What's the Sound of One Hand Dunking?

I never heard Bird say it, but apparently he thought his Airness was actually a manifestation of the divine, “God disguised as Michael Jordan.” It reminds me of Amiri Baraka, who eulogized James Baldwin as “God’s black revolutionary mouth.” Bird and Baraka—I agree with both of them.

True Hoop pointed me to this 1986 interview of MJ on 60 Minutes. The line from Bird is quoted by Diane Sawyer in the clip. I watched it twice. You should too.

There’s something about the graininess of this video, I think, that seems to infuse it with spirit—as though it weren’t made to be watched but followed or observed. Jordan and Sawyer have an odd, portentous air here, almost auguring the significance of 23’s career, his image, and meaning.

At one point, Sawyer asks, “Are you thinking when you’re up there?” The question chills with its spare note of grace and religion. She’s not interviewing a Bull anymore but an avatar.

The young Jordan answers, “I don’t think; I just act. When I’m up there, I’m up there just to score points.”

Is there any truer expression of will than this? Of enlightenment or clarity? He’s giving us a sutra or a koan, not an answer. He’s offering a way of life and an ethic. I don’t believe he’s not thinking on the court; but rather, his body has become an expression of thought purified. Thinking doesn’t precipitate action, for Jordan, but action becomes a way to enact thought. They happen simultaneously and in union.

Isn’t that one of the distinctions between the greatest players and the mortal mediocre? They become sublime in action. Or, in other words, their actions always transcend the language used to describe them. It's why we resort to the threadbare vocabulary of heart, attitude, and desire. There was no better way to describe Jordan's game than by witnessing it.