| | Options are a good thing. Unlimited options are a great thing.
Having Michael Jordan's options, on the other hand, are a happy Fizzies
party that never ends.
|  | | Michael Jordan chats it up with Caps owner Ted Leonsis and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. |
We knew that already, of course. Jordan is still the highest-valued face
card in the whole deck, and as such gets to do and be things and people we
don't get to.
So, only months after having been awarded a place of prominence with the
Washington Wizards by new owner Ted Leonsis, he has now been gifted a 12
percent stake in the Washington Capitals.
The Wizards are a basketball team, which is what made so much sense for
Jordan. The Capitals are not the Wizards, which is what makes so much sense
for Jordan.
Indeed, Jordan's involvement with the Wizards seems to have been limited
to one practice early in the year, and sticking his index finger down his
throat about a week ago. He came as close to being a silent partner as
anyone not named Marcel Marceau could be. He came, he saw, and suddenly
became a hockey fan.
Jordan said his interest was sparked by his kids playing hockey,
although it's possible that 12 percent of the Caps is worth some money as
well.
We suspect, however, that Jordan finally realized just what being the
president of basketball operations for the Wizards actually entails. It is to
be saddled with an old, expensive grab-bag of semi-listless players whose
principal purpose seems to be to remind us that someone has to be almost as
bad as the Bulls.
But Jordan's decision to get involved with the Caps changes all that.
True, the Caps currently are struggling to stay even with the Atlanta
Thrashers and Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL's Unregenerate Confederate
Division, which is to say they're not very good, either, but that hasn't
stopped Michael.
Now we are sure there's a financial benefit for him here. He is, after
all, the CEO of Michael Jordan, one of the most successful companies of the
day. Jordan has always been able to hear a dollar bit hit the slush, and
until his retirement from the NBA's championship rings division could catch
it on the fly.
But now that he has time on his hands, he has discovered that he also
has the Wizards on them, and those don't come off with mere soap, water,
disinfectant and a skin peel.
So he's going to give the Caps a whirl, and good luck to him there. He
won't be the head of player personnel (George McPhee draws the short straw
there), but he'll have a one-eighth interest in a team that is going to have
to rally to, well, rally.
But we're missing the point here. You think Billy Bidwill wouldn't like
to trade in the Arizona Cardinals for, say, the St. Louis Cardinals? You
think the Maloof brothers don't fantasize about adding the L.A. Kings every
time their Sacramento Kings cough one up to Denver? Have the Gunds ever
thought about dumping the Cavs for the Mavs?
Maybe, but instead they're stuck with what they bought, and occasionally
have to appear to watch. They can't just toss aside their teams because they're
bored, offended, or didn't get permission to move from Buffalo to St.
Barts.
Michael, though, moves from team to team as easily as Mike Morgan. If
the Wiz loses at home to Charlotte on Friday, he can just wait for the Caps and
Edmonton on Saturday and pretend like nothing happened . . . because in all
likelihood, nothing did.
And if this doesn't work, he could still cozy up to Dan Snyder and wait
for a piece of the Redskins to land in his lap. The Redskins are in some
disarray, as we know, and since Snyder is being flayed in the public prints
these days for being, well, Dan Snyder, he may look for a little cover by
hiring the one man whose name emanates immunity. He may be in the mood to give
Michael interest in another team he might not have much interest in.
And best of all, he doesn't have to buy season tickets. Imagine if he
had to explain paying to see Wizards-Hawks or Caps-Sens to the wife. He'd never be able to get away with that.
Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. | |
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