dice wrote:it could easily be argued that 10 mil a year for 10 years is a worthwhile investment in brand image. corporations do this kind of thing all the time...and their overriding priority is to make money for shareholders
MJ is a guy that has been criticized for staying mum on issues affecting the black community for over 30 years. he couldn't continue to do it given what was happening nationwide last year. the last thing he wants is a boycott of the seemingly impenetrable jordan brand
I think he could have solved that problem without spending $100M.
I also think that while he's been criticized for not being vocal enough on civil rights this criticism has always been unfair. I think MJ being a superhero idol that was accessible to all people actually helped do more to bring people of different races together than if MJ were vigilantly striving for black rights. He helped in an entirely different way that he was uniquely capable of helping in. That's not to say he couldn't have done more or that he behaved this way because he thought it helped the most, I'm assuming his behavior was financially motivated, but I don't think it was nearly so detrimental as others seem to describe it as.
If I were going to go down the MJ was a jerk trail, that path would largely be with how he treated teammates and Jerry Krause. He was a bully and mean when it served even no purpose to people that were in the fox hole with him even if they weren't necessary people but the replaceable parts. Kindness is free, and Jordan seems to have been purposefully jerkish. This goes beyond motivating people but just the insults he'd throw at guys on the team bus for no reason.
At the same time, while I won't say Jordan is incredibly complex, the life and measurement of someone in Jordan's position of fame, wealth, and power, is simply not something easily assessed. The demands people make of him are also totally unreasonable frequently too.
Much like everyone is railing on Pippen for burning bridges with everyone he should be close to, Jordan isn't far behind there. He literally has no relationship with the Bulls, and that was true prior becoming owner of the Hornets. He doesn't seem close to any of his ex teammates, even guys like Barkley whom he was close to now seem to be on the outs. He's probably an a couple orders of magnitude brighter than Scottie when it comes to managing his image, but the outcome of his life hasn't really been all that different except that he's massively wealthier and so isn't resorting to wild cash grabs, however he seems equally insecure down to showing up players in practice in Charlotte in his 50s just to prove himself.
