Michael Jordan: The Greatest Athlete Ever

If I close my eyes and listen closely, I can still hear it. The music is pumping and the lights are low. The crowd is getting louder by the second. And then the public address announcer starts to yell, "And now…from North Carolina…a 6'6" guard…#23...Michael Jordan!" The crowd goes nuts and the greatest athlete of all-time takes the floor.

I had the privilege of seeing Michael Jordan play in person on three separate occasions. The first time was in New York at Madison Square Garden against my beloved Knicks in 1988. The next was in Chicago against the Charlotte Hornets in the 1995 playoffs. The final time was at Michael Jordan's last NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta in 2003. Each time, my seats got better and the crowds got louder.

Michael Jordan's awards alone are staggering: six NBA Championships, five NBA MVP Awards, six NBA Finals MVP Awards, thirteen All-Star Appearances, and ten NBA scoring titles. Michael Jordan even won an NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award and made the NBA All-Defensive First Team a record nine times.

The awards and championships don't tell the whole story though. In order to fully appreciate Michael Jordan's athletic prowess, you had to see him play. You had to see the spectacular things he did on the basketball court. Like the time he did the lean in dunk at the NBA dunk contest. If you watch that dunk in slow motion, it looks like he really is flying. He followed that up by dunking from the foul line ala Dr. J. Not to mention the time he did the cradle dunk with his tongue wagging on a breakaway at Madison Square Garden. That dunk was during a live game and not a dunk contest. It brought the Madison Square Garden faithful to their feet to cheer for Michael Jordan even though he was on the opposing team. The cradle dunk has been immortalized in the form of a poster.