Happy Birthday Michael Jordan

Happy Birthday MJ

When I got my issue of Sports Illustrated this week, I was a little confused why Michael Jordan was on the cover.  Then I looked at the cover a little more closely and it all made perfect sense.  As you know, I don’t normally blog about the NBA.  But today I’m willing to make an exception.  Like Sports Illustrated, I’m in the mood to celebrate the Greatest.  Happy 50th Birthday Michael!

I don’t think there’s any need to elaborate on why Michael Jordan is the Greatest.  Where do you even start?  His Airness isn’t just the greatest basketball player ever.  When ESPN did its SportsCentury series counting down the top 50 athletes of the 20th Century in 1999, Jordan landed at No. 1.  No. 2?  Babe Ruth.  No 3?  Muhammad Ali.  The AP did a similar list in the same year, and Jordan was No. 2 behind Ruth.

Michael Jordan is so much more than a sports icon.  He’s one of those rare athletes who transcends sports.  He’s an American institution.  He’s synonymous with the Chicago Bulls.  And the NBA.  And the number 23.  How many numbers are there that people immediately associate with one individual?  23 and 99.  That’s about it.  Oh yeah, then there’s that six championships in eight years thing.

Jordan’s birthday has reopened that whole Jordan vs. LeBron debate that I find completely ridiculous.  The LeBron faithful need to shut up and face reality.  There’s only one Michael Jordan.  It’s not fair to even try making a comparison.  It’s like trying to compare a hockey player to Wayne Gretzky.  Saying that he isn’t Wayne Gretzky doesn’t make Sidney Crosby any less great.  Nor is it a slap in the face to say that.  Likewise, when people say LeBron James isn’t Michael Jordan, it’s not meant as a sign of disrespect.

If I wanted to, I could easily use the number of championships won as the be-all, end-all point to end a Jordan vs. LeBron debate, but there’s no reason to go there.  LeBron James is the greatest player of his era, and probably the most talented player to enter the NBA since Jordan.  Why can’t that be enough?  It’s not an insult to say he’ll never be Michael Jordan.  Because there can only be one Michael Jordan.

And another point in Jordan’s favor, when he was in Cleveland, LeBron wore No. 23.  Even before he signed with Miami, he had announced that he was going to change his number to 6 that season, even if he stayed in Cleveland.  Number 23 belongs to Michael Jordan.  Even LeBron knows that.  If Major League Baseball can retire No. 42 league-wide for Jackie Robinson and the NHL can retire No. 99 for Wayne Gretzky, the NBA should do the same thing with No. 23.

Michael could probably suit up in the NBA today and still drop 20.  As much as I hated it that the Bulls always beat the Knicks in the 90s, I never rooted against Chicago in the Finals.  It was simply too much of a privilege to watch Michael Jordan play.  When you watched him, you knew you were watching greatness.  Even during those embarrassing two years in Washington when he was a shell of his former self, you were still watching Michael Jordan.

In celebration of his birthday, here are my favorite Michael Jordan moments.  And, of course, there are 23 of them (in no particular order).

• The game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship Game
• The Dunk in the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest
• The 63-point game against the Celtics in the 1986 Playoffs
• The final shot of his Bulls career, the buzzer-beater in Game 6 to clinch the 1998 Finals against the Jazz
• The Dream Team
• The first three-peat
• The second three-peat
• His Hall of Fame speech, where he told off anybody he ever met
• Space Jam
• Dropping 55 on the Knicks in his third game back after his short-lived first retirement/baseball career
• 72-10
• Clinching the 1996 title on Father’s Day
• The jumper over Craig Ehlo in the 1991 Playoffs
• The switching-hands layup against the Lakers in his first Finals
• Posterizing John Starks
• His first Olympic gold in 1984
• The Blazers picking Sam Bowie, forever changing the fortunes of two franchises
• The game of horse vs. Larry Bird in the McDonald’s commercials
• The tongue and the finger wag
• The triple-double in the 1997 All-Star Game
• His two-year baseball career
• Nike’s Air Jordan shoes
• His return to, and final game in, Chicago as a member of the Wizards
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