The NBA and Michael Jordan can go screw themselves. This whole thing feels so contrived it’s ridiculous. Sooooo “been there, done that”. MJ, part of being the greatest is knowing when enough’s enough. You should have left us with that last shot against Utah (even if you did push off Bryon Russell, but that’s another story). The NBA is so diluted and talentless right now that I have no doubt he can come back and score 20 a night. Seeing as how no one can shoot or pass anymore, MJ could easily shoot 8-25 from the field and 6-8 from the line every night. Hell, Allen Iverson does that now and he was the MVP! Oh and MJ, remember when you first played for the Bulls in the 80s? Remember how, even though everyone knew how great you were, how long it took you to win a ring? MJ wouldn’t have any rings if it weren’t for the fact that the Bulls finally got some other people on that team that knew how to play. The Wizards, as Homer would say, are one of the suckiest bunches of suck that ever sucked. And if you thought the “conspiracy” complaints were silly from the Indiana Pacers last year, wait until you hear about it this year if the Wizards somehow actually do contend for the playoffs! Besides, he got every call anyway (just like Shaq never gets called for charging).
I must admit I felt the same way at first when Mario Lemiuex said he wanted to come back. I thought “yeah right”. How can anyone come back to play after that long a layoff and still be good? Well Mario is the real deal. But there’s some key differences between Mario and MJ, and that’s why I changed my mind about Mario but “99.9% no” (as Jordan once put his chances of coming back) won’t do it for MJ. Mario had cancer. Mario had back problems even when he was in his prime. He didn’t take some time off to pursue a silly whim like playing baseball. And Mario was 100 times the front office man MJ was. Let’s see, Mario saved the team he led to 2 Cups from bankruptcy and kept them in Pittsburgh. MJ could barely even handle hiring a new coach.
I would say I’m going to boycott the NBA in protest but I’ve been doing that since oh, 1993. I’ll extend this plea to fellow dopers: please please PLEASE do not rush out to Champs Sports and drop $45 and up on a Jordan Wizards jersey.
For further reading: http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/stein/1252437.html
While I do not give rat’s ass one about “professional” sports, if I were a fan, I think I would feel betrayed if I went to see MJ “retire” and then comeback, again. A lot of fans gave MJ a very eotional send off, twice. Sounds like SOMEBODY has a few “growing up and moving on” issues. Or jealousy issues. Or “my team sucks hot donkey nuts and I’m the only one who save it” issues.
They better sell those jerseys quick, becuase the first time the old man gets faked out of his shoes by some young punk everyone in the viewing audience will die of contact embarrasment.
I felt the same way about Dick Vermiel this year. He dragged the Rams up from the gutter, wins the Superbowl for St. Louis and then retires. He leaves the team in the hands of our offensive coordinator, who thought he’d have 2or 3 years (I forget exactly how much time was left on Vermiel’s contract) to learn the ropes of being a head coach from Vermiel. So Martz flounders his first year as head coach and then the next season…
Look who’s back! It’s Dick Vermiel out of retirement and coaching the Chiefs! Fuck you, Dick. You had a contract with the Rams. You should have been the coach last year for the Rams, showing Martz how to be a head coach instead of dumping it on him and running.
Had you been gone for a few years, that’d be one thing, but you were retired for one season! One season. That’s not retirement. That’s weaselling out of your contract.
And Michael, for what you did for your sport, you rank up there with Wayne Gretsky, Babe Ruth, Tiger Woods, etc. But enough’s enough man. Retire or don’t, but quit fucking around with your fans.
well, I for one am not seeing this as a bad thing…well, not quite.
If MJ can honestly assess his abilities, and he honestly believes he can still compete, and teams still want him, where’s the harm? He’s doing what he loves and who are we to fault him for that?
If he’s doing this despite knowing he no longer has the ability, if he’s doing this because he just wants another shot at fame, then yes, that’s really a crappy reason to come back. Flame away.
The problem is that we can never know which one it is. Only he can. I, for one, am going to stand aside and let MJ do what he wants to. As if me getting in the way would make more of a difference than the Whos from Whoville standing up to the elephants.
Here’s one thing I’m surprised hasn’t been mentioned yet: MJ’s salary. $1 million. He’s giving it all to charity.
Now…this is good and this is bad and I can’t quite tell which way is more so. Giving all his money to charity is wonderful. But he’s selling himself out for WAY under value.
What does he care, right? 1 million, 100 million, if he’s giving it all away, he’s not going to see a dime. But instead of giving 10, 20 times his price tag to charity, it’s now lining the owner’s pockets. Wow. Good job there, MJ. Crackwhores get a larger cut from their pimps than you got on the deal.
Well Jeff, the do exude the aura of having bigger hot donkey nuts.
What some others have mentioned is what also disturbs me a bit. He’s had two wonderful, emotional send-offs already. He went out in style and left a spectacular legacy. It can only go down from there.
He can’t be as good when he comes back. We won’t care as much when he leaves again. History might not be as kind in the long run.
Michael, why?
But you got to stop this shit. Will he play or won’t he play? You retired, Michael, your jersey, retired.
You came back to play with Phil Jackson one more time, you want to give basketball one more try.
You made basketball interesting again, when the only
people who gave a shit, were the ones with hoops over thier garage or barn door. Nobody dunked like you did Michael, and you have fans the world over.
I would give quite a lot to sse you play, but STOP fucking around, with this wiil he or won’he shit! Stop being a dipshit, decide if you want to play or retire. You are making the baby Jesus cry!
Nah, then he would have been called “Jacko”. Remember that SNL opener when Darryl Hammond (as some news guy, Koppel I think) kept calling Tim Meadows (as Jacko) “Jacko” and making him read the NYPost headline
“Jacko on his Backo”?
