Michael Jordan: The Greatest of All Time

The black American may still be far from real equality, but on the sports field, he is all-American, respected and admired for his qualities. When Britain ever gets to that happy stage, it will be a world beater in most sports. They may even produce a basketball player of the incredible genius of Michael Jordan!

WE are often sickened by the racism of America, particularly when it manifests itself in acts of police and institutional brutality and violence. So often is the African-American relegated to the role of third class citizen, that we are inclined to forget that some of the finest sons and daughters of that absurd institution called "free America" are not only black, but that they are revered by both white and black. The legendary Michael Jordan is one of them. G.D. Govender throws more light on this amazing phenomenon with the help of a recently published book.

BLACK footballers in this country are somtimes treated appallingly. Some have been victims of racist abuse, and subject to unfair pressure simply because of their race. Black athletes, without whom Britain will be at the bottom of the league, have been told that the only reason they are supreme in their field is because of their "natural physical attributes." The fact that they work and train hard is ignored.

Some of Britain's most brilliant footballers are black, and it is acknowledged that they could, by themselves, produce a world beating English "national" team. The present management of the England team, however, produces a pathetically medicore all-white team. Contrast this with the American attitude.

REBOUND: The Odyssey of Michael Jordan, by the award-winning white journalist, Bob Greene, is the inside story of one of the "few figures inside or outside of sport who have transcended their culture." Michael Jordan is a star member of that quinetessentially American Triumvirate or Troika, whose other members are the immortal Babe Ruth, and the tragic Elvis Presley. When Jordan announced at a press conference in October, 1993. that he was quitting professional basketball, the event was televised nationally and treated like a calamity on the scale of the assassination of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. Greene says that those who saw all this in basketball terms exclusively were missing the point. Jordan, we know, gave up the game

up after the mindless murder of his beloved father.

Jordan was more than a dutiful son, he loved his father to distraction. Not even Fame and a sizeable fortune could come in the way of that most special relationship. American President, Bill Clinton, spoke for a shattered nation, when Jordan decided to say farewell.

Clinton said he would be missed "in every small-town backyard and paved city lot where kids play one-on-one and dream of being Mike." Greene says that people reacted to the changes with "an entire range of emotions." A hero-worshipping microbiologist even

named a new strain of salmonella in Jordan's honour. Salmonella mjordan, the microbiologist said, would be around forever, while the posters and the shoe ads would eventually be a distant memory.

It was, the microbiologist retiterated, a sincere compliment. But Jordan did come back, as a baseball player. It was probably a tribute to his late father, who had told him that he had the skills to excel at baseball too. That is a continuing story and you can get up-dates with unfailing regularity in the British press, many of whose readers have little interest in basketball, and even less in baseball.

But Jordan seems to sell papers even in this part of the world. You expect most athletes, especially those in the Gallery of Immortals like Jordan, to be reasonably good at some other sports, especially swimming which is regarded as an excellent fitness-builder. Surprisingly, the god, Jordan has feet of clay, he can't swim

But most bizarre of all, was the offer from the over-ambitious boxing promoter, Dan Duva, of a $15m purse to Jordan if he agreed to a heavyweight world boxing championship fight with the winner of the clash between Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer. Jordan was promisid the full treatment.

Accommodation and travel for his entourage were an additional bonus. Duva emophasised that the $15m was a minimum guarantee, his take go could go higher, probably exceeding $25m. It didn't matter if he won or lost, even if he was stopped in the first 10 seconds, the money was his. When Greene told him it would be the easiest and most lucrative pay day of his life, Jordan was unmoved. Back came the dignified reply: "Yeah, and be a joke for the rest of my life."

In today's execrable "me first, get rich quick, no matter how you do it" world, it's nice to know that the greatest sportsman in the world respects himself and his followers and is not in the game of betraying millions of young adoring fans who still have a naive but touching belief in the nobility of sport. Here is a role model with a difference - a Titan who won't be bought or corrupted, passionately loyal to his fans, a man who could talk with kings and walk with crowds.

REBOUND is no shallow public relations exercise full of the small change and trivia of sports politics. It gives us a deep insight into the personality of one of the most sensitive, sensible and intelligent human beings in sport. Role models are aplenty -

but role models with the dignity, self respect and humility of Michael Jordan are a rarity.

REBOUND: The Odyssey of Michael Jordan is priced at Pounds 15.99 and is published by MICHAEL JOSEPH.