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Tag: Michael Jordan

  • DTC Brands Doing Incredible Numbers on Shopify, Says COO

    DTC Brands Doing Incredible Numbers on Shopify, Says COO

    Direct to consumer brands are doing incredible numbers on Shopify, says Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein. He says that Kylie Jenner has generated almost a billion dollars in sales on the platform and many other influencers such as Kanye West, Drake, and most recently Tom Brady are also doing very well.

    “Even if you go beyond just Kylie, you look at companies like Bombas and Allbirds and Tommy John and Fashion Nova, these are brands that didn’t exist five or ten years ago and they’re absolutely doing incredible numbers on Shopify with no slowing down in mind,” says Finklestein. “Shopify was built to help anyone that has an idea start a great business and sell to a global audience.”

    Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify, talks about the incredible numbers DTC brands are doing on Shopify, the huge success of Shopify Capital, and their quick acceptance of cannabis stores in Canada and potentially the rest of the world, in an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC:

    DTC Brands Doing Incredible Numbers on Shopify

    We’re really happy with how we ended the year and certainly, the quarter was great and we’re really excited about our future. We’ve been at this now for almost 14 years. We’ve grown to 820,000 merchants up from 600,000 merchants a year ago. We have a big top of funnel with brand new entrepreneurs getting started on Shopify for the very first time. We also have some very large brands like the big CPGs and some big direct to consumer (DTC) companies all using Shopify to scale their businesses. We’ve got a really great business model and we’re having a lot of fun.

    It’s amazing. I think the Kylie story ($1 billion in sales) was surprising to a lot of people, not for us because we see so many stories like that all the time. Whether it’s Kanye West launching his Yeezy store on Shopify or Drake’s store or Tom Brady’s new store, we see all of these major brands and huge influencers using Shopify to create authentic products and sell it to the audience. I always sort of think back to if DTC and direct-to-consumer were around when Michael Jordan was creating the Jordan brand with Nike I think Nike would be a supplier and Michael Jordan would be the brand. He would own the entirety of his business as opposed to getting a licensing fee.

    We’re really excited about this. But even if you go beyond just Kylie, you look at companies like Bombas and Allbirds and Tommy John and Fashion Nova, these are brands that didn’t exist five or ten years ago and they’re absolutely doing incredible numbers on Shopify with no slowing down in mind. Shopify was built to help anyone that has an idea start a great business and sell to a global audience. We really do bend the learning curve to make it really easy to get started.

    Shopify Helping Democratize the Entire Business Process

    The ones that succeed, not all of them do, but the ones that do succeed they grow really large with us and over time we want to provide them with more services and more solutions. For example, we launched Shopify Payments a couple of years ago. We went to the payments companies and negotiated rates on their behalf. We launched Shopify Shipping and went to the shipping company and negotiated shipping costs on their behalf. We always are trying to find economies of scale to help democratize the entire business process for these small businesses.

    More recently we realized that a lot of these small businesses also need capital. Because we have so much information on them we’re able to make really quick and very effective underwriting decisions so we were able to go and offer them capital cash advances. We’ve given out hundreds of millions of dollars of cash advances to a lot of these small businesses who if it wasn’t for Shopify would not be able to get this money on their own.

    Entrepreneurs Want to Own Their Audience

    Etsy fundamentally is a marketplace. Etsy is a place where someone who makes a product can go to find an audience. But our feeling is that you know for an entrepreneur they don’t always want to rent the audience. They want to own the audience. They want to have a direct relationship with their customers. They want to own the entire to profit margin. They want to be able to sell and have long-term relations with the people that are buying their products.

    So companies like Etsy do a really good job of curating a bunch of products and renting those customers to those makers. We think the marketplaces are really great but we think ultimately makers and entrepreneurs and merchants want to have a direct relationship with the people buying their products. One of the things that is not well known about Shopify but one way to think about what we do is really this retail operating system. Merchants can start a store with us very easily and they can build a beautiful online store but they can also cross-sell to different marketplaces like eBay or Amazon.

    The idea is that it feeds all feeds back in one centralized back office which is Shopify. That’s where they can run the entirety of their business. Really the idea is let’s become the most important piece of software they use on a daily basis. The first thing they open every morning, the last thing they close every night. So obviously marketplace will play a role there but ultimately merchants want to find customers wherever those customers exist and more and more they want to sell direct to those customers.

