The Nov. 4 Commemorative Issue of Sports Illustrated features a bird's eye view of Michael Jordan on a royal blue court as endless as the sky, his shadow trailing beneath him as he soars in for a dunk.
The issue marks the 57th time MJ has appeared on the magazine's cover, and as with everything else in sport, MJ is miles ahead of his closest competitor; Muhammad Ali is second all-time with just 38 covers.
The front and back pages of the magazine are made of a thick paper stock with a gritty, nubbled texture, an homage to the leather of a basketball. Inside, 88 glossy pages of Jordan, and just a handful of the 797 Sports Illustrated articles written about the greatest athlete of all time. One piece, by the singular Jack McCallum, is worth the cover price alone.
After covering MJ throughout his entire career, McCallum writes of the moment at which he finally came to truly understand "the fire inside" the legendary Jordan. He follows Jordan's story from UNC to Chicago to Barcelona, all the way to Springfield, Mass., where MJ delivered the
much-discussed Hall of Fame speech that at the very least left no one
doubting his desire to win.
After Michael Jordan delivered his much deconstructed Hall of Fame
speech on Sept. 11 in Springfield, Mass., I thought I finally
understand this guy. While I can't disagree with others who chose
adjectives such as terrible, petty and ungrateful to describe his
23-minute monologue, I have to go with revelatory.
For years and years, in story after story, I, like so many
other chroniclers of Jordan's otherworldliness, would cut-and-paste
into any article the obligatory paragraph about the man's
competitiveness and drive. Most of us reflexively concluded that these
qualities were what set him apart, while also wondering from whence
they came, considering that he was a middle-class kid raised in a
comfortably close family.
I still don't know the answer to the
latter, but what I can now appreciate is the degree of the former. Can
we now safely say that his need to come out on top was and remains
nonpareil? Desperate? Maybe even a little frightening?
He's
right. Jordan's competitiveness was, and still is, frightening,
desperate and, yes, unequivocally nonpariel. What more can we as fans
ask of our heroes than to give their best? What greater sin can be
committed by a professional athlete than
not to try? The sports world
has seen so many young stars with great potential go down as busts
because they didn't have the fire, the passion, the competitiveness to
turn their God-given talent into self-made greatness.
The
truth is, the very quality that made MJ the most decorated and beloved
athlete of all time was seen in that 23-minute speech as a character
flaw for media members to use for a good headline.
The passion
and will to win that caused Jordan to be the first one in the gym and
the last one out are what made him great. The borderline psychotic need
to be the best that inspired Jordan to ride his teammates into the
ground before building them back up was what made the Bulls great.
If
that bubbling, overflowing desire to win made people uncomfortable on
Sept. 11, so be it. If Jordan sounded petty or seemed determined to
settle a score, fine. After years of being denigrated for not speaking
out on issues, for being "beige" when writers wanted scandalous, Jordan
gave the most honest and personal speech of his life. He tried to let us mere mortals in on the secret that made him a God.
If you
prefer the kind of gracious, humble thanks that made up John Stockton's
speech, then you're likely also the type that doesn't mind that
Stockton never won an NBA Championship. If you'd hoped Jordan would break down into tears and say he was undeserving of his introduction as "the greatest player of all time" or if you simply wanted to hear him thank his teammates, his family and his coaches, then drift off
into the sunset, a perfect, uncomplicated idol, then you never really
understood Jordan.
In his 1999 book, "Playing For Keeps", David Halberstam quotes novelist/lawyer Scott Turow: ''Michael Jordan
plays basketball better than anyone else in the world does anything
else.''
To
be that great, you must want greatness more than anyone. With
competitiveness comes a sort of animalistic need to destroy whatever
lies in your path, and as much as Jordan had a need for destruction and
a drive to not only beat, but humiliate, his opponents, he managed to do
so with a smile on his face.
