I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago from 1991-2000, during the height of the Michael Jordan era. Unfortunately, I was not raised as a fan of professional sports and therefore never saw him play. Actually, when I think about it, I do not remember even watching the games on TV! Yet, even with this level of removal from the world of sports, I still knew (quite vividly) who Michael Jordon was and what his number was. Everybody did! E. Armstrong (1996) agrees, "It is impossible to underestimate MJ's (Michael Jordan's) global significance and the attendant global presence of his UN (uniform number) 23" (p. 326). I also think that everybody today, in 2011, would know who he is. I bet that it would be impossible to find someone, over the age of 10, that has never heard of him or does not know that 23 was the number he wore.
As Michael Jordan is one of, if not THE, biggest athletes of our time, an author would be well served to view him and his life as text. This would especially be the case if that author was looking for a text that would reflect society's ideals and values regarding its professional athletes. The amount of press Michael received is well documented (Armstrong, 1996), and therefore there is a plethora of available sources.
As such, it was interesting to read through this article and see all the quotes from the "scandal" that occurred when MJ unretired to play in uniform number 45, and then later unretired the number 23 to play in that. Not much has changed! Our athletes are still superheroes whose every move is questioned and magnified for the public to judge. Because of this, I think the best figures to study as text would be athletes and actors/actresses. The athletes that would yield the most information in our day would be LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Michael Vick.
And we will be studying some of those athletes--maybe not Lebron James. Interestingly, I have yet to see much research that has been conducted about Lebron James. I am not really sure why that is. One of the ironies of studying Michael Jordan now is that I recently heard rumors that he might return to play, at the age of 48!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that a number could be unretired! Truthfully, I don't think I really remembered his number, but I have always known who Michael Jordan and the power, prestige, and global recognition of the name.
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ReplyDeleteI thought it interesting that the egocentric villain LeBron James while he was still in Cleveland thought it necessary to retire the number 23 in honor of Michael Jordan across all teams of the NBA. Putting aside the notion that this move was a hint in the direction that LeBron was intending on leaving HIS number 23 behind in Cleveland, this is just another example of how widespread this quantification of one man's jersey identification has become. Similarly, but not to the same extent, Kobe IS 24, Marino IS 13, Emmitt IS 22, Elway IS 7...heck even look at the following of NASCAR fans that think of Dale Earnhardt when they see the number 3 (during the 10th anniversary of Earnhardt's death at the Daytona 500, the tack went completely silent on lap 3). But back to Jordan, this brings up an interesting question...should a number be reserved for one team across all team's, is it that player's final say that should be law regarding his or her number, or should a number be unique to one team? The Washington Wizards let Jordan wear 23.
Matt-When I was at Michigan, Braylon Edward's jersey was retired. Then Coach Rich Rod came to town and gave his jersey to a freshman player that was on the team. It made headlines and the jersey got put back in "the safe." Doing studies on the 'superheroes" you have mentioned would certainly be somewhat of an oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteI really related to this article because as a basketball player myself I found an identity with my jersey number. When I see the number 23 I always think of Michael Jordan. As I thought about the article more though, I began thinking about wehat that number might mean to others. I greaw up watching Michael Jordan and wanted to be just like him. That is why that number is important to me. But what about kids who have grown up watching Lebron James. He obviously chose that number out of respect for Michael Jordan but what will kids think now when they see the number 23. Will they think of Jordan or will the number 23 always make them think of Lebron James.
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