In 1995, Michael Jordan simply said, “I’m back.” What has happened to our society when we allow ourselves to be hijacked by a single player like we are by LeBron James this summer (by even writing this LBJ lays claim to capturing my imagination)? Is he a megalomaniac? Is LeBron just a product of the American reality TV and celebrity indulgent culture? Is he more concerned with image and brand than basketball? The answer is "D", a little bit of all of the above.
During the 1994-95 season, rumors constantly surrounded Michael Jordan’s return from baseball. However, unlike LeBron, Jordan didn’t hold the American public hostage with innuendo and he certainly didn’t plan an hour-long ESPN special to announce his future basketball plans. Jordan simply sent a fax with two words, “I’m back.”
Now, we all know that players of Jordan’s caliber are going to have a large ego. But how did we get from “I’m back” to LeBronapalooza? The media has to have a stake in the blame for constantly hawking the summer of 2010 as one of the big stories in the NBA this year. However, the media hype can only ge ...
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Article written by Josh Hunsucker
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July 7th, 2010 by Josh Hunsucker Leave a reply »
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