Celebrate Michael Jordan all you want, I still can’t stand him

Joe Dumars and Michael Jordan (Sports Illustrated)

I hate Michael Jordan. Absolutely hate him.

Growing up, the Pistons were the good and he was the enemy.

He was brash. He played for Chicago. And worst of all, he was great.

There were moments, though.

I loved that Joe Dumars was the one player who could slow him a little bit (nice article on that from Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski). I loved that the Pistons beat the Bulls during Chicago’s 72-win campaign. And I loved that the Pistons were the only team to contain him before he became unstoppable.

But, obviously,the bad memories outnumber the good.

So, thanks to Patrick Hayes of Its Just Sports for ranking the top 23 Michael Jordan failures. Great feature that was desperately needed during the lovefest surrounding his hall of fame induction tonight.

I don’t think I could ever hate a player like that again. I understand that the guys everyone hates would be the most popular player if they played for your team. And I’ve learned to appreciate good basketball.

But old habits die hard.

I still hate Michael Jordan.