"When I first started this long road of basketball what consumed me was being the best player I could be." "He's got Levingston on his right, Horace Grant on his left." "Goes inside." "Classic Jordan!" "Steal!" "He lobs to Jordan for the dunk!" "Look at the air." "Look at the hang time." "Look at the flying motion." "Now, reminiscing about my whole career I have a whole different appreciation for the game itself." "Jordan trying to shake off Starks." "Oh, what a move by Jordan!" "He kept it inbounds." "Here it is again." "Yes!" "Here's Michael at the foul line, a shot on Ehlo." " Good!" "The Bulls win!" " The Bulls win it!" "It has evolved to be more than just a game." "It's been a teacher of life." " Jordan." "Jordan hangs, fires, scores!" " Yes!" "He scores!" "Oh, my goodness." "If you were to create the ultimate basketball superstar he would be a player of extraordinary athletic ability a player who could dominate his sport with a vast array of skills." "He's a great defender, rebounder, shot blocker, can score." "He's the total package." "He would also possess a tireless work ethic constantly pushing himself to the limit in his pursuit of victory." "He'll work himself into a lather, like a racehorse." "He'd go harder when things got more difficult." "He would be a fierce competitor who could command the court through sheer force of will." "You're gonna have to cut Michael Jordan's heart out to beat him." "He would possess the vision and the artistry to bring a new dimension to the game." "Creativity, thy name is Michael." "He would also have the leadership to galvanize his teammates." "The way he plays, he will not let the Bulls lose." "And he would have a flair for rising to the occasion time after time." "Michael Jordan in the final seconds again!" "He would display a passion for the game a passion to lift his performance to its very highest level." "And he would captivate fans, not only with his talent but also with his charisma." "Just don't rub my head." "Through it all, he would carry himself with an air of grace and dignity that would make him the perfect ambassador for the sport he loved." "It would seem nearly impossible to find all of these qualities embodied in one player." "And yet there was such a player in Michael Jordan a player for whom nothing seemed impossible." "A player who was the very definition of basketball excellence." "He does everything great." "He's the ultimate player, in my eyes." "If there was "basketball player" in Webster's Dictionary there would have to be a picture of Michael Jordan." "He grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina and from the beginning, there was something distinctive about Michael Jordan." "He came in this world eating." "He loved to eat." "And I tell you, you could not feed him enough." "We had the doctor put him on cereal when he was three weeks old because his milk was just not enough." "Michael's first taste of the game of basketball came in pickup games against his older brother Larry, which ignited his competitive fire." "My dad built the basketball court in the backyard so they went out there and went at it." "We used to play an awful lot." "We would play every day." "I would normally beat him." "He really helped me create some determination in myself to beat him." "If I could beat him, I felt I could beat anybody." "And finally, when I started to grow and my skills started to catch up with my height, I started to beat him." "He'd go on to attend Laney High School where he blended in as just another face in the crowd." "Michael was a good student and he had a lot of fun in the classroom." "He had a sense of humor and he was well-liked by the students." "The place where Michael did hope to stand out was on the basketball court." "But during his sophomore year, he would face a disappointing setback." "I'm the coach who cut Michael as a sophomore." "He was a good ballplayer, but we didn't think he was good enough yet to really make the contribution on the varsity that we felt we needed." "Working hard to improve, Michael would not only make the team the following year he played well enough to earn a scholarship to the University of North Carolina, a school rich in basketball tradition." "But he still faced skepticism about his ability." "I told him to go into math, that's where the money was." "Coming up in high school, I wasn't that known as a basketball player." "Everyone felt I was gonna go to North Carolina sit on the bench for four years, come home and work at a local gas station or something." "But Michael would be chosen to start as a freshman by legendary coach Dean Smith and in the 1982 national championship game against Georgetown he would burst into prominence by hitting one of the biggest shots in NCAA history." "The time, 18." "Shot." "Jordan!" "Michael Jordan." "The shot gave Smith his first NCAA title and marked a turning point in Michael's career." "Hitting the shot against Georgetown in 1982 it kind of ignited a fire inside of me that nothing was gonna stop me." "Propelled by his newfound confidence Jordan would now soar into the national spotlight." "He wanted to get better and he had the ability to get better." "I've never seen anything like it." "Passes to Jordan!" "I guess that is a pretty fitting end to the ballgame." "Jordan." "Look at that!" "Unleashing his talent, Michael became a two-time college player of the year." "But following his junior season, he would make the