Wow, Im an old man and was young when Jordans career got going. I remember Air Jordans from the first couple of years. Jordan was the guy who made me care about the NBA. Before that, I would watch the NBA finals and that was it. When Jordan came along, I started watching the Bulls on WGN.
As amazing as he was, it was even better if you got in at the ground floor like I did because you got to experience everything as it happened live. You participated in the experience of him pushing the boulder up the mountain.
I think a lot of kids have a very limited idea of who Jordan was. I think a lot of kids think of flashy dunks, Gatorade commercials, Air Jordans, and winning titles. But what made it all so intensely gratifying is what happened in the years leading up to the title runs. When I think of Jordan, one of the first things I think of is how brutal the Pistons were and how Jordan never backed down. He knew he was going to get annihilated by those goons and would still attack the basket...and then do it again. He didnt complain about it. He simply shot his free throws if a foul was called and then went and did it again. There was never a moment too big...and if you resort to goonery, it didnt matter...he never backed down.
He was almost more conqueror than basketball player. He so thoroughly sucked the excellence out of everything, that there was nothing left for anyone else. He was more Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great than he was Dr. J or Magic Johnson.
He was one of the few athletes that was more powerful than the hand of fate. In the first Superman movie, there was a scene where Lois Lane dies and Superman turns back time by circling the earth and reversing its rotation so that he can go back and change what happened. Jordan was kind of like that except he had to make things right the first time, which he almost always did.
He was God-like in many respects.