    Shopify Facilitating Cannabis Sales in Canada

    The reason we started with Canada was there was clarity in Canada. The Canadian government, the legislature, they were very clear with how they were going to roll out the commercialization and the legalization of cannabis sales on the consumer side. We felt it was really important for us to act quickly and effectively to not only win as much of the Canadian market as we possibly could but also to show the rest of the world as they begin to think about cannabis sales that we are the first phone call that they should be making.

    Whether it’s the province of Ontario or British Columbia or most of the largest licensed producers like Canopy in Canada, Shopify is what’s powering those retail sales. We think that we can do a great job helping other countries and other regions do the same thing.

  • Michael Jordan And Steph Curry Get Mentioned By Kanye West In Controversial Tweet

    Rapper Kanye West has made another controversial Twitter post this Sunday in which he compared himself to two NBA stars: Michael Jordan and Steph Curry.

    Kanye West is known for his crazy Twitter rants especially when his latest album The Life of Pablo came out. Just earlier this week, he tweeted to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, asking the social media exec to invest $1 billion into his music because he is the “greatest living artist.” This time around, he mentioned legendary Bulls star Michael Jordan and Golden State phenom Steph Curry in his latest post.

    He called himself the “Michael Jordan and Steph Curry of music” before adding that he is “the best of two generations.”

    Jordan has yet to comment on the said tweet but Curry had mixed feelings about it. He found it amusing that West would consider him “best” in his field and at the same time weird to be mentioned with Jordan.

    “I’ve seen a lot of his crazy kind of outlandish tweets in the past, especially in the past month, and then when I saw my name cross through his fingertips that was pretty funny and ‘honoring’ at the same time and also very weird, putting me in the same conversation as Michael … and Kanye,” the Golden State Warriors player told the reporters.

    He went on to say that he found one interesting meme of him and Jordan in their jersey with West’s face on both players and said it was his favorite meme to date.

    “Someone did a graphic of me in my jersey and Jordan, they dubbed him guarding me, and Kanye’s face was on both of us. That’s my favorite meme of all time — or so far to-date. I’m gonna have to get that blown up on my wall or something,” Curry said laughing.

  • Michael Jordan Gives Kobe Bryant 30 Pairs of Air Jordans as Retirement Gift

    Michael Jordan gave Kobe Bryant a very impressive retirement gift on Saturday. He gifted him a full set of all sneakers released thus far in the Air Jordan line. That’s 30 pairs of sneakers.

    Jordan Brand President Larry Miller says the gift was presented “to honor one of the game’s great players and the legacy that he created.”

    Michael Jordan presented the gift at the Jordan Brand All-Star party.

    In addition to the lavish set of Air Jordans Michael Jordan gave Kobe Bryant, he donated another set to be auctioned off on eBay, with the proceeds benefitting a charity.

    The first bid on the donated set was $100,000. The proceeds will go to the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation. Its aim is to benefit children and their families in a variety of ways.

    Do you remember when Michael Jordan first introduced Air Jordans back in 1984? That was the year Nike signed Michael Jordan to a five-year endorsement contract, after he was chosen in the draft to play for the Chicago Bulls.

    What do you suppose Kobe Bryant thinks of his gift from Michael Jordan? He was called the “Michael Jordan of our era” in a recent sports report.

  • Michael Jordan’s Daughter Finds Her Lost Dog

    Mila, who just so happens to be the dog of Michael Jordan’s daughter Jasmine, has found her way back home.

    Jasmine posted this adorable photo on Instagram of the reunion. Apparently, Mila was all the way in another city!

    “MILA’S HOME!!!!!! I knew it was her as soon as I saw her and broke down crying. I’m so grateful and thankful to the anonymous caller who led me to her. A family had her in another city and simply thought she was lost dog. They took her in and took care of her. I’m grateful to that family for taking her in and taking care of her until I found her!! Thank you everyone for praying, tweeting, retweeting, posting, reposting, calling, texting, commenting, everything!!! THANK YOU! Yalls positive energy and outlook kept me motivated to find my baby. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God! My baby’s home,” wrote Jasmine on Instagram.

    Mila is the love of her life, according to this post:

    The love of my l❣fe.

    A photo posted by Jasmine M. Jordan (@mickijae) on

    Anyone who’s ever lost a pet knows the pain is causes. We can all be happy that Jasmine Jordan has been reunited with her lost pup.

  • Melanie Griffith Selling Aspen Home, Stars in Own Ad Campaign

    Melanie Griffith is using a most unusual method for selling her multi-million dollar Aspen home. She is starring in the ad campaign to sell the property.