decision to turn pro." "I talked to coach this morning and he helped me and my parents helped me." "And I felt it would be better for me to start now, while I'm young." "But before heading off to the NBA Jordan would make his debut on the world stage." "He was named to the 1984 U.S. Olympic team where he would be guided by another coaching legend, Indiana's Bobby Knight." "He wants the best for his players and that's somewhat similar to Coach Smith except for the language, but, you know, I can get up with that." "Smoothly adapting to a new coaching style Michael would continue his rise to stardom by leading the U.S. To the gold medal." "And he was now ready for the next step in his blossoming career:" "The NBA." "The Chicago Bulls pick Michael Jordan of the University of North Carolina." "As the third overall draft pick, Michael was expected to make an impact but few could have imagined just how sensational he would be." "Jordan, the length of the floor." "Let's watch." "Jordan!" "Give him a 10." "Jordan to the hoop." "Michael to the hoop for the dunk." "Taking the league by storm Jordan would electrify his sport in a way that few athletes had ever done before." "Nine to nothing here." "Down and under to Jordan!" " There's the double." " Jordan." "Jam." "Michael!" "Jordan against Dale Ellis." "Jordan on the drive." "Falls down underneath." "He got in from the left side." "Jordan." "Oh, what a drive." "Oh, what a drive." "And Ewing wants the ball and gets it." "Batted out of bounds by Jordan!" " Jordan on the drive." "Can he get there?" " "Can he get there?"" "For Michael, it seemed anything was possible and in just his second season he would stage an epic playoff performance." "Sixty-three for Jordan." "A new NBA record has been set in the Boston Garden." "I don't believe what I just saw!" "I saw a man fly!" ""Here comes Mr. Jordan" is right." "Action." "He's probably the most exciting player that's come into this league since probably Dr. J." "Hopefully I can make a name for myself and not try and live off his name." ""Michael Jordan" sounds pretty good to me." "After a few short years, he was already being mentioned among the all-time greats." "You had two players that played on the floor that excited you by their play on the floor, myself and Larry." "And now here comes one that excites you playing in the air." " To the hoop and the dunk!" " Michael Jordan cleared for takeoff." "Pass to Jordan, here he comes." "Slam dunk." "First of all, the guy is embarrassing the league." "He's that good." "He gets it away to Jordan." "Oh, showtime for Mr. Jordan." "Jordan to the hoop." "You might see something that you'd never seen before and will never again." "Look at the air." "Look at the hang time." "Look at the flying motion." "Tipped it out to Jordan, down the lane all the way!" "Oh, God, an unbelievable dunk!" "He has a force of personality that's not the same as sports talent, but elevates that talent." "If you didn't know anything about basketball and he walked into the room, you'd say:" ""That's somebody." "That's gotta be somebody."" "Jordan's appeal transcended basketball." "He became a cultural phenomenon that extended to the world of marketing and media." "And he had even become a trendsetter." "He had his own style." "He wore those baggy shorts." "He was one of the first athletes to shave his head." "He was so good, so charismatic that whatever he did suddenly became popular and became cool." "Something about the combination of everything, you know." "The game, he was a tremendous athlete." "And he had a great smile something very wonderful and warm about when he smiled." "And he really communicated well with the camera." "It was great." "Who wouldn't wanna be in commercials or wanna see your posters or your billboards all over the place?" "I'm just a country boy from North Carolina and to be on television and do these things was great." "Nobody in the world can cover my main man, Michael Jordan." "Nobody." "I always wanted to be an easygoing guy." "My personality is that I'm outgoing." "I love people." "I love being around people." "I love kids." "If I didn't have the personality to do it, it would be tough." "But my personality fits this mold very easily." "It seemed that fans just couldn't get enough of the game's newest superstar and Air Jordan would never leave them disappointed." "In a league of stars and a game of stars, you were the star of stars." "Congratulations on being the 1988 All-Star MVP." "Jordan had risen to superstar status." "However, his résumé was still missing the one achievement that would cement his place among the game's most elite players." "What separated me from Larry Bird and Magic Johnson was they had championships to back their individual accolades." "So that drove me more so than anything." "Here comes Michael Jordan on the drive." "Five seconds." "Jordan on the drive, right in the lane." "18-footer." "Yeah!" "To compete, to win it's all I live for, really." "Wide left, Pippen." "Three seconds." " Jordan's force-up shot from the left..." " Oh, yes!" "The Bulls win." "Michael Jordan saves the day." "When you lose, you're easily forgotten." "I don't think anyone wants to go to their grave forgotten." "The inbounds pass comes in to Jordan." "Here's Michael at the foul line." " The shot on Ehlo." "Good!" " The Bulls win!" "They win it!" "But in spite of his individual brilliance Michael had yet to prove that he could lead his team to a title." "And