michael jordan :: essays research papers

Michael is married, and he and his wife Juanita have 3 kids, named Jasmine, Jeffrey and Marcus. He has been on two Olympic Gold Medal teams. Once as a college player in 1984 and the second time on Dream Team I in 1992. Air Jordan, is one of the two most explosive dunkers of all-time, the other being Dr. J. He has won the Slam Dunk Contest Twice (1987 and 1988, competing previously in 1985), then basically retired from the competition. Michael dons a brand new pair of Air Jordans for each game, usually donating the pair after the game. Jordan's father, James, was killed in a robbery in 1993. This devastating event in Michael's life was partially responsible for him leaving the NBA. He claimed that basketball held no more challenges for him. He turned to Baseball for a challenge where he played in the White Sox organization. He was quick, and could play defense, but he just couldn't do enough with the bat. His return to basketball came on March 19, 1995 against Indiana. The Bulls had retired Jordan's number 23 on November 11, 1994. When Michael returned he wore number 45, but soon returned to his familiar number 23. After a shaky return at the end of the 1995 season (only scoring 26.9 ppg), he was back in full form for 1995-96, winning another scoring title. He was named the MVP for the fourth time in 1996 and won his fourth NBA Championship and won his fourth NBA Finals MVP Trophy. Jordan was only the second person, the other was Willis Reed in 1970, to win the MVP for the regular season, Finals and AS Game. Jordan did it in 1996 after making his return and leading the Bulls to an NBA record 72 wins. Jordan led his Bull's to a Sixth NBA Championship in 1998, and he added a fifth MVP Trophy in 1998, after losing out to Karl Malone in 1997. He also beat Karl's Jazz for the Title that year. Jordan joins Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Russell as the only five time winners of the MVP, Jabbar has actually won it six times. Jordan was named MVP in 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996 and now in 1998. In 1996 he was also selected to be on the All-Interview team, along with Malone, Barkley, Magic and Jayson Williams. He was a repeat on the All-Interview in 1998 when everyone asked him about his retirement.