MJ turns 47 today…

If you are a Tar Heel, or proclaim to be a North Carolina basketball fan, you should know who was born on this date forty-seven years ago. However, if for some reason you forgot, or do not have no clue whatsoever, the answer to that question is:  Michael Jeffrey Jordan, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. but soon moved to Wilmington, N.C., where Jordan’s career would begin under the tutelage of Dean Smith at UNC. I think what is the best way that describes Michael Jordan can be found at the NBA Encyclopedia where it says:

Although, a summary of his basketball career and influence on the game inevitably fails to do it justice, as a phenomenal athlete with a unique combination of fundamental soundness, grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability and an unquenchable competitive desire, Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar.

As an old Tar Heel, one that is of the same generation as MJ, I can recall what it meant to me watching him as a college player and then as a NBA’er. He is the best ever, and in my heart he will always be the best that ever played the game. Maybe another great star of this game, Magic Johnson, said it best when he said:

“There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us.”

And all of us Tar Heels should be thankful that MJ is part of what is the “Carolina Family”. Let me wish all the best to Michael Jordan on his 47th birthday!

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