Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 34

"6C DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1993 .1 JORDAN THROUGH THE YEARS Hits game-winning shot in NCAA championship game as Voted college player of year. Drafted by Chicago Bulls in first round (third overall). Helps United States win Olympic gold medal. Wins first of seven NBA scoring titles (37.1-point average). Voted to All-NBA first team for first of seven straight seasons.

Voted NBA rookie of the year. Scores playoff-record 63 points in a first-round, double-overtime loss to Boston. freshman at North Carolina. i 1 CJW QUOTES Early exit leaves many kids disappointed of the great basketball players and history from this time on won't be the same," India said. She said Jordan has been a good role model for her.

"He was a real helper to me. The fact that he cares about kids, the fact that he got his college degree." But as much as India loves Jordan, his retirement won't mean an end to her interest in basketball. She plans to continue to watch the game "and bear with it." "Michael Jordan was the Bulls. You same disappointment. Jordan's impact on their young lives goes well beyond wearing clothes with the Bulls' logo and changing team loyalties.

Tyran was a faithful Pistons fan, but that changed when he saw the Bulls gore the former NBA champions one too many times. "When I saw my boy Michael Jordan, I just pushed the Pistons aside," Tyran said. At Butzel Middle School on Detroit's east side, India Porter and Angela Bailey, both 12, tried to sort out might say the Bull horn," she said. Corey Watson, 6, a student at A.L. Holmes Elementary School, said he watched Jordan play on television and doesn't like the idea of his retirement.

When asked what he liked best about the NBA star, the first-grader chomped down hard on his chewing gum and a serious expression swept across his face. He compared Jordan to another of his heroes. "The way he jumps," Corey said. "Superman flys." Hating him was easy, superficial Vincent, from Page 1C what Jordan's absence from the game will mean. "I'll really miss Michael Jordan because he's cute to me," Angela said shyly.

"He made the game more exciting. I just wish he'd come back." India and Angela were doing homework at India's home on Grand Boulevard Tuesday night when the news flashed on television. India, who plays on the basketball team at Butzel, was shocked. "I think it's going to be a disgrace to basketball history because he was one yr 1 Hfc JAN I In hC JOF hi, 11 Pistons guard Joe Dumars held tongue-wagger Michael Jordan in check on By Cecil angel Free Press Staff Writer Michael Jordan's retirement from pro basketball angered Tyran Hatfield. After all, Tyran, an 11-year-old Detroiter, had long ago dropped the home team Pistons and embraced the Chicago Bulls as his favorite.

And it was all because of Jordan. "I'm mad," Tyran said Wednesday at a east side Detroit bus stop. "Because that's the best basketball player. He is my friend. I'd love to see him." Other area children expressed the Gone? Just for a while, Pistons say BY PERRY A.

FARRELL Free Press Sports Writer Before Pistons fans start celebrating over the retirement of their nemesis, remember that most everyone in the organization expects to see No. 23 in a Bulls uniform again. "Give him six months to a year and he'll be back," said Will Robinson, assistant to the director of player personnel. "He just needs time to get himself together. He'll be back before the end of the season." Forward Terry Mills said: "Is it in cement that he's retiring? I just think that he'll be back because of his competitive nature." "I could see him taking a year off and coming back and playing next season," coach Don Chaney said.

"He has things to take care of as far as his family and his father's business affairs." In the eyes of some Pistons, Michael Jordan is walking away with his reputation as a legend intact. "We had the opportunity to see the best basketball player that has ever played," forward Mark Aguirre said. "He has nothing else to prove. He has three titles in a row, he's financially secure, he has a beautiful family and a beautiful wife. If I was in his position I'd do it, too." Guard Isiah Thomas, sometimes at odds with Jordan, said: "I am definitely going to miss him.

He said that he would be coming to watch some games this year; I hope he comes when the Bulls play the Pistons." Jordan's retirement certainly changes the balance of power in the Central Division, which the Bulls or Pistons have won the past six seasons. "It's definitely a step back for the Bulls," Pistons president Tom Wilson said. "I was really stunned. Michael has always said, 'When I go, I'm just going to walk away. I'm going to go when I'm at the top of my Every athlete says that when they're 27 or 28 years old, then you find out when you're 32 or 33 that it's a nice living, there's a lot of notoriety, there's a lot of money involved.

"So people tend to back down from that." Mills said: "We have a better chance now, but we can't just assume we've got this thing wrapped up." Thomas acknowledged that "we were building this team to beat the Bulls." But, he said, "You never delight in somebody else's tragedy." Newly arrived Greg (Cadillac) Anderson never played against Jordan in a Pistons uniform, but he still felt a sense of loss. "I'm not going to jump for joy, because he's a great player and he has been great for the league," Anderson said. "The entire NBA has lost a great player." Aguirre said: "Life is going to be great for Michael Jordan." And for all the defenders to whom he gave headaches. IV J1 MAGIC JOHNSON, former "I think that Michael is a cjuy who probably just wants to be left alone now. I think he's a bit tired of being under the microscope, so to speak.

