Should Jordan gets his own day?

Yes, I used the picture of MJ from Space Jam. Wanna fight about it?

[LINK] http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/090403

ESPN columnist Scoop Jackson raises an interesting question in his latest column: when Michael Jordan is inducted into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in September (after what will surely be a unanimous vote come Monday) should he really be inducted with other people on the same day? It's unprecedented for an athlete to ever get his own separate day for enshrinement, but Michael Jordan was also an unprecedented athlete, and arguably the greatest athlete of all time. Jackson argues that if the Hall Of Fame really cares about players and being true to transcendence of the game, it should induct Jordan alone. He writes:

That would be the fairest thing to do, for all involved. The distraction of MJ and the overall pageantry surrounding Jordan will be too great for any of the other inductees to enjoy themselves. For the others to get the attention and respect they deserve, Jordan must not be around on their day. Not in the crowd, not in the state, not even passing through. If he is (and he will be), for the others, it'll be like a bride getting upstaged on her wedding day … by her own mother. I'm not saying that Jordan is greater than the game of basketball. I'm just being honest about everything he did and how he changed, elevated, sustained, supported and practically financed an entire league. Nothing would be more appropriate. After playing most of his career in a league that paid him way less than market value (Jordan's salary, for all but two seasons of his career, was $4 million or less), it seems like the least that could be done to single him out.

It's a really interesting question that probably won't be subject for much debate, because of its low likelihood of actually happening, but I'm more inclined than not to agree with Jackson. MJ did so much for the game of basketball and sports in general that his impact is immeasurable; this would be the least that the NBA could do for him in return. And plus, it's gonna straight up suck for the rest of the inductees to share their day with Jordan. They'd receive little-to-no attention, undeservedly so, simply because of the behemoth sitting beside them in Springfield on that day in September.

Anyway, what does everyone think? Would this be fair? Is there anyone else in other sport who would deserve this honor more than Jordan?

Let The Man Tweet, Coach!

Charlie V loves Twitter, hates eyebrows

So in keeping theme with our recent discussions about social networking and its place in the sports world, I thought I'd post about an article from ESPN about Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva's recent Twitter mishap:

Villanueva got a talking-to from his coach Scott Skiles after the coach learned Villanueva posted a message to his Twitter feed -- a "tweet" -- from his mobile phone during halftime of Sunday's home victory over the Boston Celtics.

"We made a point to Charlie and the team that it's nothing we ever want to happen again," Skiles said after practice Tuesday. "You know, [we] don't want to blow it out of proportion. But anything that gives the impression that we're not serious and focused at all times is not the correct way we want to go about our business."

Using the screen name "CV31" -- Villanueva's initials and jersey number -- Villanueva posted the following message during halftime Sunday:

"In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

Read the rest of the article HERE.

Personally, I don't really see anything wrong with Villanueva's actions -- besides him NOT HAVING ANY EYEBROWS, WHICH CREEPS ME THE HELL OUT -- because he wasn't doing anything harmful against his team. In fact, I love to see athletes embracing Twitter, and social networking devices in general. I've been having a blast following Shaq on Twitter (THE_REAL_SHAQ), who recognizes the Web site as a great way to communicate with his fans. While coaches from the old guard might not see a place for Twitter in the locker room, I think that if it isn't distracting to players competitively, why not tweet? This can only be a good thing for sports. It of course brings more attention to the athletes, shows fans another side of them, and probably would only increase revenues. Plus, Villanueva said the tweet motivated him, and the forward turned in a pretty decent game in the second half. Coach Skiles... you have a really mediocre team on the verge of missing the playoffs. You see what happens when one of your players tries something new. Why not let all your players tweet from now on?