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The Michael Jordan Debate
Time is tight today, so I thought I’d put something out there to stir the pot a little and then step back and let you all hash it out.
I love a good debate, just like I love me some intellectual conversation. Not to get too confusing, but it’s been debated whether or not I belong in an intellectual conversation in the first place. That’s an argument for another day.
Today, I want to bring up a subject that I first heard raised about ten years ago. For lack of a more creative name, I call it “The Michael Jordan Debate”. The Michael Jordan debate is a simple premise that carries with it a single fact: Michael Jordan was the best basketball player to ever live.
You may or may not agree with that statement, and that’s fine. I’m not even sure I do. If you do, then jump ahead to the next paragraph. If you don’t agree, then just substitute MJ’s name with Kobe or Lebron or Oscar or Wilt.
The reason I use Jordan’s name in this debate all stems from a single statement I read in a book about his life. I’m not sure who the author was, but in the book, the author wrote one of the most profound things I have ever read in my life. It was a single sentence, but it carried a message that is as powerful as any other you’ll read not involving religion.
They said:
“Michael Jordan is better at basketball than anyone else in the world is at anything else.”
Stop and think about that for a minute. They’re saying he’s better at basketball than the world’s best doctor is at being a doctor. Better than the best writer, musician, poet, politician (that one’s easy), soldier, technician, etc.
It’s unclear whether they meant to include historical figures as well, but I don’t recall them making a distinction, so for the sake of argument we’ll include those no longer living, too.
Which brings to mind the following names: Einstein, Shakespeare, Churchill, Michael Jackson, Aristotle, Magellan. I could go on and on. As good as Michael Jordan was at basketball, is it possible that he was better at that, than Einstein was at rocking the world of physics?
This is where you come in. I want to know if you think Michael Jordan (or whoever gets your vote for best b’baller ever) was a better basketball player than anyone else in the world was at anything else. I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but the best debates arise from an argument that can’t be proven, only defended. So here’s your chance to take your side and defend your choice.
Leave your comments below.
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Let me be the first to shake the debate tree. And let me start out by saying I challenge any fan in the world…I am the biggest MJ fan I know. I have a friggin’ tattoo of jumpman on my leg…I am STILL a die hard Bulls fan because of MJ and always will be because of MJ….On to the topic. This might surprise some, but there is NO way this can be true. IMO MJ was by far and away the best basketball player in the world and there is little debate, BUT there is still room to debate. Being able to debate between things automatically eliminates you from BEST EVER AT ANYTHING. The best ever at anything would not have a debate. You would ask 1000 people and 995 of them would say (A) and the 5 who said (B) wouldn’t be able to debate because they picked someone else to be “different” or just for the sake of argument, knowing everyone else would pick A. Now, when we talk basketball I will debate anyone that MJ was the best ever and NOBODY (Kobe, Bron, Little Jaquan in 3rd grade in NYC right now) will EVER take that trophy away from him. Bill Russel can have two handfuls worth of championships, Wilt can score 100 points in a game, Oscar can average a triple double and Lebron James can….wait Lebron James hasn’t done ANYTHING worth mentioning with these names….Kobe is the only guy I have seen come close to MJ in the talent department. Kobe is also a rapist. The things these guys will never have is, what I like to call the MJ factor. Its the “IT”…its the “Glow”…That “were down 1 with 4 seconds left and our best player has the flu, a bad back and is 0-19, but we already know the gameplan…get him the ball” thing. Best scorer, best defender (when it mattered), best I’m in your head , best clutch, best dunker (at one time), best winner, best motivator of all time in my opinion. With all that being said, MJ has failed 1000′s of times…he has missed TONS of game winning shots…shit, if you wanna get into percentages he missed half the shots he EVER took in his life. The best EVER would be near perfect. Can I name the best ever? Nope. Could be a doctor out there who is 3,281-4 versus cancer or undefeated in brain surgery success. For the sake of debate I’m gonna have to say the best EVER at anythinig would have to be…Lance Armstrong. For the simple fact that THERE IS NO DEBATE. He is the best bike rider EVER. Whos the best doctor? Doctors will debate it…Whos the best golfer, golfers will debate it, whos the best basketball player? People will always debate it….Whos the best bike rider? NOBODY will debate that….
