To say that Michael Jordan was a sports god is an understatement of such monumental proportions it is not even funny. A lot has been written about WHY he was the greatest basketball player of all time, but not a lot has been written about the way he towered over every other athelete in existence to children who grew up in the ninties like myself.
His aura for children of my generation cannot be overstated. Bear in mind, for my entire childhood I probably watched one or two pro basketball games on TV in my life. St. Louis didn't have a basketball team, so I really didn't care about basketball. Well let me amend that, I didn't care about basketball except for Michael Jordan. I didn't know much about basketball, but I knew MJ. I knew MJ was better than any other basketball player in existence (and, in my mind at least, it was not even close). He was the gold standard of sports godhood to me, and I didn't even care about basketball.
To put it another way, when I was a kid I had two posters of atheletes in my room. One was of Brett Hull, the man who is probably my favorite athelete in any sport, and the other was of MJ. There was no Ozzie Smith or Cardinals posters in my room, yet my parents got me MJ's poster. It was as beloved as my Brett Hull poster, even though it represented a sport I didn't care about.
That, is what defined Michael Jordan. His greatness was so obvious. His persona was so likeable that one didn't even have to know his sport to find him beloved. That is true sports godhood, and that is why there will never be another MJ.
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Well said. Mj was the greatest, as even Bill Simmons acknowledges by placing him at the top of the pyramid in The Book of Basketball. His excellence will withstand the test of time and outshine even Mohammad Ali and Babe Ruth. His greatness came from athleticism, talent, work ethic, charisma, appeal to children, and general good guy outlook on life. Not to mention his commercial appeal.
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