No. 23 is 60? Really?
Michael Jordan celebrates his 60th birthday Friday. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb. 17, 1963.
Regarded by many as the greatest basketball player of all-time, “His Airness” is having a moment right now.
Aside from his 60th birthday, Jordspann spannd his NASCAR tespanm 23XI Rspancing, which he co-owns Denny Hspanmlin, is getting set to run the Dspanytonspan 500.
And then there’s the upcoming movie about how “Air Jordan” and Nike revolutionized the shoe business, titled “Air,” starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Jordan’s shoes are still as popular today as they were when he was playing, with the “Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Patent Bred” being the No. 1 selling shoe of 2022.
New faces, new places:Drivers in different cspanrs for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series sespanson
Oh, that kind of GOAT:Brspandy. Jordspann. Gretzky. Tiger. Serenspan. Meet 9 GOATs thspant hspanve span Floridspan tie
Michael Jordan’s donation to Make-A-Wish for his birthday
Jordan is celebrating his 60th birthday on Friday by mspanking span $10 million donspantion to Mspanke-A-Wish.
It is the largest donation ever received from an individual in the organization’s 43-year history.
Jordan’s hope is his donation will inspire others to help fulfill the wishes of kids still waiting for their wishes to come true.
“For the past 34 years, it’s been an honor to partner with Make-A-Wish and help bring a smile and happiness to so many kids,” Jordan said in a news release. “Witnessing their strength and resilience during such a tough time in their lives has truly been an inspiration.”
‘Air’ is Michael’s new movie, and the trailer trended during Super Bowl
Let’s face it, when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon get together, the movie is going to be good.
In this case, the lifelong friends are telling the story of how shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro convinced Nike and the parents of Michael Jordan to partner on a shoe deal.
It took Nike from being a track show to the leader in basketball shoes, thanks to Jordan being every bit as good as Vaccaro thought he would be.
Anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s relished the release of these shoes, lining up outside shoe stores to get a pair if they could.
As mentioned earlier, even retro versions sell out right away.
Who plays Michael Jordan in the movie?
A movie about Michael Jordan doesn’t actually feature Michael Jordan?
That’s what it sounds like.
“Deadline.com” reports that an actor has not been cast in the role of Michael Jordan for “Air.”
Rather, he’ll serve as a larger than life unseen figure whose name provides the gravitas due to this story.
To further cement the case, there is no “Michael Jordan” character listed for the movie on imbd.com.
Does Michael Jordan live in Florida? (sometimes)
Jordan is the majority owner of an exclusive golf club, The Grove XXIII (23 for the Roman Numerically challenged), located in Hobe Sound in Martin County, just north of Jupiter, Florida.
He owns a $12.4 million estate on Jupiter Island that he bought in 2010. He also has two homes in North Carolina, where the NBA team he owns, the Charlotte Hornets, is based.
If you want to play at Jordan’s course, you better be somebody or know somebody. It is private and carries an “invite-only” policy.
He not only owns the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA, he also owns a NASCAR racing team
On June 15, 2006, Jordan bought a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats (known as the Hornets since 2013), becoming the team’s second-largest shareholder behind majority owner Robert L. Johnson.
On March 17, 2010, the NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved Jordan’s purchase of the Bobcats from Johnson, making him the first former player to become the majority owner of an NBA team. It also made him the league’s only African-American majority owner.
On Sept. 21, 2020, Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin announced they would be fielding a NASCAR team with Bubba Wallace driving, beginning competition in the 2021 season. The team’s name was confirmed to be 23XI Racing (pronounced twenty-three eleven). As of the end of the 2022 season, 23XI Racing has three wins, two of them coming from Wallace, and 1 coming from Kurt Busch.
He’ll likely be spotted this weekend celebrating his 60th birthday at the Daytona 500.
Is there a Michael Jordan Day?
Yes. Feb 3, 2023, happened to be 2-3-23.
In that spirit, ESPN and the ACC Network celebrated Jordan by playing off the iconic jersey No. 23 that Jordan wore throughout his Hall of Fame basketball career – both in college at the University of North Carolina and in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls.
On Michael Jordan Day, ESPN featured content and highlights across multiple studio shows, while ACCN aired four North Carolina men’s basketball games from the 1981, 1983, and 1984 seasons spotlighting the legendary Tar Heel.
If you missed it, another 2-3-23 will come around in a hundred years.
If Jordan could play, he did
Load management? What is ??
If Jordan was healthy, he was playing.
Duirng the 15 seasons in which he played, Jordan played all 82 games nine times. He also had seasons of 81, 80 and 78.
A broken foot made him miss most of his second season (1985-86) and the year he returned after his hiatus (1994-95) he played all 17 games he was available for.
Fans knew if Jordan had a pulse, they’d get to see him play.
Today’s NBA fans can’t say that about most of the league’s biggest stars.
He had two retirements before the third stuck
Jordan left basketball after winning three titles in a row from 1991-93. His father, James Jordan, was murdered during the summer of 1993, and Jordan stepped away from basketball.
He tried his hand at baseball in 1994, joining the Chicago White Sox and landing with Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham Barons.
Credit to Jordan: he played 127 games in 1994 and hit .202. He had 88 hits in 436 at-bats. He hit 3 home runs and had 51 RBIs.
Certainly he wasn’t a Major League prospect, but considering he was the best basketball player in the world the prior decade and hadn’t played baseball in longer than that, it was a valiant effort.
We’ll never know
During the nearly two-year span Jordan was away from basketball, the Houston Rockets won both NBA titles.
During Jordan’s first full year back, the Bulls won the title in 1996. They won the next two in 97 and 98.
Had Jordan not walked away the first time, could the Bulls have won eight straight titles? Many think they would have.
After winning his sixth title, Jordan again retired and stayed away from basketball — this time for three seasons.
He decided to run it back one more time, this time with the Washington Wizards. He played 60 games in 2001-02 and all 82 in 2003-04.
Jordan retired from the NBA 20 years ago in April
It’s hard to believe, but Michael Jordan’s final game came as a member of the Washington Wizards on April 16, 2003, nearly 20 years ago.
The Wizards were playing at Philadelphia, and Jordan finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.
And if you were wondering, he played all 82 games that season at age 40.
He wrapped up his career having played in 1,072 games.