Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, dreaming that A-Rod suffers a career-ending injury, vaping with the girl you referred to as your “daughter” during college, or making the case for a Quasar videogame to your friend at Marvel, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
It’s hard to believe that Michael Jordan turns 50 today. It doesn’t feel like it was all that long ago when Jordan thrilled people at NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contests, made that shot over Craig Ehlo, amazingly switched hands for a flying layup against the Knicks, and made that other shot over Bryon Russell. It’s weird seeing an older Jordan — one with a slight paunch, no less — ruling over the lowly Charlotte Bobcats. To me, he’ll always be that chiseled Adonis that soared over dozens of NBA basketball courts.
It’s also funny seeing all these Jordan vs. LeBron and Jordan vs. Kobe arguments. These discussions seem ridiculous to me. I don’t doubt that Bryant and James would have been great players in any era, but as amazingly great as Jordan was, he would have been ridiculous in today’s game. Imagine what Jordan’s stats and ring count would have been like if he didn’t have to deal with the hand-checking and hard fouls that were allowed in his day? He would have terrorized the league! Keep in mind that I’m saying all of this as a Detroit Pistons fan. I frickin’ hate Jordan and loved when the Bad Boys would slam his body into the ground. Even with that perspective, I don’t see how anyone can deny his greatness.
To celebrate Jordan’s birthday, I’d love to hear about your favorite Michael Jordan moment, as well as your take on the Jordan vs. LeBron argument. Please shoot it out in the comments section!
This is one of my favorite Coffee Talk threads ever I think. Love Jordan and that era of the NBA. Watching all of those videos was just awesome. Did you read that article by Wright Thompson from Friday? If not you have to if you like Jordan. Really astounding. Some of the things he says in there tie into his recent interviews about today’s players. I’ll discuss it with you in the thread later haha.
You totally got one of my favorite moments in here! The layup vs LA in Chicago. I remember watching that live on TV and was just floored.
By far the fiercest competitor ever.
**Kobe Bryant is in his 17th year. That makes me feel old as well!**
I did read that article. It was excellent, excellent stuff for any basketball fan, even ones that hate Jordan. It was interesting hearing the four players that he thought would be just as successful in his era as they are today: LeBron, Kobe, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki.
Here’s the link for people that didn’t catch it:
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Michael-Jordan/michael-jordan-not-left-building
I thought his bemoaning of the Montana vs Brady comparisons were rather astute.
I was very lucky to actually see a bulls game when MJ was playing in his prime and my favorite moment is against the trailblazers regular season Pippen missed a FT and Jordan runs like a maniac catches the rebound then dunks it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnGCDUHEoms&sns=em
Meh. Favorite Jordan moment was when the Bobcats lost the lottery lmfao! While I admire and acknowledge the mans beast-ness, I could not stand him growing up because my mom was such a huge Jordan fan. It drove me crazy.
I remember when I was in high school, my dad used to take me to almost all of the Heat games and luckily, I got to see Jordan play when he came to town. That guy was amazing. He could do it all and was so graceful and fluid. Wish I could have seen more.
Well, I also wished he never played for the Wizards… then there are those Hanes commercials with Matthew Perry…
-M
Matthew Perry is one thing. Jordan’s…unfortunate moustache in some of those ads…ouch.
Aha! I completely blocked out his Hitler mustache from my memory. Why did you have to put that image back in my mind?
Also, why did you misspell “moustache”, or is that some old English version of the word that I don’t know about?
-M
Ha! That’s actually the UK spelling. I’m not sure why I did that.
There is only one acceptable version of the Hitler these days.
IT’S CALLED A CHAPLIN DAMMIT!!!!
Hahaha