The Reason We're Hesitant to Ever Tag "Jordan" to Anyone
We were perusing the sports blogosphere earlier this weekend and happened on a post that brought back memories. The folks at NESW Sports put up the old "fake Jordan retirement" commercial from Nike featuring Steve Martin. I'd forgotten about the classic spot. And, as I watched, it brought back a recollection of something else I'd forgotten about for awhile. Or more accurately, someone.
If you watch the first :30 spot contained in the video, you'll see a few athletes featured commenting on whether Jordan had, in fact, "sneaked back" into the NBA. There are the familiar faces of Mullin and The Admiral, and, of course, Michal Irvin (wait, huh?).
Anyway, spliced in between them is a quick shot of a bald-headed player who managed to capture the rapt attention of the hoops world, not to mention a huge Nike deal himself, around that time. If you were like me, fifteen years old and as sports-crazed as ever, it took nary a second to identify "Baby Jordan."
The Heat drafted Harold Miner with the 12th pick of the 1992 NBA draft. As a freshman at USC, he threw up gaudy stats including just over 20 ppg. Three years later, those stats were even more prolific: 26.3 ppg, 7 rpg. He was a consensus first-team All-American. And at 6'5, 210 and crazy ups he gained the moniker ("Baby Jordan") you would think any young, aspiring NBA star would want. Maybe not?
Baby Jordan is one of the reasons commentators, columnists and fans of that generation are so hesitant to throw around any college stud or young NBA superstar and "Jordan" in the same sentence. It's why even more than 15 years later we're petrified to make an comparisons between a player and his Airness. Miner spent only four years in the League ending his career with a 9.0 ppg/avg and is best known for taking the 1993 and '95 Slam Dunk championships.
Today, Miner is either a kingpin in Las Vegas, a member of the Federal Witness Protection program working at a Jack-in-the-Box or serving as a member of the LAPD (HT to Hoops Addict on the rumors, and, yes, they are all out there). Wherever he is, one thing is certain. Minor has served as a constant reminder that it's always best to wait a good, long while before anointing anyone the next Jordan -- or Baby Jordan for that matter.
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1 comments:
Great write up as always. I think it is awesome how, since the Harold Minor and Kobe Bryant busts, people do not try to say "That guy looks like MJ because..." they now say "That guy is not like MJ because..." .
That is amazing that, after everything Kobe has done, he will only be compared to MJ if he wins a championship without Shaq. As you said in the post. The world has changed a lot since Minor. The basketball community is once bit twice shy.
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