Average reading time: 5 minutes
biografieonline.it) Michael “Air” Jordan, American basketball legend, was born on February 17, 1963 in New York, in the Brooklyn neighborhood where parents James and Delores had just moved. His full name is Michael Jeffrey Jordan. The family is of humble origins: the father works as a mechanic at the power plant while the mother has a modest job in a bank. The boy is very shy, to the point that he attended a home economics course for three years, where he learned to sew, scared of the fact that, as he grew up, he would never find a woman to marry. Fortunately, his interest in sport serves to channel all his energies: in the company of his brother Larry and sister Rasalyn he practices various sporting activities.
Average student, but already an exceptional athlete, shines in basketball, but also in American football (as a quarterback) and baseball (as a pitcher). However, all this seems insufficient for the basketball coach who decides not to choose him for the team of what in America is equivalent to middle school. Yet his talents emerge: in the few games he is allowed to play he quickly acquires the reputation of a “dunker”, due to the beautiful dunks he is able to perform. After a year of hard work he was included in the first team and immediately became famous throughout the state among the best players in the school championship. At the end of the season the Wilmington team is champion and Micheal Jordan also receives a call-up for the high school all-stars match.
At North Carolina University, in his first year (1981) he scored the decisive shot in the NCAA final, the famous American college basketball league. Terribly absorbed by commitment and passion for sport, he leaves university prematurely. He participates in the Los Angeles Olympics, wins gold and lands in the NBA.
He was chosen as the third player by the Chicago Bulls. The team is considered low ranking, but upon his arrival everything changes. The debut match is against Washington: Chicago comes out victorious, with Michael managing to score 16 points. At the end of the first season he was elected “Rookie of the year” and after a few months he was voted to participate in the Allstar Game, which allowed him to be put under the eyes of the general public.
However, the second season doesn’t even start: the cause is an injury, on October 25, 1985, in a practice game against the Golden State Warriors. The result was five months out of action due to a stress fracture. His return took place on March 14, 1986 with 18 regular season games still remaining. The desire for revenge is great and above all there is the desire to demonstrate that his abilities have not disappeared. The result of this internal drive is exceptional: in the playoffs he scores 63 points against Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics, his best performance ever.
In the summer of 1986 the team that would become the dominators of the 90s began to take shape around Michael Jordan. For Jordan, the third NBA championship is one of confirmation and continuity, in fact he wins the scoring charts for the first time with 37.1 points per game, a basketball science fiction average that perhaps no one will ever be able to come close to. In 82 regular season games Mike is the Bulls’ leading scorer in 77 games, scoring 61 points twice, reaching 50 in eight games, scoring 40 or more 37 times. He surpasses the three thousand point barrier and with 3041 scores 35% of the total points scored by Chicago. All this doesn’t distract him from defensive application: he is the first player in history to finish a championship with 200 steals coupled with 100 blocks.
After the “Slam Dunk Contest” editions of 1987 and 1988 Michael was consecrated “Air”, for his great ability to fly to the basket. Thanks to these results and the immense following he enjoys in the United States, his name and image become, as can easily be imagined, a money-making machine. Everything he touches turns to gold: in Chicago he even opens a restaurant where he can eat without being besieged by fans. The overall value of the Bulls also had an unimaginable growth: it went from 16 to 120 million dollars. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, together with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Mike is one of the stars of the fabulous “Dream Team”: he wins his second Olympic gold.
However, the crisis is around the corner. After achieving everything humanly possible as an athlete, Michael Jordan surprisingly announces his retirement. On October 6, 1993, in a conference packed with journalists alongside Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago Bulls, and David Stern, NBA commissioner, he communicated the painful decision to the world. He himself admits in a statement: “I have lost all motivation. In the game of basketball I have nothing left to prove: it’s the best time for me to quit. I won everything there was to win. Return? Maybe, but now I think about family.”
Apart from these “existential” declarations, two factors above all influenced his decision. The first is linked to the gambling and betting affair, the second is the tragic death of his father James, killed with a 38 caliber gun shot on the side of a North Carolina highway for the purpose of robbery.
Almost a year after retiring, on 9 September 1994, he returned to play at the Chicago Stadium in a charity match between NBA players organized by his former partner Pippen. The ceremony takes place inside a packed United Center, tears are wasted when the fabric of his jersey is raised to the ceiling: the story of the fantastic “Air” Jordan really seems to be over.
“I want to demonstrate that I can also excel in another discipline“, are the first words of the new Jordan. So on February 7, 1994 he signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox, a major league baseball team. A dream he has cultivated since he was a boy, but which is shattered only after 45 days when he has to settle for the much less prestigious Birmingham Barons shirt in a second division league. “It was a dream for me, 16 dollars a day to eat while traveling through small towns in America by bus, an enriching experience. It gave me more desire to play basketball again.”
So he soon returns home, declaring that his experience with baseball is over. His fans start to hope when he trains two days in a row with the Bulls. The television network ESPN interrupts the programs to give the news of his possible return. Nike sends 40 pairs of shoes to the Bulls, Jordan’s. On March 18 at 11:40 am the Bulls issued a short statement: “Michael Jordan has informed the Bulls that he has terminated his voluntary 17-month retirement. He will make his debut on Sunday in Indianapolis against the Pacers.” Michael Jordan, accompanied by some bodyguards, appears at an overcrowded press conference stuttering only a few words: “I’m back!” (I’m back!).
Not yet satisfied with the triumphs obtained, he decides to continue for a further, perhaps final, season. The march of the “bulls” during the 97-98 regular season, although not as exciting as the previous ones, is still convincing. The outcome is always the same: the Bulls reach the final again, where they meet the Jazz for the second consecutive year, emerging from an easy Conference final won 4-0 against the young Lakers. The Bulls thus reach their sixth title, perhaps the last, as mentioned, for Michael Jordan, who sees the moment of definitive retirement on the horizon more and more closely.
He will retire thinking about it twice, until his final retirement in 2003. Michael Air Jordan leaves the parquet with an endless number of records behind him.
2024-02-16 23:06:39
#Michael #Jordan #greatest #sports #legends #turns #today
