Cebuano cagers among those excited with ‘The Last Dance’ documentary

Cebuano basketball players (from left) Shane Menina with son Zion, Cesafi MVP Shaquille Imperial, and dunk king Miguel Gastador watch the premier of “The Last Dance” sports documentary on Monday, August 20, 2020. | contributed photos

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Cebuano basketball players joined cagers from around the world who waited in excitement for the premiere of the much anticipated online documentary “The Last Dance” that features the final season of basketball legend Micheal Jordan with the Chicago Bulls.

The sports documentary premiered in the Philippines on April 20, 2020 on Netflix.

It is a 10-part documentary series that focuses on the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls team that won their sixth NBA championship via a second three-peat.

Miguel Gastador, a big Michael Jordan fan, said he has been anticipating the showing of the documentary since it became trending online.

“Michael Jordan influenced me in many ways, my style, my dunks and even my behavior in the court were all inspired by him because when you say the name ‘Michael Jordan,’ it is synonymous to the word ‘best’ and I always wanted to be the best version of myself every time I play,” said the former University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) cager, who wears jersey number 23 because of Jordan.

Cebuano Miguel Gastador watches the documentary from his cellphone with an Air Jordan 1 low sneaker around his neck and another Air Jordan 12 pair on his lap. | contributed photo

Gastador, who is now has been drafted by the Marinerong Pilipino in the 2020 PBA D-League Draft, said he has since looked up to Jordan since he was still 12 years old.

The six-footer Gastador is known for his high-flying stunts in the Cesafi and has won numerous dunk titles in different leagues.

From one Michael Jordan fan to another, Sir Shaquille Imperial of the Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma Cobras, the reigning Cesafi  MVP, told CDN Digital that Jordan was the reason why he shifted from playing baseball to basketball.

“He influenced me to pursue playing basketball. Because prior to being a basketball player, I was actually a baseball player, then my father encouraged me to watch basketball, particularly Jordan and be familiar with his moves in which I did and that kind of motivated me to switch from baseball to basketball,” said the 5’10 cager from Lapu-Lapu City.

‘God of basketball’

Imperial recalled how he saw Jordan for the first time.

“I first saw MJ play basketball when I was 3 years old at the hospital that I was admitted in. He and his team were up against Utah jazz 1998.  I see him as like the God of basketball. He plays the sport so perfectly, it’s almost as if it was invented just for him,” recalled Imperial.

Sir Shaq Imperial shows off his Air Jordan 10 sneaker while watching the documentary from his home. | contributed photo

Former shooting guard of the University of Cebu Shane Menina, meanwhile, has always dreamt to “be like Mike.”

“Michael Jordan is very inspiring [to watch] you’d be able to say ‘I wanna be like mike,'” said Menina.  even if I can’t imitate his moves, I make his as my inspiration to work harder to improve.”

Shane Menina and his son Zion watches the documentary. | contributed photo

Micheal Jordan has been trending in Twitter since the premier of “The Last Dance” on Monday afternoon. /bmjo