No. 23

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4650907&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Everyone and their dog knows who Michael Jordan is. We all know how amazing of a player he was and what he was capable of doing anytime he touched a basketball. I still believe even in his mid 40's he can still play in the NBA. The idea of retiring his number league-wide just doesn't make sense to me. Of all the major pro sports in America (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) there is only one number that is retired league-wide, and that is number 42 in Major League Baseball for Jackie Robinson. His number was retired because he single handedly changed the game of baseball. He was a black man coming into an all white sport. Not only was he the first black player in the league but he was a very good player as well. As much as Michael Jordan has done for the NBA, he has not done for it what Jackie Robinson did for baseball. On another note, LeBron saying he is going to switch to number 6 kind of annoys me. Number 6 was Bill Russell's number. Russell won 11 championships in 13 years and was the first black head coach in the NBA. He has done more for the game than Jordan has. Jordan was a great player but he was a major marketing tool very much like LeBron is. Nike is the main reason why those two players have been so high profiled their entire careers. LeBron had a 90 million dollar endorsement signed before he even stepped foot on an NBA court. The point is if he is going to try to petition to get Jordan's number retired then why not petition to get Russell's number retired who clearly did more for the game he just did it in a time when marketing wasn't as big as it is in this time.