as he tried to climb to the top of the NBA he found that one major obstacle continued to block his path." "People forget how hard it was for that guy to deal with the Detroit Pistons." "They were the one person saying, "You're not so hot." "We can stop you." And they did." "Well, the Pistons have moved on but you've really gotta feel for this man right here." "For three straight years, the Bulls would meet the Pistons in the playoffs." "And for three straight years, they would suffer a bitter defeat." "The Chicago Bulls continue to frustrate themselves and their fans." "I felt it was very disappointing each and every time that we ended up getting to this hurdle and couldn't get over it." "The Pistons return to the NBA Finals for the third straight time." "With each passing year, Michael's frustration grew deeper while the whispers grew louder that Jordan was simply a one-man show who could not elevate the performance of his team." "I had to contend with people saying that a scoring champion doesn't win championships, which just drove me nuts." "Defensively, the Pistons are pointing totally at Michael Jordan." "They don't believe that any of the other four Bulls can hurt them at this point." "You can tell, when we're beating them, he's looking around like:" ""I'm doing all I can do." "Getting 60 points, 45 points, 39 points and we're still losing."" "As the 1991 season began, Jordan knew a change was needed if the Bulls were to finally fulfill their destiny." "I felt that we weren't going to lose out on this opportunity in terms of my leadership and what I had to do on the court." "I was gonna do whatever I had to do to get us a championship." "Jordan with the steal!" "He would focus on getting his teammates more involved and making the most of their talents." "Stockton all the way for the lay-up." "Blocked by Jordan." "Michael Jordan, what a play." "And here's Jordan downcourt to Stacey King." "Slam dunk." "Jordan, doing it all." "Grier falls down." "And Cartwright steals the ball!" "Ahead to Jordan." "Michael going in, feeds Pippen for the jam." "Powerhouse!" "Anything the Bulls lacked, Jordan would provide as they achieved their best record ever." "If you need something done, I'd do it." "Defense, passing, scoring, whatever." "That was the challenge that I took." "Returning to the conference finals, they found their tormentors, the Pistons waiting once again." "But this time, things would be different." "Pistons with the numbers." "Edwards lost it!" "Jordan stripped the dribble." "Paxson open." "Yes." "The Bulls, on fire." "Jordan with Dumars." "Takes him into the lane hands it off to Horace Grant inside." "He lays it in." "Yes, sir!" "Aguirre baseline right, doubled up, had it chopped away." "Cartwright ahead to Jordan." "Michael on the drive in on Vinnie Johnson all the way to the hoop and lays it in." "There's panic all over the Pistons' faces." "Finally earning their vindication, the Bulls completed a four-game sweep and put the Pistons nightmare behind them." " It's a three." " This could be the nail in the coffin." "I remember looking directly in his eyes and it was like:" ""Whatever you do, whatever you say, we're gonna beat you."" "And once you get him like that all you can do is move aside, because there's no stopping this freight train." "The Detroit Pistons heading back to the locker room." "Their season has concluded while the Chicago Bulls advance to the NBA championship round." "As he made his NBA Finals debut, Jordan's timing was perfect." "He would face Magic Johnson and the Lakers in what would be Magic's last trip to the finals." "This series tends to be, at least in the public mind Air Jordan against the Magic Man." "There's no question, you're not gonna avoid the Magic/Michael thing." "We're gonna take our friends and fans on a trip into dreamland Magic and Michael." "Magic had led his Lakers to five championships in the '80s." "If Michael were to inherit his mantle as the NBA 's premiere superstar now would be the time to do it, and the entire sports world would be watching." "We didn't feel like the pressure was on us, but the challenge was there." "Yes, especially for myself." "Here I'm going against one of the greatest players in the game, and I wanted to beat him." "With his opportunity now in front of him, Michael would rise to the challenge and lift his teammates along with him as Chicago would dominate the Lakers." "Divac with a bounce pass and Jordan a steal." "Tightropes the sideline all the way to the hoop for the dunk." " A spectacular play by Jordan." "The Bulls have exploded." "Showtime, as he skies into the air and Air Jordan throws it down." "Michael and the Bulls would capture their first championship." "The look-away to Levingston." "Jordan." "Oh, a spectacular move by Michael Jordan!" "You can start to say the words, folks, the World Champion Chicago Bulls." "And the torch of NBA supremacy had emphatically been passed from Johnson to Jordan." "Everybody knew that it was coming, it's just when." "When was he going to be ready to receive it and take it." "And, boy, did he receive it and take it." "I mean, he came up and snatched it." "Here!" "Give it here, Magic." "It's my turn now." "And the Chicago Bulls have won their first-ever NBA championship." "For seven long years he had pursued the NBA title and now that he had finally achieved his goal he seemed to take on an even more heroic quality." "I think the fact that he failed the