Mr. Jordan Goes to Washington

Is it just me, or did the Washington Wizards finally do something right? That's right, ladies and gentlemen, His Royal Airness himself has blown into the nation's capital, to try his hand at lifting its unfortunately-named team out of the doldrums--and the bottom of the Atlantic Division.

The team's new part-owner and president of basketball operations is putting his new squad through the paces. Taking his duties so far as to hack around with players, Jordan has taken a strong hand since his Jan. 19 arrival in the city.

Just a month or so ago, those of us from inside the Loop were getting misty-eyed, remembering the days when Chris Webber and other up-and-coming players came to Washington to play with Juwan Howard. We watched controversy swirl as despite the team's allegedly growing depth, they sank lower and lower in hoop respectability.

Now, a higher power is taking an interest. And Jordan's charisma, legend and sheer presence can do nothing but good for the Wizards.

Admittedly, his first moments have been rocky. Firing coach Gar Heard right off the bat certainly shook things up. Still, Heard's only head coaching experience before that was an interim position with Dallas' Mavericks, who performed a miserable 9-44 under his guidance.

The ramifications of Jordan's selection of former Bullet (it really was a better name!) Darrell Walker as head coach have yet to unfold. But Wednesday night proved promising, with the Wizards nabbing a win over the Timberwolves.

It was the first milestone for a struggling team. Thus far, sports pundits have watched Air Jordan learn that running an NBA team isn't the piece of cake some think it is.

But no matter what he does, whether sportsmedia dub him "His Err" or not, he's still Michael Jordan. And that means he's still a force to be reckoned with. Count on him to learn fast--to never make the same mistake twice--to eventually manage the same way he dunks: better than anyone.

Come on, folks, this isn't golf. This is his game. Sure, there's a learning curve, but it's only a matter of time before he figures it all out and has the Wizards on the road back to self-respect (and maybe, someday, even one of those cool rings).

Who better than the best basketball player ever to re-ignite the spark of what might be the worst basketball team ever? (Okay, maybe statistically that's an exaggeration, but when they're your home team and they're 15-31, you feel pretty

awful.)

So thank goodness for His Airness. I'm glad Mr. Jordan has come to Washington.

Vasugi V. Ganeshananthan '02, a Crimson editor, is an English concentrator in Lowell House. She has a wicked dunk.