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CNN Live At Daybreak
Should Michael Jordan Attempt a Comeback?
Aired August 15, 2001 - 07:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Every time Michael Jordan even laces up a pair of sneakers somebody somewhere screams comeback. We've heard it.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I know. Yes, you bet, many times. And for his part, Jordan remains quiet about a possible return to the court, but he's scrimmaging with NBA caliber players.
And CNN's Tom Rinaldi samples some professional opinions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jordan open, Chicago with the lead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That may have been the last shot Michael Jordan will ever take in the NBA. If that's the last image of Michael Jordan, how magnificent is it?
TOM RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is not the critic who counts, the credit belongs to the man who was actually in the arena who knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Teddy Roosevelt, who wrote those words, never met Michael Jordan, but the words still seem to mark Jordan's mission. Yes, there's a lot to lose when you are already a statue, but Michael Jordan refuses to rust.
BOB COSTAS, SPORTS ANNOUNCER: He's done a half dozen encores, brought the house down, and now after the curtain apparently fell for the final time, he's rushing back into the lobby, pulling the patrons back into the theater going wait, wait, wait, one more thing, it just doesn't feel right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'll still be a very fine basketball player, but I doubt very seriously that he'll ever be able to live up to the - to what he was doing at the time when he finished, particularly that storybook finish with that last shot.
MAGIC JOHNSON, FORMER NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: Do I want him to do it, no, because I would never want him to mess with the legacy, the things that made him be the best that's ever played. I would never want that to that to -- anything to go wrong.
RINALDI: Thirteen seasons in Chicago, 10 scoring titles, 5 MVPs, he won a championship in each of his last 6 full seasons, the perfect ending. So why do it? Why risk failure? Why endanger a legacy and a comeback? Perhaps to serve the very same drive and desire that forged the greatest career in NBA history. He left the game, but did the game and its drive and desire leave him?
ALLEN IVERSON, NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: He's 39 years old and he can't come back and do what he's done all through his career, I won't be the one to say that, you know. I mean he knows what he - what he has inside him and he has one of the biggest hearts ever stepped out on the dance floor.
KOBE BRYANT, NBA BASKETBALL PLAYER: If Mike wants to come back, God bless him. I mean you know - I know he's going to work extremely hard to get himself in shape and in playing shape to compete and to be the best so if he wants to come back God bless him and I wish him the best.
BILL RUSSELL: His expectations probably have nothing to do with ours, you know? He's the only one knows what the standard he wants to set. It may be higher or lower than other people's, but they're irrelevant.
RINALDI: In sports, career postscripts rarely read well. We see Willie Mays as a Met, Joe Namath as a Ram, John Unitas as a Charger. We shake our heads trying to clear the picture. But we also see Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France or Mario Lemieux on the ice igniting their worlds and shining a glare on their sports all over again.
MARIO LEMIEUX, HOCKEY PLAYER: I think the main thing is to prepare yourself physically, first of all, and mentally that you're going to have some ups and downs during your comeback. You're not always going to feel 100 percent and that's the main thing if you miss two or three years.
RINALDI: Since retiring, Michael Jordan didn't leave the arena, literally. He could be spotted on occasion in the ozone of an owner's box peering down from on high in tie and cufflinks. Perhaps he's trying to clear that picture. Perhaps he still has a need for victory again at the immediate risk of defeat.
In Los Angeles, I'm Tom Rinaldi.
MCEDWARDS: Welcome advice from some great athletes there should he need it.
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