Sixty years ago, in New York, it was born Michael Jeffrey Jordan, considered by many to be the greatest sports icon ever globally. Like any superlative definition, this too can be questioned, but I think it is important to underline the value of Jordan’s record in the exquisitely sporting sense: the “a name that has become synonymous with excellence”as Barack Obama said, did not have the symbolic and social depth of a figure like Mohammed Ali, nor did it inspire a perennial and moving love like Diego Armando Maradonanor did he embody the Apollonian elegance of Roger Federer.
Within the history of basketball, Bill Russell has won more “rings”, Wilt Chamberlain has achieved unparalleled records at a statistical level, a few days ago Lebron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s long-standing career scoring record. Yet, in any ranking drawn up by his contemporary colleagues, come on pundit of basketball or through popular consensus, the supremacy of Jordan as GOAT (acronym of “Greatest of All Times”) still appears clear-cut. The reason is not to be found in the staggering number of accolades e results obtained in career (double three-peati.e. having twice won a series of three consecutive “rings”, two Olympic hours, having won six out of six finals in the playoff finals, having been MVP of the season five times, MVP of the finals six times , ten times best scorer, three times best in steals, once best defensive player of the year), nor only in being the first athlete to become a brand (thanks to Air Jordans he is still today the athlete who earns most in the world, more than twenty years after his retirement).
Se Larry Bird (who once said of him “He was God disguised as Michael Jordan”) e Magic Johnson (who called him “the strongest athlete” author of the “most beautiful basket”) saved the NBA thanks to their rivalry, as fierce as it is full of respect, Jordan made it a worldwide cult sport: an entire generation of athletes grew up wanting “be like mike”, as a famous advertising slogan said. Yet, in my opinion, that’s not where Michael Jordan’s greatness lies.
Having watched and re-watched the wonderful documentary The Last Dance who charmed the world during the enforced lockdown of the pandemic, having repeatedly perused the must-have books Michael Jordan, life of Roland Lazenby (66th and2nd) e Air. the Michael Jordan story by David Halberstam (Magazzini Salani), I understood that the true uniqueness of Jordan it resides at a higher level, I might say spiritual. That supernatural “aura”, almost visible at their first meeting that Allen Iverson talks about, that exemplary inner strength capable of inspiring a master of the discipline like the late Kobe Bryant, that sportingly messianic energy that led the basketball world to baptize him since he was a boy “Black Jesus”, all this is not only the result of the usual abuse of hyperbole that so afflicts sports rhetoric, especially in America.
Michael Jordan’s story has something far more than romance, it has to do with the epic and the sacred: destined to win, at the height of his career, in the absolute domination of his sport, his life breaks down: shocked by the murder of his father, and disgusted by the gossip of the press, he retires and goes to play baseball in a lower league . Then suddenly he decides to come back (announcing it in a newspaper with the simple words: “I’m back.”) And… repeats the same featwins three “rings” in a row.
Look, his last shot with the Chicago Bullsthe famous “The last shot”: a few seconds from the end, when he is about to escape the feat that would have consigned him to history as the greatest ever, Jordan goes to the most feared opponent, Karl Malone, steals the ball, goes with impressive calm towards the opponent’s basket, a feint to unbalance the marker, shot… and (as only happens in the movies) the palla enters. Jordan doesn’t even rejoice, he remains in contemplation, as his “Zen coach” Phil Jackson had taught him.
Il Hero’s Journey accomplished: the story that takes, for once, the right direction. For this Jordan is not only the greatest athlete ever, but a spiritual guide, the master who embodied, before uttering it, his most famous phrase: “limits, like fears, are often only illusions”.
