Is Michael Jordan dead?
That’s what I wondered the other night while watching ESPN in a bar. The jukebox was blaring, so I couldn’t hear the voices of the SportsCenter anchors. But during the montage of familiar Jordan highlights — his buzzer beater that clinched the national championship for North Carolina, his fadeaway baseline jumper during that 63-point game against the Celtics, his kissing of the floor after the Bulls eliminated the Sonics in the 1996 NBA Finals — I marveled at Jordan’s skill and imagined the unimaginable.
Michael Jordan was dead, because why else would ESPN devote 10 minutes on SportsCenter to somebody whose career concluded 10 years ago?
Whenever I see TV video clips of athletes who retired a long time ago, the first thing I think is: He’s dead. The second thing I think is: Yikes! He’s dead, and he wasn’t as old as I am!
Jordan is not dead, of course. He’s merely approaching the most anticipated of birthdays that turn a person’s age into a number dividable by 10. His Airness will be 50 on Sunday, a milestone event ESPN is covering with an oversaturated, around-the-clock zeal that’s remarkable even for ESPN.
I don’t recall a big deal about Willie Mays turning 50, in 1981, or Jim Brown turning 50, in 1986, or Muhammad Ali turning 50, in 1992. President Obama turned 50 more recently, in 2011. I don’t recall that, either.
But I will remember Michael Jordan’s 50th birthday, thanks to ESPN. The sports network has been on top of this, it seems,
since Jordan celebrated his 40th birthday.
I exaggerate. ESPN is only into Week Two of the Michael Turns 50 saga. That’s right, two weeks devoted to the phenomenon of Jordan having a birthday, with everybody from NBA commissioner David Stern to former USA Olympic basketball coach Bob Knight contributing analysis and insight.
Also on the docket, according to an ESPN press release, is a “special vignette” of Jordan’s 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame speech — a long and winding ramble that ranks among the most awkward, unnecessarily tense acceptance speeches in the history of acceptance speeches.
If you missed ESPN’s exploration of the history behind Jordan’s sneaker endorsements, or the segment dwelling on Jordan’s minor league baseball career, don’t worry. You can still tune in, on Friday, to a SportsNation show featuring his “best moments — not only in basketball, but in baseball, golf, pop culture and advertising.”
A special musical guest, ESPN notes, also will help celebrate the occasion.
In case you’re doing something more interesting on Friday than celebrating the occasion of the eve of the eve of Jordan’s 50th birthday, ESPN has arranged a panel discussion on Saturday about Jordan with the “NBA Countdown” crew of Magic Johnson, Jalen Rose, Michael Wilbon and Bill Simmons.
On Sunday, SportsCenter will show the top 50 moments of Jordan’s career, while ESPN Classic concludes a four-day, 70-hour telethon tribute to Jordan with reruns of all his memorable games, along with a few you may have forgotten about, such as the 1984 ACC tournament final and the 1987 College Legends Classic Alumni Game.
As for Jordan’s own plans for his birthday? A humble guy at heart, he’ll enjoy a quiet night at home with his family and a few of his closest friends, content to savor the wisdom acquired by living half a century on this crazy planet. Fifty? Hey, it’s just a number.
Just kidding.
Jordan has secured an upstairs wing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston — Houston being the site of the NBA’s All-Star Game on Sunday — which required a $100,000 down payment for the room reservation. He’ll be host for a “private” dinner of 100 guests, followed by a concert that’ll entertain 200 additional guests.
The lavish party is understandable: A man turns 50 only once, and he gets 24 hours to acknowledge it — unless the man is Michael Jordan, in which case ESPN acknowledges the birthday for two weeks.
Jordan is the best basketball player ever born (he was born, you may have heard, 50 years ago), a 6-foot-6 amalgamation of grace and will. The guy could shoot the lights out and jump through the roof and pick the ball off an opponent he was defending in the middle of a dribble.
He also could pass, delivering the ball with crisp precision and bold innovation. He passed so well that former Chicago coach Doug Collins gave him the position of Bulls’ point guard.
Among the segments ESPN is devoting to Jordan’s legacy, 10 minutes of his best passes doesn’t seem unreasonable.
But then I’d walk into a bar where the jukebox isn’t blaring, where the sound of television is audible, and I’d hear the SportsCenter anchor say: “Coming up next, a video tribute to the passing of Michael Jordan.”
And I’d think: Yikes! He wasn’t as old as I am!
john.mcgrath@ thenewstribune.com
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