I think he just wants to take a little time off and just be a regular person and enjoy his family. lot has happened to him, with his father being killed, as well as all the incidents that have happened in the last year. I think that weighed him down and he was tired." if he thought Jordan would one day return to the game, Johnson said, "I think he probably will maybe one year off and then come back to show everybody he's still the king." LARRY BIRD, former Boston Celtic: "The game of basketball lost one of their top players in Michael Jordan. No one was better than him. He was a true joy to watch on the court whether he was your opponent or your teammate.

I wish him the very best in life." PAYNE STEWART, former U.S. Open and PGA champion who has played many rounds with Jordan, on the prospect of Jordan's becoming a pro golfer: "From what I've seen so far, he's not ready for the tour yet, but it's amazing what you can achieve through desire and effort. He loves the game so much and works so hard that it's not like he wouldn't make it through lack of effort." CHUCK DALY, former Pistons coach, now coach of the New Jersey Nets: "His decision Is unfortunate for the game. We have a player not in his declining years but really at the height of his game. If you look at the press conference, he is a fun guy with a zest for life and I don't think there is any one thing that made the decision.

I think it was a crush of things that eroded his desire to play." KEVIN McHALE, former Boston Celtic: "They said football would never be the same when Jim Brown retired in his prime. It goes on. I mean, I can guarantee you in five years people will be saying, 'Michael who? And that's the way it is in this league. Someone's going to come out maybe it's Shaquille someone's going to come out and dominate. The names on the backs of the jerseys change; the league just keeps rolling on." TOM WILSON, Pistons "We will certainly jrhtes him.

Hopefully, he may look at it again a year from now, or another period of time, and back." CHARLES BARKLEY, Phoenix Suns: "One thing that Was weird about Michael is that whenever we're together, we're In "a hotel room because he ddesn't ever go out. So I don't ever want to be in that predicament where I can't go out and do anything." DEAN SMITH, Jordan's xoach at North Carolina: "A rgreat period in basketball has ended with Michael's retirement. I personally think it's good decision based on all he must go through and to certainly go out on top after three world championships." JOE MONTANA, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback: "Sometimes mentally you say, 'Golly, is this worth it Many times you go through that. He just hit the wall where it got too overpowering." NATE MCMILLAN, Seattle SuperSonics: "He made me pull a groin in a game two years ago. He made a move like he was going to go somewhere and didn't.

I stretched out and pulled my groin. This guy was really capable of embarrassing you." JERRY REINSDORF, Bulls owner: "I used to think that Michael Jordan was the Babe Ruth of basketball. I have now -come to believe that Babe Ruth was the Michael Jordan of baseball." Atsr i i I ii ii 1 And sometimes they exchanged pleasantries, as Pistons fans aired their feelings about His Royal Aimess. Biggest winner is hope, East and West He had bad things to say about the Pistons, and as fans we seemed to feel an obligation to treat him badly in return. When Jordan and his teammates eliminated the Pistons in 1991, ending their hopes of winning three titles in a row, the crowd at the Palace, ignoring the niceties that dictate you support the winner of your division, began chanting: "Go L-A! Go L-A! Go L-A!" Michael Jordan never deserved that kind of abuse.

On the floor, he was majestic. In private, he was open, friendly, cooperative. The way you'd like your son to be. The way people in my business would like all athletes to be. I wasn't Jordan's buddy.

I didn't know him well. But I spent time with him, beginning with his appearances on the United States' Olympic team in Los Angeles in 1984. He made a 30-foot off-balance shot at the buzzer during one of those Olympic games, against China, infuriating Bobby Knight, who coached the team. Knight, the disciplinarian and devoted follower of X's and O's, did not take Jordan to the postgame press conference, and said: "I would rather us not make that shot. He pulled that one out of his a-." Told of Knight's comment months later, Jordan was surprised and hurt.

I remember walking up to him after the All-Star Game in Indianapolis midway through his rookie season. He looked up at me, after a disappointing seven-point performance, and said, "I didn't feel they needed my offense. I felt it wasn't really desired." That was the genesis of the freeze-out story that forever chilled relations between Jordan and Isiah Thomas. My first grandson was an infant when I ran into Jordan a year later at the All-Star Game in Dallas. My daughter and her husband bought a tiny pair of red-and-black infant Nike tennis shoes and asked whether I would get them autographed.

Writers usually don't ask athletes for autographs it's not a professional thing to do but I made an exception this time and Jordan, in a crowded elevator, scrawled his name on the tiny shoes. I have a lot of memories of him, and most of them are off the court. All those flying jams have a way of melding in my mind, one looking an awful lot like another. One picture of perspiration running down his face looked pretty much like another. My most singular memory of him on the basketball court was before a game against the Pistons in Chicago two years ago.

