lipless crankbaits and spinner baits; bluegill starting to bed.
CHAIN/FOX RIVER: Chain, upper and lower Fox River closed to boating. Updates at foxwaterway.com or (847) 587-8540.
AREA RIVERS: CHICAGO: Riverwalk closed. Jeff Nolan: Slow downtown; carp stacked at Origins Park. ILLINOIS: In flood from Starved Rock downstream. KANKAKEE: Off flood, but discolored/high.
COOLING LAKES/STRIP PITS: Braidwood, Mazonia and LaSalle reopen Friday. Hours will be usual 6 a.m. to sunset. HEIDECKE: Absolutely packed, as O’Malley noted: Time your launch to avoid traffic jams. Multi-species on crankbaits; smallmouth, walleye and crappie are decent.
DELAVAN/GENEVA, WIS.: Dave Duwe: DELAVAN: Improving daily; bluegill (best in 3-4 ft.) and pike excellent; crappie good suspending off break line in 12-25 ft.; largemouth starting to bed; walleye night bite in 5 ft. off points. GENEVA: Improved dramatically; rock bass everywhere in 9-12 ft.; smallmouth starting to spawn; bluegills showing shallow as are largemouth.
LAKEFRONT: Chicago harbors, lakefront and Riverwalk remain closed. Chartering begins Friday outside of Chicago. Capt. Bot Poteshman: Out of North Point, coho, some lake trout and steelhead, and a few kings in 130-220 ft. Capt. Scott Wolfe: In shakedown cruises out of Waukegan before chartering restarts, good lake trout with a few kings and coho in 60-80 ft.
N. WIS.: Kurt Justice: Astonishing opener for muskie around Minocqua, including some multiple-fish days, and a walleye angler caught a 49-incher, small bucktails best; crappie (moved in to spawn) and largemouth (wacky worms, squarebills, spinner baits, even some topwater) are very good; smallmouth are good to very good (catch and release) and walleye are good (target green cabbage).
NW IND.: Poteshman: Out of East Chicago, go well offshore to find clean water; good lakers and some coho well offshore. Slez’s: Coho, kings and lakers in 55-60 ft., trolling east from the Ditch, pockets of fish around Michigan City; lakers straight out of Ditch in 70-80; Willow Slough good for boaters, bluegills bedding.
SW MICH.: Tackle Haven: Bass anglers catching incidental walleye in the river; boaters catching chinook in 80-100 ft., shallow as 40 off New Buffalo. SHABBONA: Lakeside reopens Friday with boat rentals. On Friday, site hours go 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
WOLF LAKE: William Powers SRA reopens Friday.
WOLF RIVER, WIS. FREMONT: Bill Stoeger: White bass spawn is over, should have a week of catching males on rigs in deep-water channels; channel catfish good; bluegills bedding. Curt Pazdro: Caught white bass, but most boat traffic ever, so busy “local gas station was out of minnows and ice cream.’’