Legacy of Jordan enters the Hall of Fame

It may have well happened if he hadn't been there. Someone else may well have been the beneficiary of the confluence that occurred in the early 1980s: the merging of globalization, marketing, Larry and Magic, ESPN-led media proliferation and luck (luck is in everything) that helped turn a basketball star into a global icon.
Maybe it would have been Clyde Drexler. Maybe, a few years later, David Robinson would have caught the wave. Surely, Charles Barkley could have starred in a movie with Bugs Bunny and Bill Murray, instead of just making a cameo appearance.

But it's Jordan that's become a synonym for American excellence, the way GM and IBM used to be. Google "the Michael Jordan of ..." and you get the following:
... Turkey (Hedo Turkoglu)
... Rapping (Kanye West)
... Porn (Jenna Jameson)
... Electronic Games (one Dennis "Thresh" Fong)
... Washing Machines (the "Tian Chi" Chinese Washing Machine)
... Bagpipes--but just in Portland, Oregon (a gentleman by the name of Alasdair Gilles)
... Cricket (Brian Lana)
... Economics (Dr. Gary Becker)
... Golf (Tiger, natch)
... Walking Trails (the Bent Creek Recreation Area in Asheville, N.C.)

He left Mark Price and Brad Daugherty and Dominique Wilkins and Reggie Miller and Barkley and Patrick Ewing and John Stockton and Karl Malone without a single NBA championship among them. Hakeem Olajuwon won two titles (and Drexler one) while Jordan was away playing baseball; Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton got their ring only after he was gone for good.
Pat Riley used to always say there were only two states in the NBA: winning and misery. Jordan inflicted much of that misery on Riley, first in New York with the Knicks, and then in Miami with the Heat. Riley had gotten used to championships and champagne with the Lakers. And then came Jordan, and it was almost 20 years before Riley won another title, coaching Mourning, Payton and Dwyane Wade to the 2006 championship--when Jordan was safely in Charlotte.

For years, the Bulls couldn't solve Detroit, which won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990 by overwhelming Chicago with defense, intimidation and will. The actual "Jordan Rules" invoked by the Pistons' defense were nothing more than being physical with Jordan at every opportunity and daring his teammates to do something about it.
Jordan scowled his way through the 1990 Eastern Conference finals, when the Pistons got the better of his Bulls, yet again, in seven excruciating games. He barely spoke with the media and belittled his teammates' toughness as they were pushed around by Detroit's champions. His silence spoke volumes in the Bulls' locker room, both during and after the series.

Jordan also made a major change in his approach. He finally accepted that he shouldn't dominate games just because he could. He had to trust his teammates and save himself for what Magic called "winnin' time."

Rest they say (and its true) is HISTORY !!!

Bottom line: No post or page for a mere mortal like me can talk enough about the greatness associated with one of the best athletes to grace the field of sports. This 11th Sep 2009, he enters into the hall of fame with fellow inductees David 'Admiral' Robinson, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan.

Its a day everyone associated with the game of basketball, will remember as the day the king rightfully ascended atop his kingdom.