Kobe vs. MJ - The Retirement of the Comparison

In his own air

Kobe Bryant has a stomach ailment that may cause him to miss the Lakers Game 6 versus the Nuggets. Naturally, this leads many people to pull out the MJ card.

What is the MJ card you may ask? It's the card used by media and fans alike to constantly and incessantly compare basketball players to Michael Jordan, the best player of our generation, and arguably, the best player to ever play the game.

As many people remember, Jordan battled the stomach flu in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Jazz, leading the Bulls to a 90-88 victory by pouring in 38 points despite the ailments. You won't hear many arguments from me if you want to call that Jordan's best game given the circumstances.

I don't know the degree of stomach ailment that Bryant has, but it's bad enough where his status is in doubt for the game. I do know that while Kobe Bryant does have the same drive to win as MJ does, he is not Jordan.

Kobe (and his game) may be sick, but he is no MJ

Nobody is, so please, everyone - stop comparing people to Jordan. Something about sports (or perhaps just human nature) lends itself to the "need to compare". I don't mind comparisons, but the ones to MJ are over-done.

Anyone remember the name Harold Miner from the Miami Heat? He was dubbed "Baby Jordan" in the early '90s.

Over the years, the names of people dubbed "The Next Jordan" would turn onto the basketball highway only to veer off the road before the first exit. And it's not that these players (another one that comes to mind is Vince Carter) actually sucked. It's just that these players had no chance at all of ever living up to that title.

(And please, please, please don't compare Lebron to MJ. It's not even the lack of rings argument that bothers me with that, although keep in mind that MJ didn't win his first title until he was 28 and Lebron is only 27 at the moment. Lebron is more like Magic Johnson in his game play than he is to Michael Jordan)

The closest anyone in this generation has come to His Airness is Kobe Bryant. There's plenty to compare between the two:

- Championship rings: MJ 6; Kobe 5
- Finals MVPs: MJ 6; Kobe 2
- Scoring List rank: MJ 3rd; Kobe 5th (just over three thousand behind - about 1.5 seasons away from passing him).
- Common Coach in their primes: Phil Jackson
- # of HOF teammates that each won 2+ championship with: MJ - 2 (Pippen & Rodman); Kobe - 2 (Shaq & Gasol)

While there may be many things to compare between the two, the comparisons of who is a better player should just be left on the shelf. I know we want to do it with players all the time, but let's retire the Jordan comparisons, please?

And let's not Favre this retirement by contemplating it and then eventually coming back to it. And no, I don't mean a Michael Jordan retirement either. To make it official, let's throw this comparison a retirement party and buy it some retirement gifts.

Ok, you get the point. Let's never compare anyone to Jordan ever again. There will never be another one. In about 10-15 years, people will still be doing it, so then maybe my 40-year-old self will have to re-post this to remind people to stop it.