"Chicago Bulls": history, traditions, composition

"Chicago Bulls" is a legendary American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois. "Bulls" perform in the National Basketball Association in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the League. The team "Chicago Bulls" was founded on January 16, 1966 and plays their home games in the United Center arena, which is played alongside the "Chicago Blackhawks" from the National Hockey League. "Bulls" achieved their greatest success in the 90s of last century. This time is known by the fact that the "Bulls" won between the 1991 and 1998 6 championship titles. At the head of the invincible team were brought to the NBA Hall of Fame Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and coach Phil Jackson.

The Bulls won 72 games during the NBA season 1995-1996, which is the absolute record of the NBA, as they are the only team in history who won 70 games or more for one season. Many experts and analysts consider the composition of the 1996 team as one of the greatest teams in the history of the NBA. As of 2016, the cost of the Chicago Bulls is 2.3 billion dollars with operating income for the season 2015-2016 about 67 million dollars. Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose won the most valuable player's award a total of six times.

Name

Dick Klein, the founder of the team, chose for the team the name "Bulls" in honor of the traditional meat packaging industry in Chicago, and also because of the proximity of the Chicago Bulls stadium to Union Stock Yards. Klein considered such names as "Matadors" or "Toreadors", but rejected them, saying that he became famous phrase: "If you think that I'm wrong, then remember that no team with three syllables in the title has never had much success , Not counting the Montreal Canadiens. After discussing the possible names with his family, Klein stopped at the Bulls.

Emblem

The emblem of the Chicago Bulls is the head of an angry red bull. The logo was designed by the famous American designer Dean Wessel and was adopted in 1966. In the early 70's an alternative team logo was used, on which was the same bull, but with a cloud on which is written "Windy City".

Exit to the parquet

"Bulls" is one of the first teams that has become world famous not only because of its game, but also the style of going to the floor before the match. Announcer Tommy Edwards was the first to use Sirius, On The Run and other songs before the game. When Edwards moved to Boston to work with CBS Radio, he was replaced by Ray Clay, and Clay continued the traditional musical accompaniment. At one time such a song was "Imperial March" from "Star Wars". Almost all the lights in the stadium after the beginning of the song are turned off, and the searchlight illuminates every player who goes to the site. After moving to United Center, computer graphics were added to the stadium. The new image has a 3D effect of running the bulls, along the way breaking the bus with the emblem of the opposing team.

Black sneakers and socks

Bulls have an unofficial tradition of wearing black sneakers and socks (regardless of whether they play at home or away) during the playoffs. This tradition dates back to 1989, when the idea was proposed to wear shoes of the same color, showing the unity of the team. In 1996, they were the first to start wearing the whole team of black sneakers and socks. After that, many teams borrowed this tradition from the Bulls.

However, there were notable exceptions to this rule. In the 1995 playoffs against the "Orlando Magic" Michael Jordan made his debut in his brand-name Air Jordan XI, which was white. He was fined for not fulfilling their "color" policy. In 2009, to everyone's surprise, the whole team came out in white sneakers and socks in a match against the Boston Celtics. After that, the tradition became often violated, and players put on either red or black sneakers in accordance with club colors.

Composition

At the moment, 15 players represent the "Chicago Bulls". The team consists of 2 point guardians, 3 light forwards, 3 attacking defenders, 4 heavy forwards and 2 center forwards. The main coach of the team is Fred Heuberg, and his assistants are Randy Brown, Henry, Mike Wilhelm, Pete Myers, Jim Boylan.

These are they, the Bulls.