It's the end of the era of air. Just one week after the NBA lockout was settled, hoops fans were saddened by the news that the game's greatest and most popular player, Michael Jordan, 35, was retiring from professional basketball.
"Mentally, I'm exhausted," Jordan explained at a news conference last Wednesday in Chicago. "I've accomplished everything I could as an individual."
Asked if he had lost his desire to play, Jordan said that while "the desire is always going to be there...this is the perfect time for me to walk away from the game. I'm at peace with that."
A Worldwide Legend
Anyone who has ever seen Jordan play knows how he got his nickname, Air Jordan. Without wings and without wires, he seemed to fly toward the basket. Gravity? What's gravity?
Fans around the world were moved by his announcement. A newspaper headline in Beijing, China, said, FLYING MAN JORDAN IS COMING BACK TO EARTH. In China, the Bulls are known, and greatly loved, as "the Oxen."
Jordan played 13 seasons in the NBA, all with the Chicago Bulls. He led them to six world championships. After being named Rookie of the Year in 1984, he led the league in scoring 10 times, was voted Most Valuable Player in the finals six times and in the regular season five times.
Jordan hangs up his sneakers with the highest scoring average in NBA history. He is third on the all-time scoring list, after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, who had longer careers.
Of course, Jordan retired from the NBA once before, in 1993. Eighteen months later, after attempting to play minor league baseball, Jordan was back on the court with the Bulls.
Asked if he might return again, Jordan answered that while he was 99.9% certain that he wouldn't, he would "never say never." But this time, Jordan seems intent on staying retired. He can't wait to pick up his kids from school and "watch them play one on one." Said His Airness: "I'm just going to enjoy life and do some of the things I've never done before." If anyone has earned that right, it's Michael Jordan. We'll miss him.