The Greatest Player We Never Saw

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player in the history of the game, but our generation never saw him

By Kyle Basedow

Michael Jordan.

The greatest basketball player in history.

But we never saw him.

AP Photo/ Mark A. Duncan

Our generation, the one born in the late 80’s and early 90’s, is the first generation to not see Michael Jordan since he became a national icon.

Oh sure, some of us might have seen Michael Jordan play. We might have watched him win the NBA Finals for the sixth time in 1998 or watch him play for the Washington Wizards in the early 2000’s, but we didn’t actually SEE him.

Michael Jordan wasn’t just a basketball player, he was a superstar, a phenomena. We might have seen him play a game of basketball, but we didn’t get the full experience.

Imagine that you’re our parent’s age, people who are roughly around Jordan’s age if not older. Imagine watching him play in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals. Watching Michael Jordan play while he looked like he could collapse must have been spectacular. From point to point, he was on the verge of giving out.

How do I know this? From watching highlights. At two years old I was too young to stay up past 8PM, let alone watch one of the most inspiring performances of all time.

Watching highlights or even the whole game years later doesn’t hold the same value as seeing it live does. To witness Michael Jordan pick apart players before your eyes, each move he makes a shock to everyone but himself, that must have been great. The anger with which he played, the desire to win, the crowd mesmerized by his presence. Seeing it live must have been priceless.

But highlights? Yeah they’re alright.

 You could make the case that anything seen live, whether it be basketball, baseball, football, a fight, anything really, would be better than watching a highlight.

But with Michael Jordan, you had a superstar. The guy was all over the media. He was endorsed by everything Nike and even had his own shoe line. He embodied the tag lines “Be Like Mike” and “Just Do It”, giving inspiration to everyone, not just the kids who spent hours playing basketball pretending to be Michael Jordan. He was everywhere.

MJ was the most polarizing figure in the country during the NBA season. He picked up where Magic Johnson and Larry Bird left off and carried basketball to new heights once thought unobtainable, literally and figuratively.

Now picture that live. He had the appeal of a 20-band concert every night he played. When he was in Washington, people started to catch on and the Wizards had their best selling season ever with all of their home games sold out every time he played.

Our generation never saw Michael Jordan. They never saw the man in his prime who dominated the NBA for years. The man who retired in the middle of his prime after winning three straight NBA Championships and Finals MVP, only to come back better than before and complete another three-peat.

Our generation didn’t see the emotion as it happened. We didn’t watch Michael Jordan sink the game winning shot over Craig Ehlo and then proceed to do the classic Jordan pose. We didn’t see him cry like a newborn on the floor of the locker room after winning his fourth title on Father’s Day, the first one without his father.

At least, not live.

Our generation will never be able to look at him as a man, only as a legend.

That’s because we never saw Michael Jordan.