To say MJ is better at basketball than anyone is at anything else is insane. As far as basketball goes the guy hands down is the best ever. He is the ultimate competitor and hated losing on a level most of us can not understand. The guy isnt a better person than Kobe as Jamie said due to a B.S. complaint from some broad trying to get paid in eagle, Colorado. Jordan is a degenerate gambler, a womanizer, and a bad basketball executive. Kobe just ran into a crazy bitch that thought she could get paid if she wrongly accused him of rape…well (expletive deleted) her in the (expletive deleted). MJ has paternity suits against him by women, so he isnt a model citizen either.
Jamie – To play devil’s advocate, is it possible to be the best ever at something when there’s speculation (albeit unproven speculation) that you took performance enhancers?
@RJ
Lance has one ball. He can’t produce as much testosterone. He is the ONLY athlete I am ok using the juice. AND to top it all off, this is simply speculation. Nothing was ever proven. Like I said though, guy has half the man juice you and me have and he dominated. Even if he was using juice, he was only making it a level playing field
@ Jamie – Fair enough with the testosterone argument, but the question remains – Is he a better bike rider than Albert Einstein was physicist? Than Michael Jackson was performer?
@Bill – Their off-court antics aren’t part of the equation. They are phenomenal basketball players – are they better at what they do than Steve Jobs is at spitting out gadgets?
Interesting debate. I’m in the MJ is by far the greatest basketball player in the world camp, but for the reasons Jamie mentiond above, it’s almost impossible to make the claim that nobody is better at whatever then him at basketball.
Hell, I might be better at Mke Tyson’s Punchout then him playing hoops.
Everybody has faults and everybody has made mistakes, so it’s tough to make the claim for anybody.
Good idea though, definitely makes you think.
I might have worded that wrong, but you get the point.
I love Jordan, he was like a superhero when I was growing up. The guy was right up there with Hulk Hogan. To say he’s better at basketball then anyone else is at anything is just dumb. But I’ll stick with sports.
Is Jordan the best basketball player ever …? You can’t even say he won it all by himself, cause he did have some great teammates. Pippen of course was great, and at one time a 1st team defensive player. Rodman was brought in to grab rebounds when the team seen they were in need of some help. Paxton and Kerr were great outside shooters. Grant and Kukos were not great but good. There are guys like Jordan in the NBA right now …Kobe for example. Kobe has a lot of rings and could win another one this year. But I love Jordan and I’ll say he may be the best basketball player ever.
But did he dominate his sport more than any athlete dominated their sport …HELL NO !
The Great One Wayne Gretzki may be that athlete. Holding or tying 162 records in hockey ..the man has done what will NEVER happen again in his sport. He was so good …no make that great at his sport, that the NHL retired his number from the sport. Jordan’s 23 is only retired in Chicago.
Lance Armstrong …forget the cancer story, the man won 7 tour de france races. The chances of someone being able to do that for 7 years is so unbelievable, it makes you ask yourself …is Lance Armstrong the most dominating athlete of all time ?
Though Nascar racers are athletes ..i refuse to talk about Jimmy Johnson winning 4 titles in a row …impressive but that’s for another web site. I’ll end this cause it’s getting pretty long …thought id throw in my 2 cents though.
Love the site …
- Shieldsy
Couple things at Shields…Pippen was not at ONE time a 1st team all defender…I could be off by a year or two but he was a 7 time all nba first team defender. Pippen was one of the best defenders of the golden era of the NBA. Jordan’s number might not be retired all over the NBA , but Chicago isn’t the only place it is retired…Miami too, retired no.23 because of Jordan…and its a lot easier to retire a no.99 than one of the most popular numbers in basketball (23)…when they retired gretzky’s number exactly ZERO players donned the 99….if you retired 23 in the NBA you would have 40 guys changing numbers….and Rodman was great, Paxson , Kerr, Kucok etc etc…but they were only good because they had the best two coaches (Phil and MJ) and the best player in the world surrounding them…If I played with Jordan I would look pretty damn good too….Jordan drew double teams 80% of the time and that ALWAYS left someone open….the only player that was GREAT on those teams was Pippen…and you could even argue he wouldn’t have been a top 50 all timer without MJ…again, thats another topic though…nice overall response though…