He seemed too powerful, too young, and death was more likely than a slow decline. His mother would get angry with him when he'd talk to her about it. A fatalist obsession didn't go with his public image and, well, it's sort of strange. He has kept this fact a secret from most people. "I I always thought I would die young," he says, leaning up to rap his knuckles on the rich, dark wood of his desk. But he's in the mood for admissions today, and there's a look on his face, a half-smile, as he considers how far to go. Where did the years go? Jordan has trouble believing it, difficulty admitting it to himself. There's a shudder in every child of the '80s and '90s who does the math and realizes that Michael Jordan is turning 50. On his belt, with his name on the bottom: Michael Jordan, just in case anyone didn't recognize the owner of a struggling franchise who in another life was the touchstone for a generation. An ID badge hangs from one of those zip line cords He wears slacks and a plain white dress shirt, monogrammed on the sleeve in white, understated. It must be strange to be locked in combat with the ghost of your former self. There's a palpable simmering whenever you're around Jordan, as if Air Jordan is still in there, churning, trying to escape. He needs to know, a needle for a hungry vein.
Jordan reads the things written about him, the fuel arriving in a packet of clips his staff prepares. Slights roll through his mind, eating at him: worst record ever, can't build a team, absentee landlord. He feels pulled inward, toward his own most valuable and destructive traits. STORIESīack in the office after his vacation on a 154-foot rented yacht named Mister Terrible, he feels that relaxation slipping away. For more on Wright Thompson's story, listen to "The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap," which airs throughout the weekend on ESPN Radio and ESPN beginning Friday at 10 p.m. 17, ESPN recognizes the legacy of the Hall of Fame basketball player. As Michael Jordan turns 50 on Sunday, Feb.
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