first few times he took a run at the title made people connect to him and relate to him a little bit better, because they saw that he wasn't this machine." "Everyone's failed at certain things, and to see a star of his magnitude fail and feel it so deeply, raised his stature in people's minds." "And it seemed that fans everywhere were reveling in Michael's triumph." "From the public's acceptance, you're never a champion until you are a champion." "And once that burden was gone he just soared to even greater heights." "It's just hard to imagine." "As a member of this team and the city of Chicago for seven years it brings me great joy to say we are the world champions." "Thank you." "Michael and the Bulls were raising the championship banner at last but as the '92 season began, it was clear that his hunger for winning was far from satisfied." " Michael!" " Yes!" "Oh, in your face." "It's like the guy on..." "The king-of-the-hill situation." "Once you're on top of the hill, you wanna defend it." "Michael took it away!" "He's got Pippen." "To Michael." "Beautiful work." "Having finally ascended to the NBA 's pinnacle Jordan was determined to stay there." "Michael took matters into his own hands to stretch out the game." "Here comes Jordan." "Behind the back, Pippen." "What a play." "What a play." "How does he do that?" "How does he do that?" "How does he know?" "Whenever it's time for Michael to take over a game, he takes it over." "And just let us know that, "Hey, I'm feeling it." "I'm feeling good." "It's my game, I love it." "I love it."" "Michael led Chicago to the best record in the league and in the process, he would add to his growing list of personal accomplishments." "Three MVPs, six straight scoring titles you are simply the standard by which basketball excellence is measured." "Congratulations." "Chicago Stadium the site tonight as the Bulls begin defense of their NBA championship." "The biggest focus of the season is the playoffs." "I thrive on it." "I love it." "It's a joy for me to step in front of that camera when millions of people are watching and show the skill and creativity that you have as an athlete." "Jordan drives again and it counts!" "Count it and the foul!" "Michael Jordan!" "As the Bulls easily dispatched the Miami Heat Jordan was at his sensational best." "Goes inside." "Classic Jordan." "Classic Michael Jordan!" "While against Patrick Ewing and his bruising Knicks he would be at his most determined." "Oh, he is ripped by Starks." "Patrick is one of my best friends but yet, at one point in time in that series, I was ready to go to blows with him." "Yeah!" "What's up?" "!" "Yeah!" "Despite New York's physical play, Jordan refused to be intimidated." "If anything, their strategy only served to inspire him even further." "Here's Jordan splitting through." "Jordan with the steal!" "And then it's stolen by Starks." "McDaniel, chased by Jordan." "It's a clean block!" "Whose game is it?" "It's Michael Jordan's game." "But he would save his most dramatic performance for the final act." "In a showdown against rival superstar Clyde Drexler and the Portland Trail Blazers." "Jordan against Drexler." "Clyde against Michael." "This is what Michael lives for." "He wanted this challenge." "Everyone was saying that this would determine who was a better guard in the league." "I looked at that as a challenge and hopefully, by the end of that series, people understood the difference." "And he would waste no time erasing any doubts putting on a spectacular show right from the start." "Jordan for three." "He is hot!" "Jordan eluding Robinson." "Yes!" "Boy, he is on fire." "Blazers get back." "Pippen back for Jordan, again for three!" "The crowd is in a frenzy here." "To Jordan, he fires another three." "I don't believe it." "Three-pointers from Jordan." "What in the world is going on?" "Here's Jordan for three!" "Yes!" "Did you see that look?" "Michael, indicating he can't believe it." "This is the greatest performance in the history of this league." "With his offensive explosion Jordan propelled the Bulls to their second straight title and raised his own popularity to new heights." "But incredibly, it was about to soar even higher." "That summer, he would join Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on the fabled Dream Team." "You can't get too close to Michael, it's a foul." "But even in their celebrated company, it was Jordan who would take center stage in a frenzy of international attention." "We didn't know the hype that was in store for us until we started traveling, seeing helicopters and motorcades all over the place." ""Hey, this is big."" "You know, this is bigger than what we ever anticipated." ""Beatle-esque" was about the only thing you could think of." "I just have never seen anything like it." "But the one thing about Jordan that I would always say that makes him, to me, the most remarkable athlete that I've ever seen and probably ever will see, is that he was always better than his hype." "Okay, so now he's hyped even more." "But he gets even better." "He keeps getting better and better and better no matter what you do." "I just have never seen anything like it." "This group may well be the greatest team ever assembled in the history of team sports." "Michael capped the Olympics with his second gold medal." "But he wasn't stopping there, as his competitive fire continued to burn." "It's been eight years, going into my ninth." "We got two championships