34 Years ago, Michael Jordan graced the ring and world of basketball changed forever. Basketball enthusiasts went crazy, players didn’t try to compare, and retired players hailed him as the best they have ever seen. It wasn’t always like this for Michael Jordan; he achieved it through gritty hard work on his talent. As said by him, “Everybody has talent, but ability takes hard work.” He is still considered by most basketball fans to be the greatest of all time, or, the GOAT (as sports enthusiasts put it).
Among his achievements, he has the highest career scoring average, five MVPs, six NBA championship titles, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and the most MVPs in finals. Maybe all of his records will be broken, but all won’t be broken by the same player. He had a combination of athleticism, skill, pace, and power that others couldn’t just match.
In his first year of competition, he won the NBA rookie of the year. As soon as he arrived, Chicago Bulls started becoming a force to be reckoned with smashing teams left and right. Michael was the clock that made it all tick; a whirlwind which was moving, jumping, and dunking that ball in time after time, smashing all records while doing that.
Nobody had any idea at the time that this player will go on to become a true legend of the game. He developed quickly and players were just amazed at the way he carried himself and played. He still has a record of smashing most points in a game, this was a hammering, an unprecedented one which went on to establish the credentials of this player.
He did what others couldn’t do; he had an inimitable style which was a trademark on its own. He had a special clause in his contract called the love-of-the-game clause which allowed him to play basketball in off-season. Sal from CDR-Report comments on this, “You could see how he was unlike other professionals. He played more for love of the game than the money involved. That’s inspiration for every schoolboy.”
Nike went ahead and created Air Jordan which was a brand of shoes created only for Michael Jordan. They weren’t released to the public until later on and are still recognized and purchased around the world. It only shows how influential he was as a player and a personality. He was also fined for wearing those shoes when playing because the colors broke the code of conduct of NBA.
He is one of the most widely recognized players throughout the world; and in the world of basketball, he is the most famous worldwide. Much can be understood by seeing the success of his movies; Space Jam being a real popular one with the kids which featured the basketball star along with cartoon characters. He is an inspiration and an icon to the rest of basketball players throughout.
Gabriel of EssayWriter4U opines, “Lebron James is being considered who could go on to become the GOAT by winning a title with his hometown team; I cannot comment on that, but no one can bring so much to the court as Michael Jordan did.
He retired twice during his career. The first time he did so, was after a truly tragic incident when his father was shot by robbers. Michael went on to try his hand at baseball, trying to make his father’s dream come true. But, he was not able to do that and returned to basketball going on to win another title. He retired for good a few years later, much to the sadness of basketball lovers.