    Yes, that’s right. Melanie Griffith stars in the video that touts the merits of this pristine property.

    The ad features Griffith strolling the 12-acre woodland property that features seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, alongside her agent.

    This form of real estate sales goes against the cardinal rule of selling a home–to depersonalize it. Yet history shows celebrities have done this before, and it has worked. Michael Jordan actually produced a series of six videos to sell his Illinois home–and while he didn’t actually appear in the videos, it was quite obvious who owned the home. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics did something similar, too.

    Cara Ameer is a Realtor in Florida. She thinks this creativity has its merits.

    “I think with high-profile properties in high-profile markets such as Aspen, this is a creative approach,” she says. “As long as it is done in a lower-key, interview-style approach vs. ‘I’m such and such and welcome to my home,’ it can help to convey features, benefits, and lifestyle in a way that someone may not get from just looking at photos and descriptions.”

    Texas Realtor Wendy Flynn agrees.

    “Melanie Griffith’s presence in the video works because it’s subtle and subdued,” she says. “The image of Melanie walking with her Realtor gives you the sense of a relaxing day entertaining guests at the retreat.”

    What’s your take on this new mode of celebrity real estate sales? Do you think Melanie Griffith is helping or hurting the chances of selling her home?

  • Michael Jordan’s Mind-Blowing Immersive Simulator Allows You To Relive His Greatest NBA Moments

    Ever wanted to be in the shoes of NBA Superstar Michael Jordan? Well now, you can. To celebrate the 30th year of the Air Jordan and this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend, a pop-up museum was showcased at the All-Star Headquarters right across from Madison Square Garden.

    The highlight of the pop-up experience was “The Last Shot,” an All-Star game exclusive that takes fans and museum visitors through a one-of-kind experience that allows them to relive the glory during two of Michael Jordan’s most memorable games.

    While fans waited in line, they were given a chance to choose between two scenarios to experience. These storybook moments from Jordan’s career include his winning shot during the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown and the moment he scored the last shot during the 1998 Chicago Bulls game against the Utah Jazz.

    At first, the room might seem like an ordinary studio, but once the game loads, fans are treated with a visual spectacle that makes the room look like a basketball half-court. The walls come to life thanks to massive LED display and the viewers are given a 360-degree look at the scenes that were recreated for the installation.

    The experience also includes real players who give fans a challenging time on the court. A play-by-play announcer calls out every move that you make, making the experience more life-like. The All-Star Weekend is an important moment for brands which is why the people from Jordan’s team thought of creating an innovative and unique experience for those who want to know more about the NBA Legend.

    The pop-up museum also includes a full tour that will guide visitors throughout the decade-spanning career of Jordan. Jordan memorabilia, like one-of-a-kind photos and autographed shoes are on display, giving visitors an exciting peek into the life of Michael Jordan. They can even take a selfie with the legendary player right at the end of the tour, giving them something to share on their social media accounts.

  • Kobe Bryant Surpasses Michael Jordan; Jordan Issues Statement

    Kobe Bryant is in his 19th season of basketball, and while he’s earned his own accolades over the years, he’s been compared to a particular veteran player several times during his career: Michael Jordan. Now, he’s surpassed the legendary athlete in points, and Jordan himself has issued a statement regarding the milestone.

    “I congratulate Kobe on reaching this milestone. He’s obviously a great player, with a strong work ethic and has an equally strong passion for the game of basketball. I’ve enjoyed watching his game evolve over the years, and I look forward to seeing what he accomplishes next,” Jordan said.

    As for Bryant, he says he’s just happy to still be going in the world of basketball after all these years and admits he’s learned a lot from the talented men he’s played with, not the least of which is Jordan.

    “He knows how much I’ve learned from him. From the other legends, but him in particular,” Bryant said.

    Bryant led the Lakers to victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night after entering the game just nine points shy of Jordan’s record. After scoring 26 points on his own, he surpassed the legend and earned himself a party and a cake on the team plane.

    “I’m just honored to be here, man, to still be playing. I appreciate being able to play this long. Careers normally don’t last this long. I really appreciate the opportunity to still be out there playing and performing and doing what I do,” Bryant said.

  • Michael Jordan’s ‘Aggression’ Was the Key to His Success, Says Kobe Bryant

    Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant have been compared to each other for a very long time. After holding the third all-time scoring record for many years, Jordan’s incredible accomplishment will likely be surpassed by Bryant sometime in the next few weeks.