Sports are, at their very core, about winning and losing. And yet fans want more
than just winning players. They want personality, likability;
they want to know that their heroes appreciate living a life they could
only dream about. Jordan was a winner, but he was also one of the
greatest charmers in sports.
McCallum writes :
As
we stand in openmouthed stupefaction over his need to come out on top,
the demented desire for vengeance that he seemed to exhibit during his
speech, we remember most of all that he was fun. He was fun off the
court, he was fun on the court. None of that deadly serious,
get-out-of-my-way Bill Russell, none of that unsmiling
this-is-just-business Oscar Robertson, none of that
I'm-fed-up-with-all-you-guys impatience of [Kobe] Bryant.
...Yet
the competitive part of his personality was largely an
abstraction, at least to most of us who didn't have to scrimmage against him every day (hello, Horace Grant) or be permanently haunted by the manner in which he exposed your franchise as not-quite-good-enough-to-be-a-champion (hello, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz). Most observers were drawn to Jordan as a player and a
person because he seemed to be sharing his success with us, thus
pushing to the background the notion that his competitiveness was
anything but a charming part of his nature.
It was that
combination of passion and playfulness that made Jordan stand out as
not only the most talented, but also the most beloved. His 57th Sports
Illustrated cover tops an
issue dedicated to a career that could never be summed up in words
and pictures. Even video can't capture the energy, the magic, the otherworldly aura of the man who won over the world and proved that man
can fly.
Jordan had that one intangible quality that every coach
wishes for his players and every parent wishes for their kids. It was
what made him the greatest ever and no speech will change that.
4 Comments
SoReal said:
Michael Air Jordan – The Greatest Basketball Player Ever
Famous Americans Quotes:
Bill Clinton, Former President –
• “In my life, I don’t know if I ever saw another athlete with such a remarkable set of qualities of mind, body and spirit.”
• “The economy has produced 6.1 million jobs since I became President and if Michael Jordan goes back to the Chicago Bulls it will be 6 millions 1 hundred thousand and 1 new jobs.”
David Stern –
• “You are simply the “Standard” by which basketball excellence is measured.”
• “In a league of stars and a game of stars, “You” are the star of stars. Congratulation on being the 1998 All-Star MVP.”
David Halberstam, Author – “He’s an American Original. If a friend from Europe comes to me and say I’m in your country what do I see, I would say well go to the Grand Canyon and then go to Chicago and watch Michael Jordan play, he’s who we are.”
William Goldman, Screen Writer – “You might see something if you watched him that you haven’t seen before and will never see again.”
Bob Costas, NBC Sports –
• “He has a force of personality that’s not the same thing as sports talent but elevates that talent and if you didn’t know anything about basketball and he walked in the room, you would say that’s somebody that’s has to be somebody.”
• “He’s the most tenacious competitor, add that to his physical gifts and he has a sense of history and a sense of what his legacy can be if he keeps pushing it. Something about this guy, so likeable, so dignified and classy and yet with the athletic heart of an assassin.”
• “His game is beautiful to watch, not just affective in an athletic sense, but theatrically he is beautiful. He has that presence, there is something about him.”
Phil Taylor, Sports Illustrated – “He was so good, so charismatic that whatever he did suddenly became popular and became cool.”
Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated – “The one thing about Michael Jordan that makes him the most remarkable athlete that I’ve ever seen and probably ever will see is that he was always better than the hype, okay and now he is hyped even more, but he gets better and better. And I have never seen anything like it.”
Ahmad Rashad, NBC Sports – He’s blessed with so many God given abilities and then his own self drive that makes him even better than that is something that takes him off the scale.”
Jerry West – “For Michael Jordan, once the burden of winning a championship was gone, he just soared to even greater heights and it’s just hard to even imagine.”
SoReal said:
Michael Air Jordan – The Greatest Basketball Player Ever
NBA Players Quotes:
Magic Johnson –
• “He’s special and I think there are only a few players that come around that are special.”
