With Apologies to Tom Brady
I’d like to start by apologizing to Tom Brady, because if he is the GOAT, the “Last Dance” showed that Michael Jordan is a GOD. I believe when Brady’s career is over he will be the most accomplished athlete of all time. He will win at least one more SuperBowl and, potentially, another MVP. He will own most, if not all, regular and post-season quarterback statistical records and continue to overcome insurmountable deficits and challenges that add to his legendary status. It’s hard for me to believe that any other athletic feat will top SuperBowl 51 (28–3).
What the “Last Dance” and countless other books and biopics about Michael help us understand, however, is how his larger-than-life persona was greater than any other athlete, and potentially any other person, during his reign. Moreover, there was an added phenomenon that Brady will never experience; MJ was universally loved. This is an incredibly painful sentiment for me to have. I have grown up and lived in Massachusetts for the majority of my life and Brady’s Patriots, and their unparalleled success over 20 years, were a central component to my upbringing and childhood (and early adulthood) happiness. I also had to deal with the fact that outside of their first championship run, the 45 states outside of New England hated the Patriots and everything they stood for, Brady included.
This tends to be how it goes for greatness. Everyone hated the Yankees and Cowboys of the ’90s. Everyone hated Christian Laetnner and Duke basketball. Everyone hates Lebron. And oddly, no one seems to remember Popovich and the Spurs despite winning championships across three decades. What is it about Jordan and the ’90s Bulls, and their two three-peats, that people across the world love and respect almost universally? Hell, even I remember being 5 years old coming home from school everyday and watching Space Jam in it’s entirety during their playoff run in 1998. I could name all members of the Bulls ’96, ’97 and ’98 teams, but outside of Antoine Walker could not name one Celtic during that era.
I will try explaining this phenomena across three dimensions of the Jordan Reign: his economic impact, the era he played in and his swagger.
Economic Impact
Jerry Reinsdorf bought the Bulls during Jordan’s rookie season in 1984 for $15M. In 2003, after Jordan’s final retirement (we think), the Bulls were worth $323M. An astounding 2153% increase. When David Stern became commissioner (also in 1984), league revenue was $165M. When he retired in 2013 league revenue was $5.5B, a 3333% increase. I don’t remember much from college, but I do remember that correlation does not equal causation. However, it would be hard to believe that Jordan is not more than 90% responsible for these staggering figures. His direct impact on the NBA is undeniable, but what’s most impressive was his impact on Nike.
In 1984, Nike was the upstart shoe company well behind Converse and Adidas, at the time only known for track and running. In order to diversify and break this mold, they signed Michael Jordan during his rookie season in what is now considered the greatest endorsement deal of all time. An absolute coup considering Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and most other NBA superstars were all signed to Converse. In 1984 their market cap was $3.5B on $919M in revenue. Today Nike’s market cap is $137B on $39B in revenue, with the Jordan Brand alone being responsible for $3.15B in all revenue for Nike-almost the entire value of Nike when he signed with them in ‘84.
Everything Jordan touched in the 90’s turned to gold. Even Space Jam did $230M in box office sales. His personal net worth is estimated to be $1.9B, a far cry above the $800M net worth of Tiger Woods. Similarly, Woods turned the game of golf on it’s head. A sport once dominated by old and fat white guys, his 20+ year reign beginning in the late ’90s brought incredible wealth to the sport of golf and his sponsors-especially Nike. Moreover, he suffered arguably one of the biggest scandals in sports history back in 2011 and was still universally loved when he came back to the sport, culminating in his surreal Masters win in 2019. A tournament in which seemingly everyone on earth was rooting for him.
Contrast this with Brady and the Patriots. When their dynasty began at the turn of the century, the NFL was already, by far, the most popular sport in the United States. They owned a day of the week and fanbases were well-established; i.e. no one was going to migrate to the Patriot fanbase, especially in a league designed for parity. Unlike Jordan (who was an asshole) and Woods (who suffered a major scandal), Brady is humble, kind and a respectful competitor to opponents and teammates alike. He, however, was not responsible for the NFL’s success and as a result is treated poorly by regional and national media alike. It is estimated that his career endorsement earnings were in the $100M range. Though lucrative, it is a far cry from Woods’ $1.4B and Jordan’s $2B. Heck, Jordan made $100M last year from Nike royalties alone.
Does the economic impact of an athlete on their sport, and subsequently the media’s treatment of them as a result, dictate whether or not they are universally loved? Is this what transcends them from greatness to GODness?
The Era
The late ’90s (1996–1999) was an incredible era for sports. Obviously, the Bulls and Jordan achieved their second 3-peat, but Tiger won his first Master’s in ’97, Lance Armstrong came back from from cancer to win the Tour De France, the 1998 Yankees were arguably the greatest baseball team ever, and Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captivated baseball and non-baseball fans alike in their race to 61 home runs in a season. Though most of these feats were later negated by steroids, sports stepped into a new realm of cultural importance during the 1990’s and it’s popularity skyrocketed. In 1990, ESPN became cable’s #1 channel and by 1997 their subscriber count swelled to 71 million homes. This was pre-internet, so cable was the primary source of information globally, which meant that athletes transcended from competitors followed by hobbyists in the 1980's, to full-blown celebrities and cultural icons. Atop this mountain was #23.
