If you haven’t already watched “The Last Dance” that shows a backdoor view of the Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls run of six NBA Championship titles…..now is the time to start your Netflix account and binge watch it all.
As we know, Jordan and the bulls won back to back titles three years in a row.
- 1991 NBA Championship
- 1992 Nba Championship
- 1993 NBA Championship
- 1996 NBA Championship
- 1997 NBA Championship
- 1998 NBA Championship
During this time Phil Jackson was known to use sage to smudge the team and team room. Also it was said that they would use Native American drums to pump up the players and get them ready for battle.
When Phil was coaching the L.A Lakers, Shaq mistakenly thought Phil was lighting up marijuana.
“It smelled just like weed,” O’Neal said. “I said coach, ‘Is this weed?’ He said ‘no, it’s sage, it’s the cousin of cannabis.'”
Shaq to Phil Jackson
When Phil first met Dennis Rodman, it wasn’t a great first impression. From the show – “Last Dance”, Phil explains it like this:
“It was awful,” Jackson said. “I walk into Jerry Krause’s house. (Rodman’s) sitting on the couch. He’s got a pool boy hat over his eyes. He’s got the rings in his nose and his mouth, and he doesn’t stand up to greet me. I said, ‘Stand up Dennis, take your hat off, shake hands. Let’s go outside and talk.’”
Rodman also remembers that it the first meeting didn’t go so well too.
“We had to break bread then, at the house,” Rodman said. “So he basically said, ‘ Dennis, do you want to come play for the Bulls?’ I said, ‘I don’t care, whatever. What’s up?’”
I guess that is not the first impression you want to make with your new coach.
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The Native American Bond
Luckily a way for these two powerhouses to bond was the Native American culture.
“Dennis and I had this Native American bond between us,” Jackson said. “In the team room I had a bear claw necklace, a turtle shell that came from another reservation and various other Indian artifacts.”
“Dennis is like, ‘Wow, I have this necklace from the Ponca Indians in Oklahoma. I’m hip to that.’ I say, “Well Dennis, in their tradition, and the tradition that I knew, you would be a heyoka — a backward-walking person. They were people that were different and they were a heyoka. So you’re the heyoka in this tribe.”
That understanding clearly meant a lot to Rodman.
“Phil realized that I was different, man,” Rodman said. “Phil knew me so well because he knew I needed to get my head right. That’s what was so cool about playing with that team. If anybody needed something, they were all about it. And Phil was very cool about it.”
Heyoka Meaning and Story
In the Lakota Culture the Heyoka is like a Sacred Clown. Sometimes it can be compared to a jester, satirist, contrarian, who will do things in an opposite fashion to those around them.
They will speak, move and react to others in an opposite fashion. For example if a Heyoka should call you down and call you names, they are actually complimenting you.
The Heyoka can be seen with black and white polka dots on their clothing and cover up their faces as well.
At a Powwow the Heyoka’s will come out and dance and do flips in the arbor and blow their whistles at all the drums till all of the drums are singing.
The people will surround the Heyoka’s but turn their backs to them and ask for sickness, and ask for bad things. Basically they are asking for the opposite of what they would actually want.
In the Lakota Culture, only those who have dreams or visions of Thunder beings from the west direction, the Wakinyan, and have the recognition from that of the community, can take the ceremonial role of a Heyoka.
