LeBron James and Michael Jordan

Comparing LeBron James and Michael Jordan is like comparing apples and oranges. It just isn’t a fair comparison. There are too many differences. There are too many variables. There are too many fallacies that are involved to make a fair assessment to determine who the greatest basketball player of all time is. 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 and 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). He then goes on to describe how Michael “floated through the air and levitated to the rim” as the city of Chicago “lauded the former Bulls megastar as a messiah” (pars. 3-4). How much more exaggeration could a person use to describe Michael Jordan? I didn’t realize people could levitate and float. And when did Jordan become a “messiah?” He isn’t a God that can do impossible things like it is implied he could do by being called “messiah.” The things he did were impressive to watch, but LeBron has undeniable impressive moments as well. The point is that Michael Jordan was a terrific player, but exaggeration isn’t necessary to ...

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Works Cited

“Chicago Bulls All-Star Game Selections.” Basketball-Reference. Sports Reference, 2001-2013. Web. 18 Oct 2013.

Golliver, Ben. “Spoelstra: Comparing LeBron James to Jordan is Impossible Because ‘Game is Different Now.’” Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. 6 Jun. 2013. Web. 8 Oct 2013.

Mathis, Jonathan. “Why LeBron James Will Never Be Better Than Michael Jordan.” Sports Buzz On the Street. Sports Buzz On the Street, 17 Feb. 2013. Web. 2 Oct 2013.

McClintok, Ann. “Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising.” The Longman Reader. Ed.

Judith Nadell. New York: Longman, 2003. 304-311. Print.

Reiter, Bill. “LeBron James Builds Legacy Off The Court.” Fox Sports Florida. Fox Sports Interactive Media, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 2 Oct 2013.

Wood, Nancy. Essentials of Argument. Upper Saddle River: Pearson / Prentice Hall, 2006.

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