Random Thoughts on recent deaths

1.) So many people who were in the news when I was growing up have died this year. It's like this year is the end of an era.

Some of those newsworthy people include

•  Queen Elizabeth II
• Mikhail Gorbachev (the last leader of the Soviet Union before the break-up)
• Bernard Shaw (CNN reporter most famous for his reporting during the 1st Gulf War)
• Madeline Albright (US Secretary of State under Bill Clinton)
• Ken Starr (the prosecutor who went after Bill Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky)
• Olivia Newton-John (singer/actress)
• Sidney Portier (1st African-American actor to win an Oscar award)

• Bill Russell (the real NBA "Greatest Of All Time", he had 11 championships, Michael Jordan only had 6)
• Naomi Judd (country music singer)
• Taylor Hawkins (drummer for rock band "Foo Fighters")
• Meat Loaf (rock-opera singer)
• Bob Saget (TV comedian)

I don't have time to comment on all of them, but here I go

Queen Elizabeth II

As the Queen of the United Kingdom, she had no real power to implement policies, she was just a figurehead to appear at ceremonies. 

The UK of today is just a tiny shadow of the British Empire that was already in decline when Queen Elizabeth was given the throne in 1952. 

She can't be blamed for the atrocities of the British Empire since she had no power to implement policies. However, she had the power to get people's attention, and she should've used that power to criticize the abuses of power that occurred when she was queen. She would've been truly legendary if she did.

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Mikhail Gorbachev

Just like Queen Elizabeth II, Gorbachev gained his position just when his empire was about to go down in a major way.

He wanted the Soviet Union to be a more open society and allowed for more economic and individual freedoms. 

He also withdrew troops from Afghanistan as well as the puppet states of Eastern Europe.

The fall of the Berlin Wall inspired more liberation movements throughout Eastern Europe and even in the Soviet Union itself.

The 15 republics within the Soviet Union eventually became independent.

At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union was over.

And there was a peaceful transfer of power from Gorbachev to the new Russian president Boris Yeltsin.

However, things didn't go smoothly.

Russia went through a recession throughout the 1990s.

Yeltsin's drunkenness was an international embarrassment.

Russians felt their nation has become a diminished shadow of a once powerful empire.

It was these conditions that led to the rise of Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, and a promised savior.

While the economy improved under Putin, human rights didn't. Just like in the old days, political opponents were jailed or killed in mysterious ways. 

And this year, Putin sent Russian troops to invade Ukraine.

It was as if in Gorbachev's final year of life, his work for a more open and tolerant Russia was all deemed to be a failure.

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Bill Russell

Bill Russell is the real "Greatest of All Time" when it comes to professional basketball.

He has won 11 championships, more than the 6 that Michael Jordan won.

Michael Jordan had the advantage of playing in an era of international media coverage. He also had the advantage of growing up in the post-Jim-Crow era, whereas Bill Russell was playing when the Civil Rights Movement was going on, and he had to deal with the indignities of not being allowed in hotels in certain areas of the country.

But the most important reason Bill Russell is greater than Michael Jordan was the way he treated his teammates.

Michael Jordan was the epitome of the bully jock. He didn't just talk trash to his opponents, he did the same to his teammates. He was toxic to his own teammate's mental health because "f--- you, because I can"!  Some people think that's why he's great. But what if Jordan could be greater? Bill Russell was greater.

Here is a great explanation of all that, as written by Dave Zirin

Dave Zirin, “Michael Jordan and the Tragedy of the Bully,” Edge of Sports,  May 13, 2020 https://www.edgeofsports.com/michael-jordan-and-the-tragedy-of-the-bully/index.html

The Last Dance sends the message to everyone—particularly young ballplayers—that winning in sports and life demands that you be the bully. Everything is justified, if the ends involve confetti and rings. Even hauling off and punching someone smaller than you in the face, as Jordan did with teammate Steve Kerr, is remembered as something closer to a bonding experience—a macho rite of passage—than as an embarrassing loss of temper.

The Last Dance, like its protagonist, shrugs its shoulders and says, in effect, that this is the price of greatness. But is it? If this entire series weren’t just an exercise in Jordan brand extension for the 21st century, it might ask this question. It could examine other examples of greatness and ask if being “like Mike” is how you come out a winner. If it did, this thesis would collapse under scrutiny.

Just look at Bill Russell. The Celtics great is the most prolific winner in NBA history, with 11 championships in 13 years. Russell’s style of leadership did not involve demeaning and denigration. The great Frank Deford, in a brilliant 1999 profile of Russell, called him “the most divine teammate there ever was.” “‘He was just so nice to be with on the team,’ says Frank Ramsey, who played with Russell from 1956 to ’64, Russell’s first eight years in the NBA. ‘It was only when others came around that he set up that wall…’”

For Russell, the love was saved for his team. The wall came up as sponsors, fans, and opponents demanded their piece of him. Jordan was the opposite. Outside the team, he gave us that winning smile and sold us products, but his squad got the back of his hand. Jordan was pure capitalism: expanding his brand off the court, and a cutthroat bully with his own team. Russell was pure resistance: finding love and solidarity among teammates and fiercely holding onto his sense of self off of the court.

and this 

His white teammates who didn’t show him solidarity, particularly on Russell’s proud struggles against racism, still loved him then and feel guilty today that they didn’t do more. One gets the feeling that the only regrets Jordan’s teammates have is that they didn’t stand up to him more and instead let him break their will.

 and this

Russell had teammates who became his brothers for life. Jordan has generated only wary respect and resentful awe. 

and most importantly, this

If The Last Dance had courage, it would be a cautionary tale instead of a hagiography. It would not only explore the price of greatness, or whatever such branded nonsense. It would be a warning: You don’t need to act this way if you want to win. It’s actually antithetical to what’s best about sports. You can get away with being the bully when you’re the best player on the planet. But being able to bully someone is not the same as a justification to do so. It’s exercising power over someone just for the sake of doing so. That’s not admirable. That’s abusive. Rings don’t make it right.

 

I'm old enough to remember the "Be Like Mike" ads on TV

Be Like Mike?

No, I want to be more like Bill Russell!

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you can also learn more about Bill Russell's legacy at

Dave Zirin, “Bill Russell Was a Revolutionary,” Edge of Sports, August 3, 2020, https://www.edgeofsports.com/bill-russell-was-a-revolutionary/index.html.