When Michael Jordan had a message to deliver to the world, he used what was, at the time, the best and fastest medium at his disposal: a fax machine.
Twenty-five years ago, Jordan sent out, perhaps, the most famous fax of all-time, a two-word statement that would become iconic for its simplicity. All at once, the message served as a declaration to the basketball world and helped lift Jordan's career into further legendary status, forever changing the Bulls and NBA.
This Sunday's episodes of ESPN's 10-part documentary "The Last Dance", which cover Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season, will dive into Jordan's first retirement from pro-basketball, his nearly 18-month sabbatical to pursue a career in baseball and a dramatic comeback _ kicked off with Jordan's appropriate flair for dramatic _ a two word fax to announce his comeback that read simply, "I'm back."
As Melissa Isaacson wrote at the time for the Tribune, "The words did not have to be eloquent or poetic. They did not even have to be spoken, and weren't."
Rumors had been swirling for weeks back in March 1995 that Jordan was going to make a comeback to basketball, a process that started when he practiced with the Bulls earlier that month. Yes, Jordan had covered his bases during his retirement ceremony a year and a half earlier _ "never say never" he said when asked if he would ever play basketball again _ but the idea of him coming back was far from a certainty. Here are a few things to know about Jordan's famous fax and the events leading up to his return:
