Sport Heros

Everybody knows how Michael Jordan won six NBA Titles in the 90's. Everybody knows how Mike made the Bulls the best team of the 90's with his amazing techniques and abilities. But, he had to start somewhere. In 1984, Michael Jeffries Jordan entered the NBA. He came out of one of the best colleges in the nation, The University of North Carolina (UNC). But, he wasn't always famous. Jordan was one of the best basketball players at UNC, but nobody noticed. One the reasons why he went unoticed was because he was surrounded by older great players, such as James Worthy and Sam Perkins. Another reason why MJ was hardly noticed was because everybody had heard that he hadn't made the team his freshman year. So, most people assumed that he wasn't that good and paid no attention to him. But they were wrong. Michael eventually became one of the best known college players and a sure early pick in the NBA Draft. But here's a question for you. What would convince an NBA team to pick a player other than him being strong, quick, and athletic? Being able to come through in the clutch. MJ proved that he was capable of that in the what would be the last game of his college career. North Carolina was playing Georgetown in the NCAA Championship. Everybody knew that it would be a close game, but most people picked Georgetown to win because of their star center, Patrick Ewing. All year, people had been trying to decide who was better, Pat or MJ. Whoever won this battle word surely come out on top.
As everybody had predicted, the game went down to the wire. There were about ten seconds to go and UNC was down one. Coach Dean Smith called a time-out to talk the last play over with his team. Everybody thought North Carolina was going to get the ball. So, all Coach Smith said was "Look inside, and if you got nothin', give the ball to Michael". Well when UNC came down the floor they had nothing inside. James Worthy and Sam Perkins were being Heavily guarded as everyone had suspected. So, after a couple of fakes, they finally got the ball to Michael. He then took the 20 foot jumper from the corner that would forever more be known as "The Shot". As you probably guessed, it went in. Every UNC fan in the world was crying for joy after Jordan got nothing but net on the smooth jump shot. Plus, everyone was convinced that Michael Jordan was now the greatest college basketball player. Later that year, Jordan was selected to a struggling, young Chicago Bulls team. But they weren't struggling for much longer. Even though the bulls never won a championship in the 1980's, Jordan brought a new spark, a new passion to the team, that would eventually make him and the Bulls the greatest of all time.

Another amazing sports hero of the 80's was Jerry Rice. He was an awesome, record breaking and setting football player! Most people think he was just a great receiver. Jerry did get a lot of help from his all-star quarterback, Joe Montana. But, he also had great success with other 49ers (Rice's team) quarterbacks, such as Steve Young. That just proves how great Jerry is, not that you should need any convincing. Rice has the most career catches in NFL history and counting. That's right, Rice is still a current player on the 49ers roster. He's most definitely an 80's sport hero. Jerry Rice, was one of football's greatest.