Minutes before the game was to begin the power went out at Chicago Stadium, and in the shadows, Thomas approached Jordan and for minutes they talked in the darkness, photographers jockeying for position to record the unique moment on film. Thomas talked earnestly. He smiled and laughed and seemed to be attempting to thaw the chill between the two. Jordan was stoic, unmoved by what he was hearing. Maybe he bore a grudge too long.

Maybe the time came when he took himself too seriously and maybe those things sapped some of the enjoyment from the game. Maybe, somewhere in Michigan, people are rejoicing in his retirement. But if you love the game, you have to be a little sad that' you will not see him in uniform again. And if you have tickets for the games between the Bulls and Pistons at the Palace, they are not worth what they were yesterday. Michael Jordan will be missed.

Even here. i Free Press file photos many a night over eight seasons 'rMLWfmiP rrrTrw first Western Conference representative to win an NBA title since 1988, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pistons in seven games. Portland acquired small forward Harvey Grant in a trade and signing unrestricted free agent Chris Dudley. San Antonio cured its rebounding and interior defense by trading for Dennis Rodman. Seattle added Gill without giving up a key player.

And Phoenix rebounded nicely from the loss of small forward Richard Dumas (drug rehab) by signing three free agents power forward A.C. Green, center Joe Kleine and small forward Joe Courtney. Suns forward Charles Barkley is said to have preferred Rodman over Green, but the changes could still result in another trip to the finals. "We always talked about retiring at the same time," Jordan said of Barkley, "and I'm sorry I didn't hang around longer. But I've achieved a lot, and he still has a lot to achieve.

Basically, I could hang around, but then I would be standing in his way." And everybody else's, too. experts say more than half of the $28 million Jordan will command from commercial deals this year. Nike spokeswoman Liz Dolan said the company will have to re-examine Jordan's role in advertising for his new shoes, due out in late November. But she said Jordan's retirement will probably mean an expansion in his association with Nike. "We have always planned to have a relationship with Mike beyond his playing days." She said Nike may decide to expand the Air Jordan line.

I ULlS lj rick Ewing, Charles Oakley, Charles Smith and John Starks the Knicks have added another rugged rebounder, free agent Anthony Bonner. But the Knicks don't have a prime-time player at point guard, which could hurt them should their playoff path wind through Cleveland. In Mark Price and Terrell Brandon, the Cavs have perhaps the best point guards in the league. They also added power forward Tyrone Hill in a trade with Golden State. The Cavs also hired a tougher coach, Mike Fratello.

And with Jordan on the golf course, they might finally reach their potential. The Charlotte Hornets could make it a three-team race in the East provided new guard Hersey Hawkins picks up where Kendall Gill left off, and center Alonzo Mourning doesn't have a fit over the 12-year, $84-million contract signed Tuesday by Hornets power forward Larry Johnson. Or, with Jordan out of the picture, a number of teams could become the said Jordan's appeal will stay strong partly because he may return. Jordan said the companies he has endorsement contracts with supported his decision to retire and said, "I don't think this is going to tarnish my relationship at all with them." Jordan's most valuable contract is with Nike the sneaker company in Beaverton, that sells $200 million a year in Air Jordan basketball shoes, clothes and accessories. It is estimated Jordan will get $17 million or more from product royalties and commercial appearancesfor Nike, BY CORKY MEINECKE Free Press Sports Writer DEERFIELD, III.

Chicago Bulls guard John Paxson kept telling everyone how happy he and his teammates were for Michael Jordan, who walked away from the NBA with his greatness intact. "The biggest thing," Paxson said, "is that he's doing it his way, on his own terms. I can't think of a better way to go out. That's everybody's dream, and we're happy for him." But how happy will the Bulls be in April, when the playoffs begin? "Good question," Paxson said, smiling. "We're not the same team we were yesterday, so who knows what the season is going to bring? Michael Jordan defined this team.

Without Michael Jordan, we're not world champions." So who is? Many will anoint Pat Riley's New York Knicks, who last spring had the Bulls down 0-2 in the Eastern Conference final. To a solid nucleus Pat athletes, whose advertising appeal fades fast once they are out of the day-to-day spotlight. They said Jordan's long-term contracts, his appeal beyond hard-core sports fans, and his decision to leave at the peak of his career, make him a more durable pitchman. "For a very long time, there is not going to be any dent in this man's commercial and corporate appeal," said Marty Blackman, who heads a New York-based firm that matches advertisers and sports figures. One New York-based Jalent broker Folks still want to be like Mike, ad BY SKIP WOLLENBERG Associated Press Business Writer NEW YORK Michael Jordan's retirement from a high-flying pro basketball career isn't expected to ground his lucrative sideline as a commercial spokesman for products ranging from sneakers to fast food.

Jordan's surprise announcement Wednesday sent ad-makers scrambling for new ideas on how to depict the Chicago Bulls' star as a retired rather than active player. But experts in commercial use of athletes said Jordan differs from most.