this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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Did regular Basketball fans liked/loved Michael Jordan back in the day when he was active? (alien.top)
submitted 2 years ago by Beautiful_Ad55@alien.top to c/nba@nba.space
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I know that he was extremely popular/famous and there was a lot of interest in him, but being a famous player doesn’t have to be the same as being a loved player.

For example, in todays game, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are both very famous players in the league who get a lot of attention from media and from Basketball fans, but Curry is a player who seems to be almost universally liked, not many fans have negative feelings about him. Durant on the other hand is as media famous as Curry, but he is less loved, a lot of regular fans have negative feelings about him.

So how was it with Jordan? Yes he was extremely famous. But was he liked/loved by many Basketball fans (apart from Bulls Fans of course)? Or was he just respected? Did many even have negative feelings about him?

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[–] star_nerdy@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Think of it this way, Jordan was so popular he retired and got to play in the minor leagues of another professional sport based purely on the fact that he was so beloved.

The moment he showed up in the minor leagues, he was popular with everyone else including the other teams because now their games would have more attendance.

There was some resentment by hardcore baseball fans because he “took a spot” from someone, but he did more for attendance and interest in a minor league team than probably any other minor leaguer ever.

Also, ESPN was hitting its stride in the 80s, we got to see highlights for basically his whole career, which can’t be said for a lot of earlier stars. He became a star at the right moment and had all the talent to back it up.