The 1992 dream team was the inflection point. Never before had a US Olympic basketball team fielded NBA players, but for the first time that summer in Barcelona, the committee made the wise decision to allow what is widely regarded as the greatest sports team ever assembled. For context, Christian Laetnner (the greatest college basketball player of all time) was the only selection on the roster not to make the Hall of Fame, coaches included. They met expectations and breezed through the tournament on their way to a gold medal, but the real prize was significantly increasing not only basketball’s popularity, but US sports, on a global scale. And the captain of the ship? The face of the NBA/US Sports? Michael. He was, by far, the biggest beneficiary of the sports media juggernaut in the early 1990’s. Had the Magic vs. Larry Bird rivalry occurred a decade later, no doubt their legend would be greatly enhanced. Had Clyde Drexler beaten Jordan in the NBA finals a few weeks prior to the games, there is a good chance he would have become the global superstar. But no, Jordan was in the right place at the right time and rode the momentum of early championships, lucrative endorsements and a burgeoning ESPN to become more well-known than Bill Clinton (pre-Lewinsky) during the 1990's.
Swagger
Perhaps Drexler could have been the de facto “captain” of the dream team had his Trailblazer’s won in 1992, but, to be honest, the dude was boring. There is no way he would’ve been raking in endorsement deals or attracting the spotlight quite like his Airness. He even won a championship in 1995, but nobody remembers because Jordan had just returned from playing Double-A baseball for the White Sox.
MJ loved the media, and the media loved him. He had the rare ability to not only talk incessantly about how much he will dominate, but also dominate. And not only did he dominate, a number of his performances are stuff of greek mythology. The “flu game”, the “shot” and the other “shot” that made for an appropriate finale to a second 3-peat. Stories unearthed during “The Last Dance” only added to this folklore. My favorite; during Reggie Miller’s first game against the Bulls during his rookie season, he outscored Michael in the first half, talked trash and got silence in return. In the second half Michael outscored Reggie 40–2 in a blowout and left the court telling Reggie, “Don’t ever talk trash to Black Jesus again.” During his reign his off-nights were few and far between. He had a competitive drive unseen before in professional sports. His ability to find a place mentally to take complete control of a game and dominate his sport day-in and day-out was legendary. Topped off by his 72-hole golf rounds and all-night poker games. Hell, he was even able to put up 50+ on a team the day following these extracurriculars.
In my eyes, only Tiger has shown this kind of dominance and personality both on-and-off the field. The dominant attitude leading to the “impossible chip” en route to winning the Masters in 2005 and winning the 2008 US Open on a broken leg was mirrored in interviews that many would describe as arrogant or cocky had he not been so god-like on the course.
Tom Brady has the same fire, but only in the arena. He’s come from behind in the 4th quarter of nine playoff games; including 3 SuperBowls. His performance against Seattle in SB 49, Atlanta in SB 51 and even AFC championships like Jacksonville and Kansas City in recent years is as dominant as dominant gets and arguably requires greater mental fortitude than Jordan’s and Wood’s performances, given that QBs have substantially less control over the outcome of a football game than an individual has on basketball or golf. But the “Psycho-Tom” personality and focus only lives on the field and in the film room. The media, however, hates the Patriot Way-win at all cost and reveal nothing to anyone. Focus only on your job. And for 20 years Brady never broke from this mold. And not only was he unforthcoming on the podium, he is incredibly kind and respectful to teammates and opponents alike, and takes little credit for any success himself. On paper this should result in him being far more liked than his corollary on the court. But, in fact, just the opposite is true. The media, in constant search for controversy to boost viewership, frames this in a negative light because it’s incredibly boring otherwise. Executing against the fundamentals wins championships but if the team that has success does not also have flair, no one cares (or if it’s a football team, they hate). Case and point: Tim Duncan is by all statistical measures a top 10 all-time NBA player and arguably the game’s greatest power forward. His nickname, however, was “The Big Fundamental” which indicates he probably didn’t have one slam dunk in his entire career. Instead, he lay-upped his way to the hall-of-fame.
Call it recency bias with the “Last Dance” allowing me to relive some early childhood memories, or perhaps I’m just bitter about the whole TB to TB thing, but I firmly believe that no other athlete, no matter the accolades or the stats, will ever be able to touch MJ in terms of dominating sports AND the cultural landscape. He was simply the right person in the right place at the right time.
Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning (respective #1 and #2’s in their sports) will be competing in a charity golf tournament on Sunday. And though MJ is now Fat, Old and sucking down Cigars and Scotch on a daily basis, I firmly believe if he could worm his way into this competition, he would not only find a way to win, he would dominate.