    In a recent interview with The Bleacher Report, Bryant was asked to define Jordan’s key attribute.

    “Aggression. It’s not one game or one play, in particular; it’s just his aggressiveness. It takes a lot of work, a lot of conditioning, skill and thought to be that aggressive and that assertive. He was relentless, man. He just kept coming after you.

    “He just kept attacking, attacking, attacking—and attacking in different ways, from different spots on the floor, with different forms of footwork. Posting, perimeter, versatility…”

    It’s no secret that Bryant did take some of his moves from Jordan. In fact, there’s a YouTube compilation of Kobe mimicking Jordan’s mannerisms on the court.


    Being aggressive on the court means taking risks. And both players took risks by taking shot after shot. Earlier this year, Bryant broke the record for most missed field goals. In 1997, Jordan made a famous “failure” Nike ad that highlighted this aspect of his — and Bryant’s — game.

    “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over, and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

    Bryant has nothing but admiration for his idol and said their friendship runs deep.

    “We hit it off very well. He was really like a big brother, and whether it’s because we see things in a similar way in terms of our competitive spirit or fire or whatever the case may be, there’s an understanding that we have—a connection that we have.”

    “I don’t know if he opened up with me more than he did with other players, I’m not sure. I don’t know if other players had the balls even to ask. But we have a really, really good relationship,” said Bryant.

  • Michael Jordan Hopes to Bolster Team and Community

    When Michael Jordan first bought a stake in the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006, he knew he was not likely to see immediate returns on his investment. And when he bought a majority-stake in the organization in 2010, Jordan remembered that patience was the key to making Charlotte one of the premiere teams in the NBA.

    Flash forward four years and its first playoff appearance in its short history, and one can see the positive influence Michael Jordan has had on a formerly struggling NBA franchise. Being the intense competitor he is, though, Jordan is not going to settle for a seventh place finish in the Eastern Conference or for a first-round playoff exit. This offseason, Jordan expects the newly-minted Charlotte Hornets to acquire the key pieces it needs to become an elite NBA team.

    ”I always thought Charlotte was a great destination. ‘Big Al has proven that you can come here and make a big difference. Hopefully we can look at that and attract some other superstars,” Jordan stated.

    Big Al, formal name Al Jefferson, was acquired last off-season by the Hornets, signing a three-year, $40.5 million contract. Jordan was terribly impressed and surprised by Jefferson’s first year at Charlotte where he led the team in points and rebounds, being the only player in the Eastern Conference to average 20+ points and 10+ rebounds per game.

    Luckily, Charlotte has the means by which to acquire other pieces to assist Jefferson on the court. The Hornets hold three picks in the 2014 NBA Draft – Nos. 9, 24, and 45 – along with nearly $19 million in salary cap space. Charlotte will most likely use these assets to acquire some offensive fire-power, seeing as the Bobcats ranked fifth in defensive efficiency last season but seemingly lacked offensive threats.

    Jordan is not only focusing his rebuilding efforts on his team, however. On Monday, Jordan visited Hornets Nest Elementary to kick-off his new philanthropic venture, The Teacher Innovation Fund – a $250,000 grant given to teachers in hopes of leading to innovation and discovery in the classroom.

    “This is just the start. I think once people understand what we’re doing and the impact of it, I’m pretty sure we’ll get other people to join this fight. If you want to have an impact on tomorrow, you must start by helping teachers,” Jordan voiced during his visit.

    Both the team and community rebuilding projects come on the heels of a team-rebranding project. When Charlotte originally acquired an NBA team, it was called the Charlotte Hornets due to the legacy the people of Charlotte earned fighting against the British during the Revolutionary War. However, when the team was relocated to New Orleans in 2002, the name went with it and Charlotte was left with a new expansion team, the Charlotte Bobcats.

    Now that New Orleans has changed its name to the Pelicans, Charlotte can once again reclaim its original name, a change people are unreasonably excited about: “Obviously the city loves the name change. We knew that it would be something like this because of the survey that we did. But we didn’t think it would be to this magnitude. We can build from this as an organization,” Jordan believes.

    Image via Twitter

  • Michael Jordan Used To Be Racist

    Michael Jordan Used To Be Racist

    Michael Jordan made a name for himself in the sports world, but it wasn’t easy.

    The college basketball star, and legend of the NBA, admitted in his new biography Michael Jordan: The Life, written by Roland Lazenby, that he used to be racist against white people.

