Fly Like An Eagle: Biography of Michael Jordan
When you think about the world’s greatest basketball player, there is only one name that comes to mind. That name is Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is one of history’s most prominent figures. Especially when it comes to Basketball!
Even people who do not watch the sport know him. They know that he played for the Chicago Bulls. Heck, he was the guy who starred next to Bugs Bunny in the movie Space Jam. If that is not the epic height of awesomeness, then I don’t know what is. Michael Jordan
was born in February 1963, to a mechanic named James Jordan and a bank teller named Deloris Jordan. He was the fourth of five children to grace that family. Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York but moved to Wilmington, North Carolina when his mother decided
that Brooklyn was not safe to raise a family. After high school, he attended University of North Carolina (he got in with a basketball scholarship), where he majored in Cultural Geography. He was soon named freshman of the year, while under the legendary coach
Dean Smith who trained the players with his unique team oriented methods. He made the game winning basket when he was playing against Georgetown, during the NCAA championship game in 1982. Jordan considers this shot a major turning point in his career as an
athlete. Jordan was drafted into the NBA in 1984. This was the start of his legendary career as a player for the Chicago Bulls. Jordan was married in 1989 to a woman named Juanita Vanoy whom he divorced in 2002. Juanita received a settlement of 168 million
dollars making it the largest celebrity settlement at that time.
The Beginning
Jordan started his career in professional Basketball (the NBA) in 1984. He quickly flew in the hearts of the fans with his amazing skills. In his very first season, he averaged a shooting average of a whopping 51.5 percent. This
got him onto the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, which is not an easy thing to do. He was voted All-Star (the best player on a particular position in terms of sport), by his fans in his rookie season. All this fame however, had its negatives. He was
so popular that his own teammates started to feel jealous of all the attention Jordan was getting. They decided to start a “freeze-out”, where they would not pass the ball to Jordan during a game.
Jordan had to pass on his second season, due to a broken foot. He missed around 64 games because of this injury. After he recovered however, he led the Bulls to the playoffs, where they faced one of basketball’s greatest teams
of the time, The Boston Celtics. Jordon set the unbeatable record of 63 points during this game, even though the Bulls lost the match.
The dawn of the 86-87 season, brought with it the making of NBA history. There were numerous events that revolved around Michael Jordan that were written down in the books. Jordan became the second player in the history of NBA
to ever score 3000 points during a season. The first was Wilt Chamberlain. Jordan also showed off his abilities as a defensive player, with a record 200 steals and 100 blocks. He was the first person ever to do this. Despite the fact that Michael Jordan did
all these amazing feats, Magic Johnson was awarded the “Most Valuable Player” award (Jordan would go on to win it five times in his career). Jordan led the Bulls to the play-offs “YET” again, and was thwarted by the Celtics one more time.
The Thorn in the Paw of the Bull
In the 87-88 seasons, Jordan was named the Defensive Player of the Year, and led the Bulls to the play-offs yet again. This time they beat the Cavaliers in five games but lost to the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons proved to be the
thorn in the Bull’s paws. They were beaten by the Pistons in the play-offs in the next two seasons as well. The Pistons would use their “Jordan Rules” technique. They would have two or three people guarding Jordan as soon as he would get the ball (this is
called double or triple teaming). Jordan also won his first MVP award during this season.
There is a lot more to Jordan’s history, such as when he retired from basketball, and his brief failure of a career in baseball. All those events are very important in our history, and our culture. They are the events that transformed
a man into a legend.
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