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rmilia1
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Michael Jordan is the GOAT!!! Pretty commonly held belief. Consensus is wayyy more on this opinion than almost any other sports Greatest of All Times. Why is that?? Jordan really holds no records. He is not the all time leader in ANY of the sports major categories ( scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks, steals ). He doesnt own the most titles. He is not the best shooter ever, hell he really wasnt even a GOOD shooter until later in his career. Yet if you went outside today and asked 100 people who the best basketball player EVER was probably 90+ of them would tell you MJ. This all has gotten me to thinking that in aan age where we argue about EVERYTHING sports related why have we seemingly come to a consensus on this "fact"?? There are a few trains of thought. First and clearly the most obvious is that Jordan had perfect timing. He came in to the league at the absolute right time. The sport was taking off in popularity due to Magic/Bird/Dr J etc and Jordan capitalized on this like no one else in history. He was a great marketer of himself and his own product. He fit the highlight reel obsessed time that was the 80's and 90's when nearly everyone got their sports knowledge from 1 minute clips they saw on Sportscenter. The second train of thought is that Jordan was clutch. He hit the big sjots, he was unfazed by the moment and all of us admire that and would hope we would respond likewise in that moment. We all know the image of Jordan hitting the shot over Craig Ehlo or Driving the basket and making that unbelievable layup against the Lakers during his first title run and even when his highlight dunks faded he still hit the big shots like his game winner over Bryon Russell in the 98 Finals to secure his 6th and final title. All of these are engrained in our memory banks and play a HUGE part in why MJ is considered the greatest. That begs the question of would any of us have these memories or feelings if we hadnt seen those highlights, saw those games, watched those moments as they occured?? Of course not. Is it unfair to judge Jordan on a scale that very few others before him had the chance to take advantage of?? Hell until the late 70's NBA finals games were not even on live TV. Only after the epic 1979 Magic/Bird college title showdown did interest in the NBA really take off. If that hadnt happened and we didnt get to see all those monets we treausre so much would we still consider MJ the GOAT?? Im not so sure... Anyway tell me why YOU think MJ is the best ever and lets see why this consensus has been reached so readily when so many other sports are still having the debate.
