Michael Jordan Essay, Research Paper

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. Michael Jordan was born with a nosebleed, which made the parents, James and Deloris Jordan, very worried as well as some of the doctors. He was kept in the hospital for several days until everyone realized it was very minor and had no effect on his health. His childhood was very tough growing up in a poor North Carolinian city, and Michael was very mischievous and quite a troublemaker. Michael s favorite sport as a child was baseball, but soon afterwards he discovered the love of the game basketball.

One important event that shaped and changed Jordan s life was when as a sophomore, he was cut from the varsity basketball team at Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C. He was shocked and hurt by this and practiced every day to improve his game. After making the team the next year, he stayed late after practice to improve his game. In the summer of senior year, he was star of many pick-up games. He was accepted to UNC on a basketball scholarship, after many incredible high school games and his outstanding performance at Five Star basketball camp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received MVP of the camp for high scoring, and for demolishing everyone in sight with aerial performances dunking the ball right in the face of his opponents in one-on-one moves and his airtight defense. At this time Jordan was a thin, graceful, acrobatic six foot three inch young man. Dean Smith, the head coach at UNC said, Jordan could do it all. He could score, play defense, lead the team, rebound, assist, block shots, and there s not much more.

Jordan s four years at UNC were great. He developed into one of the greatest college players of all time. His next step was the NBA, and in 1984, he was drafted to the Chicago Bulls. After his first season, Michael became rookie of the year. He won the scoring title for the first of seven times, scoring 2313 points and having a incredible percentage of .515. But another disappointment in Jordan s life occurred from 1984-1991, when his team occasionally made the postseason playoffs but never made it to a championship game. Often this was accompanied by devastating last second losses just when it seemed the Bulls would advance to the next round of playoffs. This made him try even harder and work longer to improve his game, but mainly his team s game, which had been lacking.

Finally, in 1991, under the fantastic coaching of Phil Jackson, they won the NBA championship. The team won again the next two years, and set an NBA record for three straight NBA titles, which has not yet been broken. This record claimed them the name undefeatabulls . Jordan was also a member of the United States Olympic men s basketball game, also called the dream team , which won the gold medal several times, but especially in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California where they wiped out all of the foreign competition. Before retiring, Jordan received Rookie of the Year Honors, seven consecutive scoring championships, three MVP awards in regular season, he leads the league in steals, won three straight NBA championships for the bulls, had an all-defensive team for six straight seasons, and one playoff MVP award. The record he still holds are highest scoring average in career: 32.3, most consecutive years leading league in scoring: 7 (tied), most points one playoff game: 63, and most consecutive points in one NBA game: 23. After retiring, Michael Jordan was named basketball s best player ever.

One lesson I learned from Michael Jordan was never to give up. When not making the basketball team sophomore year, he could have quit there, and pick up a new sport, but because of his persistence, he worked hard and made the team next year. This is one thing I admire from Michael Jordan, although there are many others.

I chose Michael Jordan because I was always a big fan of his, coming from Chicago, and whenever I saw him play a game, I noticed he was the most dedicated and hardworking player out there. I loved his game and wanted to find out more about him, and in reading this book, I did indeed.