Sam Smith covered the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune for nearly 25 years, including all six of the team's NBA titles with Michael Jordan. He is the author of the best-selling book "The Jordan Rules" and now writes for bulls.com. He was honored with the Basketball Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award for lifetime achievement earlier this year. Smith will be writing a bimonthly column on the league for The Japan Times beginning today.

The United States was buzzing with excitement last week.

I'm not sure how unexpected it was, but when it happens you just sit back and consider the ramifications.