CNN’s Brandon Tensley On “The Last Dance”: In America, Inequality Touches Everything — Including Sports

I’m a Chicago girl, people. So I’ve been so looking forward to watching ESPN’s The Last Dance. The 10-party special highlights the Chicago Bulls during the Michael Jordan era. The series focuses specifically on the 1997-1998 season but covers whole era.

I’ve watched the first two episodes and have thoroughly enjoyed it. It has brought back many great childhood memories.

There will never be another player as good as MJ. He IS the GOAT. Don’t even talk to me about Lebron or Kobe.

Brandon Tensley of CNN, on the other hand, has not enjoyed the special as much as I have. So far, instead of seeing the sports story, Tensley sees it as a story that can only be summarized as “America sucks and is racist!” It’s quite unreal. What a sad way to view the world.

This is why everyone hates you https://t.co/NG14yAynd3

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 27, 2020

Good grief, CNN!  The Last Dance is not a reminder of America’s “enduring inequality.”  It is a reminder that in America, you can go from dirt poor to millionaire.

Why is Tensley complaining about inequality after watching The Last Dance?  Well, Tensley based his opinion on Scottie Pippen’s portion of the story.

Episode two highlighted Pippen’s rise out of poverty. He came from a large, poor family. His superior basketball skills earned him a college education and many millions as an NBA player.

Pippen was underpaid. But, it wasn’t because he was black. He wanted the security of a long-term contract. He was warned against it by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

“I said to Scottie the same thing I said to Michael: If I were you, I wouldn’t sign this contract. You may be selling yourself too short. It’s too long a contract you’re locking yourself in for.”

Scottie’s contract was not evidence of racism. It was a choice. Was his choice influenced by his background in poverty? Certainly. Everyone’s choices are influenced by their past experiences. Scottie’s choice was bad only in retrospect. Hindsight is always 20/20. It would have been a gamble to sign a short contract and risk a career-ending injury.

“I felt like I couldn’t afford to gamble myself getting injured and not being able to provide,” Pippen says in the series. “I needed to make sure that people in my corner were taken care of.”

The journalist Jemele Hill, who worked at ESPN for more than a decade, explained further why a young Pippen, already intimately familiar with the realities of the country’s racial wealth gap, would agree to something that in the long run wasn’t good for him.

“While not all black athletes in the NBA come from impoverished backgrounds, for the ones who do, it’s not as smooth a ride as you might think,” Hill told CNN. “Players often lean into their own understanding of things because it’s more comfortable than listening to the interlopers — the agents and other advisers — who are now in their world. … And for Pippen, looked at by his family as the one who made it, the years counted more than the money.”

“We don’t understand that poverty isn’t just a cycle. It’s traumatic,” Hill said, referring to the disorientation of sudden acclaim and wealth. “What Pippen wasn’t taught to think — because if you’re from his background, why would you be taught to think this? — was that he’d be a better player in a few years, and that’s why you don’t sign. He was thinking of all the bad things that might happen if he didn’t sign.”

Poverty isn’t limited to African Americans. There are plenty of poor white people. Read JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy if you are interested in their story. But even Vance is a story of American opportunity. He pulled himself out of poverty and ended up with a law degree from Yale. Only in America!

Brandon Tensley and CNN

I wanted to find out more about this Brandon Tensley fellow so I decided to check out his Twitter feed. He has a protected feed and must approve anyone who wants to follow him. Highly unusual for a journalist! Maybe he protected it after all the blowback he’s received for his garbage piece.

The folks at CNN see things through a different lens than most of us. They see everything in terms of racism and oppression. They do not see America as a land of opportunity. There is no American Dream at CNN. It’s like they are living in a different universe.

Tensley concluded his article by saying,

In this light, “The Last Dance” is more than just the story of a legendary basketball team. It’s a broader reminder that, in America, inequality touches everything — including sports.

Only to you Mr. Tensley! The rest of us just enjoy reliving a time in sports that saw an amazing dynasty and the greatest player ever.