Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is an American basketball player, considered by many to be the best basketball player ever.

Born in Brooklyn, New York (Cumberland County Hospital) as son of Deloris and James Jordan and educated at the University of North Carolina[?], he was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the 1984 NBA Draft as the third pick.

The Olympics

Jordan also formed part of the American team that won the Olympic gold medal. He participated as a college player in the 1984 Summer Olympics, and in the 1992 Summer Olympics as a member of the "Dream Team", with other players such as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Chicago Bulls

At 6' 6" he played Guard for Chicago in thirteen seasons. He won six NBA Championships (1991-93 and 1996-98) and was MVP five times (1988, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1998). He retired from basketball before the 1993-94 season to persue a professional baseball career. He ended his retirement by rejoining the Bulls near the end of the 1994-95 season. After three more league titles, Jordan decided to retire again after winning his last championship in 1998.

Washington Wizards

On January 19, 2000, Michael Jordan was introduced as "Head of Basketball Operations" of the Washington Wizards. On January 31, 2000 he fired head coach Gar Heard in favor of Darrell Walker but only for a transitional period. About four and a half months later, on June 14, 2000, Jordan announced Leonard Hamilton as the new head coach. On September 25, 2001, he announced he would come out of retirement one more time to return as a player for the Washington Wizards, signing a two-year contact. Jordan placed an exclamation point on his career stats on January 4, 2002, by scoring his 30,000th career point against his former team, the Chicago Bulls. Jordan has announced that when the 2002-03 season is finished, he will retire from playing for the third and final time.

Merchandising

Professional athletes have long been associated with merchandising[?] and commercial promotions, and Jordan has proven himself to be exceptionally talented when it comes to merchandising. He is noted for his extensive commercial work for companies such as Nike, with their Air Jordan[?] gear. He has also appeared in a popular McDonald's restaurant promotional campaign entitled "Nothin' but net[?]," which included a series of TV commercials featuring a friendly competition between Jordan and Larry Bird.

Especially in the trading card industry, Michael Jordan cards are valuable items, not only for collectors.

In 1996, Warner Bros. gave Jordan a leading role in a special-effects laden feature film titled Space Jam[?], which also featured classic Warner Bros. cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and others. Critical reaction to the film was lukewarm, as many felt it was essentially a feature-length commercial that cast Jordan as an angelic "godlike" basketball legend. Nonetheless, the movie earned over $100 million in box office revenue alone, further cementing Jordan's reputation as a bankable figure.

A 2002 family film titled Like Mike was a fictional story of a young boy who accidentally comes into possession of a pair of Michael Jordan's basketball sneakers. The sneakers magically endow the child with superhuman basketball skills, and he becomes a professional athlete before the age of 12.

James Jordan

Jordan's father, James, was murdered in 1993.