Michael Jordan should not come back. Most people can only dream of going out the way he did, with a last second shot to win a championship- nothing but net. That shot summed up everything we think about Jordan - beauty, grace, and excellence. Anything less than a title-winning shot would be a letdown.
As a New York Knicks fan, I have suffered through years of heartbreak as the tongue-wagging deity that we know as Jordan ended the Knicks' seasons throughout my adolescence. In fact, in six head-to- head playoff matches between the Knicks and the Bulls when Jordan was active, my Knickerbockers went a painful 0-6. New York managed to pull out a victory in 1994, during Jordan's first basketball hiatus.
After Jordan came back in 1995, he struggled. It wasn't as bad as his .202, 3 homerun, and 51 RBI performance as a White Sox minor leaguer in 1994, but it was still painful to watch. When Jordan floundered on the baseball diamond, it made him more human, perhaps even more lovable. This was the first time that the world saw Jordan was not perfect. Still, he made strides in his first and only year as a minor leaguer. After his season toiling for the Birmingham Barons, he played in the Arizona Fall league and improved so drastically at the plate and in the field that there was talk that he might one day become a major league player.
After he quit baseball and returned to the hardwood, the world expected Jordan to continue where he left off - he didn't. Instead, he shot .411 from the field and averaged only 26.9 points. While his shooting percentage was down, his point production was still awe-inspiring - but not Jordan-esque. It's a hard standard to maintain when the most complimentary adjective in the basketball dictionary was created from your last name (see previous sentence). Despite his troubles after returning, Jordan managed to get rid of the rust just in time to torch the Knicks for 55 at Madison Square Garden.
The man had single handedly beaten my team, yet again. But I couldn't help but root for the anomaly named Michael whenever he played the Knicks. I always hoped that Jordan would go for 50 and that New York would win by two at the buzzer. Most people shared my sentiments. Whenever Jordan and the Bulls went on road trips, the stadiums would sell out, and that included the homes of perennial losers such as the LA Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks.
Jordan transcended winning and losing. He made people question their loyalty. How could we root for him when he was beating our team? It didn't make sense, but we kept rooting for him anyway.
When Jordan struggled through the 1995 playoffs, the Orlando Magic's shooting guard, Nick Anderson had the audacity to say what we all saw - Jordan had lost a step. I was almost brought to tears when I saw #23 fumbling the ball against Orlando.
Jordan was embarrassed and he came back in the 1995-1996 season, rededicated to being the best player in the game. He may have lost a step but he was wiser - even the holy sometimes need to adapt. Jordan had evolved from a slasher and a dunker into a man whose most lethal shot was his fadeaway jumper. The world was right again because MJ was back to his winning ways - three more scoring titles and three more championships.
While still the NBA standard, there was no denying he was a different player. The last two of his three full seasons after his comeback, Jordan averaged under 30 points per game. While 29.6 and 28.7 are not too shabby and still led the league, they marked the only two seasons with the exception of MJ's rookie year in which he did not score more than 30 points per contest. The decline was minute and could easily be ignored, but nonetheless it was there.
In 1995, when Jordan made his first return, he was 32 years old. Now he is 38. Although he could conceivably still be the best player in the NBA, once he works himself into shape there is no way he could be the same player that he was when he was 25, 32, or even 35. Even if he were the best, would he be Jordan?
I don't want to find out. I'm content with the memories of Michael Jordan knocking my beloved Knicks out of the playoffs. MJ should be comfortable with his legacy. He truly is the greatest. He has nothing left to prove.
Dan Fowler is sophomore majoring in political science. He is sports editor at the Daily.
