30 years later: How I fell in love with Michael Jordan

The transition from elementary school to middle school can sometimes be like jumping from Punta Cana in July to a Cleveland Browns football game in January.

About halfway through seventh grade in March 1990, I experienced a different type of transition that still exists in me right now.

Related to that is an event that took place 30 years ago today: the great Michael Jordan blitzed the Cleveland Cavaliers with a seminal masterpiece performance, tallying career highs of 69 points and 18 rebounds!

Add to that 23 made baskets, 21 made free throws plus 6 assists and 4 steals in a highly competitive 50 minutes of court time.

Bulls won, 117-113 in overtime at the Richfield Coliseum, which had become MJ’s favorite “scene of the crime” to kill the Cavs with brilliant performances.

Rewind about a week prior.

Part of being in “junior high school” (which is what middle school was commonly referred to back then in the hood) is keeping up with trends and fashion. This is super true now, and it was true then in 1990.

Most 12 and 13 year old seventh graders were obsessed with their image. I personally never gave a phuck about name brand anything except candy bars and potato chips....

Snickers, Twix, Reese’s, Doritos, Ruffles was my shiznit, check out my girlish figure!

When it came to “tenny shoes” though, the majority of my peers were ALL ABOUT rocking Nike more than anything but I was a micki ficki that wore penny loafers (because of Michael Jackson) and Fila. In junior high, I also sported Jordache bowling shoes because like I said:

I DID NOT CARE ABOUT NAME BRAND!

In mid March, I became very curious about a line of “tenny shoes” that seemingly everyone were talking about:

Jordan’s.

I had been noticing that many hallway conversations at school were based on this question, “aye man, did you see the new Jordan’s???” Or a slight variation...”Nigga, did you see the new J’s???”

I had heard this chatter often enough to where I started paying attention to everyone’s footwear. I soon realized that “Jordan’s” were a brand of tenny shoes that were absolutely amazing to look at.

I cannot state this enough: Brand names I cared nothing about.

Fitting in and following fashion fads and trends mattered NONE to me.

But looking at these so called Jordan’s suddenly hit differently in my mind during these pivotal moments in March ‘90.

Since I was like 5 years old, I had been drawn to creativity and uniqueness, which is how I fell in love with Michael Jackson.

The Jordan’s struck me as something very different and highly creative. I would stop other students in the hallways who wore these highly coveted shoes and asked if they would show me the bottom, tongue and any other part of them as I meticulously studied all detail and soon begin sketching on paper what I was seeing.

Long story shorter, I eventually figured out a way to MAKE a replica of these expensive shoes out of paper and cardboard.

The 5th edition of the real Air Jordan shoes had just been released at this time and went for $125. That was seen as an unreasonable and astronomical price by practically everyone in my family. This is why I sought an alternate to buying them.

The 7th grade drug dealers ALWAYS had these shoes, which was spectacular to me, but never tempted me to wanna sell drugs (thank God)!

I continually got better at making the shoes out of paper and I soon became well known around school for wearing the “paper Jordan’s,” which I was making the size of baby shoes with adult sized detail and wearing one shoe around my neck on yarn like a necklace.

Because I was smitten with the uniqueness of the shoes, I soon developed a curiosity for Jordan himself.

I did not know the first thing about sports, so I had a lot to learn. MJ was 27 years old at the time and had been a rapidly rising superstar for years.

He was in the middle of his 6th NBA season and would soon win the 4th of an eventful record setting 10 scoring titles.

I knew none of this at the time but my fellow male classmates filled me in on his gigantic cultural significance.

I was told that he played for the Chicago Bulls and I soon found out he was going to be playing on television in a couple days in a Bulls/Cavs matchup.

At this time, I knew nothing of the two teams’ history with each other, and how Jordan’s iconic buzzer beater the previous spring fired up the rivalry between Chicago and Cleveland.

I was told to watch the upcoming game: Bulls playing on their home court vs the Cavs. A bit of recent research reveals that the game took place March 23, 1990.

I watched that game, my first ever NBA game, eager to see what this Jordan guy was all about. The guys at school talked about him almost like he was some mythical figure.

Knowing nothing about basketball, I quickly noticed that this Jordan guy seemed flashier and cooler than everyone else on the court. Many people made shots occasionally, but he was making shots CONSTANTLY.

I noticed how he chewed his gum, how he ran up and down the court and how graceful he was whenever he approached the basket with the ball to score on layups or crowd pleasing dunks.

It was all so different from the other players.

And those shoes! The latest Air Jordan’s adorned his feet and it was really exciting to me whenever he fell to the floor and the bottom soles of the J’s were exposed. There was his signature jumpman logo encased in what looked to me like translucent glass (it was actually rubber).

Jordan finished that game with 41 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals and the Bulls beat the Cavs, 102-95. What an exciting introduction to MJ that was for me!!

My enthusiasm for him and his shoes continued to skyrocket, especially after the aforementioned career high game just 5 days later on March 28, 1990 in that famous matchup with the Cavs in Ohio.

In the 30 years since I initially fell in love with Michael Jordan, I have continued to be mesmerized by the man. I saw him play in person just once and that was November 11, 1997 in the Cavs then-new building in downtown Cleveland, Gund arena.

Over the remainder of his career from 1990 all the way through 6 NBA championships, 3 retirements and one amazing yet controversial Hall of Fame induction speech, I cried when his team lost games...I celebrated when they won games and titles and I ran to the television whenever one of his commercials were on or when he was on a talk show.

It has been 17 years since MJ last played an NBA game but my affinity for him has stayed rock solid. His status as a globally recognized sports icon and billionaire businessman is etched in stone.

My forever love for him is as well. ????

- D.Y.