The Friday Flashback: Young Michael Jordan

By Chuck Sudo in Miscellaneous on Oct 29, 2010 7:20PM

With his endorsements, his appearance in the NBA 2K11 video game and the continued frenzy (and sometimes homicides) over his shoes, Michael Jordan as an international brand is as hot as ever. Earlier this week, Deadspin excerpted a chapter from the Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History, from the writers behind the wonderful basketball website Free Darko. The chapter, from Bethlehem Shoals, dealt with a young Michael Jordan, just launching his professional career, and how Jordan was considered rebellious, even edgy, at the time.

We know the stories of the Jordan All-Star game freeze-out; how, in his first years, he was perceived as a "me-first" player; how it ultimately took to buying into Phil Jackson's team philosophy to win the championships that cemented his legacy as the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time. Shoals dives deep into those stories, but also focuses on the image control from his agent, David Falk, and his associates at Nike. Through them, Jordan honed his killer instinct and learned how to control his brand and his message (such as it is). Shoals cites an early misstep where Jordan lent his voice and image to a rap song from a DC-based all-female crew that faded into the ether of obscurity (Shoals half-jokingly suggests Jordan bought all copies of the record himself). Then there was the McJordan sandwich from McDonad's: a Quarter Pounder served with bacon, barbecue sauce that ranked with the McDLT as one of the Golden Arches bigger mistakes.

But what really ties in the aspect of Jordan as edgy was the Air Jordan "Banned" commercial. Jordan was fined repeatedly by the NBA for wearing the Air Jordan I because the color scheme didn't conform to their uniform code. Jordan happily paid the fines, kept wearing the shoes and Nike made the commercial that launched Jordan to the stratosphere.