Pay for Play: Jordan vs.

Old-Timers
By ROBERT LIPSYTE, JULY 21, 1996

In a way, Michael Jordan is cheap at the price.

It was reported last weekend that for a mere $25 million, the Chicago Bulls, and the world,
will get another year of what you can bet will be inspired performance from Mr. Jordan,
whose day job is being the world's most expensive pitchman.

The largest one-year contract in the history of team sports may seem excessive, but not since
Babe Ruth sold baseball and the joys of consumer appetite as a globe-traveling ambassador
of Yankee power (true, the chant soon became "Yankee, go home!") has a single athlete so
dominated his sport and embodied his time. And Jordan can command more from a sports
economy now vastly inflated by television money, a global audience, athletes rights' to
control their contracts and 50 years of middle-class leisure. (So can Shaquille O'Neal, who
last week jumped to the Los Angeles Lakers for more than $17 million a year.)

The Babe was beloved in the transitional '20's for simplifying life, evoking the myth of our
arcadian past and providing a role model for immigrant and other throwaway children.
Jordan, similarly, is used as a role model, though often at a disservice to minority youth. To
many, he also represents cultural imperialism and avarice (the $25 million will probably
represent less than half of his total annual income). Still, his intense dedication to perfection
and his brand of romanticism (remember his minor league field of dreams?) make it hard to
begrudge him anything.

Well, almost. There is a nagging thought: Does being Mike entail any responsibilities
beyond doing your best on court?

Let's ask Inge Hanson, who runs Harlem RBI, a youth baseball and mentoring program. She
was mugged earlier this year by a 14-year-old and his 10-year-old henchboys. After they
knocked her down and took about $60, a mugger kicked her in the face. The next day, the
bruise that had welled up on her left cheek bore the imprint of a Nike swoosh. It lasted for
three weeks and she felt sad thinking she was probably robbed to finance a fancier pair of
Nikes.

"But I can't honestly answer your question," she said. "How could Michael Jordan possibly
know that by endorsing sneakers -- sneakers! -- he was involved in a crime? And yet, one
does wonder if he has any responsibility to his audience beyond just saying, 'Just Do It!' "

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/21/weekinreview/pay-for-play-jordan-vs-old-
timers.html