Jim O'Donnell: Does Tony La Russa have Michael Jordan to thank for his new gig?
DOES TONY LA RUSSA have Michael Jordan and "The Last Dance" to thank for his new autumnal roost as manager of the White Sox?
Memorable works of drama are supposed to include tension points.
Those are the junctures in a narrative when danger is at the door, when upstreaming heroes have to sweat out formidable obstacles such as temples of doom or a perilous count of mail-in ballots.
That's why Jerry Reinsdorf's appearance in "The Last Dance" was of invaluable help to the producers of the Jordan infomercial.
He became a most important dancing villain, a marvelous point of recurring tension.
Reinsdorf attempted to offer fresh words and laughably self-serving recall on why Jordan and a six-time NBA championship culture had to be thrown away with yesterday's empty Gatorade bottles.
In the end, a gentleman with as sharp of a mind as Reinsdorf had to be aware he came off as imperious and unconvincing.
So unconvincing that when The One Great Scorer comes to mark against his name, high on the list of Reinsdorf pluses and minuses will be:
"Man who gratuitously tossed the most theatrically competitive player in the history of basketball overboard for no good reason with a strike-shortened seventh NBA title pleading to be taken."
In the wake of all of that, with enough money to play liars poker with the Pritzkers, has Reinsdorf, 84, hit the point where he cranks Frank Sinatra's "My Way" louder than ever each morning?
Reinsdorf's way certainly extended to the hiring of the 76-year-old La Russa.
He made Sox baseball execs Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams seem irrelevant.
He showed with his own hammer of Thor who's the boss at the intersection of 35th Street and Illinois Public Trough.
And implicitly, Herr Jer' acknowledged that he doesn't really give a cat's nap about the remnants of select perception of his public image.
Was the negative blowback from his appearance in "The Last Dance" the final motivator for Reinsdorf to decide that he will run his valedictory laps with the people he wants to, metrics and dugout Metamucil be damned?
And, quite frankly, why shouldn't he?
He ain't getting the 1998 window back to have the celestial No. 23 soaring to title No. 7.
STREET-BEATIN': One year ago, Jimmy Garoppolo and the Forty-Niners were 7-0 and en route to the Super Bowl. It will be a significantly different story if their "Thursday Night Football" game vs. visiting Green Bay goes on as scheduled (Fox/NFL Network; 7:20 p.m.) - Jimmy G is headed for injured reserve and battered SF (4-4) shut its headquarters Wednesday after WR Kendrick Bourne tested positive for COVID. ...
Whatever the "miscommunication" between Nick Foles and credible Brian Griese of "Monday Night Football," the Bears QB got his point across - Matt Nagy has failed to adjust sets and call plays more likely to circumvent the glaring deficiencies of his team's dreadful offensive line. (And why does Nagy so intently need a call card involving an offense he structured and has been tweaking since 2018?) ...
Speaking of "MNF," Griese, Louis Riddick and Steve Levy are clearly placeholders. Levy is awful - loud and Rotarian - and simply more evidence that so much of what ESPN touches turns to cheese. ...
On the flip side, Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware is as good a college football analyst as there is for the cable sports giant. He and Jason Benetti work No. 11 Miami-North Carolina State Friday (ESPN, 6:30 p.m.) ...
In an unfathomable decision that could not have been made by Chicago-steeped minds, WGN-AM (720) no longer broadcasts Ed O'Bradovich and Dan Hampton live after Bears games. They're now on Tuesdays from 7-10 p.m. (The station is absolutely devouring itself - why not just air super drone John Williams for all 24 hours of each programming day?) ...
NBCSN will do most of the heavy lifting when the two-day 2020 Breeders' Cup airs from Keeneland beginning Friday (1 p.m.) Best thing about the diluted series is it is the most concentrated American racing of the year when the mainstream bettor can be reasonably assured almost all connections are trying. ...
Great archival find: YouTube "Tony La Russa To Tell The Truth." It's a 1980 taping from the final throes of the legacied game show featuring the 35-year-old Sox skipper in front of panelists Kitty Carlisle, Dick Van Patten, Rita Moreno and Nipsey Russell. (In real life, Carlisle ditched George Gershwin in favor of playwright Moss Hart - kind of like Reinsdorf with Rick Renteria and La Russa.) ...
And Scott Hipple, on the MLB resurrection of La Russa: "Does this mean Tommy Lasorda is back out jogging?"
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.