MJ ignores legacy with comeback

BY LAURIE RANDELL

Michael Jordan doesn't have to justify his actions to anyone. He's earned the right to do what he wants, when he wants—and if that means coming back to the sport he loves after three years of idling in management, then so be it. He doesn't have to explain himself, but he did anyway on Mon., Oct. 1, in his first large-scale press conference since announcing his intention to play for the Washington Wizards, a team he watched—from the owner's box—struggle to only 19 wins last season. But why would he, or Mario Lemieux, or any superstar who has come out of retirement, risk it all for another year of pain? "I'm all about challenges and seeing if I can go out and seeing if I can achieve something," Jordan said in a statement. "If, at the end of the day, I do it, great. If I don't, I can live with myself."

MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES Michael Jordan is back. Should his fans be happy?

The question that's gone largely unasked, selfish as it may be, is whether Jordan's fans can live with themselves if he fails at his comeback. Jordan is putting a lot on the line, despite his casual dismissal of the repercussions of his decision. Whether he likes it or not, parting impressions are what linger, not just in the history books, but also in public memory. In this, the second comeback of his career, he automatically supercedes his last bow in 1998, after the sixth of his NBA championships. If he begins the 2001 season weakly, if he bows out with anything less than his past successes, then in the eyes of his fans, it will have been a failure. Is the "itch that still needs to be scratched" (in Jordan's words) strong enough for him, or any aging retired athlete, to risk losing more than just a few games?

The simplistic way to argue Jordan has nothing to gain from this comeback would be to point out that he could never recapture the glory he had with the Bulls in their heyday. Each of the last two times he retired, he had just completed a three-peat with Chicago, he was at the peak of his game both mentally and physically, and he was widely acknowledged as the greatest athlete of all time. Jordan is not worried about his reputation, even if the rest of us are. We have an image in our heads of a perfect superstar, an image untarnished by a horrible SportsCentury documentary. Can we, as fans, allow that image to fall flat on its face if Jordan is anything less than his former self?

The same questions preceded Mario Lemieux's return to the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this year. On the surface, the two comebacks seem strikingly similar; the two owner-players are close friends. Lemieux risked the same disappointment that Jordan (and Jordan's fans) now face, but with several key mitigating factors. The Penguins were a team in playoff contention. The Wizards are not, even by a long shot. Lemieux, however, freely acknowledges that he would not have come back to hockey if the Penguins were bad that year.

Lemieux, although he barely touched a skate during his retirement, had a chance to come back not only in the same form as when he left, but with the same caliber team, and with the same chance at extending his legacy. As much as we like to think of Jordan as a superstar on his own merits, the success of his teams is inextricably tied to his legacy. Coming back to a sub-par team with no chance of winning a NBA championship tarnishes, however slightly, that superiority.

Comebacks don't have to be pigeonholed as the result of one explicit motivation. But something distinct, something special, has to be underlying these superstars' decisions to test themselves against the newest and the best that their sports have to offer. Recent surveys have shown Tiger Woods currently has more face recognition around the world than No. 23. Jordan's comeback will change that, but is it worth the risk? Muhammad Ali returned in top form to gain a third title and was then completely massacred to end his career. Since Jordan won't get that next title, am I selfish to wonder what he'll do once his itch is scratched?

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