    After being called a n**** by a girl at school in 1977, Jordan said he threw a soda at her and was basically against all white people. “I threw a soda at her,” the excerpt read. “I was really rebelling. I considered myself a racist at the time. Basically, I was against all white people.” After being suspended from school, Jordan’s mother encouraged him to let go of his hate.

    After listening to Jordan’s story, Lazenby revealed to Sports Illustrated that most of Jordan’s animosity came from where he lived. Jordan grew up in a small town in Northern North Carolina, where the Ku Klux Klan had a strong presence.

    “I’ve been to North Carolina hundreds of times and enjoy it tremendously, but North Carolina was a state that had more Klan members than the rest of the Southern states combined,” Lazenby said. “As I started looking at newspapers back in this era when I was putting together [Michael’s great-grandfather] Dawson Jordan’s life, the Klan was like a chamber of commerce. It bought the uniforms for ball teams, it put Bibles in all the schools. It may well have ended up being a chamber of commerce if not for all the violence it was perpetrating, too. A lot of the context just wasn’t possible to put it in a basketball book. A lot of it ended up being cut.”

    While Jordan, now 51-years-old, says he is no longer racist, there are some people who still have an issue with race today. Just last week, Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, made racist comments that grasped the attention of millions of viewers. When Jordan heard what Sterling had said, he criticized him saying that he was appalled that ignorance still exists.

    “I look at this from two perspectives — as a current owner and a former player. As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views,” Jordan said. “As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA — or anywhere else — for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed.”

    “I am appalled that this type of ignorance still exists within our country and at the highest levels of our sport,” Jordan continued. “In a league where the majority of players are African American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Macklemore Jordans An Homage To Hometown

    Macklemore Jordans An Homage To Hometown

    Macklemore was recently given the chance to help design his own pair of Jordans due to a collaboration with the company and unveiled the shoes at the Jordan Brand Classic, where he performed last week. The singer subsequently showed off the new kicks on Instagram, noting how proud he was to have had the chance to be a part of such an iconic label; however, the pink shoes weren’t such a hit with his fans, and many took to Twitter to talk about them.

    The shoes, called the “Northwest King Salmon”, were specifically colored for the entertainer as a tribute to his hometown of Seattle. And while the sentiment is nice, the hue is an acquired taste for many.

    “I’m proud to announce the unveiling of my “Northwest King Salmon” Melo’s. Courtesy of @jumpman23 and myself. Never dreamed I’d have an opportunity like this,” Macklemore wrote on Instagram.

    Sports sites are calling the shoes “the ugliest” ever made, and they aren’t getting such hot feedback on social media, either.

    Macklemore hasn’t commented on the backlash so far, but it’s doubtful that he’ll care much. The rapper has used his music to vent about injustices, but he’s also an outspoken advocate for gay rights and human rights…and has spoken out against bullying. During last year’s American Music Awards–for which he and Ryan Lewis were nominated six times–he used his acceptance speech to talk about Trayvon Martin and racial profiling.

    “Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award, I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids who are dying each year due to racial profiling and the violence that follows,” Macklemore said. “These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers, our fans, and it’s time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it.”

    Image via Instagram

  • Michael Phelps Taking First Steps To Compete Again

    Remember when swimming legend Michael Phelps said this in Barcelona last year:

    “I have no plans to do anything. I love what I’m doing now. I’m able to travel so much, play golf. I’m on my own schedule,” he told the press.

    “I’ve never been able to have that. I’ve never been able to do really whatever I want to do. I go wherever I want to go. I see whatever I want to see. It’s nice waking up at 10, 11, 12 o’clock in the afternoon. I’m pretty lazy besides playing golf. I don’t do much.”

    Boy, what a difference a year makes, because now Phelps has totally changed his position.

    At least that’s what his coach Bob Bowman says, because the swimmer took the first step to competing again by entering the anti-drug program, and if things go as planned, Phelps will be competing in the 2015 World Championships, but he also might be able to race as early as this summer.

    “If he swims a meet in the next couple of months and does well, he will probably give it a shot in Irvine,” said Bowman. “But he doesn’t have to do that to have a shot at the 2016 Olympics.”

    And according to Bowman, the 28 year old Maryland native looks like he hasn’t lost a step, at least not physically. “He looks like he is definitely in shape,” said his coach.

