The man who sported number 23 and stuck his tongue out during a dunk has finally entered the NBA Hall of Fame. Michael Jordan is, without question, the greatest player to ever pick up a basketball and last weekend he was finally honored for all the greatness that he brought to the NBA.

     “He was a huge leader just by the way he acted on and off the court”, said Senior Matt Minors.

     As a kid, before I even knew who all the teams in the NBA were, I was an absolute die-hard fan fanatic of Michael Jordan. His signature dunk, his tongue hanging from the side of his mouth, his legendary fade away baskets and of course, his buzzer beating playoff shots that he so frequently sunk in the bottom of the net all were so amazing to me. I can remember in my child hood wanting be just like him on the court.   

     As I became older I learned that Jordan was not born with his unbelievable talent, his favorite sport as a kid was baseball. I remember reading that he got into basketball because he wanted to beat his brother and all of his friends on the playground. After years of hard work and dedication, Jordan (the kid who would try to stretch himself a couple inches taller every night before he went to bed) literally re-wrote the Chicago record books and became the only player in NBA history to win the finals MVP six times.

     “He won four championships in a row, and six all-time”, said Senior John Roussell.  “And I loved him as a baseball player.” 

        Critics can try to argue all they want, but it will be impossible for anyone to ever find a good enough reason to say that Michael Jordan does not deserve to be at the peak of basketballs greatest players. Not only do his stats prove that he is worthy but the way he played and worked hard plays a big part in his title. Does anyone remember when Jordan was in bed with the flu and could barely walk and then later that night he dropped 38 points on the Utah Jazz? Jordan played his heart out and deservedly will be labeled the best basketball player that the world has ever seen, and I think he is the only retired basketball player who still has a shoe top selling shoe brand.  

     “His skills were the greatest of all time, and his shoes are to”, said Senior Lawrence Box.  

-          By Martin O’Donnell