CLEVELAND - Basketball great Michael Jordan retired from the NBA at the peak of his imposing skills 15 years ago today.It was a very dark moment for his fans all over the world.
Jordan, 30 at the time had just come off a virtuoso season, his ninth as a pro in leading the Chicago Bulls to their third consecutive championship. Clearly the best player in the game, MJ set an NBA Finals record by averaging a searing 41 points per game. The Bulls defeated the Phoenix Suns 4-2.
"I have nothing left to prove," said Jordan at his somber and hastily scheduled press conference held at the Bulls' practice facility The Berto Center. Indeed, in less than a decade, Jordan had put his stamp on basketball and took it to unprecedented levels of popularity. To that point, he'd amassed a record-tying 7 straight scoring titles and won 3 MVP awards.
He also left the game under a cloud of suspicion and controversy. His propensity for gambling had become front-page news after a former golfing buddy wrote a tell-all book which branded the basketball hero as a gambling addict. Further adversity came for MJ when his father was found murdered in the summer of '93.
Though incredibly difficult for me at the time, it was heaven on Earth when Jordan returned to the court in March 1995. Of course, he retired twice more ... once in 1999 and finally, 2003.
Neither of those retirements hurt as bad as the one in '93. They were expected. The first one however, was totally out of left field considering Jordan had been on a roll and in his athletic prime.
Glad I finally got over it.
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