What If Michael Jordan Made His Return Today, In The Social Media Age?

What if Michael Jordan had returned in the social media age?

Today is the 20th anniversary of Michael Jordan’s epic return to basketball, where he issued one simple statement: “I’m Back.”

Statements like that, where it was faxed from team to team, to press outlet is so 90’s, however, what if it happened today?

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Now before we dive too far into it, I want to give credit to CBS Sports for birthing this idea, including an epic photoshop of Michael Jordan’s would-be twitter page where he possibly could have announced it, I recommend you check it out.

So let’s set the scene:

Michael Jordan in 2014 retired from Basketball due to lack of motivation and the passing of his father. He then goes over to the Chicago White Sox double A minor league team, the Barons, to play some baseball, a sport his late father always envisioned his son playing.

Instead of the limited media attention it got 20 years ago, today it would have been littered with Vines and Instagram videos, and hot takes from everyone with access to the internet (Probably from me too).

Baseball Tonight on ESPN would spend a half hour breaking down MJ’s swing, or his throwing motion, or the way he chews sunflower seeds. It would have actually made the minor leagues bigger than the MLB.

So, then the MLB goes on strike, there is no baseball.

From then, Chris Broussard and his sources immediately would have went wild with this. MJ’s return to the game of basketball would have been the focal point of sport.

Weeks later, Jordan is actually practicing with the Bulls. In the 90s this was a big deal, if today, the internet would have broken. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people would be camping out with their brand new iPhones hoping, praying, for a glimpse at God himself. Good luck finding coverage on a sport that isn’t basketball because everyone would have been focused on what Jordan was doing.

So now every hoops twitter guy is getting an opinion on it. Then, there’s always that one guy who believes that advanced stats is the end-all-be-all in basketball, so he produces a hot take on why Jordan’s return is a bad idea. But that guy doesn’t matter. You can’t make a stat that accurately portrays Michael Jordan.

So, now here we are, March 18th, 2015.

A calm sports day with Champions League soccer and basketball later tonight when all of a sudden Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski gets a scoop.

He’s back.

His tweet blows the internet up. That funny cat video you saw? Doesn’t matter. The color of the dress? Who cares.

MJ is back.

The Chicago Bulls’ twitter account then puts the internet even further ablaze with two words: He’s back.

Personally I don’t think MJ would have a twitter in today’s age either, but he does write an article for Sports Illustrated with two words: “I’m back.”

Long time Chicago Bulls beat writer Sam Smith said on Michael Jordan’s return that it was “The sporting version of the Resurrection of Christ” and there are no words that could be more true. It was God coming back to his kingdom. Players around twitter congratulate MJ on his return on twitter at this time but deep down they all know that it’s time to kiss any chance at a championship goodbye.

The man is back.

If MJ had return today, that game against the Pacers would have been moved to ABC and the ratings would be Super Bowl-esque. Everyone would be live-tweeting it. Watch parties at bars. NBA Reddit losing its mind.

Today’s internet age would have not been able to contain the hype train that was, and is, Michael Jordan.

Yeah, Lebron James did a fine job of breaking the internet with both his decision in 2010 and his return last summer, but what happened with him pales in comparison to what Michael Jordan’s return would be like.

So on this day as we look back on the G.O.A.T.’s return to basketball, I urge you to go on YouTube and look at all the old 240p highlights of Michael and appreciate the greatness, the Godlike play, of Michael Jordan.

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