各位球迷們.....一定要認真看完......
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- It is being
trumpeted as the end of an era, the
final act of the greatest sportsman of
our time.
But when Michael Jordan announces
his retirement Wednesday in what
promises to be the most publicized
farewell in sports history, it somehow
will be more than that.
When Jordan retires, a shaky league
will plunge further into uncertainty. The most highly recognized athlete ever
to play a game will slip farther from the unceasing glare of public life.
And fans the world over will be left without one of the most compelling,
most enigmatic figures ever to grace the American sports scene.
"There will never be another Michael Jordan," said Atlanta Hawks coach
Lenny Wilkens, who has won more games than any coach in NBA history.
"There will be great players who come through this league. But never
another Jordan."
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, 35, retires with the most impressive credentials any
basketball player ever had. Ten times he led the league in scoring, the most
of any player ever. His career average of 31.5 points per game is the best in
league history. His six championships with the Chicago Bulls trail only that of
Boston Celtics great Bill Russell.
He was MVP of the NBA Finals six times, a league record, and MVP of the
league five times, second to Russell. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt
Chamberlain, two centers, have scored more than the 29,277 points that
Jordan, officially listed as a 6-foot-6 guard, scored in his 13 NBA seasons.
Yet Jordan's legacy lies far beyond the numbers. It lies with what he did for
the game off the court, and how he played on it.
Jordan's good looks and his disarming smile made him bankable beyond
anyone's belief, and he became the richest athlete ever because of it, paving
the endorsement way for countless other high-profile athletes. But it was his
burning competitiveness and an uncompromising will on the court that made
Jordan the champion he is.
There is a now nearly forgotten freeze-frame of Jordan -- eyes burning,
mouth forming angry words, hands balled into fists -- stalking Indiana's
Reggie Miller during a much-publicized fight in a game against the Pacers in
1993 that perhaps best epitomizes Jordan.
It showed, more than any picture of a high-flying dunk or a twisting,
impossible layup, what made Jordan the player he is: His finesse and artistry,
his incomparable athleticism, always has been fused with a strength of will
and body unlike that seen in any player ever.
And now, still at the top of his game, still the best player in a sport that badly
needs him, he is walking away from it all.
"He brought a lot to the game," said New York Knicks guard Charlie Ward.
"And he's going to take a lot out."
This will be the second time Jordan has retired in the past five years, but
there is little doubt that this one will stick. When he first retired in October
1993, shortly after his father's brutal murder and amid news that gambling
debts were much deeper than had been rumored, many fans wondered
whether that was really it for the man dubbed as "Air."
After his failed attempt at a career in baseball, they discovered it was not. In
1995, Jordan released a short fax through the NBA office.
"I'm back," is all it said.
He won three of his six titles after his comeback.
Through all his success, through all the game-winning shots and
championship rings, though, Jordan has remained an intensely private man,
guarding his family and his personal life with vigor. A book, "The Jordan
Rules," chronicled the 1990-91 team and painted a picture of an
uncompromising man who demanded perfection from everyone around him.
He has been hounded by rumors of excessive gambling since before his first
retirement.
Still, his popularity has grown to unprecedented heights.
Jordan's sense of style -- he made shaved heads fashionable, showed it was
OK to wear baggy shorts and earrings and slip on garish sneakers -- has
made him a successful hawker of products as diverse as underwear and
hamburgers, as different as cologne and long-distance services. His
endorsements long ago outpaced the money he made from playing
basketball -- which, by the way, was an astonishing $33 million last year,
most in the league.
By some estimates, he is worth more than $500 million. By others, he has
been worth more than $10 billion to the economy since joining the NBA in
1984, including an extra $165 million in ticket sales and an extra $366
million in added TV money and the sale of merchandise.
For some, he will be remembered for that at least as much as for what he
did with a basketball.
"You can just credit Michael for a great deal of this league's success, without
a doubt," said Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning.
So, what next for the man simply known as "Air?" And what of the NBA,
which sits now at the lowest point in its history after recently settling a labor
dispute that cost the league nearly $1 billion?
The league, it seems, will live on, if not thrive, while it searches for the next
Jordan, a player who can be a success on the court and an agile
representative off it. Without Jordan carrying the Bulls, the league certainly
will be more competitive, much to the relief of some players.
"No," said Miami Heat forward Dan Majerle, when asked if he'll miss
Jordan. "Give somebody else a chance to win."
Jordan, of course, will not lack for money or challenges. He has his own line
of apparel now, a spinoff of the successful Air Jordan line he championed for
Nike, and he promises to be actively involved in the development and
marketing of that. He will continue to be a hot endorser of several other
products.
Some have suggested he has his eyes set on a career as a senior golfer,
though that has to be more than 14 years away.
Whatever, Jordan's ride with the NBA -- and the NBA's ride on Jordan --
is over.
"I think this is probably what's best for him," former teammate B.J.
Armstrong, now with the Charlotte Hornets, said. "He'll be successful. He'll
manage to live and be successful in anything he does."
Outside the United Center in Chicago sits a 12-foot high bronze statue of
Jordan -- legs splayed, flying in for another soaring dunk. The statue was
commissioned after Jordan's first retirement, but has stood for the past four
years as a monument to a living legend.
On the 5-foot high granite base are inscribed the words that may best
describe the man who redefined the game of basketball and became the
most beloved athlete in a nation where athletes are often deified.
"The best there ever was," it reads. "The best there ever will be."
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別了，Jordan......
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