안태형 (Tae Hyung An)
121065
10b3
05/20/2012
Michael Jordan
Who Michael Jordan really is and what he did to influence the world of basketball?
Michael ‘the air’ Jordan of Chicago Bulls is, without a doubt, the most influential figure in the history of National Basketball Association, and brought tremendous change to the game of basketball. He is certainly one of the best players of all times and he is also an extremely successful commercial model who developed to be a very wealthy businessman. MJ (Michael Jordan) is also an idol and a role model for many current basketball players and other athletes. MJ might look like a flawless and perfect person for all the things he has achieved throughout his life. However, even a superstar like MJ went through devastating hardships and challenges. He was confronted with multiple problems in his life, but he managed to overcome them with strong will and perseverance, which tells us that Michael Jordan was as human as any other ordinary person of his time. Despite the fact that he was an exceptionally talented athlete, Michael Jordan had to really push himself to the limit and always try as hard as he could in order to overcome the hardships he faced. MJ is a legendary basketball player who renovated the game of basketball, but before that, he was an outstanding person who truly inspired others with his work ethics and leader-like characteristics.
Michael Jordan’s childhood was not very different from other people’s childhoods. He was born in Brooklyn, New York on February 17, 1963. MJ’s father, James Jordan was a mechanic and MJ’s mother, Deloris Jordan was a bank teller. Shortly after Michael’s birth, his family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina where he spends his entire childhood, playing basketball and baseball under his father’s supervision. James Jordan wanted his son to become a professional baseball player, but Michael showed far greater interest in basketball. He was very passionate about the game and always practiced basketball with his brothers in the backyard when MJ was young. By the time he became a high school student, his skills have improved tremendously, so in his sophomore year, he decided to try out for the varsity team. MJ was extremely confident and had no doubt about making the varsity team in his high school. However, MJ failed to make the varsity team because he was raw and undersized. His passion for the game started to diminish after the try out and he almost quit striving forward after his self-esteem plunged to the ground.
One day, MJ’s mother told him that if he puts all his energy into playing basketball and showing his passion for the game rather than sitting in the corner and whining, the coach of the team would someday acknowledge his hard work. From that day on, Michael started to help out the team with whatever he could do. He wiped the gym floor and the basketballs every day after the team finished practicing. He ran drills and suicides with the team on the sidelines everyday and stayed after the practice in order to improve his shooting skills. Michael worked endlessly to help out the team and improve his skills in basketball without a single complaint and eventually made the varsity team in the following summer. His hard work paid off as he averaged 25 points per game and was selected to the McDonald’s All-American team as a senior. MJ was far from being the best player in the team at the beginning. He really had to work and train tirelessly in order to become who he was during his high school years.
Following high school, he earned a basketball scholarship from North Carolina University where he would play under legendary coach Dean Smith. The effort and hard work that Michael put in during his high school years really paid off in college. In his first year, MJ was named ACC Freshman of the Year. He would help lead the North Carolina Tarheels to the 1982 NCAA Championship, making the game-winning shot. After winning the Naismith College Player of the Year award in 1984, Jordan decided to leave North Carolina and enter the NBA draft. Although he decided to leave college early, he would later return to the university in 1986 to complete his degree in geography. Even with his amazing records and accomplishments in his college, MJ was referred as a bad defensive player and a bad shooter. In order to overcome these weaknesses MJ refused to be an offence-only dunk machine and practiced shooting and defending over and over again.
In the 1984 NBA draft, he was selected with the third overall pick by the Chicago Bulls. As a rookie for the Bulls, he made an immediate impact, averaging an amazing 28.2 points a game, including six games where he scored 40 plus points. He was selected to the NBA All-Star Game and named Rookie of the Year. This would just be the beginning of his career filled with awards and accolades. In the upcoming years, he would go on to win five regular season MVP awards, six NBA championships, six NBA finals MVP awards, three All-Star game MVP awards, and a defensive player of the year award. Considering the fact that he was referred as one of the worst defensive players in his college, we can really see the effort he put in to become a better defensive player. Moreover, he scored more than half of his points by shooting and his shooting skills oftentimes saved his team from losing during the last minute of the game.
In 1993, tragedy struck Jordan’s seemingly perfect life. On July 23, 1993, his father, James Jordan, was murdered off Interstate 95 in North Carolina. Two locals had robbed him, shot him in the chest and threw his body in a swamp. Three months later on October 6, 1993, following a run of three consecutive NBA championships, Jordan announced his retirement from basketball saying that “he no longer had the desire to play.” MJ’s father always encouraged Michael in hard times and he was probably the only one that Michael could really reveal his weaknesses and rely upon. Losing his father meant that from that time on, Michael had to really stand and fight alone through the hardships. Retired at age 33, it was uncertain what Michael would do next. Would he take a year off out of the public eye to grieve and then come back to the Bulls? Would he go out and look for an office job in the field of geography, his college major? Or would he take up a completely different hobby like golf? The answer was neither of them. Michael started playing baseball and signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox in 1994. Everyone was wandering if Michael had gone crazy, but MJ was just doing what his father and he discussed about after winning his 2nd consecutive NBA championship.
