Today, as most are aware, Michael Jordan, John Stockton, David Robinson and Jerry Sloan will be inducted into the basketball hall of fame.  This occasion marks a rather significant milestone for our generation.  That is, the idols of our childhood are being recognized for what made us all want to become professional basketball players.

I can remember it as if it were yesterday.  Watching the great NBA Finals battles between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz.  Although my knowledge of the game was trivial.  I was watching history.  Michael Jordan was my hero.  Along with nearly every other ten-year old in the nation.  For all intensive purposes my dream was to become MJ.  For countless hours I would dribble the small basketball that came with our 6-in-1 set.  Practicing everything from my jump shot to my cross-over.  I would even pepper in the occasional slam dunk competition against myself in which I would faithfully take flight from an imaginary free-throw line from somewhere in my basement.  All of this, of course, was an effort to replicate the greatest player of all-time.  Michael Jordan.

The Shot Seen 'Round The World

It wasn’t too long after this when I finally came to realizing that I was not going to be 6′6″ nor be anywhere good enough to play in the NBA, just like Mike.  However, my idol played on without me.  I did, however, keep up on my end.  Posters and newspaper clippings covered my wall.  Most historic of all was his shot over Bryon Russell to clinch the 1998 NBA Finals.  That shot.  That crossover.  Then, what soon followed, Jordan holding six fingers in the air waving them as if to save his own life.  It was, by definition, the most heroic moment I had witnessed in sports history.

Lots of things have changed since then.  It has been over 10 years since Jordan captured that illustrious sixth NBA Championship.  I now feel old, talking about those days like they were “the good ol’ days.”  But it’s true.  Basketball, especially the NBA has no lost its essence of a game.  Unlike Jordan, players today are now becoming too big for even themselves.  Jordan, on the other hand, epitomized what it meant to be a great player.  Not only was he great, but he made the other players around him great.  Toni Kukoc, Luc Longley, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, Ron Harper, Scott Burrell, Randy Brown, Dickey Simpkins, Bill Wennington, Jud Buechler and Joe Kleine.  For the most part, all of these guys would have been unknowns.  And for the most part they still are.  There is something more important that stats.  That was Jordan’s ability to lead this team through the thick, thin and vomiting into Gatorade cups.  Amidst all his stardom, Jordan was a leader above all else.  This is the essence of the game that has been all but lost.  Sure, Jordan was big, and you could always count on him in a pinch, but he made those other twelve players around him reach their potential and develop into real players.  Not just a chorus to Jordan’s lead.

Certainly, all players aspire to be “like Mike.” But until they are able to do what he did for his teammates, this will remain to be an unreachable goal.

Tonight Jordan will fulfill the final part to his journey.  His position as one of the greatest to ever play the game will be solidified.

Champion