and hopefully we got a lot left." "As the 1993 season began Jordan would add even more astounding images to his seemingly endless highlight reel." " Oh, yes, here comes Mike." " Here's Jordan in deep on Ehlo." "Oh, yeah!" "Inbound to Cartwright, to Jordan." "Time winding down, Michael for three." "Oh, yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "A winner!" "Unbelievable!" "Michael, what would you like...?" "The entire season had seemed to become a command performance for Jordan." "It's an unbelievable sight, to be pulling into a hotel at 3 in the morning on the bus." "You turn the corner and the street is lit up." "You think, "Wow, they're filming a movie out here."" "It's not." "The Bulls are arriving." "Michael Jordan, they have a chance maybe to see him." "In the post-season, he would lead the Bulls back to the finals with his trademark flair." " Fires." "Yeah!" " He does it again!" "But while Chicago playing for the NBA championship had become a familiar plot..." "He is amazing." "...the '93 finals would bring Michael a new and entertaining costar." "God wants us to win the championship." " I don't know if I'd go that far." " No, I talked to him the other night." "However, not even divine intervention was enough..." "Jordan spins away." "He'll take it all the way to the basket and drops it in!" "...as Jordan would relentlessly attack Charles Barkley and the Suns." "Now underneath, Michael fights it up." "Scores with the left hand!" "Michael Jordan now looks like he is gonna drive every time he gets his hands on the ball until they stop him." "His onslaught would include a personal finals-best 55 points in game four." "Michael will take it." "He's fouled." "He scores!" "He threw it up off-balance." "It went in!" "Oh, my, Michael with his fists clenched near midcourt." "I tell you, he is just simply amazing." "He does whatever he has to do to beat you." "We cannot stop him." "Nobody can stop him." "The Bulls would wrap up the series in six games sealing it in dramatic fashion." " Paxson going for the win!" " Paxson for three!" " Paxson." " Yeah!" "He hits the three!" "That's the first score by anybody other than Michael Jordan in the entire fourth quarter." "Michael had now reached the pinnacle of his career." "For the third year, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls have climbed the Mt." "Olympus of the NBA." "Solidifying his status as the game's greatest player Jordan had done what Bird and Magic could not:" "Win a third straight title a feat not achieved since Bill Russell's great Celtics of the '60s." "Congratulations, it's a great accomplishment." "He had seemingly done it all." "But Michael's most astounding move was yet to come." "After we won the championship, I sat on the floor and just reminisced about the whole season the years I've had at the game of basketball and where my life was and where my challenges were." "Do I have to do anything else?" "Can I just sit here for a few minutes?" "It started to wear me down mentally because of the things that were happening and some of the responsibility that I was gaining, the expectations." "Mentally, I was exhausted." "Because I forgot where I was." "I forgot how I got there." "Being on top for so long, you forget about a lot of the stages and steps that it took to get to that point." "And my father and I had a conversation about just stepping away." "Jordan had reached a crossroads and he would spend the summer sorting out his feelings." "I wanted to give myself some time to make sure this was the right thing this was what I really wanted to do." "I asked Phil Jackson frankly:" ""What kind of challenges can you give me next year?" "If you can give me one challenge, I will not retire."" "He felt like, "If I don't have the desire to do it if I don't have the thirst to play basketball and it's not as much fun as it used to be, then I'm gonna lose my gift."" "We were crying and trying to come up with different types of challenges and I couldn't come up with one." "He couldn't come up with one for me." "But the sense of anguish Michael felt as he wrestled with his decision would pale in comparison with what he was now about to face." "Last night we began the show with the disappearance of Michael Jordan's father." "Tonight, the worst fears have come true." "James Jordan was found dead, the victim of an apparent murder." "It was a very difficult moment for me." "Somehow I just kept my head high and looked at the good of it you know, the time we used to spend and the education that he gave me." "I thought about all the things that he used to tell me." "Just turn a negative into a positive." "And here I was, dealing with him in that way." "It was tough." "Shaken by the death of his father who had always been his closest advisor and supporter his choice had now become clear." "And soon the world would know about it." "When I lose the sense of motivation the sense to prove something as a basketball player it's time for me to move away from the game of basketball." "It was something that my father and I talked about right before he passed me retiring from basketball and then playing baseball." "In the final year that we won the championship it was, like, his biggest push to go and do it." "No one could present a challenge to me at the time other than what my father was presenting to me, which was to go and play baseball." "Following his father's advice, Michael would become a minor league baseball