On the basketball court, the soon-to-be-thrice-retired Michael Jordan was such the mythical, conquering sporting champion that it was hard to truly hate him. Off the court, he was such a bland corporate shill that I found it hard to find any reason to like him.
How cool could a guy be when he's hawking Hanes tightie-whities and a Filet-O-Fish? And those Air Jordans? C'mon. What's black and white and red all over ... and are Sandra Berhnard-ugly with a price tag four times too high?
Another top-five athlete of the 20th Century, Jim Brown, has long criticized Jordan for not wielding his influence more for the benefit of something other than his wallet. I tend to agree, and not only because Brown is a fellow Syracuse alum, but because his 1990 book "Out of Bounds" warned us of a two-faced cokehead named O.J. Simpson. And I don't want to be the next person Brown tosses off a balcony.
This past Sunday, Michael Jordan made his final appearance at Madison Square Garden, where I saw his fifth game back from his first retirement (see picture). It was one of the hottest tickets in the last 10 years of New York sports, and our shitty seats could have fetched a few hundred dollars each. (Mind you, this was when the Knicks were the trendiest team in town, before the Yanks had broken a streak of 14 seasons without a playoff appearance.)
We decided to forego the monetary windfall and attend the game. MJ dropped 55 points — dubbed the double-nickel by Spike Lee — before passing out of a quintuple-team to find teammate Bill Wennington under the basket for a 113-111 win. Jordan and Wennington combined for 57 points on the night.
The respect in that building for what Jordan did was unlike any I'd ever seen. Us Knicks fans lost a heartbreaker, but there were as many people yelling "Oh, my god, did you see that?" as there were, "Jesus fucking Christ, Starks, get a hand in his fucking face!"
For that night only, I want to thank Jordan for being the New York villain we loved to hate. Without him, Patrick Ewing's legacy might be something more than a ringless wife-cheater. Only this time, please, stay out.
Other Michael Jordan Links
Sports' All-Time Clutch Performers — Hard to argue with MJ at No.1. The sport's all-time best was ever better in the postseason. Joe Montana was no slouch, either. John Elway at No. 3 is an absolute joke. The man lost his first three Super Bowls. Comebacks are overrated anyway. How do you think you get to make a comeback? You start to lose. Remember any Bulls or 49ers comebacks? Me, neither.
Jordan's Top 40 Moments — Sam Smith ranks the double-nickel at No. 14. Way too low.
Rick Reilly: Kobe's as Good — or Better — Than MJ — Captain Colorado says that prolific scorer Bryant deserves as much respect as we adorned on a young gunner we used to know in Chicago. (See rebuttal from MJ fan.)
Celebrity Endorsements: Who Sold What — A chart that, in part, details the demise of Jason Alexander from "Seinfeld" genius to Rold Gold pretzels pitchman.
James R. Jordan Boys & Girls Club and Family Life Center — The community center named after Michael's father, shot to death on the side of a North Carolina road in 1993. No one's all bad, you know, and no one deserves to see that happen to a parent.
For a time there in the '90s, I thought that all of Chicago exhibited the classic symptoms of being involved in a cult: we seemed to eat, drink, sleep, breathe Michael Jordan.
And now, there is interest, but it is decidedly less; he isn't here, this isn't then. I wonder sometimes what it would be like if he were still playing for the Bulls- and then I know that he would have not lasted past that latest 'first' comeback year. We would not have forgiven him for forcing us to watch.
I think, too, that the sad divorce intermission affected his status here. Feet of clay and all that...
Having said all that, I cannot think of Michael Jordan without remembering the time when my very young children saw an African-American at the convenience store by our house. My sons asked, "Is that Michael Jordan?" and I realized how different their lives were, living in our monochromatic upper-middle class western suburb. Having grown up in the south, I was astounded at how insulated I had allowed my children's lives to become. That day, I started changing that...and I cannot think about Jordan without considering that he did a great deal for disintegrating the anger of racial prejudices. He could have done more.
Posted by lucy at March 11, 2003 7:47 AM