December 14, 2014: Players Club

Welcome to the new feature:  the Players Club.  I will spotlight either a past or present player or team, and will be inducting these individuals into the club.  Let’s see how it goes.

This will be something like a Hall of Greatness for Chicago sports.  There will be your permanent members aka lifetime achievement awards winners, and then there will be guys inducted for current greatness.  There will be all-time great teams, and then there will be those teams that we just loved to cheer for.  There’s going to be some research done on my part, but for any individuals playing in my days, I will try to use my so-so memory, which seems to be much stronger when talking Chicago sports.  We’re going to feel it out.  That being said, we’re going to start right at the top; to somebody who will be in any “club” not only in Chicago, but across the world.  Our first individual is not only a player but the player president.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan.  I had to throw the Jeffrey in there because that’s why I was given my name; just kidding… but I wouldn’t have been mad if it was.  MJ is the top of the top, the crème de la crème, the finest wine… the greatest of all time.  He is not only the greatest Chicago athlete of all time, but I would argue he is the greatest athlete of all time period.  Where do we start?

Let’s start with some current events, like him being the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, or him taking shots at the current NBA players about their whining about an 82 game season, or him being passed as the 3rd all-time scorer in history tonight.  His ownership adventures have been rough, but we really don’t care about that here… unless one day he was to come back to the Bulls…  I love how he takes shots at the current players.  They really are soft in comparison.  To hear the best current player in the NBA whine about the length of the season, is hilarious.  If it was up to MJ, he would want a longer season.  He loved to play the game, he loved to compete, he loved to win.  There was no resting a game here or there because of a made-up ailment.  In fact, when he was sick, he was at his best.  He was the most focused.  My favorite game of all time is the Flu Game.  To be that sick, to be playing on the biggest stage on the road, with everything at stake, and to come out with THAT performance?  There’s a reason everybody wanted to be like Mike.  And that brings us to Kobe who will be passing him on the all time scoring list today.  I have to admit, it does bother me a bit, but then I started reading articles, started reviewing the stats…  and remembered that no matter how hard you try to be like someone, there is only one.

I used to hate Kobe Bryant because he was trying so hard to be like MJ, and was achieving a great deal of success doing so.  I can’t hate him for trying to be like the best ever, and I can’t be mad at somebody for passing him on a scoring list when he’s played almost 200 more games than MJ.  To that point, I can’t hate the Mailman because he played 400 more games, or Kareem for playing 500 more games.  Michael Jordan holds the #1 PPG in the history of the NBA at 30.12.  Looking back at his greatness, this single stat always boggles my mind.
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You see players have off-games.  You see players get shut down.  You see players go cold.  How many games did MJ fail to score double digits in his career?  Out of 1,251 total games played, he scored single digits in 13 games.  Wow, that many?  Yeah, how many times out of those 13 games did that happen in a Bulls uniform?  Once.  One time in 13 years.  OK, what about under 20 points?  133 times in his career… 51 of those came in his retirement tour as a Wizard.  In fact, as a 39-40 year old Wizard, he still averaged over 20 ppg!  OK, back to the Bulls #’s… So out of 1,109 games in a Bulls uniform, there were only 83 times he didn’t score at least 20 points.  7.48% of the time… wow!  This was the true greatness of MJ.

The true greatness of MJ was that he brought his A game EVERY game.  I remember growing up, every Bulls game was must watch TV for one reason above all.  You knew he would do something great EVERY SINGLE game and you didn’t want to miss it.  There are plenty of highlight reels out there to review on YouTube, which I still enjoy watching from time to time, but all of those highlights STILL do not do MJ justice.  It was the game in game out greatness that us Bulls fans were lucky enough to see for 13 years that cannot be put on a highlight reel.

So, yes, I write this small tribute to the king, but this does no justice either.  I haven’t even mentioned the 6 NBA titles, the 6 Finals MVPs, the dynasty that he guided on Madison Avenue throughout the 90s.  There’s too much.  There’s not enough room here.

All I know is this, to me, there is no greater athlete… there will NEVER be a greater athlete.  Yes, there were many others we had the fortune to watch play here in Chicago, and I will talk about them all.  Yes, there are great players on the current Chicago teams that I love rooting for.  Yes, this is all true, but there will only be one MJ.  Welcome to the Players Club; the doors can now be opened.