Close your eyes and it felt like 1991 again

The Bulls organized a class reunion for about eight or nine million people Saturday night.

Count most of their 1991 players among them. Include the 22,885 fans in the United Center. Finally add the entire population of the Chicago area.

That adds up to a lot of bodies crammed into one banquet hall, but there still was room for anyone who wanted to say they were present when ...

You know, when Michael Jordan switched hands in midair for a spectacular layup in the NBA Finals; when Scottie Pippen switched defensive assignments to stifle Magic Johnson; when John Paxson hit big shots down the stretch to secure the title-clinching victory in Los Angeles.

“Thank you for all your support,” Jordan said Saturday to the crowd in the UC and everyone watching everywhere else around the region.

The occasion was the 20-year anniversary celebration of the franchise's first of six NBA championships.

Close your eyes or leave them open, either way it was almost like you were back then and there again.

The Chicago Stadium is the UC now. Jordan wears a suit instead of a uniform. Several teammates carry myriad more pounds and gray hairs.

But in the mind's eye on this night the Bulls were back in their prime — young and restless and defiant — and the rest of us hopped aboard for another wild ride.

No wonder Pippen thanked the Bulls organization “for bringing back a memory we all want to live just one more time.”

Give the 2011 Bulls credit for contributing to the festivities by cruising past the Utah Jazz 118-100 like the '91 Bulls cruised past every team that dared stand in their way.

“Just a special night,” current Bulls' center Joakim Noah said. “It's unbelievable to see how 20 years later these guys get the love they get. Very deserving.”

Just think how embarrassing it would have been if the current Bulls were 18-47 instead of 47-18. The comparison would have been damning.

Oh, heck, Paxson, now the Bulls' executive vice president/basketball operations, still would have been applauded for what he did while wearing No. 5 in 1991.

As it was, the crowd cheered Paxson for both then and now.

Phil Jackson, the head coach of that Bulls' team, was in Dallas coaching the Lakers and missed the reunion.

However, Jackson sent a video message that included about 1991, “It was just the start of something big.”

Yes, that's why those Bulls remain special. It wasn't only what they achieved that season but what they set the stage for the rest of the decade.

The Bulls won five more NBA titles. Jordan became the best basketball player ever. He, Pippen and Jackson were voted into the Hall of Fame.

In other words those Bulls of Jordan-Pippen-Jackson did what no other Chicago champion has been able to do yet: Win, repeat and become a dynasty.

The '85 Bears didn't, the '05 White Sox didn't and the '10 Blackhawks still must prove they can.

But the Bulls had to win the first one before winning the others, and that first one still is as memorable as other firsts like a first car and first kiss.

“The stuff those teams did was remarkable,” current Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of the '90s Bulls. “I'm thrilled to be here (Saturday).”

So were millions of others — in person, in living rooms, in taverns or in spirit — who for a few glorious moments were reunited with that glorious 1991 championship season.

mimrem@dailyherald.com