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O'Donnell: Any Bulls title a longshot until Reinsdorf sells

JERRY REINSDORF HAS BEEN an amazing businessman.

In a remarkable seven-year span (1987 to 1994) he got two world-class sports venues - the new White Sox ballpark and the United Center - built.

And the baseball stadium - now Guaranteed Rate Field - was done on the public dime.

Much more often than not, in his prime, any time Reinsdorf walked into a negotiating session, he really was the smartest guy in the room.

Which, in retrospect, continues to make the damning breakup of Michael Jordan and the six-time world champion Bulls continue to loom as the neon "Riddler?" stamp on his profit vitae.

A man who could make shrewd Illinois politicos like Jim Thompson, Mike Madigan and Richie Daley bend, couldn't call Jerry Krause in for a brief chat and tell him:

"For the sake of the continuity and future imaging of the franchise, you've got to cut the bullsheet with Phil Jackson and allow us to get him and Michael back for a try at a seventh title."

Especially considering that seventh - in 1998-99 - would have come in a strike-shortened season, a prefabbed blessing for an aging band of bubblers.

Instead, Reinsdorf allowed unconscionable pettiness to reign.

And the karmic payback to he and son Michael Reinsdorf - now president of the Bulls - has been "The Curse of the Breakup."

Consider:

• From Night One as an NBA franchise - a victory in St. Louis televised back to Chicago by WGN-Channel 9 and good ol' Jack Brickhouse - it took the Bulls 25 seasons to win Championship No. 1;

• Since Championship No. 6, the night of kinetic glory when Jordan where-aired? Bryon Russell somewhere toward Park City, Utah, the Bulls are nearing 22 campaigns without a title.

Some symmetry.

Let others fill in the minutiae, including the most recent about the probable hiring of Euro stowaway Arturas Karnisovas as the new Bulls VP/basketball ops.

As long as the Reinsdorf name is attached to the franchise, "The Curse" trumps all.

And for less dysfunctional NBA teams competing for top-level free agents, that surname makes the Bulls one of the easiest "sell-againsts" in the history of the league.

That is an inconvenient truth.

So the chairman in the mirror must do the right thing by a city and the remnants of a seasoned fan base that has pushed his net worth toward $1 billion.

Sell the Bulls.

Let fresh hope fly.

Don't force your devoted son to be the futile sweeper after a circus parade of remarkable joy and awe that is long over.

Stay amazing to those who still hold you in high regard.

And don't let your legacy fade to crust.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT Rudy Tomjanovich will be a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame, Class of '20, brought a great memory from old Michigan teammate Tom Lundstedt:

"Rudy, Dan Fife, Mark Berg and I shared an apartment in Ann Arbor from 1967 to 1970 and all were pretty good basketball players on scholarship. But Rudy was unbelievably good.

"We had a road trip in 1969 to play the Minnesota (Golden) Gophers in a televised Saturday afternoon 'Big Ten Game of the Week' with Bill Flemming on the call.

"The night before, we went to a White Castle in Minneapolis and Rudy ate 36 sliders. The next day, we got beat, but Rudy scored 36 points.

"We told him he should have eaten more sliders."

Tomjanovich was the second overall pick in the 1970 NBA draft, behind Bob Lanier, taken by the San Diego Rockets. (Ahead of Pete Maravich and Dave Cowens.)

That was the same year Lundstedt was the Cubs' top selection in the MLB supplemental draft.

STREET-BEATIN': After all of the hullabaloo, Drew Brees apparently will sign with NBC as likely successor to Cris Collinsworth in the "Sunday Night Football" booth sometime after the 2020 season. First duties of Brees with The Peacock will include the analyst's chair on Notre Dame football games. ...

Darrin Jackson has some support in the White Sox front office to succeed the late Ed Farmer as radio play-by-play man. A more fluid pairing would have Andy Masur calling balls-and-strikes with Jackson remaining as color man. ...

Notre Dame tight end Cole Kmet - the pride of Lake Barrington - will be one of the top 58 prospects "virtually" participating in the NFL draft April 23. (With a little luck, the St. Viator grad will be a virtual first-round pick.) ...

The passing of Pat Stapleton recalls when his Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association played two home games of the 1974 AVCO Finals vs. Gordie Howe and the Houston Aeros at the 2,800-seat Randhurst Twin Ice Arena in Mount Prospect. (The Aeros swept; the Arena later hosted Ted Nugent, remained standing and is now a Home Depot.) ...

Odd note on Larry Brodacz, the car sales manager shot dead attempting that bizarre daytime home invasion in north Arlington Heights last weekend: His wife was competing in the Chicago Golden Gloves after giving birth to four children. (They later divorced.) ...

And the Golf Channel's plain-speaking Notah Begay III, on the Masters futures of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson: "Tiger might not win it again and Phil is a long way away. I've got money saying Phil won't win another tournament the rest of his PGA Tour career - I just won't say where I placed that wager."

• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

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