Saturday, December 01, 2001

Jordan Rules Are Being Rewritten (washingtonpost.com)

I don't spend much time sports fanning these days--though in my youth I was rabid & in particular in regards to stats for all the major sports, calculating the changes in Slugging Percentage due to late night games that the editors of the paper hadn't had time to add to the leaders board. But this article in the Washington Post is a fascinating read. It's subject is a pulp-fiction worthy tale: the greatest basketball player of all time returns from his second retirement to lead & inspire a young team. Only it hasn't been working out storybook, as this article details. And the details are indeed intimate, which is just the kind that really appeal in a workstyles of the Rich & Famous motif like this which inspires borderline-tabloid rubber-necking interest even from reformed sports fans like me. On-court & locker room conversations pepper it as does insightful analysis of what is making Michael tick. The pulp sports story would assume that with some of the best instincts & experience in the game's history, with accomplishments that inspire awe in teammates & foes alike, not to mention resources on an order to give Steve Austin trainer-envy, the mere limits of the flesh & mortality oughtn't impede the spirit of a champion from rising to the pinnacle yet again. The reality is more human.

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