Michael Jordan’s Second Return to the NBA
Michael Jordan has been of interest to me ever since I began playing basketball myself in the fourth grade. I often found myself trying to replicate Jordan’s moves and motions on the court. I already know a great deal about Jordan because I have studied his career and practically memorized his credentials, both as an athlete and a thriving businessperson. I often found myself staring at my ceiling at night reciting free-throw percentages and such. The main controversy when dealing with Jordan, however, focuses not on his ability to play basketball, rather his second return to the game. Should Jordan have returned for the second time, or should he have stayed away from the basketball court? Factors such as fan reaction, Jordan’s performances since his return, and his age all influence this question. Although some may argue that Michael Jordan made the wrong decision by returning to the basketball court, I have concluded that his return was successful because the questioned factors all weigh heavily in favor of him.
Fan reaction, certainly, is a good subject to discuss when referring to Michael Jordan’s return. It is obvious that he is a well-known athlete and fans all over the world know him. As Steve Rushin, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, has stated, “the absurd variety of his fans is, as ever, unmatched in sports” (19). Rushin’s statement explains the variety of fans that Jordan has collected throughout his career as a basketball player and how these fan numbers tower over any other sport. It is predictable that the fans will want to see Jordan play again and Roscoe Nance, from USA Today, proves this by mentioning the boom in ticket sales after his return....
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...er championship after his return, but he has proved that he can play the game and is, and will always be, the best basketball player of all time.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Jim. “Don’t Fret, Mike: Life Begins at 40.” ESPN.com 17 Feb. 2003: 15
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Estep, Pamela. Telephone Interview. 26 Feb. 2003.
“Michael Jordan Career Profile.” YAHOO.com 3 Mar. 2003: 5 Mar. 2003
<http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/players/175/career>.
Nance, Roscoe. “Not All Happy to See Jordan Return.” USATODAY.com 28 Sept. 2001:
9 pars. 3 Mar. 2003 <http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/jordan/-
2001-09-28-reax.htm#more>.
Rushin, Steve. “They’ll Always Like Mike.” Sports Illustrated 3 Feb. 2003: 19.
InfoTrac OneFile. InfoTrac. J. Frank Marsh Library, Athens. 5 Mar. 2003.
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Unfortunately, the comparison is being made seemingly every day, and the article by Mr. Mathis is full of fallacious material. His extreme uses of exaggeration and card stacking, along with many harsh examples of hasty generalizations, makes a claim that Michael Jordan is and always will be the greatest player to play basketball. An opinion is simply an opinion and anyone is entitled to their opinion, but using fallacies to formulate his response to the issue makes it too finite and too biased in favor of Michael Jordan. There are so many clear and dramatic exaggerations throughout the article. Michael Jordan is described as being “the most unstoppable assassin of all-time, the smartest marketer of all-time” and then sarcastically mentioned as “the savviest shoe salesman of all-time” (Mathis, par. 2).
Walter LeFeber's book serves as a cornerstone of reference for its content as it relates to race, black business and the expansion of global capitalism since the late 20th century. With regard to race, it shows how race effected middle-class Michael Jordan at a young age and how he grew in the star he became, yet still could not es...
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The issue of race in sport is somewhat baffling in that many people would rather not address at all even though sport has been intricately intertwined with racial issues throughout the Twentieth century. Those who would have us omit the topic altogether argue that analyses typically single out the black athlete, and then attempt to explain his/her inordinate success in ways different than we do with other groups. Critics contend that this is racist, since it perpetuates the idea that blacks are different, and often inferior. Edwards (1972) asserts that a typical theme resulting from such analysis is that blacks are physically superior, but intellectually inferior, to whites. Hoberman (1997) has further made the case that physical prowess, especially in such sports as basketball, has become a defining characteristic of the African-American community, and that beliefs about physical superiority are closely related to an anti-intellectualism that permeates black male culture. Essentially, Hoberman’s argument is that inordinate attention and idolization of prominent black athletes such as Michael Jordan has focused attention away from more realistic and important role models, and this, in turn has stunted intellectual, and social economic development in black communities.
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Keith, S., & Martin, M. (2005). Cyber-bullying: creating a culture of respect in a cyber-world. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 13(4), 224-228.