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Bob Ryan: Better For The League To Be Without Jordan
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Believe it or not, league is better without its best
By Bob Ryan, Globe Columnist, 01/13/99
In this, the first day in the rest of the NBA's life, it may seem
ludicrous to suggest that not having Michael Jordan is a good thing.
But it is.
Having Michael Jordan for this truncated season would have been nothing more
than a placebo for a sick league. Why not simply rename the sport
''Michaelball''?
If the NBA is to be salvaged, it must, must, must be bigger than one man.
Having Jordan pegged as the absolute savior in the aftermath of a damaging
lockout would have proven a point, all right. The point would have been that
individuals are more important than teams. I thought we were now going to
get away from all that.
I've been praying for Michael to retire. A man such as Jordan should go out
with a game- and championship-winning shot. It is the NBA answer to Ted
Williams's home run on his final at-bat, except that instead of coming in a
regular-season game featuring a second-place team and a seventh-place team,
it came in the final five seconds of the season's most important game. That
is the way a Michael Jordan should go out, isn't it?
I would have been disappointed if he had come back, if only because it would
have made him a hypocrite. How many times during the past two years did he
say he wouldn't play for anyone other than Phil Jackson? Fifty? A hundred?
Ten thousand? I took him at his word. There was sound logic involved in that
statement, and I have always had the utmost respect for the man's intellect
and integrity. If he had come back after all he had said, the only
conclusion would have been that he had done it for the money. That would
have meant he was either awesomely greedy or frighteningly needy. Neither
would have been a comforting thought.
Jordan came along at a time when the league was making a conscious decision
to emphasize the star quality of individuals. No matter how
disproportionately great players had been in the old days, it was always
framed as a team game. It was always the Minneapolis Lakers, featuring
George Mikan. (Yes, I'm aware of the famed Madison Square Garden marquee
that speaks to the contrary. That was one building.) It was always the
Boston Celtics, featuring Bill Russell.
Even Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were sold as perfect representatives of
their storied franchises. Magic was regarded as the perfect Laker and Larry
was seen as the perfect Celtic. But the Jordan phenomenon was different. The
Chicago Bulls had no great national image. What would be a perfect Bull? It
was very easy to present the other players as an adjunct to the one great
talent. Hence, Michael and his Jordanaires. The Man himself even was heard
referring to ''my supporting cast.''
Jordan was unique. He was a special player and he was a special personality.
I can't wait to read the forthcoming book by David Halberstam, who spent
most of last season with the Bulls and has written a book that investigates
what he calls ''iconization'' in America. Halberstam is from a generation
whose heroes were white baseball players. He has watched a black man from
Wilmington, N.C., become the most valued pitchman in American business
history. It is a story that far transcends sport.
Such an original figure fosters admiration, awe, envy, and, finally,
imitation. But the Michael Jordan wannabes have not the slightest idea what
really inspires or drives him, nor do any possess either his inherent wisdom
or his astonishing energy. For all the jokes about Michael's obsession with
golf, he somehow managed to find the time within our 24-hour living cycle to
spend the requisite time in the gym, didn't he? Never once did he neglect,
disrespect, or abuse either his game or The Game. That's why he's Michael
Jordan.
The NBA has many long-range problems. Having Jordan to promote and slobber
over might provide a pleasant distraction for the masses. If the miniseason
ends and David Stern is once again handing over the championship trophy to
Jerry Reinsdorf, I'm quite sure the league would be feeling good about
itself, just the way baseball does in the aftermath of the McGwire-Sosa
Show. I'm sure the TV ratings for a Jordan-driven championship run would be
excellent, but is that the sole criterion by which to judge a sports league?
I trust not.
It is time to abandon the star thing. It is time to get back to the idea of
providing teams that can entertain us with good, old-fashioned five-man
basketball, teams that can actually run and/or play creative half-court
ball. The truth is that none of the current crop of players has anything
close to that Magic-Larry-Michael appeal, anyway. There are no worthy stars
around whom to peg the next advertising campaigns, and Shaq me no Shaqs.
When a few emerge, perhaps we can talk.
If Jordan is around to prop up the league over the next five months, the
powers that be might be fooled into thinking nothing is really wrong. The
truth is that a great deal is wrong. Why did so many people profess
indifference during the lockout? The answer was obvious to me, even though
the league doesn't want to hear it. People were indifferent because they had
come to realize during the past few years that the games were essentially
boring. The inactive, possession-oriented 80-76 games in which neither team
attempts more than 75 shots are a massive turnoff. If Jordan was not there
to author an athletic poem, the game lacked redeeming social value.
So let's get on with it. What lasting good would come of having this
abbreviated season once again constructed around Jordan? If one man is so
disproportionately important to the league's financial health, then it
cannot possibly be a league worth saving.
Short-term, sure, having Michael Jordan back would be a good thing. But
long-term? Nah. He doesn't need the aggravation, and he serves his league
best by leaving it.
Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist.
This story ran on page D01 of the Boston Globe on 01/13/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.