IOC Responds Negatively to Michael Jordan's Hall Of Fame Speech; Chicago Denied Olympic Bid; Rio Takes It

While many reasons have been debated as to why Chicago was the first city eliminted earlier today in the bid for the 2016 Olympics, there is one theory that is gaining steam, Michael Jordan's recent Hall of Fame speech. While some will point to perhaps a general dislike for America or the recently announced and then de-announced USA Olympic Sports Network, some feel the final straw for IOC voters was the speech from his airness given on September 11, 2009 in Springfield, Mass. Jordan worked his way through a speech where he made sure to list by name every single detractor he may or may not have had on his way to becoming the world's greatest basketball player. This led to a chorus of negative press from sports columnists who had figured Jordan would be humble and more greatful than anything else. What initially seemed to be an isolated incident for basketball was quickly linked to Chicago, home of the Bulls, and thus the Olympic bid.

Since the voting is kept top secret and is done by super secret ballot nobody will ever know who did or didn't vote for Chicago or if anyone added a little note to their vote saying it was Jordan that pushed them over the edge. With that in mind the world will never know how on earth Rio de Janeiro was selected. Behind strong logic of "we have never had an Olympics there before, so we should go there" Rio trumped three other perhaps better prepared cities in Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. Olympic fans can look forward to the next Winter Olympics vote to end up in Antartica, because the Olympics have never been there before either.

As for Chicago, despite the presence of Chicago legend Oprah Winfrey and President of the United States Barack Obama, it was not nearly enough to get the Windy City selected for the Olympics.

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MLive: The top 23 Michael Jordan fails

His Airness Engages in Another Ownership Venture Destined to Fail

Because being the greatest basketball player ever means you know a thing or two about owning an American Motorcycle Association team.

From the Star Ledger:

Former pro basketball legend Michael Jordan is expected here this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park as owner of Jordan Suzuki, a team entered in an American Motorcycle Association race, according to a report in the Daily Journal.

The report said Jordan is actively involved in managing his two-rider team, but does not plan to hold autograph sessions. Geoff May, one of his riders, told the newspaper "He looks at it the same way he did basketball. He wants to win."

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Commercial CRitic: Hanes Are on Who?

Maybe I have been watching too much Jon & Kate Plus 8 or maybe the Commercial CRitic is getting to the adverting industry, but it seems there has been a serious drop off of athletes in commercials. However, since the guys who write the nonexistent checks will soon show up at my door with socks filled with lemons, I better write about something.

The Hanes commercials with Michael Jordan have irked me for some time now. The latest one features Hollywood banter between His Airness and Charlie Sheen. This is quite the marketing ploy by the Hanes Corporation. It seems Hanes is seeking the 40-50 year old male cheating divorcee demographic.

The commercial is obviously geared toward showing the casual male or family side of the actors. For instance, the commercial begins with MJ on the phone asking if his mother received the flowers. Why mom?

Enter Charlie Sheen who is now more famous for his bitter divorce to wild thing Denise Richards than his brilliant acting in Hot Shot Part Deux. Teamed up with R. Kelly inspiring Jordan who Forbes recently ranked as having the most costly celebrity divorce, you have the Ace & Gary Dynamic Duo of family life.

The lifestyles of these two may be inspiration to some (prolific gambler, prostitute connoisseur), but I would guess that many of us would prefer to play basketball or have the work ethic of Michael Jordan rather than his family life. (I am still trying to think of a reason to be like Charlie Sheen). Hanes may want to rethink its use of MJ, although 7.6 percent of the population is a male 40 -50 years old, approximately 15.3 percent are divorced, 80 percent wear undershirts and .8 percent of males have a favorable opinion of Charlie Sheen, that could total up to a lot of t-shirts.

Personally, having apple children like the Fruit of Loom guys seems like a better future to me than being in the tabloids for harassing my ex-wife.

Great Web Find: MJ Circa '86

Ethan from NESW Sports & SEC Football Blogger
passed this along. The amazing part is not just that he shattered the board, but he did so after taking off from about a foot within the charity stripe with a defender (who looks like an emaciated Johnny Damon) in his face. Bonus points for the 80's buddy-cop comedy soundtrack.

Time to Deflate Air Jordans

AP: Nike kicks off Air Jordan 23, the last?

HHR: One can only hope.

If you are sucker enough to shell out $230 for an ugly pair of athletic footwear, you're a far richer and far stupider person than I.

Michael Jordan's role and his relationship with Nike was revolutionary and nothing short of historic - both for the sneaker industry and for African-American athletes as pitchmen.

But in terms of the shoe line itself, it's continued popularity simply proves that people will sacrifice common sense and good taste for what they deem as "cool," even as the star endorser himself fades from everyday relevancy. This wouldn't be such an issue had it not been for two main factors:

1. They are high-top basketball shoes.

2. The price.

I'm not an old fuddy duddy bitching about the price of shoes. I'd spend a few hundred bones on a pair I liked. But they wouldn't be a pair I'd wear with sweat socks that would be out of date in a year.

Acknowledging that the 80's through mid-90's will unlikely be heralded as a high point in fashion, I can almost forgive the Air Jordan designers exploiting the public's warped sense of style. Some of the early ones were cool in the day, even if (in retrospect) they are laughable.

As the line continued, so did its audacious designs and colors.

It was a good run. You fooled a lot of people a lot of the time and made a lot of money in the process. Can't say I fault anyone for that.

Now it's time to hang them up.

NiceKicks.com has a nice little site. Go take one last trip down memory lane and pay your respects.

Take us out, Mars.