quote:Originally posted by THE Franta: So then Micheal Jackson paved the way for Jordan is what youre saying...proving my point...
I guess I find it pretty sad that news of a cop getting shot during a robbery and a fireman saving a buncha kids from a burning building gets downplayed due to Jordan retiring, which he "coincidentally" announces before the Super Bowl (he last "retirement announcement was during the World Series I believe.). Saddest part is the policeman and fireman remain nameless while the Zombies continue to pay top dollar for toilet paper that has Jordan's BB number on it.
Franta that's media PERIOD. It has nothing to do with Jordan. That's just the way the media presents stories in this country. Journalism in the modern day is so messed up and owned byentertainment, the government....etc, that it is extremely subjective in priority. All the press cares about nowadays is getting as many viewers and readers as possible. Sad but true.
And Michael Jackson did not pave the way for Jordan. Blacks have always been able to suceed in the entertainment business because unfortunately, that was the stereotype pasted onto them from the South. "Dancing Bojingle Man" "Jim Crow". That kind of crap. What Jordan did was unprecedented in that he blew open the Sports business. Guys like Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain, never saw half the money they were raking in for their franchises. Fuck, even Ali retired nearly penniless. (He had to fight his last bout while he was in his early stages of Parkinson's. And this was '81. That's how fucked up the sporting world was) Jordan was the first athlete to wisely say "Hey. I'm the one making this money. I'm the one the fans want to see. I should be asking for more. " And when the NBA wouldn't give him more, he said "Fine. If you're not gonna give me what I earned, then I'll get it from the people who want to see me." And that's where the endorsements came in, the sneakers, Saturday Night Live. It all got him the money that the NBA, his agent, and Jerry Krause wouldn't give him. That's admirable in my book. If that's not a headline man, then neither is Ted Turner, or Bill Gates. But we don't argue about these guys. Know why? Cause they're not black athletes. At least I think. That's just my opinion.
