Michael Jordan at 50: Still the G.O.A.T.

It is hard to believe Michael Jordan is 50 years old.  I still vividly remember watching him dominate the competition.  It does not seem like it was that long ago.  In every game I watched him play, it was obvious  he wanted to win no matter the cost.  As great as some of the newer stars have been, none of them can match Jordan's passion to prove over and over that he was the best.  He never became complacent.    

He still remains the standard upon which all great players are judged.  Harold Minor, Grant Hill, Anfernee Hardaway, Vince Carter, and Kobe Bryant.  What do these players have in common?  They were hailed as the next Michael Jordan.  The only player on this list who can even be mentioned in the same breath as M.J. is Kobe Bryant.  And even he falls considerably short.  Jordan is probably the most competitive basketball player (and maybe athlete) of all time.  He refused to lose.  He did not take plays off and he never "coasted" through games.  Even if he was not scoring 40 points, he was defending (and shutting down) the other team's best perimeter player.  

I would be remiss if I did not at least mention Lebron James in this post.  He is widely considered the greatest basketball player in the world.  He recently had a streak where he posted six games in a row where he recorded at least thirty points and shot at least sixty percent from the field.  His performance over the streak incited the media and had some members asking if his six game streak was the best streak in the history of the game.  It was quite surprising to me that the media would jump to such a quick conclusion.  Of course Lebron's streak is not the best.  Michael Jordan had a streak of 10 triple doubles in the span of 11 games.  If that happened today, the media discussion would be unworldly and never ending.  

People forget how dominant Jordan was as a player.  Fans who never saw Jordan play can easily make this mistake.  It is no different than my generation hearing about Wilt Chamberlain's dominance, but never seeing it with our own eyes.  Some of Wilt's accomplishments almost become folk lore or urban legend.  That really makes it easy to marginalize their accomplishments or to dismiss them as fluff.  Jordan played during a time when social media did not exist.  If you missed a live telecast of a game, you were unable to go to Youtube or Espn.com to see the highlights. Twitter, Facebook and other internet based sites had not been created.  If these devices were available during his time, I do not think there would ever be a question as to who is the greatest of all time.
  

Peace