Jordan's reign atop NBA throne lacks legitimacy

He was introduced to the crowd surrounding the 18th green at The Club at Nevillewood on Saturday as "the greatest player of all time," a designation that has long been bestowed upon Michael Jordan even though anointing anyone as such is subjective at best and insulting at worst.

Probably, Jordan has a clause in the agreement that brings him to events such as the 2002 Mellon Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational demanding he be so identified. Legend has it Joe DiMaggio always insisted he be introduced at appearances as "the greatest living hitter of all time," otherwise he wouldn't appear. If it was good enough for Joe D., it's probably good enough for MJ.

The greatest player of all time?

How can such a distinction be made with any degree of certainty?

Was Jordan really better than Magic Johnson or Larry Bird• How about Bill Russell or Wilt Chamberlain• Is Shaquille O'Neal in the process of forging a legacy that will shadow even Jordan's• Would Pete Maravich have made Jordan's scoring resume seem mundane had he played behind a 3-point arc• Can a Jerry West or an Oscar Robertson make an argument to be so revered?

And who is it exactly that makes such a call?

In Jordan's case, it's Nike.

And Sports Illustrated.

And ESPN.

They're in the business of selling products, and they long ago began to lean on Jordan to do the heavy lifting.

They started saying he was the greatest ever because it was in their best interest to do so. And they said it loud enough and often enough that a gullible public began to accept such an outlandish claim as fact. Nike, Sports Illustrated and ESPN needed an icon, a figure that was larger than life, and Jordan fit the profile. And so it came to pass that the public couldn't read enough about Jordan, couldn't collect enough of his cover shots, see enough of his highlights, hear enough of his sound bites and buy enough of his shoes, underwear and cologne.

Eventually, everyone seemingly wanted to be like Mike.

Which is why no one even questions this emperor of the court, even though, relatively speaking, he has no clothes, endorsements and all.

When Jordan sliced his drive on the ninth hole onto a hill on the wrong side of the gallery ropes, a crowd of sheep quickly gathered around his ball in open-mouthed amazement. When Jordan hacked his next shot into the pond guarding the ninth green, the crowd let out a solemn, collective groan, as if genuinely crestfallen that "the greatest player of all time" had unintentionally dunked one.

As Jordan made his way to the drop area, the crowd dispersed.

"Dad, I was standing right there," a girl that appeared to be somewhere around 12 or 13 years of age reported with such glee you'd have sworn Chris Kirkpatrick of 'N Sync was back on the course shooting another 147, as he had on Friday. Another fan lucky enough to have come within a few feet of MJ relayed to his buddies the brand of golf ball Jordan uses. All around them, "Jordan 23" North Carolina jerseys, "Jordan 23" Bulls jerseys, "Jordan 23" Wizards jerseys and "Jordan 45" White Sox jerseys were in abundance.

"Jordan 45" White Sox jerseys?

Don't they know "the greatest player of all time" couldn't hit a curve ball?

They're also apparently unaware that "the greatest player of all time" is vastly overrated, relatively speaking.

"I don't know what I could base that on," Truck Robinson, a two-time NBA all-star, said when asked if Jordan was the best ever. "It's hard to be better than Wilt Chamberlain was. The guy averaged 50 points per game and 24.7 rebounds per game … the whole season. That's pretty good.

"Until guys start doing that, you can't say these guys were better than them."

No matter how often Nike, Sports Illustrated and ESPN insist otherwise.

Jordan is a draw, to be sure.

And the Lemieux event is lucky to have him.

But simply calling him the greatest doesn't make it so.

And the adulation that myth has generated became nauseating a long time ago.

Mike Prisuta is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.