Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials, MJ, is an American former professional basketball player. He is also a businessman, and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets. Jordan played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. His biography on the NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a three-season stint playing for coach Dean Smith at the University of North Carolina, where he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line in slam dunk contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball before the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he returned to the Bulls in March 1995 and led them to three additional championships in 1996, 1997, and 1998, as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 NBA season. Jordan retired for a second time in January 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons from 2001 to 2003 as a member of the Wizards.

Jordan

Jordan (/ˈdʒɔːrdən/; Arabic: الأردن‎ Al-Urdun), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية‎ Al-Mamlakah Al-Urduniyah Al-Hashimiyah), is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, and Israel and Palestine to the west. Since the dawn of civilization, the country's location at the crossroads of the Middle East has served as a strategic nexus connecting Asia, Africa and Europe.

Archaeologists found evidence on inhabitance dating as far back as the Paleolithic period. Three kingdoms emerged on the territory of modern Jordan at the very end of the Bronze Age: Ammon, Moab and Edom. The lands were later part of several kingdoms and empires, most notably the Nabatean Kingdom, the Roman Empire and finally the Ottoman Empire from the 16th until the early 20th century. After the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire after World war I by Britain and France, the Emirate of Transjordan was officially recognized by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The capture of the West Bank by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War has showed that the Arab Legion forces known today as the Jordanian Armed Forces were the most effective among the Arab troops involved in the war. The same year, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan. The name of the state was changed to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on 1 December 1948.

Slam dunk

A slam dunk, also dunk or dunk shot, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball(s) above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by putting the ball directly through the basket with one or both hands. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. Such a shot was known as a "dunk shot" until the term "slam dunk" was coined by former Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn.

The slam dunk is the most efficient basketball shot. Moreover, it is a crowd-pleaser. Thus, the maneuver is often extracted from the basketball game and showcased in slam dunk contests. Perhaps the most popular is the NBA Slam Dunk Contest held during the annual NBA All-Star Weekend. The seminal incarnation of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest was held during the half-time of the 1976 American Basketball Association All-Star Game.

Dunking was banned in the NCAA from 1967 to 1976. Many people have attributed this to the dominance of the then-college phenomenon Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar); the no-dunking rule is sometimes referred to as the "Lew Alcindor rule."

Slam Dunk Contest

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the Verizon Slam Dunk for sponsorship reasons) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The contest was inaugurated by the American Basketball Association (ABA) at its All-Star Game in 1976 in Denver, the same year the slam dunk was legalized in the NCAA. As a result of the ABA-NBA merger later that year there would not be another slam dunk contest at the professional level until 1984. The contest has adopted several formats over the years, including, until 2014, the use of fan voting, via text-messaging, to determine the winner of the final round.

The very first slam dunk contest was won by Julius Erving of the Nets at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. The current champion of the NBA Dunk Contest is Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

History

1976 ABA Slam Dunk Contest

On January 27, 1976 at McNichols Sports Arena during halftime of the 1976 ABA All Star Game the first-ever Slam Dunk Contest was held, which was won by Julius Erving of the New York Nets over David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets, Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels, and George Gervin and Larry Kenon of the San Antonio Spurs. There was a format each competitor had to follow in which they must attempt 5 dunks in a row under two minutes. One from a standing position, one from a distance of ten feet away from the basket (which is basically the bottom of the semi circle that surrounds the free throw line in the Key. The next 3 were freelance positions, one coming in from the left side of the basket, one coming in from the right side of the basket and finally from either corner down the baseline to the basket. They were judged on artistic ability, imagination, body flow as well as fan response.

Michael

Michael /ˈmaɪkəl/ is a male given name that comes from the Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל‎ (Mīkhāʼēl, pronounced [miχaˈʔel]), derived from the question מי כאל mī kāʼēl, meaning "Who is like God?" (literally, "Who is like El?). In English, it is sometimes shortened to Mike, Mikey, Mickey, or Mick.

Female forms of Michael include Michelle, Michele, Michaela, Mechelle, Micheline, and Michaelle, although Michael is occasionally seen as a female name; women named Michael include actresses Michael Learned and Michael Michele. Another form is Mychal, which can either be a male or female name.

Patronymic surnames that come from Michael include Michaels, Carmichael, MacMichael, McMichael, Micallef, Michaelson, Mikkelsen, DiMichele, Mikhaylov, Mykhaylenko, Mikeladze, Michels, and Mitchell.

Religion

The name first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Numbers, 13:13 where Sethur the son of Michael is one of 12 spies sent into the Land of Canaan. The archangel Michael features in the Book of Daniel 12:1, and in the Qur'an as Mikhail.