    But will Phelps be ready mentally? Because anyone who’s played organized sports in the past knows that competing is often about overcoming some sort of psychological challenge, especially if you’ve been away from your sport for a long time.

    If you wanted to, you could compare Phelps to basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, since he too dominated his sport for a long time, then retired, only to come back and play some more.

    Of course Jordan wasn’t the same player that he was during his heyday, but he still proved to the younger players that he could compete, and Phelps admires that about him, he said, among other things.

    “I think one of the coolest things that I loved about him was it didn’t matter what he had going on off the court or if he was sick or this [or] that,” said Phelps.

    “He never used an excuse. He came out every single night on the court and did what he had to do to get his job done. That’s what champions do. It doesn’t matter what else is going on when you walk in to your arena, whatever you excel at, you’re there to take care of the job that you have to do.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Michael Jordan Earns $90M, Highest-Grossing Retired Athlete

    Michael Jordan hasn’t been on the court in over ten years, but that doesn’t mean the former athlete has stopped making money. According to Forbes, the famous Chicago Bulls player made $90 million last year, making him the highest paid retired athlete. Among current athletes, Jordan still comes in second place, right behind Floyd Mayweather. And it’s all thanks to his trademark shoe, the Air Jordan, for making his bank account grow.

    Last year, the Air Jordan earned Nike $2.25 billion in revenue (compared the LeBron James’ $300 million shoe line). Just this weekend the Air Jordan 10 “Powder Blue” sneaker went on sale; selling $35 million in its first day. Forbes says that Jordan’s $90 million is more than he’s ever made any year playing basketball – he peaked in 1997 at $80 million. Now, as one in every two basketball shoes sold in the US are Air Jordans, the Nike partnership with Jordan looks to only keep growing.

    Forbes estimates that Jordan’s cut from Nike was around $75 million; the other $15 million come from his other endorsements with brands such as Gatorade, Hanes, Upper Deck, and his ownership of seven restaurants, a car dealership, and 80% of the Charlotte Bobcats.

    Jordan began his career over three decades ago, after playing for the North Carolina Tarheels and gaining national attention with his game-winning 3-point shots. Immediately Nike saw his potential, and after Jordan was drafted to the Bulls, he signed a five-year contract with the brand worth half a million per year. In 1984, Michael hit the court in the first ever pair of Air Jordans – in a classic Bulls red and black. Twenty years later, the shoe brand is stronger than ever, and Michael still proves to be a dominant figure in the sports industry.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Michael Jordan Welcomes Twin Daughters

    Michael Jordan welcomed the birth of his twin daughters Victoria and Ysabel this week saying that both they and their mother were doing fine. He also confirmed that the babies were identical twins.

    Jordan has three other children from his former wife Juanita Vanoy. They are Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James, and a daughter, Jasmine. Jordan and Vanoy divorced in 2006. Jordan met Yvette in 2008 and the couple began living together in 2009. The couple married in Palm Beach, Florida last year and had a huge reception afterwards at the Bear’s Club, an exclusive golf course community. The guest list contained the names of over 2,000 people, many of who were celebrities and sports stars.

    The twins will be the first children for the couple together and for Yvette and since Jordan’s three other children are grown, he will be starting all over again and likely facing the same fears and challenges as any new dad. The babies were born on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Florida.

    Jordan is a basketball legend and played for the Chicago Bulls. He helped bring the team to six NBA championships and was a 14-time All-Star and five-time league MVP himself. He is now the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.

    Hopefully Jordan is as good as parenting as he is at basketball and will help Yvette out as much as possible over the next few days as she rests and gathers her strength after delivery. Maybe Jordan can stay on his game by shooting those dirty diapers in the trashcan and pretending like he is making free-throws.

    How do you think Michael Jordan will handle being a new dad again?

    Image via YouTube.

  • Michael Jordan And Wife Yvette Welcome Twin Girls

    Michael Jordan and his wife have welcomed two new girls into the world. The former basketball star’s wife gave birth to twins, Victoria and Ysabel, on Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida.

    The identical twin girls mark the fourth and fifth kids for Michael Jordan, but the first two with his current wife, Yvette. His other three children-Jeffrey Michael, Marcus James, and Jasmine, all came from his previous marriage to Juanita Vanoy. The two of them divorced in 2006.

    It was previously announced that the couple were expecting twins, and the couple, who resides in Charlotte, North Carolina are excited about the two new members of their family. They met six years ago, and were married on April 27th of last year.

