The ONLY Airness there ever will be…

Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James have one thing in common… they’ve all been dubbed the “Next Michael Jordan” at one point in their lives. And there will be more young phenoms with that label thrust upon them.

It’s safe to say that none of the above have lived up to that tag, not because they weren’t skilled or were busts in the NBA. It’s simply because there will never be another Michael Jordan.

“By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”—Introductory line of Jordan’s NBA Encyclopedia biography

As if the above quote is not enough to summarize Jordan’s excellency in the pantheons of NBA greats, I guess I will share some statistics:

Led the NBA in scoring in 10 seasons (NBA record)

Holds the top career and playoff scoring averages of 30.1 and 33.4 points per game

Jordan’s total of 5,987 points in the playoffs is the highest in NBA history

With five regular-season MVP’s (tied for second all-time)

Six Finals MVP’s (NBA record)

Three All-Star MVP’s

Michael was known for his fierce competitiveness, and intense desire to win. It was made most apparent the day he punched a teammate in practice, because he demands the best not only from himself, but out of everyone on his team.

His unwillingness to lose has made many memorable moments, from his game-winning jumper as a Freshman at UNC in the NCAA Championship game, to his buzzer-beater jump shot in 1989 to beat Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Semis, to his 1997 performance in the NBA finals when he was stricken with the flu and still managed to score 38 points including the game-deciding three-pointer with under a minute remaining, to his final shot as a Chicago Bull in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals where he drained a shot that gave the Bulls the lead and their 6th NBA Championship.

There were also countless Jordan moments that are too long to list here. His dazzling skills on the court were unmatched by anyone in the history of the NBA. Sure, LeBron might have better jumps, Kobe might have a better scoring touch, or whoever else… but none of them had the ENTIRE package of skills Jordan had.

Which leads to my request, err… rather more of an order, please STOP saying there will be a next Jordan, because there never will be. PERIOD.

From North Carolina… at 6’6″, Guard… Number 23… MICHAEL JORDAN!

His Airness

~Runteldat~

BCS= Championship or Flop?

Do you like the Super Bowl playoffs, the World Series, the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals, the NCAA March Madness tourney, the Little League World Series, the College World Series??? Of course you do! It’s one of the best things about sports, the annual tournament at the end of the season, to determine the ultimate champion.

Every major collegiate sport has a playoff system in place for the year-end tournaments to determine the rightful champion of that specific sport… EXCEPT for Division-1 college football. WHY???

Even Division-1A, Division-2, and Division-3 football have major playoff/tournaments to crown their championship teams. Appalachian State has won the Division 1-A tournament 3 straight times, but missed their chance of making the championship game this year for a possible 4 straight championships. Mount Union out of Ohio has won 9 Division-3 National Championships in the last 15 years! How amazing would it be to see, say… Notre Dame win 4 straight National Championships? Pretty amazing, but alas it will never happen because of one reason…

MONEY.

The real reason there is no College Football tournament for Division-1 football is because under the current BCS system, the schools and TV stations are making silly amounts of dollars from having their teams in the current BCS system. A team from any of the major Conferences can make anywhere from 1 million to 2.8 million just for appearing in one of the four BCS bowl games. Now if a playoff system was installed, then the probability of a school making as much money under the old system would be diminished, not just because the field would be more wide open to upsets, but the BCS bowl games would lose their luster/history. Less sponsorships would go to the quarterfinals/semifinals, and instead would be allocated to the Championship game only.

I can see why the schools and Conference honchos would rather not have a playoff system, but with so many disagreements and controversies regarding the true #1 team year-in, year-out… wouldn’t it be so much better for the players and fans themselves to settle it on the field once and for all?

This year’s championship game will pit the Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Florida Gators. Nothing is wrong with that scenario, but there is also a glut of teams with the qualifications to be in the championship game. Texas Longhorns, Alabama Crimson Tide, USC Trojans, Utah Utes, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and the Penn State Nittany Lions,  all are in the top 8 of the BCS Poll and the Associated Press rankings. Now imagine a 8 team playoff over three weeks, I can guarantee there would be many memorable games down the stretch.

Even though the teams/conferences might lose money, but I think for the fans and players’ sakes, there should be a NCAA Division-1 Bowl Tournament Series (anyone can come up with a better title?), because it would provide many thrills for years to come…

~Runteldat~