Michael Jordan

After winning his third consecutive NBA championship, at the peak of his career, Michael Jordan, on October 6, 1993, announced his retirement shocking the entire sports world. Jordan said, "the mental aspect is not the same - the challenge is not as great. I promised myself - and I have said many times publicly - that when the mental challenge began to fade, I would leave. That time is now here." He then decided to pick up the game of baseball, for 1994 baseball season, playing for the Birmingham Barons, an affiliate of the Chicago White Sox in the Class AA Southern League. With the mental challenge gradually returning, on March 18, 1995, Jordan publicly announced that he would rejoin the Chicago Bulls and play in the next day's nationally televised game against the Pacers at Indianapolis. He stepped onto the court with a new jersey - the number 45 - a perfected fade away jumper, and whole new game. Jordan returned to the game, with only one ambition in mind, to prove to the NBA fans worldwide that he is, without a doubt, the greatest player ever. After his return, he was able to dominate the game and market, in such a way that no other player can compare with.

Michael Jordan returned to the NBA in the middle of the regular season, in which the Chicago Bulls were in a disaster. With a pitiful 34-31 record, Jordan's return was the team's only hope. Although looking a little rusty in his first game, he was soon able to pick up it up in his fifth game with an unforgettable 55 points against the New York Knicks. With Jordan the Bulls went 13-4 to finish the season with 47-35 overall, bringing the team to the playoffs. Jordan proved that even after years off he could come back at an old age and actually dominate the league more than he did previously. He showed that one could still lead the league well into his thirties. He may have been a little less agile, but in compensation Jordan was a far more effective and controlled jump shooter, three-point scoring threat, and remained an outstanding all-around contributor. Only after his return, in the 95-96 season, did Jordan start all 100 games for the Bulls, becoming the first and only player to start the whole regular season. In the same season, joining Willis Reed, he was the second man to win MVP awards for the regular season, All-Star Game and NBA Finals. In the 97-98 season, he joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to score 29,000, proving to be the most dominant player in the league.

Jordan's importance to the game and the market were portrayed best in his return from retirement. The 1994 final had a rating of 12.4, the last season to be played entirely without Jordan, was NBC's lowest rated in its eight years of showing the NBA. Nevertheless, in his first game coming out of retirement he brought NBC's rating to an incredible 13.4, ranking it among the top-five TV ratings in NBA history for a regular season game. In the history of all sports, no single player has ever made such an impact. His return benefited all the companies he endorsed, according to Time magazine, it was estimated that his return was worth nearly four billion dollars.

Years after his return, Jordan was voted to be the Athlete of the Century, one the greatest titles an athlete can achieve. A unique combination of athleticism, motivation, devotion, and definition to the game of basketball, which no other player (past or present) has in the history of the NBA, truly