Jim O'Donnell: Michael Jordan and Julius Erving would be steering Kyrie Irving far differently
IT'S TOO BAD THAT KYRIE IRVING couldn't have been privy to an off-court conversation that Michael Jordan and Julius Erving once had.
The topic was "image management."
Dr. J was coming to the end of his NBA night flights. Jordan's were just beginning.
His Airness privately told the tale a few times over the years. It's also popped up in a better book or two.
A crescendo moment came when Erving - the tutor - told his young Air Apparent: "If my base for making a living is the general public, I can ill afford to alienate half of them or one-third of them."
Jordan never forgot The Doctor's wisdom. He pushed the edges when he got stupid with gambling associations in the early 1990s. But he never lost his consuming global fanbase or a major endorsement deal because of personal missteps.
NOW COMES IRVING, who some might say is most guilty of independent thought.
That's not a trendy way to go in the America of 2022. Far too many people sit too close to TV sets so they can walk away with their herd-friendly minds basted in an even deeper shade of red or blue.
As he claimed, Irving's flat-earth conjecture may have been a joke. His anti-vaxx stance was a decision.
But his very public flirtation with the perception of anti-Semitism is image suicide.
AROUND THE NBA, Irving already has a reputation as "a coach killer."
He doesn't seem to understand that his sideshow of pop-a-shot intellectualism can be nothing but detrimental to a massive sports entertainment business. The NBA is totally dependent upon goodwill with the public and the revenues that result from hip, happy channeling.
He is a wealthy young man because the NBA has fought through imaging tsunamis since its inception. League historians can recall when an all-Black starting five was an impossible dream.
If only Irving had a Julius Erving or a Michael Jordan to tell him - private thinker way over there, dependable professional basketball performer over here.
NEXT SPRING, IRVING WILL BE a free agent, age 31, with 12 NBA seasons on his sneakers. That's high mileage. Plus, he's played more than 70 games in only three regular seasons.
He will officially be arced-out as soon as the lords of the NBA say he is. He now has less control over that than ever.
Why is he so determined to speed the process and be the new Lost King of Alienation in major American professional sports?
STREET-BEATIN':
In a prime-time battle of two cities, Astros-Phillies Game 5 walloped Amazon Prime Video's Eagles-Texans Thursday night by close to 5M viewers. With adults 54-and-under, it was a dead heat. An MLB win like that is rarer than a moment of between-pitches silence from John Smoltz. ...
The champagne corks over the wedding of the Bears and WMVP, 1000-AM may have to be replaced by Caffeine Free Mountain Dew. Ted Phillips and the Staleys essentially had to settle for a fourth check-down as their new flagship, although they got to dictate terms of the ad revenue split. ...
The Bears may also have to re-tailor a position for Jeff Joniak. He's currently the sports director at WBBM, 780-AM and that slot now likely becomes too costly for Audacy, the money-bleeding station parent. ...
First out the creaky post-Bears door at 780-AM is Ron Gleason, who has announced that he'll retire in January. Gleason goes into the books as a solid professional who was huge in the launch of "The Score" as a daytime-only sports yak pot- at 820-AM in 1992. ...
One regional columnist is lobbying so hard for a job at the retooling 1000-AM that he's making David "Chatty" Kaplan look restrained. His current employer may have to add a drool editor. ...
Informed indication that the late Ernie Johnson Sr. - a former MLB pitcher - will be announced as the newest Ford C. Frick Award winner next month. Johnson Sr. once replaced Milo Hamilton as lead voice of the Braves, leading to uncontrollable dancing in the streets of Atlanta. ...
And Jeff Vinion, on the flurry of NFL deadline trades and their impact on Sunday's Bears-Dolphins game: "Maybe Bradley Chubb can play linebacker for both teams."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.