Unless you’ve been living under a sports rock the past few weeks, you’ve at least heard about the basketball documentary that is The Last Dance.
Consisting of 10 episodes spanning April 19th through May 17th, the series focuses on the famed Chicago Bulls NBA team from the 1997-98 season. The season represented basketball icon Michael Jordan‘s final run with the team.
Per ESPN, the decision to release the series early was arrived at given the current coronavirus pandemic that’s impacting the entire world.
‘As society navigates this time without live sports, viewers are still looking to the sports world to escape and enjoy a collective experience. This project celebrates one of the greatest players and dynasties ever, and we hope it can serve as a unifying entertainment experience to fill the role that sports often play in our lives, telling a story that will captivate everyone, not just sports fans.’
So what’s the swimming connection? Only the fact that one of the most successful swimmers of all-time, American Katie Ledecky, crossed paths with Jordan early on in life.
Ledecky’s uncle, Jon Ledecky, was a prior part-owner of the Washington Wizards when Jordan was the team president in 2000. In attendance at a Wizards game at just 3 years of age, now-multi-Olympic gold medalist Ledecky was captured playing peek-a-boo with arguably the best basketball player of all-time.
“Grabbing my popcorn for tonight’s episodes of #TheLastDance. I can tell you one thing about Michael Jordan: he’s a tough peek-a-boo player but he didn’t stand a chance against my popcorn,” is how Ledecky described her tweet posted on April 26th about the unique encounter.
Grabbing my popcorn for tonight's episodes of #TheLastDance. I can tell you one thing about Michael Jordan: he's a tough peek-a-boo player but he didn't stand a chance against my popcorn. pic.twitter.com/fvAWlzNhuQ
— Katie Ledecky (@katieledecky) April 26, 2020
My first thought when I saw I this was “why is he touching her face.” Then I realized we weren’t in a pandemic when this video was made.
That’s a game face right there, up there with the Phelps face
Thanks for running this story down.