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[kjgoo <kjgoo@worldnet.att.net>]

Justin Toney wrote: 

However, if the
officals
were calling the game like in regular season, Shaq could, as he was
going to the
basket, literally run over jordan leaving size 20+ nike shoe prints
embedded in his chest.

IMPOSSIBLE!  UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE!  Shaq wears REEBOKS, and he's a hell of a lot more loyal to 
his sponsors than he is to his teammates....

By the way, what prompted this thread on the merits of rampant capitalism?  I'm most intrigued 
by this suggestion that we limit Jordan's and Bill Gates' compensation to $1M/year.  I have 
only one question -- assuming we do apply a 100% marginal tax rate to compensation income over 
$1M, how do we convince Jordan to continue playing ball and Gates to continue running 
Microsoft?  The latter question is knottier (and a lot more significant, since Gates has 
created a hell of a lot more value than MJ -- although I hear Gates can't go to his left), but 
since this is a basketball discussion group let's stick to Jordan.  Even if Jordan didn't 
already have the "F-you" money and kept playing for a paltry mil per year, who would get all 
that value he creates by playing?  Nike?  NBC? Jerry Reinsdorf?  Or are you going to tax all of 
them, too?

Maybe success has spoiled the game.  Yes, it's unfair that diehard sports fans who aren't 
millionaires can't afford to take their kids to even a regular season NBA game.  It's even more 
unfair that society's priorities are so screwed up that we pay Michael Jordan so much (REALITY 
CHECK HERE, FOLKS -- HE'S NOT A GOD.  HE'S A GREAT, GREAT BASKETBALL PLAYER -- and, judging 
from Space Jam, an even worse actor than Shaquille O'Neal) and teachers, social workers and 
other assorted do-gooders so little.  As a society, we can't change that -- at least not 
overnight.  All we can do is honor and emulate those who try their best to make America a 
better place to live.  

And while we're on the subject of Michael Jordan's place in the pantheon -- if we really want 
to judge true greatness in a basketball player, maybe we can add "Thanksgiving turkeys given 
away without being told to by a PR flack" as a relevant statistic.  I happen to agree with 
Bentz that Russell is the greatest of all time, but there's no player that makes me prouder to 
be a Celtic fan than Reggie Lewis.

Michael Gooen