Simply Put...The Greatest

The childhoods of millions Americans will officially be put into the past tense this evening when Michael Jordan is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. We can try to hang on with movies like GI Joe or Transformers, you can read those lists about kids from the 80s, and even bust out the old NES. All of those things are only diversions at this point because this moment seals the fact that the era of our youth is now gone. It is a well deserved honor and will certainly be one of those lifetime moments for any kid who grew up in the 1980s or 1990s. Whether you lived in Chicago or not, you loved Michael. He brought basketball to the masses.

From the song "Be Like Mike" to commercials with Mars Blackmon and Johnny Kilroy, he was beyond basketball. He was the most identifiable figure for better than two decades. We grew up trying to make shots without looking at the hoop, finishing off a long day at school with Gatorade, and thinking that it was a good idea to spend over $100 on a pair of shoes. Think about that for a minute...this was the late eighties people. I spend between $40 and $50 on a pair of shoes now as an adult. From a sheer inflation perspective, that means you probably spent between $300 and $400 of today's money on those shoes. That is one powerful salesman. This guy singlehandedly began the SUV market when he started endorsing the Chevy Blazer. "Well there's a 60% chance that this thing will roll over in a curve and you might die. But, it comes with a cardboard standup of MJ." "I'll take it!"

MJeff compelled everyone with everything he did. He made minor league baseball relevant, he turned a fledgling sports card company in Upper Deck into the biggest brand with an exclusive rights package, he invented the exclusive rights package to marketing, and people actually spent money to watch Space Jam. Let that one sink in for a bit. I own that soundtrack. I'm not afraid to admit it. Pretty sure the Quad City DJs are on that bad boy.

Jordan will continue to be a larger than life, almost mythical figure even though he'll be around watching his son play college ball at UCF, running the Bobcats franchise into the ground, and being part of the Jordan brand of clothing. He's not just a human anymore, but an actual brand. Sure he had plenty of transgressions during his career and family life, but thankfully for us the media circus was not around to ruin his reign throughout our young lives. You have to continue to look back and appreciate because that is as good as it will ever be for any of us in this metropolis. It was an absolute privilege to grow up in this area and watch the G.O.A.T. bring joy to my home city. Today will be a great day to see our favorite son put in his rightful place on the top of the basketball world, but it also further illustrates that the greatest era of sport in the City of Chicago is long gone.