I’m watching the NBA Playoffs right now, and your mother is getting tired of me talking about Michael Jordan. So, I wanted to capture some thoughts on Jordan for your reference sometime in the future.
Please don’t ever try to tell me someone was better than Jordan. Know your history. I don’t ever want to hear any argument about this. In this family, you will acknowledge that Michael Jordan was the greatest professional athlete in modern sports. I mean no disrespect to Muhammad Ali, but Ali is remembered more as a cultural icon that transformed American society. I’ll take Jordan over Ali any day.
Jordan won 6 NBA championships over the span of 2 “three-peats”: once from 1991-1993 and again from 1996-1998. In between, he actually retired from basketball and attempted a career in major league baseball. He would later return from retirement one last time with the Washington Wizards, but we like to pretend that never happened.
You can read all the official history of Jordan on wikipedia, but I want to tell you why I loved Jordan so much. He was fiercely competitive, probably the most competitive athlete I ever watched growing up. He willed his teams to win.
Jordan was CLUTCH. His last shot of his career (excluding the Wizards era) won the NBA Finals for the Bulls in 1998 in Game 6. Jordan’s game winning shot in Game 6 should be in the dictionary when you look up “clutch.”
Nothing stands out in my memory of Michael Jordan more than “The Flu Game.” Jordan was knocked out with a nasty stomach bug and high fever the night of Game 5 of the NBA Finals during the 1997 championship season. He played anyway and hung 38 points on Utah even though he could barely stand before the game. When the game was over, Jordan practically collapsed into Scottie Pippen’s arms. I’ll never forget that image.
Right now, there’s a lot of talk about Kobe Bryant or LeBron James being “the next Michael Jordan” or possibly the “greatest of all time” when it comes to basketball. Even if you’re just talking about basketball, that’s pretty unlikely. But Michael Jordan transcended basketball. He redefined the relationship between professional athletes and brands, making CRAZY sums of money off endorsements from Nike and Gatorade. He BECAME a brand, like no athlete had done before. That may be his most lasting contribution off the court.
He is the greatest basketball player of all time, I don’t care what anyone says about Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell or Bird or Magic. He changed the dynamic between pro athletes and marketing. 6 NBA championships and 6 NBA finals MVPs to go with them. One Olympic Gold medal from the 1992 “Dream Team.” Jordan IS basketball. He is the standard everyone else will always be measured against. Regardless of sport, there is no one in the world more synonymous with winning than Michael Jordan.