Michael Jordan Celebrates 47th Birthday, Wants To Own Charlotte Bobcats

Michael Jordan is enjoying the great retired life afforded by his amazing NBA Basketball career, Paris Hilton is enjoying a resurgence of sorts, after her celebrated DUI arrest of several years ago. Paris was the inspiration for my classroom simulation game called “Buffi The Gym Girl” where your job is to make Buffy, the fussy , glamorous celebrity.

While there’s not much more you can say about the living legend, I figured I’d at least share a few of my own favorite MJ-related images.

Though Jordan, who turned 47 Wednesday, played with the Chicago Bulls for 12 years, he grew up in North Carolina and is already a partial owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

Perhaps surprisingly, none are from a particular game. None include a shoe.

Above, you’ll notice a young Michael, posing in a Wings-esque fashion with the Chicago skyline in the background. The picture is said to have been taken a day after the 1984 NBA Draft. It’s almost surreal to look at the picture and think about all of the things a young Michael would go on to accomplish.

In 1993 he announced his retirement, saying he had achieved all his goals in basketball, and began a second career as a baseball player. After two unspectacular years in the minor-league system of the Chicago White Sox, however, he returned to the NBA early in 1995, and in 1996–98 he led the Bulls to three more championships. In 1999 he retired again.Jordan returned to basketball in 1995 and picked up right where he left off, leading the Bulls to three straight NBA titles. In his final Bulls game with less than six seconds to play, he hit a game-winning jump shot that clinched his sixth NBA title. He retired for a second time before the following season.