The Incomparable M.J.

I appreciate your post 3G comparing Lebron James to Michael Jordan. I grew up on the Southside of Chicago watching every one of M.J.'s games on WGN. Although we could only afford tickets during the pre-Dynasty era (that is, before the string of championships), I remember as if it were yesterday staying in on Friday nights until Bulls games were over just to watch "poetry in motion." Later in college, when I was abroad in France, I stayed up until 4 am watching each game of the championship series against the Sonics, amazed at his grace.

As we all were, I was devastated when he retired prematurely in 1993, but who could blame him? His dad was just murdered at a rest stop for Michael’s ring. Lucky for us, his Airness made a triumphant return to the hardwood against the arch nemesis Knicks a couple years later scoring 55 points and feeding Bill Wennington for the winning hoop, all en route to 3 more championship rings.

Years later, when I got to DC, he followed in what was his second comeback. Unlike many in the Chicagoland, namely Sam Smith, the writer for the Trib, I thought his 2d comeback was a success. The guy could still flat out play. Maybe he couldn't sky like before, but he was still getting double and triple teamed nightly and still finding a way to score. Besides, his arrival in the nation’s capital created a huge buzz. Tickets to the Wiz suddenly became impossible to get.

The problem was that he was surrounded by “CBA-type players,” to be generous. Laettner, Popeye Jones, Jahidi White? Come on. Jordan would make some ridiculous no-look pass to one of them and the ball would always seem to bounce off the hapless player’s chest out of bounds.

It was frustrating, to say the least, but again, I'd stay in on weekends until the games were over.

The next year, though, Jordan developed knee problems, which plagued him the rest of the year. His final year became anticlimactic, but I still got a warm feeling inside seeing his face on billboards and in commercials, and every once and a while the greatness of old would turn up, showing us again with some fantastic play, the memory of which I could live off for days.

Man, that guy was good.

The problem though for me in comparing some new hotshot player, as 3G does below, to the "greatest player to ever live" is that it's a fruitless exercise. J.R. Rider, Labradford Smith, Harold Miner, Greg Minor, Roderick Rhodes, Courtney Alexander, Joe Forte, Dajuan Wagner, and even Jerry Stackouse, are all names of players who have been compared to him and who have failed miserably to live up to the billing. Even Kobe Bryant has failed. He lacks the charm, the charisma, the panache, and most importantly, the class of Michael. His entire career has been in his shadow; moreover, it's a different era. The NBA is not the NBA that I remember and the comparisons never match up.

So what I propose is to accept the fact that Jordan—and include in the mix, Magic and Bird--were a unique set of players. The best of their time, perhaps all time. I propose that we move on and all agree not to compare Jordan to any new player. I propose we avoid it like the plague for the sake of the new players and, most importantly, for the sake of the Greatest Player to Ever Live.