Michael Jordan. His Airness. Air Jordan. MJ. Despite the countless hours spent debating on Sportscenter, he is the best player to ever play the game of basketball. Entering the league in 1984, Jordan played almost his entire career in a Chicago Bulls uniform.
Some of the best memories of my childhood include watching him absolutely dominate the National Basketball Association, soaring through the air with no one to stop him.
Taylor Cronquist / Equinox Staff
He is a six-time NBA champion, winning in stunning fashion with two 3-peats (1991-1993 and 1996-1998), a 14-time all-star and a two-time Olympic Gold medalist. His accolades tell his story.
According to Sportscenter, Jordan is also one of seven players in the history of basketball to win an NCAA title, an NBA title and a gold medal in his career.
His career statistics paint a vivid picture of the god that he was: 30.1 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game. Jordan changed the game forever.
The image of him legitimately flying through the air, taking off from the foul line in the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest is something any true basketball fan can picture at any given time of day. He was a legend.
Another statistic that mind boggles me about Michael Jordan is a strange one. According to the ESPN Uncyclopedia, Air Jordan has been featured on the cover of 46 different magazines.
Some of these magazines he has been featured on the cover of multiple times. The magazine titles that have featured His Airness include: Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Slam Magazine, WWF Magazine, TV Guide, Digital Diner, Time, Men’s Fitness and many, many more.
This may be a strange statistic to judge one’s popularity on. But let’s just think about that stat for a second. Forty-six times his face has been plastered on the cover of a magazine.
And while doing my research, I couldn’t even find out how many times he has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. For someone who has accomplished so much in his career, I highly doubt he counts the number of times he’s seen his face at a newsstand.
But for a sports fan that appreciates the strange statistics of sports, this is one that I find pretty indicative of his popularity.
MJ celebrated his fiftieth birthday on Feb. 17, 2013. Prior to, the anchors at Sportscenter spent countless hours debating who was better at the game of basketball: Michael Jordan or LeBron James.
Anyone who follows me on Twitter would already know how much I absolutely despise this conversation. Lucky for me, I get to air my grievances on another public forum.
Although I am quite certain that no one reads my column aside from those that are forced to, at least I don’t feel like I am talking endlessly to a “Twittersphere” that isn’t listening.
I live for good sports debates. Anyone who knows me is well aware of that. But the fact that this “debate” is even still going on just angers me beyond belief.
How can one argue that LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan?
The first thing I would like to bring up is that Michael Jordan can put an NBA championship ring on every single one of the fingers on his right hand. He can even put a ring on one of the fingers on his left hand.
LeBron James has ONE RING. He has won ONE CHAMPIONSHIP. Michael Jordan has won every single championship series that he played in. LeBron James is one for three.
Secondly, why is Kobe Bryant not in the “greatest of all time” debate? Sure, he’s a lousy teammate at best. But he is the only player in the NBA that can currently be compared to the great, Michael Jordan.
With five championship rings, 14 trips to the All-Star game and two NBA finals MVP awards decorating his trophy cabinet, I think he’s a more suitable candidate for the “who’s better than Michael Jordan?” debate.
Championships have to be the true measure of a player’s talents. It’s not like rookies come into the league and say, “I want to score more points than Michael Jordan,” or “I want to lead the league in points per game.”
These athletes come into the league and they say, “I want to win as many NBA championships as Michael Jordan.”
Even Michael Jordan agrees. According to an article on LATimes.com, he said, “five beats one every time I look at it.” And he’s right. Sure, LeBron may add more rings to his fingers before his career ends.
And I am certainly not saying that he has no chance in doing so. But until he does, let’s please just put this debate to rest. My sanity is in jeopardy here folks.
Michelle Berthiaume can be contacted
at mberthiaume@keene-equinox.com
