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Michael Jordan #23
Erika Kachama-Nkoy
Chicago, Illinois
Thirteen years ago, I left my home in Bangor, Maine to attend college in Chicago. Learning of my plans, my elders nodded sagely, "Ayuh, it's cold out there. They call it the Windy City, you know."* As if Maine winters were a picnic.
In the late 80's, Al Capone dominated the popular image of Chicago. Geraldo Rivera had recently made a fool of himself opening Capone's empty vaults on live TV. The 1987 movie The Untouchables renewed the gangster's mystique.
Chicagoans traveling abroad had to brace themselves for the inevitable reference to Al Capone. "You're from Chicago? Ah! Chicago, bang! bang!"
Everything changed when Michael Jordan ascended to the throne of Sports Hero. During basketball season, the media went into a paroxysm over Michael. I figured most Americans knew of Michael Jordan but I was stunned to learn of his huge international appeal!
I was in Lomé, Togo only 2 days before I saw a young man wearing a Chicago Bulls jersey — Michael's jersey, #23. He was the first of several I saw wearing Michael's number. One day at the market, I was talking in French with a young man who told me that his brother was attending school in California.
"Where in California?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," he shrugged. Then he asked me where I was from. I told him.
His face beamed. In English he said, "Sheecagoh? Ah, Michael Jordan! Numbah twenty-three!"
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Chicagoans traveling abroad had to brace themselves for the inevitable reference to Al Capone. |
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