The Flying Man Set Standards Really High

News of Michael Jordan’s retirement was splashed across the front pages of China’s top newspapers and sparked a scramble for Jordan memorabilia at sports stores in Beijing.

Even editorials in the staid state-run press praised the 35-year-old superstar for setting high athletic standards, and urged Chinese sports stars to emulate his easygoing, confident style.

Known in China as “feiren” (flying man), Jordan captivated fans in China, where NBA games are broadcast every Saturday, drawing huge audiences.

Air Feiren?

Trivia time: Which is the last Pacific 10 school to go undefeated in the conference in basketball?

Oink, oink: “The more I watch [Bull General Manager Jerry] Krause,” Skip Bayless of the Chicago Tribune wrote well before Jordan’s retirement announcement, “the more I’m convinced he would be as happy as a pig in slop if Jordan retired. Come to think of it, that’s pretty much what Krause would be.”

Pressure cooker: Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times also takes his shot at Krause:

“This is the moment he so foolishly wanted--a chance to prove he can win a championship without The King--and now the skeptical eyes of Jordan and the basketball world are upon him.”

Relief: Philadelphia Flyer Coach Roger Neilson, on his reluctance to let his players have a four-day stay in New Orleans in March:

“I was a little worried about the drinking, but they assured me they would be drinking everywhere they went.”

Not-so-cheap shot: From Jay Leno: “The rumor is the Bulls were going to pay Michael $37.5 million this year. Where else in sports can you make that kind of money? Other than being an Olympic official in Salt Lake.”

Can’t kick it: Greg Cote of the Miami Herald on Jimmy Johnson changing his mind on resigning as Miami Dolphin coach:

“The [football] addict was easily persuaded, it seemed. Like a man on a ledge who doesn’t really want to jump, [Johnson] obviously was a coach who didn’t want to quit.”

FYI: Reader Goldy Norton notes that even though the Minnesota Vikings set an NFL record with 556 points in the regular season, it isn’t a league high in average points a game.

The Vikings averaged close to 35 points. However, in 1950, the L.A. Rams had 466 points in a 12-game season, an average of nearly 39 points a game.

Trivia answer: UCLA in the 1977-78 season, 14-0, when the league was known as the Pacific 8. The Bruins had a 16-0 record in 1955-56 in the then Pacific Coast Conference.

And finally: Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon, a Chicago native, got a satellite dish in 1995 when Jordan came out of retirement. He said the first night the dish was installed, his then-fiancee stood in front of the TV to block his view of the Bulls’ game.

Said Wilbon: “She asked, figuring she knew the answer, ‘Who do you love more, me or Michael Jordan?’ I told her I love her more than Scottie Pippen. She married me anyway.”