Chapter 001
6/16/96, evening, Union Center Arena.
Game 6 of the Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics Finals.
This night, all eyes were on.
In the previous year, whether it was a fan appeal, even if Magic John Xun knelt down in front of the camera and pleaded, Jordan played baseball for nearly two years, and finally issued ‘I’mback’ in anticipation! ‘Declaration.
The league shook up, and President Stern, who was already struggling because ratings had hit rock bottom, and a group of executives, all team owners, were excited and cheered.
The NBA is saved!
With Jordan’s comeback, the shares of the three companies that have partnered with Jordan rose wildly, and the market price soared by $2.3 billion.
Jordan switched to the number 45 jersey after his comeback, and Chicago fans began to rush for new jerseys, and in the United States, all number 45 jerseys sold more in two weeks than the previous month’s combined monthly sales of Shaq O’Neal, Anfini Hardaway and Grant Hill memorabilia.
The manufacturer had to use all the branches to work overtime, day and night, and devoted all manpower and material resources to produce the No. 45 jersey, but the supply still exceeded the demand.
There are too many fans who want to watch Jordan live, and since Jordan’s comeback, Bulls home tickets have been sold out early, and even tickets for rival Hawks home games against the Bulls have been sold out in one day.
The comeback opening game against the Pacers, wearing the No. 45 jersey, Jordan faced Reggie Miller, which also became the most watched game in the NBA since 1975.
Miller was even a little upset: “I’m a grass mud horse, why did you choose us!?”
After Jordan’s return, the national television broadcaster immediately changed its subsequent broadcast plan.
Chicago’s chief shi-san immediately announced, “Chicago has become the most attractive tourist city in the world again.” ”
Then-President Clinton was excited to hear the news of Jordan’s comeback, because the United States was experiencing a serious unemployment crisis at that time, and he was struggling with how to solve this problem, and immediately told the media, “Jordan’s return will add 10 million jobs to the United States!” ”
In that sense, Jordan did Clinton a big favor.
You must know that when Jordan announced his retirement before, the Dow Jones Composite Index plummeted 125 points, the stock price of Nike plummeted 4%, and there was even news on Wall Street that someone jumped off the building;
It also directly caused the city of Chicago to lose $1 billion, and indirect losses as high as 10 billion.
The Bulls’ ball market fell by more than half, home attendance fell to less than half a percent, and ratings plummeted 4 percentage points; As a result, Nike’s global sneaker sales fell by 30%, annual sales revenue fell by $250 million, and stock prices plummeted 4%. That’s the impact Jordan’s retirement has on the main sponsor Nike, not including nine other advertisers who pay him millions of dollars a year in endorsement fees.
Jordan himself lived up to expectations after his comeback, leading the Bulls to the league this season, posting a league-best record of 72-10 and making the playoffs.
In the playoffs, they eliminated Pat Riley’s Miami Heat 3:0, swept the New York Knicks 4:1, swept the Shark O’Neal and Pence Hardaway’s Orlando Magic 4:0, and avenged last season’s elimination from the Eastern Conference finals, all the way to meet the Seattle SuperSonics in the Finals.
In the first five games, the Bulls led the SuperSonics 3-2 to take the first game point, and if they go to the next city tonight, they can win the championship.
Tonight, whether it is the audience in front of the TV or the nearly 20,000 fans at the scene, countless people’s eyes are focused on here, nervously and expectantly watching this game, these two teams, this tough bull, and Jordan.
In terms of support rating, naturally the Bulls and Jordan occupy the majority, and there are very few fans who support the SuperSonics.
And the Bulls are also in the game, all the time pressing the supersonics, leading the game.
In the final four minutes, they even led by 16 points at one point.
The Supersonics wanted to recover the score and turn the game in four minutes, and it was difficult to reach the top in this bayonet, hand-to-hand finals, especially under the defense of the Iron-Blooded Bulls.
Seeing that the team is about to win its fourth championship in history, in the following time, every point and every shot the Bulls defend, the scene will be deafening and deafening.
Even most of the audience stood on their own and were unwilling to sit down again.
The SuperSonics failed to turn the tables over, and the Bulls held on to the lead until the final seconds of the game.
The whistle sounded, the game was over, and the atmosphere at home was so explosive that it almost tore the roof of the United Centre arena.
At this moment, countless fans all jumped up excitedly, cheered wantonly, and celebrated loudly.
After two years, the Bulls won the championship again after Jordan’s comeback, winning the fourth championship in history and Jordan’s fourth title.
As soon as the game ended, Jordan snatched the game ball, threw himself on the floor, and buried his face deep in the basketball.
Tonight he was average, even a little poor, shooting only 5 of 19 from the field, but with strong offensive containment, he scored 10 free throws, scored 22 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 strong.
Even so, after three consecutive championships, he retired at the peak, came back and won the championship again, such a legendary career color, such a legendary inspirational experience, and the psychological process in the process, even he himself was so excited that he couldn’t control himself.
He seemed to be comforting his father’s spirit in heaven, and he also seemed to be immersed in the excitement of winning the championship.
In short, in front of the jubilant eyes of countless fans, he was put on the championship hat, hugged his teammates and left the scene and entered the player tunnel.
As he passed the entrance and exit, a group of long-awaited fans took out their belongings and reached out to him to ask for autographs.
“Michael, Michael, here, here…”
As soon as Jordan looked up, a basketball appeared in front of him.
Leading the team to win the championship, he is in a good mood tonight, and no matter who the owner of this basketball is, he took the colored pen in the opponent’s hand, signed his name, and then held his game ball and entered the player tunnel.
“OK, signature in hand!”
A young fan with black hair and yellow skin looked at his back as he left, excited.
Then, while the surrounding audience was still immersed in the atmosphere of the team’s victory, he quickly left the audience, entered the court, rushed to the basket, came to a three-step layup, and picked the basketball that had just been signed into the basket.
“Ugh!”
At the same time as he landed, a series of ‘ding-dong’ sounds sounded in his mind.
“Ding-dong! Congratulations to the host, complete option one: watch Jordan’s ten games live and reward Jordan’s talent panel; ”
“Ding-dong! Congratulations to the host, complete option two: get Jordan’s autograph, randomly reward any number of talent points; ”
“In the talent point extraction, congratulations to the host for obtaining 40 talent points.”
“Since the talent value exceeds the required number of points, the overflow is converted into a random reward… Ding dong! The draw is complete, congratulations to the host, get the ball control training card! ”
“Ding-dong! Congratulations to the host for completing option three: Shoot a goal at any game site and reward Curry with a shooting training card; ”
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