Re: Unrelated

["Spuds Ky" <spudsky@hotmail.com>]

>
>If anyone has an account with ESPN, can you please post the article, 
why
>David Aldridge thinks MJ should retire now?
>I appreciate it.
>
>Ritesh Ramani
>
>

As requested.....



Let No. 23 step down while he's still No. 1





  ARCHIVE


  PROFILE

                 FEB. 19, 1998

                 I could suck up to Michael Jordan like a certain 
national magazine just did,
                 boo-hooing and begging him on bended knee to come back 
next season.

                 Lord knows everybody wants to see him keep playing. Any 
parent would want
                 to take his or her children to an arena where each can 
point down on the floor
                 and say, "See him, kids? He's the best ever."

                 Who doesn't want to hear Pavarotti sing?

                 Who doesn't want to taste filet mignon?

                 Who doesn't want to watch Madonna ...
                 well, modesty forbids.

                 So it is with Michael Jeffrey Jordan,
                 hooper nonpareil.

                 Except with me.

                 Just call me Scrooge and hear me out.

                 This isn't about whether I like watching
                 Jordan play. Having a brain, I love
                 watching Jordan play -- his swoops and
                 flotations; his basket-hanging and
                 gravity-defiance.

                 What I love most about him, though, is his
                 will. It is a will that no other athlete of this time 
possesses. It is a will that is
                 indefatigable. It is made of iron. It is timeless. It 
was created by the twin peaks
                 of Larry Bird's and Magic Johnson's greatness. It 
endures, night after night, town
                 after town.

                 After five championships, Michael Jordan is still ready 
to play every time the
                 horn sounds. This alone separates him from almost 
everyone he has ever played
                 against.

                 And I want to remember him that way. Jordan is my Ali, 
my Elvis, my Babe
                 Ruth.

                 I recall reading what Ossie Davis said at Malcolm X's 
funeral: Malcolm was our
                 prince, our shining black manhood.

                 And when I watch Jordan, I see a proud black man, 
rising through the heat of
                 competition to not only survive, but thrive. If there 
are not obvious causes, like
                 civil rights, to fight for at the end of the century; 
if there are not issues, like
                 Vietnam, on which to take a stand, it is not Jordan's 
fault.

                 I used to think that Jordan had a responsibility to say 
more about the world
                 around him, to spend his money on people who couldn't 
spend it on themselves.
                 I used to think Jordan should take on political issues 
like apartheid abroad and
                 elections at home.

                 (I still would like to know why Jordan can't get a 
sneaker made for less than
                 $100 for city kids who can't buy three and four pair of 
shoes at once.)

                 With time, though, I've come to think
                 differently. You cannot make anyone what they
                 don't want to be. Perhaps Jordan is what he
                 said he was when he came back from baseball:
                 just a basketball player, nothing more. A very
                 rich one, but nothing more.

                 And what Jordan wants to do with his time, his
                 money, his heart, is up to him. He does not
                 owe the rest of the world the benefit of his
                 wisdom. (I'm not being flip or mean, but he
                 may not have anything much of interest to say
                 about the rest of the world.)

                 And so, my interest in Jordan starts and ends on the 
basketball court.

                 And I want him to leave.

                 I do not want to see Jordan at 42, like Willie Mays, 
seemingly swallowed up by
                 his Mets uniform, feeble and unable to hit pitchers he 
would have brained two
                 decades before.

                 I do not want to see Jordan like Elvis, bloated in a 
ridiculous spandex jumpsuit,
                 forgetting the words to the songs that made him famous.

                 I do not want to see Jordan like Ali, against Larry 
Holmes, incapable of
                 defending himself, taking punches that would take a 
terrible toll on him later in his
                 life.

                 I do not want to see Jordan in Charlotte teal, or Laker 
blue, or any other color
                 than the one that is rightly his.

                 I don't want to see Jordan replaced in the starting 
lineup by some punk who's
                 currently in junior high school. I don't want to see 
him begin to pile up
                 DNP-CDs.

                 Jordan is still at the top of his form, still the best, 
at 35. In all likelihood, his Bulls
                 will win a sixth championship since 1991 if they can 
stay healthy and interested.
                 And that's how I hope Jordan leaves the stage. Like Jim 
Brown, on his own
                 terms. Leaving the rest of us to contemplate his 
miracle and never witness his
                 decline.

                 It's not about whether Jordan should bag it.

                 It's about how he bids us adieu.

                 This is selfish of me, because there are kids who still 
haven't seen him play in
                 person.

                 And this is why they have Classic Sports Network. By 
ESPN. (Gratuitous,
                 synergistic company plug! Doesn't it just make you 
ill?)
>


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