Just Settle Back and Enjoy

Michael Jordan has come back to basketball--again. Never mind the sadsack Wizards and never mind that he scored “only” 19 points in his first return game.

This latest comeback by one of history’s greatest athletes has divided people into camps: Those who think he should because they want to see him soar again and savor his skills. Those who think he shouldn’t because he might not soar so well and this somehow smudges their private memories of his last arching, game-winning shot. And those who don’t really care because tall men in short pants running around in squeaking shoes aren’t that interesting anyway, except for imagining their salaries.

There is, however, another way of seeing things: as a simple spectator of sports--dramatic, entertaining human activities played out on a safe stage with clear winners and losers every day. Unlike, say, complex conflicts in distant places.

Jordan could just take his fortune and relax. But he clearly loves challenges. He got cut from his high school varsity and, well, came back to do all right. He quit basketball to try baseball. He came back to basketball. And then retired again. And now he has come back once more.

Americans love comebacks; they’re in our history, psyche, culture. How often did Frank Sinatra retire and return? Sure, it’s commercial--sales of tickets, shirts, shoes. This newspaper wasn’t free, either. But would you rather see a star puff up, play celebrity golf tournaments, disparage today’s younger players and charge kids for autographs at trading card conventions?

Maybe a dramatic public comeback is just the therapeutic diversion many Americans could use right now. How Jordan does is up to him. We wish him well, except against the Lakers and Clippers.

Amid all the confusing sounds and scary sights of recent weeks, trying hard--yet again--and confronting a difficult challenge isn’t a bad example to set or see.