Imperfect Way to Resume a Career

It is our myth, our legend, our generation’s version of Babe Ruth hitting the home run for the sick kid in the hospital bed, and we don’t want anyone messing with it, not even the man who created it.

Michael Jordan is coming back, coming back to the NBA, or as close as one can get to it while wearing the jersey of the Washington Wizards. Early this week, perhaps as early as today, Jordan will make it official: Retirement II is over, Jordan III is on the air and about that last, great, never-equaled, never-surpassed, perfectly scripted moment of splendor against the Utah Jazz in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals ... ah, well, roll out the barrels of Wite-Out.

We have come to love that moment-Jordan pulling up at the top of the key, Jazz defender Bryon Russell clattering to the hardwood, the ultimate shot swishing through the hoop for the ultimate grand finale--more than Jordan does himself. In fact, it’s not even close. Read the newspapers, listen to the talk shows, scan the Internet and it is mapped out quite clearly.

MJ to America: I’m back.

America to MJ: But ... but ... what about The Perfect Ending?

Ted Williams didn’t clear the fences in his final at-bat, disappear into the Fenway Park dugout, never to be seen in uniform again ... until he sits around and thinks it over and decides to join the Los Angeles Angels in 1962 as a part-time first baseman.

John Elway didn’t win the Super Bowl most-valuable-player trophy in his final game, jog off triumphantly into the Pro Player Stadium tunnel, fade into the champagne mist ... and reemerge two years later taking snaps in the Cincinnati Bengals’ training camp.

(Although the Bengals, had they known this was a possibility, would have sent an engraved invitation and a limo.)

When Jordan came out of retirement the first time, in 1995, he made a lot of people happy, namely the Chicago Bulls and their fans and the Chicago White Sox minor league hitting instructors. Then, there was a sense of the great maestro returning from sabbatical to polish up his unfinished symphony.

This time, there is no such welcome party. There is no coast-to-coast rejoicing. Instead, there is widespread MJ Backlash. Many in the media who were there in 1998 to kiss the ring are now lashing out at their erstwhile Teflon King--mainly for having the audacity to foul up their favorite fall-away fantasy.

As the comeback rumors swirled in May, the Washington Times offered a typical reaction, describing Jordan’s 1998 championship decider as “the best reason Michael Jordan won’t play basketball again if he has a brain in his head.”

Even David Halberstam, distinguished author and Jordan biographer, fretted about the comeback in a column for ESPN.com:

“Michael Jordan, the most exciting basketball player I have ever watched, is making serious noise about coming back. This is by way of personal note to him saying, I hope he resists the temptation and leaves us with our memories as they now exist.”

Halberstam added that “it is extremely unlikely that any return will add to his legend. Almost surely, it will subtract. This is important because the last time he left the game, it was as perfect a departure as a screenwriter could script.”

What in the name of Phil Knight could so possess Jordan that he wants to play small forward for the Wizards and ruin perfection?

Try this: That shot, three years old now, really wasn’t all that perfect.

Pay close attention the next time you see it on television. Which shouldn’t be hard to do. ESPN and CNN/SI will have The Shot on a 24-hour continuous loop as soon as MJ officially announces.

Watch Michael dribble to the top of the key, then straight-arm Russell so hard Russell is sent spinning and reeling five feet, stumbling at the foul line.

This is permissible in football and rugby. But in basketball, fable fans, this is known as pushing off.

According to NBA rules, as opposed to the blink-and-wink “Jordan Rules,” this is an offensive foul.

And had it been called, this is what would have happened: No shot, ball to the Jazz, we head to Game 7.

It didn’t get much coverage at the time, because no one seemed to have the stomach to sic a script doctor on the ideal ending. In 1951, no one wrote that Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning home run might have been the result of the Giants stealing the Dodgers’ signs, either.

But the passage of a few years has layered this glittering moment with more than a little tarnish. In June, the Sporting News Web site asked fans to vote for the worst call-or non-call-in NBA history. Jordan pushing off on Russell and getting away with it was the easy winner.

One voter, a G. Barker of Pocatello, Idaho, put it this way:

“He so clearly pushed Bryon Russell away with his free hand that it amazes me that it’s shown so often in highlight clips. In fact, if I were Jordan and that had been my final shot as an NBA player, I would make a comeback just to erase the play as the image of my final shot.”

Of all the theories being tossed around as to why Jordan would want to play again as he nears his 39th birthday, that’s as good as it gets.

You have to suppose that deep down, Jordan knows. On the record, he brushes it off the same way he brushed off Russell. In 1999, when asked by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram if he fouled Russell on the famous play, Jordan replied, “No, I did not. Did they call a foul? I was simply getting my balance.”

Then, in classic Jordan cross-over, he added: “Now, what Reggie Miller did to me in Game 6 of the 1998 Eastern Conference finals was a foul. But I am not whining.”

Deep down, this is the sort of thing that eats at Jordan. A smudge on the crown. A dent in the royal scepter. A bit of fried egg yolk sticking to the Teflon.

Yes, there is a smattering of dissent among the once obsequious masses. An aging king in exile stirs. That smattering must be smote.

A better perfect ending must be written.

Lacking Windows 98, Jordan will try it with Wizards 2001-02. It’s not the perfect word processor, but then, perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

In Washington, eyes have been beholding a basketball team that last won a championship when Jordan was a sophomore in high school. Just the thought of MJ lining up a free throw in a first-round playoff game is enough to get them all misty.