The Greatest Ever
Link–>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTMZAT92ev0
As Michael Jordan dribbled down the court, you could see the ferocity in his eyes; the type of ferocity a lion has when it locates its prey. The Utah Jazz fans held their breath. For many years the Jazz had been a great team, but they had aged, and this was perhaps their last chance to win it all. However, Michael Jordan had his own goodbye to make, as he was considering retirement. After letting a few seconds go off the clock, Jordan dribbled to the top of the circle, crossed over to the left, giving Bryon Russell a slight nudge, ridding himself of the pesky defender. He rose above the defense and let the ball go. When he came back down to the hardwood, he kept his extended hand in the air, like a dagger in the hopes and dreams of the Jazz and their faithful. “SWISH.” It was moments like these that made Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time.
Growing up as the son of a huge Knicks fanatic, whenever the Knicks played the Bulls, I would often hear my dad yelling at the television screen in anguish, as Michael Jordan crushed the Knicks hopes time after time. However, the Knicks weren’t his only victims. In his reign in the NBA, he took down major powerhouses such as the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons, and created his own dynasty. He went on to win six championships, five MVP trophies, and set many records. Over the past three decades, Jordan has become a superlative for greatness. Even today if I do something well, I will say, “ I’m the Jordan of … (whatever I have done well)”. Never has there been an athlete as popular or as dominant in his sport than Jordan.
The reason why I chose to do my collage project on Michael Jordan, was because of the masterpieces he created on the court. When I look at old videos and photographs of Michael Jordan playing basketball, I am always amazed by the countless number of stunning images that capture some of his most magical moments. Although Jordan probably has been commemorated hundreds of times before, I thought that I should do it with my personal touch. For my music I used three tracks. One was the recognizable theme song of the Chicago Bulls. The second was the instrumental portion of Eminem’s Lose Yourself. I used this song, because in this song Eminem tells listeners to make the most out of the moments they are in, which Jordan has done consistently over the course of his career. I end the video with a portion of Drake’s song “Forever”, where he says his name is Greatest Ever, but I use it for Jordan, who, when it comes to basketball, truly is the Greatest Ever. For the photos and video clips of my collage, I picked my six favorite Michael Jordan moments, one representing each Larry O’Brien Trophy he has hoisted in his career. My favorite moment is the one I wrote about above, where Michael Jordan ended his legendary career as a Bull with an unforgettable shot; this moment has a very artistic feeling to it. Another moment I included is what some consider as the leaning dunk, and others as the Superman dunk. This dunk/photo gives me chills every time I see it, because his body is at an angle where it almost seems as if he is flying. I also included his free throw line dunk, which is well known as the logo for the Jordan brand. As much as it hurt me to do so, I even included a photo of Michael Jordan throwing down a vicious dunk on Knicks star Patrick Ewing, just because of the aesthetic beauty of the dunk itself. I added a dream like effect to all of these photos and videos, because some of these things that Michael Jordan did on the basketball court could only be conceived in a dream.
If ever there was a basketball god, Michael Jordan would be it. The combination of poise and skill that thrived within him, truly allowed him to make the game of basketball look like it was easy. It was this sense of easiness that he brought to the game, which allowed for these photographic masterpieces to be produced.
