In 1998, the Chicago Bulls invited a film crew to video without restriction what would be their last season as the greatest professional sports team of all time. This footage sat in the can until more than 20 years later when it was used with the original film and interviews with all kinds of people, from athletes to presidents.

In 1982, Michael Jordan arrived on the scene as a freshman college player. The rest is history. In this space of time, the Berlin Wall fell, the USSR imploded, and limited wars took place. A Republican presidential candidate raised taxes and lost an election. The U.S. had a budget surplus. While this is primarily a sports film, it covers a time in America when the future looked bright. Each of the 10 episodes is about an hour long. I’d like your recollections and feedback to try to find out how we went so wrong. I could show JFK, but solving that riddle would be too easy.

This course will consist of viewing the listed films followed by discussions.

Image: “Michael Jordan” by Kip-koech is licensed under CC BY 2.0.