By JENNIFER HUBBELL
Rip staff writer
The crowd was roaring in the MCI Center as Michael Jordan departed from the rest of the Washington Wizards and made his way to the center of the court to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the national anthem was to be played.
Rumsfeld presented Jordan with an American flag that was flown over the Pentagon on the one-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
While Jordan has been an excellent athlete and a role model for many Americans, he didn’t deserve to be honored like a military hero.
Jordan was awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1985 at the beginning of his professional basketball career. In the 18 years following that first prestigious award, Jordan was named MVP five times, won six NBA championships and was a participant in 13 All-Star games. He also has been a significant contributor to many organzations, such as the Boys & Girls Club of America and the Special Olympics.
But somewhere along the line of American history, we became a society that recognizes celebrities to be heroes.
Many families lost their loved ones in the 9/11 attacks and many more have lost their loved ones in the Iraqi war.
Those families are the ones that deserve the recognition and they would have been able to appreciate such an honor much more than a basketball superstar.
Jordan has accomplished many things in his career, but he had nothing to do with the atrocities of 9/11.
It would be more fitting for someone who was directly affected by the recent events of our country to receive this flag and the gesture of remembrance that goes along with its stars and stripes.
It would be even more fitting for such a flag to be presented to a real hero in our war against terrorism, such as Jessica Lynch, the 19-year-old POW who recently was rescued from an Iraqi hospital. She is the first American prisoner to be rescued from behind enemy lines since World War II, according to Newsweek.
This country was built on freedom, honor and glory, not fame and popularity.
A retiring athlete should not receive such a token of history. When he does, it appears that America honors athletes more than victims of terrorism.