• “This is what you live for to play Michael Jordan in the final.” And we all know what happened.”
• “You had two players that excite you playing on the floor myself and Larry and now here come “one” that excite you playing in the air.”
• This guy is an “Icon” he’s a one man show and how much we’re going to miss him you can’t even put in words.”
Bill Russell – I guess what impressed me the most is that he is determined to be Michael Jordan every night. I never got the impression that he throw his shoes or uniform on and took the night off.”
Clyde Drexler –
• “He’s a Pros Pro, I mean even we like to watch him play when we’re not playing against him.”
• “He’s a winner, he plays to win and he just doesn’t play to do all the fancy things.”
Danny Ainge – “He can do so many things. He’s the only player in the league that I can think of that has no weaknesses.”
Mitch Richmond –
• “He plays above the rim; I mean some of the moves he makes it seem as if you guys are still in high school.”
• “It doesn’t matter whose guarding him or whose there Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, etc., he’s going to the basket. “
Joe Dumars –
• “I think he’s going to be okay the time before us, now and twenty years down the line. He’s going to be something that people look at and say he’s unbelievable.”
• “95% of the plays are for Michael Jordan and the other 5% ends up in his hands anyways.”
• “You become consume that he’s on the court and if you make a mistake it’s not even a question whether or not you’re going to get burnt, you’re burnt already.”
Kevin Johnson –
• “He defies odds and still comes up with the big baskets time and time again.”
• “He dominates the game on the offensive end of the court, but he also dominates the game on the defensive end of the court.”
• “He makes it looks so easy; he’s so graceful, like a ballerina.”
Buck Williams – “People always talk about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird’s passing ability, but not too often do people recognizes Michael Jordan for the exceptional passer that he is.”
Bill Laimbeer – “He’s the ultimate test for “Our” defense.”
Dennis Rodman – “If you can defense Michael Jordan, then you can defense anything in the league, anything in the World.”
Tim Hardaway – “I like his in your face dunk; he just comes down and slams it in someone’s face.”
Horace Grant – There is no hangtime, like Michael Jordan’s hangtime.”
Glen Rice – “He’s a “Great” defender, rebounder, shot blocker and definitely can score, he’s the total package.”
Grant Hill – “He’s the “Ultimate” player in my eyes. If there were a player in the Webster’s Dictionary then it would have to be a picture of Michael Jordan.”
Isiah Thomas – “I remember looking directly in his eyes and it was like whatever you do, whatever you say, we’re going to beat you. And once you get him like that all you can do is move aside because there’s no stopping this freight train.” After a four game sweep by the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs.
Johnny “Red” Kerr – “It’s an unbelievable sight to be pulling into a hotel at 3:00 a.m. in the morning and you turn around the corner and all of a sudden the whole street is lit up as if a movie was been shot, but it’s just fans hoping to get a glimpse of Michael Jordan because the Chicago Bulls were arriving.”
David Robinson – “Michael Jordan seems to have a little magic with him, it’s exciting, it’s fun to watch and it’s the stuff that “legends” are made of.”
SoReal said:
Michael Air Jordan – The Greatest Basketball Player Ever
NBA Coaches Quotes:
Chuck Daly –
• “What happens is he clicks on and the ball is his, the game is his and he will go on a tear that usually isn’t seen in this league very often.”
• “It doesn’t entail me playing you necessarily; it’s our “five” playing “you”.” Jordan Rules?
• “Well first off you starting talking about the fact that the “Guy” is literally embarrassing the league, he’s that good.”
George Karl – “He’s a winner. You’re going to have to cut Michael Jordan’s heart out to beat him.”
Paul WestPhal – “We can’t stop him; I never said we can stop him, no one can stop him.” After his Phoenix Suns lost to the Chicago Bulls in the 1993 NBA Finals.”
SarahSpain said:
I had heard a bunch of those before, but not all of them. Some of those are amazing. Thanks for sharing!
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