player." "But more than just a diversion, his new pastime was part of an emotional journey." "I think what baseball did for me was it gave me an opportunity to revisit all those moments that I had with my father." "When I really thought about it, he was here." "Everything that he's taught me." "Everything that I accomplished was him." "It took me a while to understand that." "And once I understood it, I could accept it and deal with it." "So it was a therapeutic experience for me." "I guess it made me at peace with myself." "But in March of 1995 he would leave baseball and return to Chicago." "He calls me about 7 in morning and says, "Let's go to breakfast."" "So we go to breakfast, we talk a little bit." "He's in a suit." "So he said, "Let's go screw around before practice."" ""Fine, we'll do that." "No problem."" "So we're out there just shooting." "He has his suit on, I have my practice stuff on." "So a shooting game goes into a shooting contest." "And all of a sudden the contest goes into "Let me see if you can still guard me."" "And then it goes from "Well, let me see if you can still guard me."" "And then before you know it we're playing one-on-one." "I'd started attending a couple of practices and getting out there with the guys." "And the enjoyment that came out of that really started to make me feel good." "The economy has produced 6.1 million jobs since I became president." "And if Michael Jordan goes back to the Bulls it'll be 6,100,001 new jobs." "Michael Jordan announced today he's coming back to basketball." "One guy said the words "I'm back" and it set the world on fire." "Just turned it upside down." "I never thought I'd come back to the game of basketball." "I never thought I would have that feeling to come back." "But what drove me back was I truly love the game." "Today, Michael Jordan, at age 32, tries to accomplish what no one else truly has in team sports history." "After an 18-month absence, Jordan was back and his return sparked a magical rush." "Here's Jordan." "Bulls trail by one." "Michael." "Oh, yeah!" "Welcome back, Michael Jordan." "And he instantly conjured up indelible images of the past." "Yes, and it counts." "Michael Jordan." "And that is a high for the NBA this season 55 points by Michael Jordan." "The inbounds to Michael, racing the clock." "Jordan for the win." "Yes!" "He did it again!" "He is now back!" "Jordan had seemingly returned to his role of savior." "But in the playoffs, the young Orlando Magic were ready to show him that times had changed." "91-90 the score." "Chicago with the lead with 18.1 seconds to play." "All right, here we go." "Now Jordan is played by Anderson." "And Jordan spinning his way against Anderson." "Knocked it away!" "Here comes Hardaway!" "For Grant." "The Magic by 1." "6.2 seconds to go." "Michael Jordan having a very difficult time." "Jordan's miscue seemed almost unthinkable." "But he would have one more chance to deliver his expected heroics." "Jordan played by Royal." "Jordan for Pippen." "And it might be Orlando ball." "Here I was in those moments that you take pride in being put in and yet I let the team down." "Michael and the Bulls would never recover from his struggles in game one." "Michael has missed a lot of shots since he has tried to take the game over." "As Chicago was eliminated by the Magic, Jordan discovered that his unique ability to lift his team to victory was only a memory." "And now he was left to wonder whether he would ever recapture his former throne." "Give him credit." "He's probably still the greatest player in the game overall but he just..." "He wasn't his old self." "I was very demoralized, I think." "And I was really looking in the mirror the whole time." "I had doubts that "Maybe I can't play the same type of game that I used to play" because I wasn't able to do it on call." "So sitting in that locker room, very disappointed, I made a promise to myself that come next year I'm going to be ready for this game." "Re-dedicating himself to the game, Jordan attacked his workouts with a vengeance." "And he spent the summer honing his talent like never before." "I felt compelled each and every day when I got up to go out and somehow tune up and get back to where I was." "So I was that much more motivated to prove to the world that "Don't write me off yet."" "As he joined his teammates for the '96 season Michael was embarking not just on a personal quest but also on an historic mission." "I said to Michael, "It's a great challenge anyway." "No one's come back and helped the team win a championship." "So this is a great challenge in that regard."" "I was being judged on that." "From the public, from the media because of my age and my being away from the game for two years, almost." "And the only way that I could prove them wrong was to win a championship from start to finish." "And from the beginning, he was ready to prove his point." "Michael looking to make a move here." "Clear out from Longley and takes it..." "With authority." "In your face." "M.J. Between them all!" "He got every one of them!" "Jordan picked it off." "Behind the back to Pippen." "Oh, yes, sir!" "He was in his own little zone today and it was good." "Three on the shot clock." "Here comes Michael on the floor." "Pull-up 16-footer." "Put two more down for the king." "He is the man!" "Here is Jordan." "Michael tonight is showing the entire repertoire." "With Michael on our side, guys on the bench, the whole