    They were married in West Palm Beach, while the reception took place at a private golf club. The wedding had around 300 guests, and included former NBA star Patrick Ewing, Spike Lee, Tiger Woods, and others. Jordan owns a home nearby, where the family will spend much of their time.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9re8mjzZP0k

    Michael Jordan’s spokesperson reported the news, saying, “Yvette Jordan and the babies are doing well and the family is overjoyed at their arrival.” Jordan will be 51 years old next Monday, while his wife is 35 years old.

    He also made headlines recently with the Charlotte Bobcats, and as the team owner, he has been heavily involved with the team since their creation. Before that, he was known for his lengthy career in the NBA as a star for the Chicago Bulls, where he won six NBA championships and was a 14-time NBA All-Star.

    It was recently announced that the team in Charlotte would be returning to their old name of the Charlotte Hornets, and they would also be bringing on a new logo, one that looks much tougher than before.

    The name became available again after the New Orleans Hornets changed their name to the Pelicans. The Bobcats are also currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with a chance to make the postseason for the first time.

    The former basketball star and model are happy with the arrival of their two new babies, and had previously done a good job of hiding the fact that they were expecting twins.

    Image via Michael Jordan, Facebook

  • LeBron James: Will He Be On Mount Rushmore?

    LeBron James: Will He Be On Mount Rushmore?

    LeBron James of course knows that there is no Mount Rushmore of the NBA. However, if there was, the Miami Heat superstar thinks that his face should eventually be carved into it. A clip from an interview with NBA TV’s Steve Smith asking King James who his personal Mount Rushmore was leaked online. James told Smith that the easy three would be: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. The fourth Mount Rushmore face took James a few extra seconds to consider, in the end he went with Oscar Robertson.

    Then Smith asked the easy layup question about whether he thought he would be considered one of the four greatest NBA players and deserve to bump off one of men that he listed. King James responded with a yes, he explained his thought process. “Because I’m going to be one of the top four to ever play this game, for sure. And if they don’t want me to have one of those top four spots they better find another spot on that mountain. Somebody’s gotta get bumped, but that’s not for me to decide. That’s for the architects.”

    The 29 year old does have a good case. He’s been in the league now ten full years. He has four MVP awards, two consecutive NBA Championships, two Finals MVP awards, seven All-NBA first-team selections, five NBA All-Defensive first team considerations, and 10 All-Star selections.

    Plus, he can put down an impressive dunk.

    The clip has captured a lot of attention and has even gone viral. Of course, every basketball fan has their own opinion regarding the legacy of the game and their own opinion of the man that refers to himself as “King.”

    You can see the full interview on Monday, February 17th at 9 PM ET on NBA TV.

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto Having Twins

    Ex-basketball great Michael Jordan has been known to reach double figures on the court, now he’s expecting double bundles of joy, as he and his wife Yvette Prieto have recently announced they’re expecting identical twin girls, according to TMZ.

    Word first came on Nov. 30 that the married couple was expecting, and up until this point they’ve done a pretty good job of keeping news of their twins under wraps.

    Prieto is a 34-year old Cuban-American model and Jordan at 50 years of age already has three grown children with former wife Juanita Venoy.

    Prieto and Jordan tied the knot back in April of this year at Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Fla and reportedly the 300-person event ran the couple a cool $10 million, which is most likely just a drop in the bucket to Jordan, who still earns $80 million a year, according to Forbes.

    The lavish event was attended by celebrity guests like Spike Lee and Patrick Ewing and performances were given by soul singer Robin Thicke and Usher.

    In other Jordan news, the Tar Heels alum failed to unload his 56,000-square-foot mansion in the Chicago area during a recent bidding. The asking price for the colossal sized home was $13 million, which dropped from the original asking price of $29 million back in 2012.

    The lavish digs include 9 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, a cigar room, a beauty parlor, a billiard parlor, a library and a basketball court just for starters and it sits on 7-acres of land in Highland Park, Ill.

    Currently, Jordan and Prieto share a 28,000-square-foot mansion in Jupiter, Fla., which holds 11 bedrooms, a state-of-the-art gym and other luxurious amenities, so there’s no doubt there will be plenty of room for the newly married couple and their twin girls.

    According to a TMZ source, mother and the two babies are doing “just fine,” however they’re hardly providing any information about the delivery date and other details, which is probably a smart move for the celebrity couple.

