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Mr. Wizards' world Jordan's could be one of sport's not-so-happy returns
Updated: Wednesday August 29, 2001 12:35 PM
Approximately three months from now the new NBA season will start, with the heretofore utterly unknown Wizards of Washington opening in Madison Square Garden, the mecca of monster media and hoop-lore memories. As Dana Carvey, the Church Lady of Saturday Night Live, used to say: "How con-veeen- ient!" -- because, presumably, Michael Jordan will begin his latest reincarnation as an NBA player in that game. After carefully assessing all the evidence, I believe the two things we can absolutely count on in sports this summer are: 1) Anna Kournikova is, positively, once again, not married, and 2) Michael Jordan is, guaranteed, once again, returning to the National Basketball Association. Especially inasmuch as NBA ratings are down a gargantuan 35 percent since Mr. Jordan last hung up his sneakers, the league is ecstatic about his re-appearance. Many other aficionados -- particularly those with a precious sense of drama -- are disillusioned, since he departed the sport so in the spirit of mythology, dominating the whole evening, then being lifted up to heaven on a cloud after scoring the championship-winning basket in the last second of the 1997-98 NBA Finals. Anything that follows must be an anticlimax and a tarnish of that grand Jordanian finale. As for myself, a large part of me is very blasé, because it really doesn't seem that His Airness has ever really gone. Does it? He's like one of those politicians who's forever setting up an exploratory committee to examine the next office, which we know he'll run for. As a most visible celebrity, as a pitchman, as the executive who, it is rumored, actually runs the Wizards of Washington, Mr. Jordan has remained ubiquitous. It is easy to sometimes forget that he hasn't technically been playing basketball these past few seasons because so much of the post-Jordan NBA has been forgettable. Jordan's return doesn't so much seem to be a comeback as a drop-in, like Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus showing up at the Masters every year or Paul Newman or Elizabeth Taylor popping back in at the Oscars. On the other hand, a part of me feels a bit sorry for Michael, because his need to return to the arena indicates that for all he possesses -- intelligence, charm, looks, wealth, health, a contented family life -- he obviously feels he can't be happy unless he's still playing ball. We know it isn't the money. Does he need the glory? The action? The challenge? Does he just need to be back with the guys? I remember the year after John Havlicek retired, I was at the Celtics opener, and he was there too, and we were chatting, and I started to go into the Boston locker room, and I said, "Aren't you coming in with me, John?" And he said: "I can't, Frank. I don't belong there anymore." And he looked terribly wistful. Giving up a sport also means giving up that special camaraderie ... and even finally saying good-bye to childhood. In many respects, these returns by Jordan and the many other athletes who try them after being away from their game are not so much comebacks as go-backs. Or maybe it's even more simple. Maybe Michael Jordan is just discovering what an awful lot of men do when they retire: despite what they thought, playing golf every day is just not enough in life. These commentaries, which appear each Wednesday on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, are posted weekly by CNNSI.com
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