game, saying:" ""We're only 12 down." "We're gonna come back."" "Jordan going in." "Throws it up." "He puts it in with an amazing move!" "This guy was back in his full force as the most dominant player in the game." "Not only had his dominance returned, so had his zest for the game." "Come on, I'll give you a jump shot right now." "I'll give you a jump shot." "Shoot it." "Oh, you don't want it." "Hey, my boy don't want to play, do he?" "He hurting, this boy." "You hurting, ain't you?" "I'll get you back." "I'm gonna get you back." "Oh, I got it." " Michael Jordan!" " That's what you get for tapping my elbow." "His comeback had turned into a joyride as Michael would regain the MVP award and lead the Bulls into NBA history with a record for regular-season victories." "There it is. 70 has become a reality for the Chicago Bulls." "Leading the Bulls to an astounding 72 wins Jordan stamped them as one of the greatest teams ever and, incredibly, raised his own stature even higher." "He was up at the very top the most popular athlete in the world for eight, nine, 10 years." "He leaves the game and comes back stronger than ever." "I don't think anyone in the history of sport has ever pulled off something like that." "And he did it again somehow." "In the playoffs, Michael would come full circle." "Again facing Orlando, he would seize the opportunity for redemption." "Michael took it away." "He's got Scottie with him." "Pip, right back to Michael for the jam." "Erasing the memory of last year's defeat the Bulls swept the Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals." "Jordan was now on the verge of completing his quest." "As the Bulls once again make it to the NBA Finals..." "And facing the Seattle SuperSonics on the NBA 's ultimate stage he would remove any remaining doubts that he was the Michael Jordan of old." "Michael Jordan is in another time in another space, on another plateau." "And as he led Chicago to victory over Seattle Michael's comeback was now complete." "And for the fourth time in six years, Jordan rules." "After a two-year absence, the Chicago Bulls have regained the NBA throne." "It marked the culmination of a journey that had begun with his retirement." "Fittingly, and symbolically, it had ended on Father's Day." "I think it was a signal, to some degree, that he was there with me." "There were certain emotions that I couldn't really control knowing that the success of it had something to do with him." "And that meant a lot to me." "Michael, I know that the first one was sweet but how much sweeter was this one?" "Well, you know, I can't even put it in words." "My father, that's what it means to me." "I know he's watching." "This is for Daddy." "Let us salute together the greatest NBA players of all time." "From the Chicago Bulls, number 23, Michael Jordan." "He's blessed with so many God-given abilities, then his self-drive to make him even better than that is something that takes him off the scale." "He is the most tenacious competitor." "Add that to his physical gifts." "And he has a sense of history and a sense of what his legacy can be if he keeps pushing it." " Michael on the drive." " Beautiful!" "Right by everybody with the left hand." "There's something compelling about this guy, so likable so dignified and classy and yet with the athletic heart of an assassin." "Tell me I can no longer fly." "I want you to." "It's not how hard you push along the way it's having something in you to finish." "Michael Jordan had regained his place as the NBA 's preeminent player." "He had recaptured the title and achieved one of sport's greatest comebacks." "But as usual, he was intent on achieving even more." "Jordan setting it up on Cheney." "Fade-away." "Oh, an amazing move!" "Make it 51 for Michael Jordan." " M.J." " Oh, he did it!" "Michael shakes the finger." "He finally got his dunk on Mount Mutombo." "And against the Utah Jazz in the finals he continued to display the many different ways he could lead." "M.J., top of the circle against Russell." "Michael hangs, fires." "Score!" "The Bulls win!" "He knocked it in at the buzzer!" "Bulls win!" "How many times has he done that?" "Following his game-one heroics Jordan would provide a different kind of drama in game five." "Weakened by a stomach virus, he would keep the Bulls in the game through sheer will and determination." "As a leader, you wanna be there for your team." "As long as I'm able to walk and run and shoot, I've always been there." "Sick, it doesn't matter." "With the score tied in the final minute an exhausted Jordan would summon his strength and deliver the crushing blow." "Michael, open three." "Yes!" "They lead it. 38 points for the king." " He stuck a dagger in them with a three!" " Yes!" "The effort that he gave was unbelievable." "As his teammates, we really appreciate the way that he steps up and shows his leadership to our club." "With Michael winning his fifth finals MVP award the Bulls captured their fifth title." "But even in their moment of triumph, one question lingered:" "How much longer would Jordan play?" "Do you think you will get together and do it again?" "Tough question to ask." "We're just enjoying what we're doing." " Celebrate." "Go ahead and celebrate." " Yes!" "With rumors swirling of his impending retirement the 1998 season took on an air of finality for Jordan." "Throughout the league, crowds turned out in record numbers to witness what was dubbed "The Last Dance."" "Embracing