Michael Jordan Day

I'm not going to miss any opportunity to sing praises about Air Jordan.

Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame oday. I propose we all allot Apr 6 as National Michael Jordan day, and take it to remember the greatest athlete in the modern era of sports. To MJ, I say thanks for all the highlights, records, and memories he's blessed us with throughout his career. It's a serious shame that future generations will never truly understand how Jordan transcended the game of basketball; they will never comprehend the full extent of his greatness. I would write more about how great Air23 was, but I'm going to leave that to the professional (and more eloquent) writers around the net.

Scoop Jackson of ESPN:
"True, Wilt Chamberlain was just as great in his day, and he didn't go into the Hall alone. Same for baseball and Babe Ruth. (And soon enough, golf is going to have this problem with Tiger Woods.) But even among those legends, MJ is different. And that needs to be recognized. Because as much as Jordan's getting inducted to the Hall of Fame is about basketball, his total contribution to the game and to the entire sports world is so much more than that. So much more than any other athlete can claim."

Randy Hill of FOXsports.com:
"We can begin this examination of MJ's impact on the hoop revolution by underscoring his vast influence in marketing. The poster-ization process of Jordan's game quickly was seized upon by an extremely savvy sneaker and apparel company, embraced by a league that put its marketing emphasis on the back of its jerseys, and uplifted by the rise of the sports-highlight reality show.

And, falling into lock step, we all pretty much whiffed on understanding the anti-gravity of MJ's greatness."

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
"Michael Jordan goes into Springfield in September, and maybe they shouldn’t just give him a plaque – or even a wing. They should turn the whole building over to him. For one night, anyway, that should’ve been the plan. No shrine could ever do justice to his genius. You just had to be there."

Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer:
"For all the attention paid to Jordan's scoring, he's still the Bulls' all-time assist leader with 5,012.
It's not easy for a shooting guard to control an NBA game. Point guard (because he establishes tempo) and center (because he controls the lane) are considered the crucial positions. But Jordan's skill set was so spectral, it defied labeling."

Mitch Lawrence of nydailynews.com:
" 'We had the Bird and Magic era and they were wonderful to watch, with that great rivalry of theirs,' Jackson said. 'But Michael Jordan ...'
The former Bulls coach paused, looking for the right words to sum it all up. Finally, he smiled and said, 'When Michael Jordan played the game, you couldn't take your eyes off him.' "