Originally posted by Hawk269:
What is up with the MJ bashing here?
Talking about travelling? I suppose it is a major travel when he nails a backdown fadeaway on 3 defenders. I would love to see you or any current NBA player have an unstoppable shot like that. Woops, that would imply that you knew something about basketball (my bad).
What is up with the speedracer bashing here? Anybody who has ever watched me play basketball (probably none of you) would agree that I suck, so it really doesn't need to be mentioned here. But I play sports enough and watch basketball enough to know that MJ gets away with plenty of travels and fouls and draws a lot of spurious fouls (many premier offensive players receive this kind of treatment, but Jordan more so than others).
Mike may not be Bono when it comes to social issues, but he does set an example of what it means to conduct yourself with dignity and class. Here is a guy who never celebrates in other players' faces, brags, or jumps around every time he scores a point. While every other player would sit out during injury or ill health, Jordan played and played hard. I respect that. If anyone here had one hundreth of Jordan's will to compete and win, I might just give some credibility to what you are saying. The man played with every ounce of God given talent, heart, and soul that he had.
Well, the thread did ask for a comparison of MJ and Bono, so I think it's fair to mention that MJ keeps away from most major social issues. Other athletes like Magic Johnson and Jim Brown have publicly chastised him for this. You can bet Nike would have listened if Jordan told them that he didn't approve of the working conditions in its overseas factories.
And as for conducting himself with dignity and class, I'd agree--EXCEPT when a referee dares to make a call against him. I'm sure you've seen Jordan lambaste a referee for making a call against him before--he gives them the kind of treatment that would get Rasheed Wallace suspended. Jordan would still be the greatest basketball player of all time if he didn't receive special treatment from the refs, and it's pathetic to see him launching a tirade against a ref who has called him for traveling. But I guess that's a relatively minor complaint--most of the time he is the ideal competitor and doesn't bother the referees.
Again, I'm not sure why you're assailing me for not being even 1% as competitive as Jordan, so I'll mention that I've played high-level ultimate frisbee in weather that would get a lot of other professional sporting events cancelled. Will that restore to me any shred of credibility?
You can disrespect a lot of guys for not jumping in the social issue arena. So why choose MJ? I suppose he is an easy target, being the greatest athlete of the 20th century. I do not sit on my ass and judge the wrong people. So get off your high horses and paint your bullseye on more worthy targets.
I guess it's mostly a matter of expecting good things from those who have the power to do good things. You're right, he is quite possibly the greatest athlete of the 20th century, and he could be using his immense popularity, power and wealth to do a lot of good. And he is an easy target--nobody's going to complain about Pete Sampras not doing enough to help needy people because he isn't 1% as prominent as Jordan is.
If you don't believe that celebrities have any social obligations at all other than to perform well and obey the law, then that's your valid opinion, and I guess I can't really argue with you. But if you're like me and you think that they should use the power, attention and money that fans lavish upon them and put it to good use, then you should realize that MJ doesn't quite live up to this ideal.
[This message has been edited by speedracer (edited 09-30-2001).]