Michael’s father wanted him to consider playing baseball, which Michael started playing when he was 6 years old and played until he was a junior in high school. Michael had not been playing baseball for nearly 15 years, so he had hard time adapting into the sport and some people even said that Michael Jordan was degrading the game of baseball. However, despite all the hateful comments MJ received from the critiques, he kept on trying and worked tirelessly to get better at baseball. He was always the last one to leave the batting cage and the first one to arrive at the batting cage. In the interview, MJ said, “I wake up in the morning, shower up, and make myself some breakfast. Then I get in my car and drive down to the spring baseball camp. I look to my side and I see my father sitting next to me and smiling at me. And I say, we are doing this pop, we are doing this together.” Michael became the Designated Hitter in the team and hit some big hits and few home runs throughout the rest of his career as a baseball player. MJ’s father’s love towards Michael was what really kept MJ going despite all the hardships and without his father’s love, Michael would not be standing as the greatest basketball player of all-time.
On March 18, 1995, Michael Jordan, a man of few words since his retirement, sent two important words to media sources everywhere: “I’m Back.” He celebrated his return to the NBA by doing what he always did best: winning. However, he realized that he was not exactly the same superstar that he was 2 years ago when the Bulls lost in the playoffs to the Orlando Magic. Michael was devastated to lose his confidence and skills in basketball, so he started doing what he always did when he faced a challenge: practicing over and over again. Eventually, like he always did, he overcame the challenge and led the Bulls to three more consecutive NBA championships, etching his place in the history as the “NBA’s greatest player of all-time”. Michael Jordan officially retired from the Bulls on January 13, 1999. He was a great player and a great person at the same time. After his retirement, he managed to find golf as his new hobby and became part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats in June 2006.
Michael Jordan was famous for being a very skilled and finesse player, but he was equally famous for being the renovator of the style in basketball. Back in his time, all the NBA and other minor league players wore tight shorts that came well above the knees. However, Michael refused to follow the old custom and started wearing baggy shorts that came down the knees. He paid regular fines for not following the NBA dress code, but he kept on wearing the shorts, which influenced other players to wear them too. By the end of 1980s almost every player in NBA wore baggy shorts, which eventually changed the dress code of NBA. MJ was also the first professional basketball player to ever shave his head completely. Shaving one’s head completely was considered unorthodox and somewhat ridiculous. However, if you look at the famous professional basketball players’ hair styles today, such as Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O’neal, many of them have shaved their heads.
Michael Jordan also changed the style of playing tremendously. All the coaches back then emphasized fundamental basketball so much that there was almost no freedom of style in basketball. Michael Jordan broke this customary basketball and started to put some life into the game of basketball. He showed the world what double-clutch layup was. He shook people’s minds with his stylish dunks. He made people’s jaws drop with his unstoppable fade-away shots. Michael Jordan basically created a whole different game of basketball with his god-given talents and creativeness. All the mind-blowing dunks, layups, and fade-away shots from players like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade, were originated from the moves that Michael Jordan regularly used. He also became a successful businessman by opening a sub-brand, Nike Jordan, for Nike and did some great charity works with the fortune he made. He contributed a lot to make the game of basketball better known all around the world by becoming a famous commercial icon of basketball and also made several donations in order to enhance the public accessibility of basketball, such as building sports centers with good facilities for public to use.
Michael Jordan was an admirable man. He was an exceptional athlete and a strong-hearted person. He was definitely not a perfect man, but he always worked hard to be as perfect as he could be. He was not much different from us and we should realize that he is a man of hard work. Michael Jordan always challenged himself and showed the world that nothing is impossible if you work endlessly to break the challenge. He was also a loving man who gave hopes to people in difficult situations by visiting them and volunteering for charity. Michael Jordan changed the world both physically and mentally. He renovated the game of basketball and contributed greatly in the globalization of basketball as a famous icon. Michael Jordan also challenged the history of basketball and successfully broke the world records with his mental toughness and physical talents. Even a superstar like Michael Jordan suffered unbearable hardships throughout his life and it is amazing enough to change the world to see how he endeavored to overcome the hardships and eventually be the greatest.
Bibliography Page
News/Magazines
1) News Service, ESPN.com. “Jordan Becomes Part-owner Of Bobcats.” ESPN.com. ESPN, 16 June 2006. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2486172>.
2) Almond, Elliot, and Danny Robbins. “Father of Michael Jordan, NBA Superstar, Found Dead : Crime: Officials Say He Was Killed by a Gunshot. He Had Been Missing for Three Weeks. FBI Opens Kidnap Probe.” Los Angeles Times. Times Staff Writers, 14 Aug. 1993. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/1993-08-14/news/mn-23746_1_michael-jordan>.
Books/Recommendations
1) Dolan, Sean, and Nathan Irvin Huggins. Michael Jordan. New York: Chelsea House, 1994. Print.
2) Goodman, Michael E. Chicago Bulls. Mankato, MN: Creative Education, 1998. Print.
Online Sources
1) Bio. True Story. “Michael Jordan Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.biography.com/people/michael-jordan-9358066>.
2) NBA. “NBA.com: Michael Jordan Career Stats.” NBA.com: Michael Jordan Career Stats. NBA Encyclopedia. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_stats.html>.
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