Favorite Athlete

In my life, I’ve been able to witness many great athletes from many different sports. The big question that comes to my mind however is which one’s my favorite? I’ve been lucky enough to watch possibly the two greatest quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. I’ve also seen great baseball players such as Miguel Cabrera, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw. I watched swimmer Michael Phelps win a record eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympics. The game of soccer is being dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who both could go down as the greatest soccer players in history. With the amount of historic talent that I’ve been grateful to see in my life, I must tell you that my favorite athlete isn’t mentioned above. This may come as a surprise at first, but I promise you that once you find out who it is, you won’t question it. My favorite athlete of all time is Michael Jordan, and there are many reasons why.

The first reason why Michael Jordan is my favorite athlete is because he’s the best basketball player of all time. I know it’s cliché to say that, but I can’t find another way to describe him. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good players today like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and others. However, none of them are better than Jordan was. To make this easier to understand, I’ll start by saying that Jordan made an impact on not only basketball, but pop culture as well. When someone thinks about basketball, even if they don’t know anything about the game, chances are they’ve at least heard of Michael Jordan. If you acknowledge the fact that millions of people today say that he’s the best, then he must’ve been pretty good.

Another reason why Michael Jordan is my favorite athlete is because transcended the game of basketball during the 90’s like no other athlete did before or after his tenure. Michael Jordan made everyone want to play basketball in the 90’s because he grabbed everyone’s attention. He usually did this by making shoots that seem impossible to make. An example of this is when he was surrounded by three defenders and in mid-air, weaved through them and made the shoot. Michael Jordan made the impossible a piece of cake, and left fans around the world shaking their heads in disbelief.

Finally, the main reason why MJ is my favorite athlete is because he did the most important thing, which is winning. I believe that in order to be considered great, you must have victories to prove it. Michael Jordan fits perfectly with this description, as he won six NBA Titles, six Finals MVP awards, and five regular season MVP awards included. Not only did Michael Jordan affect pop culture and wowed audiences, but he proved himself as a champion as well. These are the reasons why Michael Jordan is my favorite athlete of all time.