When I was about 8-10 years-old, he was nothing less than my idol. And as much as I appreciated it then, I had no idea just how much I'd miss what he did when he was gone. It might seem silly to some, but he was one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. The court was his canvass and the ball was his paint brush. Back in my childhood days of witnessing his game, I had no idea at the time, but the man was so competitive that it was nearly psychopathic (if you could ever use the word "psychopath" in a positive connotation, it'd be about this guy). That nature is what drove him to be the greatest. He refused to accept anything less than excellence, and continuously looked to find motivation within himself to continuously become better than the best. The man truly transcended the game of basketball.
[video=youtube;jvAOYwuwcBc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvAOYwuwcBc[/video]
If you've never seen him, you can get an idea of just how great he was by this fact alone: On Facebook (not created until a year after Jordan's final game), the NBA fan page (the most popular page of the 3 most popular U.S. sport leagues) has 26.1 million fans; Michael Jordan's fan page has 27.1 million fans.