Today is NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan's 50th birthday. Happy birthday, MJ! You're past the halfway point to 100. As competitive as you are, you'll probably make it there.
So at the end of Michael Jordan Week (yes, they really had a Michael Jordan Week), if you paid attention, you heard just about everything there is to know about Michael Jeffrey Jordan.
Instead of giving you a novel's worth of trivia, let's just cover events on his landmark birthdays.
Today in 1983, MJ didn't have a game on his 20th birthday, but his North Carolina Tarheels stung from losing the second of three games in a row the night before. Maryland took the Tarheels down 106-94. Jordan's Tarheels played the eventual national champion, North Carolina State, on February 19 and lost 70-63. North Carolina went on to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Georgia in the Sweet 16 round 82-77.
Today in 1993, His Airness celebrated his 30th birthday with his Chicago Bulls by trouncing the Utah Jazz 114-96. Jordan led all scorers with 27. Chicago won their second game of a 7 game winning streak. The Bulls went to 35-17, on their way to winning their second NBA Championship over Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns 4-2.
Today in 2003, as with his 20th birthday, MJ had a day off for his 40th birthday. However, as with his 20th birthday, his team, now the Washington Wizards, were coming off a loss to the Utah Jazz on Valentine's Day. The Wizards would lose their next game on February 19 to the New Orleans Hornets, 87-75. The Wizards would go on to a 37-45 record, obviously missing the playoffs and coming in 5th in the Atlantic Division.
And now Michael Jordan is 50 and is majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, a regular in this blog's Last Place Update and defending Kings of the Cellar Champion. His Bobcats are off today, because of the NBA All-Star game, which is also today. Can the Bobcats change their fortunes with MJ as majority owner? The answer is yes. They should easily double their win total from last season and if they play well enough, maybe even triple it. However, they could also repeat as Kings of the Cellar. It depends on which Bobcats team shows up.
Speaking of the All-Star game, Jordan was named to 14 NBA All-Star teams and played in 13 All-Star games. There has been only one All-Star game on Air Jordan's birthday, but alas, it happened after he retired. The East beat the West 134-128 MJ's 45th birthday in 2008.
Jordan is undefeated on his landmark birthdays at 1-0, with no games on two of them, including college. Ages ending in 5 don't count as landmark. Is Michael Jordan the greatest NBA player ever? Probably. And to put my two cents in the First Take debate, could Jordan in his prime beat LeBron James playing one-on-one against each other ten out of ten times? My answer is yes, but LeBron would make a game out of it each time.
Happy birthday, your Airness!! Hope it's a great one!!
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