Although the Chicago Bulls are not as old of a franchise as the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise has had a proud history. After a few bad years following the team’s inaugural season into the NBA in 1966, the Bulls managed to string together four straight years at number two in the Midwest Division in the beginning of the ‘70s and even took the division in the 1974-75 season, providing exciting Bulls tickets for the playoffs for six straight years.

Those teams may not have had Michael Jordan, but they did have the smothering backcourt duo of Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan and forwards Bob Love and Chet Walker. The team sold Chicago Bulls tickets with a defense that took them to the semi-finals early and often and took them within one game of the championship series.

Eventually the good times had to end and years near or at the bottom made basketball fans in Chicago abandon the Bulls and ignore the tickets on sale. Those years ended in 1984 with the third pick in the NBA Draft. Michael Jordan took one year to become the focus of the team’s offense. His shooting was not nearly as developed as it became later in his career, but the quick guard often made defenders look lost as he punished them with unstoppable drives and unblock-able sky-walking dunks.

Jordan turned the Chicago Bulls into the league’s most exciting franchise, taking off where the Lakers and the Celtics left off in the 1980s. The young, remarkable scoring force and ultimate competitor single-handedly created a waiting list for Bulls tickets that still exists today, years after his retirement. Two three-peats, separated by a Jordan’s stint as a baseball player made the Bulls of the ‘90s some of the most memorable teams in history.

The all around talent Scottie Pippen complimented Jordan in every game and has been argued to be just as important to the championship runs. The assortment of other special talents- the mid-range jumper of Horace Grant, the defense of Bill Cartwright, the European point-forward Toni Kukoc, the rebounding machine Dennis Rodman, and the host of three point shooters that included B.J. Armstrong, Craig Hodges, John Paxson, and Steve Kerr- made the decade a time for winning and excitement with every pair of Bulls tickets.

The years that followed took the Chicago Bulls through two rebuilding efforts with players like Elton Brand, Jalen Rose, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, and Ben Wallace. These players played hard during the long NBA schedule, the games did not fall in their favor and fans were left with season tickets to Chicago Bulls games at the United Center that were mere shadows of years past.

The Bulls eventually began to succeed and make runs in the playoffs. Kirk Hinirch, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng have been the focus of the latest efforts to build a team of winners. Young players packed with potential, like Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, and now Derrick Rose, are part of the new hope that Bulls tickets will someday find Chicago back in the NBA championship.