    Image via YouTube

  • Michael Jordan And Wife Expecting First Baby

    Basketball icon, Michael Jordan, and his wife Yvette Prieto, a Cuban American model, are expecting their first child together. The couple got married seven months ago in an extravagant wedding ceremony in Florida. Jordan, 50 and Prieto, 35, have been together for five years now and live in Southern Florida.

    Jordan and Prieto met on the dance floor of a Miami nightclub in 2008.

    The couple exchanged vows at the Bethesda-by-the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida in April of this year. This is the same place where Donald and Melania Trump married in 2005. The couple’s wedding ceremony was attended by over 500 guests and a reported 1500 guests were at the reception. The wedding was a Who’s Who of  celebrities. In attendance were Scottie Pippen, Spike Lee, Tiger Woods, Usher and Robin Thicke to name a few.

    Jordan is already a father of three other children- Marcus, 22,  Jeffrey, 24,  and Jasmine, 19  from his previous marriage (17 years) to Juanita Vanoy which ended in divorce in 2006. This will be Yvette Prieto’s  first child and the first for the couple. Before Pierto met Jordan, she dated Spanish singer, Julio Iglesias Jr, the  brother of Enrique Iglesias. Iglesias described Prieto as “loving, simple and a very good person” to Hola! magazine in 2003.

    Jordan is best known for his  six championship wins with the Chicago Bulls as well as being a 5-time Most Valuable Player for the NBA.

    (main image via YouTube)

  • Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto Expecting Baby

    Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto honeymooned in Greece just seven months ago, and now the two are expecting their first baby together. The couple wed in Palm Beach, Florida on April 27th in front of 300 friends and family members. Famous names like Robin Thicke, Spike Lee, Tiger Woods, Usher and Patrick Ewing graced the exclusive guest list.

    Since the honeymoon ended, Jordan–who is 50, and Prieto, who is 34–have very clearly been getting down to business. A rep for Michael Jordan confirmed the pregnancy to Us Weekly.

    It certainly didn’t take long for Twitter fans to start spreading the exciting news. Of course it sort of runs the gamut between genuine congratulations and a bit of sarcasm–but they’re spreading it just the same.

    Michael Jordan has three children from his marriage to Juanita Venoy, which ended in 2006. They were married for 17 years and have two sons–Jeffrey Michael, 24, and Marcus James, 22, as well as a daughter, Jasmine, who is 19.

    How do you suppose it will be for Michael Jordan to once again embrace parenthood at the age of 50–and more than 19 years after his most recent child was born? A lot has changed in 19 years–including the dad himself.

    Congrats to Both Michael and wife Yvette Prieto on the their impending blessed event. Do you predict a 2014 line of Michael Jordan baby wear to hit stores in the very near future?

    Image via Wikimedia

  • Allen Iverson Is Retiring From The NBA

    Allen Iverson Is Retiring From The NBA

    Allen Iverson announced his retirement on Wednesday, October 30. He made the announcement during a press conference in Philadelphia, and it was also publiczied during the first game for the 76ers, when highlights of his career were shown on the screen.

    It has been a while since anyone has seen him playing on the court, but Iverson has officially declared his retirement now, as a member of the 76ers were he spent much of his career. He played on the all-star team a total of 11 times, and was selected on the All-NBA team seven times. He was highly popularized throughout his career, being given multiple nicknames including “A.I.” and “The Answer.”

    For Allen Iverson’s official retirement, he gave a speech that ran more than 10 minutes, thanking his family, coaches, teammates, and he also gave reflections as to how he had an impact on the game, and its culture.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2STsAPK87Iw#t=1

    Essentially, the NBA had already given up on him, since it had been four years after his last game. Allen Iverson played in the league for 14 years, after graduating from Georgetown. He most recently played with the Nuggets, and a season with the Pistons, before returning to the 76ers to finish out his outstanding career.

    Speaking on his decision to finally retire, Iverson said “I never imagined the day coming, but I knew it would come. I feel proud and happy to say that I’m happy with my decision and I feel great.” Iverson was a shooting guard for the 76ers, and was one of the best players in the NBA throughout the mid-90’s and early 00’s.

    Every player has to retire at some point, and some people probably think that it would have been wise for Allen Iverson to retire years ago, when he still seemed relevant. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 draft by 76ers.

    Allen Iverson, at 38-years-old, is ranked 19th on the career scoring list with 24,368 points. He singled out Michael Jordan as his inspiration, and also thanked both his Georgetown coach John Thompson, and Larry Brown, who coached him in Philadelphia.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edpcotikrbc

    Image via Youtube