Chapter 3: Bittersweet Championships

In 1989, Time Magazine called Jordan the "hottest player in America's hottest sport". Besides Nike, Jordan was endorsing huge companies such as Gatorade, McDonald's, Chevrolet, and Coca-Cola. He was earning $25 million a year, but only $4 million of them came from his NBA salary. Everyone wanted to be like him, but there was still one glaring thing missing from his resume: an NBA championship. Jordan finally got the supporting cast he needed to get him through to the finals, and in 1991, he finally got his ring when he beat Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers to win the title.

At this time, Jordan and Nike were also expanding across the world, reaching levels of fame and popularity that had never been come close to before. From Europe to Asia to Africa, everyone wanted a piece of Michael Jordan, whether it was by watching him on television or buying his shoes. At this point, however, there were some negative happenings that came up due to the overwhelming fame of Jordan. It got to the point where he viewed basketball as an escape from all the craziness, and he took every opportunity he got to get away from people - he even skipped out on a team visit to the White House. As a result of this, the media began to be more skeptical of Jordan, which did not make him any happier, needless to say. Although his successes on the court continued, things would only get worse off it...