his role as the game's ambassador Michael's popularity had never been higher and his aura never greater." "He was the focus of attention all season long and each night he would leave fans with a performance to remember." "Lots of guys are strong, lots of guys have skill and only one guy has this level of artistry." "At the All-Star game in New York he would capture MVP honors for the third time." "I'm only gonna allow him to have his trophy if he promises to come back and do it again." "And with Michael driving the Bulls they were taking aim at yet another NBA championship." "You don't find leaders like that in this game." "You don't find people that want to practice and lead in practice as well as in games." "Though it was to be his final season he never wavered from his own lofty standards of excellence continuing to perform in his incomparable style." "His game is beautiful to watch, not just effective in an athletic sense but, theatrically, he is beautiful." "He has that presence." "There's something about him." "Kittles against Jordan." "Knocked away." "Stolen by Michael!" "M.J. On the run." "Michael dunks the ball and a foul." "Oh, my." "I've seen every basket that Michael's made as a professional." "You think you see him do something he's done before." "And then you say, "No, this is something he made up that's different."" "I just find myself, as a fan, jumping out of my seat." "At the age of 35, Jordan became the oldest player ever to win the league's MVP award, capturing the honor for the fifth time." "And in a rematch with Utah in the NBA Finals, he was as spectacular as ever bringing the Bulls to the brink of their sixth title of the decade." " Oh, man!" " Michael with a hang-time move." "But with Chicago leading three games to two he would save one of his most remarkable performances for last." "In game six in Utah, the Bulls trailed by three with less than a minute to play." "Facing a critical moment Michael would add a stirring final chapter to his legend." "Out front to the man, Michael Jordan." "Jordan up top." "Fake left, go right." "He's there." "Lay it up." "Scored easily." "Throughout his career, he had answered every challenge." "And with his resolve tested once again Jordan would respond as he had done so often before." "Stockton inside to Karl Malone." "They double him." "Jordan knocks it away from him." "Jordan's got it." "The Bulls can win it right here." "The Bulls can win it." "Unbelievable." "And now all that remained was to provide the perfect exclamation point." "Sixteen seconds left, Bulls down 1." "Michael against Russell, 12 seconds, 11, 10." " Jordan, a drive, hangs, fires." "Scores!" " Yes!" "He scores!" "The Bulls lead 87-86." "The Chicago Bulls have won their sixth NBA championship in the last eight years." "M.J.!" "Oh, my God, that was beautiful." "What a finish." " His legend just keeps growing." " Holy cow." "He's been remarkable." "What a joy to watch." "That may have been the last shot Michael Jordan will ever take in the NBA." "I am here to announce my retirement from the game of basketball." "For the second time in his career, Michael Jordan caps a championship three-peat with retirement." "His poster hangs on walls in remote Chinese villages they try to imitate his moves in small-town gyms everywhere." "I chose to walk away knowing that I can still play the game." "And that's what I've always wished for my career to end." "That's exactly the way I wanted to end it." "Every athlete's dream is to have a career like his and finish with a championship and making your last shots." "Michael just seems to have, almost, a little magic with him." "That's exciting." "It's fun to watch." "It's stuff that legends are made of." "The way he's carried himself and what he's done for this sport and for people, he's allowed them to dream." "People didn't want to believe that a man could fly." "He gave everyone that belief that, for a little bit, maybe they could." "This guy was just an icon." "He's a one-man show." "How much we're gonna miss him, you can't even say in words." "I guess what impresses me the most is that he's determined to be Michael Jordan every night." "I never got the impression that he threw his shoes out or sent his uniform out there and take the night off." "In my life, I don't know that I ever saw another athlete with such a remarkable set of qualities of mind, body and spirit." "He's an American original." "If a friend from Europe comes to me and says:" ""I'm in your country." "What do I see?"" "I would say, "Go to the Grand Canyon, take a river trip down it for a couple days." "And go to Chicago and watch Michael Jordan play."" "He's who we are." "Jordan going in, throws it up." "He puts it in with an amazing move!" "Oh, baby, what a sensational player!" "Look at him fly!" "Right through the air with the greatest of ease!" "Robinson way in the backcourt." "Jordan, a steal and dunk." "Jordan drives again and a foul!" "Count it and the foul!" "Michael Jordan, how high can you get up?" "Oh, yes, here comes Mike!" "That's why he's the best player in the game today." "Let's go, keep your head in it." "Everybody's here together." "Let's go." "Let's go, White." "Right there, dog." "Right back to you." "Michael Jordan!" "That's a poster." "He is absolutely the best." "You gotta love it." "You gotta love it." "The greatest NBA players of all time!" "Whose game is it?" "It's Michael Jordan's game." "That is vintage Jordan super stuff."