The Mabley Archive: A prediction that MJ would part from Bulls

In 1988, when longtime Glenview resident Jack Mabley brought his column to the Daily Herald, he made a couple of requests: 1. Let him keep his ugly, old green chair. 2. Launch an edition for his hometown. He kept the chair. And now, more than a decade after his passing in 2006, his second request has been granted. This column is from Feb. 17, 1997.

Michael Jordan's believability quotient is a shade ahead of Bill Clinton's.

Jordan doesn't intentionally mislead. He just changes his mind. He absolutely, positively will retire after this season because Coach Phil Jackson absolutely, positively won't coach the Bulls next year, that is, unless just possibly something might be worked out.

Suppose something is worked out. That just means a one-year delay in the inevitable descent into averageness by the Bulls.

We suburbanites identify with the Chicago teams, justifiably, because most of the players live out here.

We're in for some hard times. The Bears and the Cubs are in a rebuilding process, which usually means three or four years of losing before making the playoffs.

It's hard to be positive about the White Sox because last summer when they were close to first place the owners got rid of some key players.

The Bulls and their championships have kept us respectable.

Soon it may be back to Chicago as Cellarville

* * *

The National Basketball Association is getting a little panicky about losing Jordan. They'll do everything in their power to keep him playing.

The big bucks are in TV ratings. When Jordan plays, ratings are about one-third higher.

With rare exceptions, no matter where Jordan plays on the road, all seats are sold. He is an attraction unequaled in pro sports.

Something else is happening as Jordan ponders quitting. Teenagers are playing on NBA teams. They are very talented, and most of them are hot dogs.

Teamwork, which Jordan demands and which wins ballgames, is giving way to the kids showing off, spectacular dunks, young millionaires with aborted educations feeding their individual vanities.

And just incidentally, there is a possibility of a strike by players or a lockout by owners next summer because the owners want a new cap on player salaries.

Guess what the players want?

* * *

Now for a few positives.

- The No. 1 news program in our living room is MSNBC's news with Brian Williams for an hour every weeknight at 8 or 9. (It varies).

Williams isn't warm and cuddly like some network anchors, but he is extremely quick and well-informed. The hour gives them time for more depth in some segments, and they use a lot of outside opinion.

- CBS should be commended for letting Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes" be highly critical of ABC, NBC, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and ... yes, CBS ... for intervening in a libel suit on the side of the sleazy Globe tabloid.

The Globe falsely identified a man as the slayer of Robert Kennedy. It ruined his and his family's life. He sued and won a verdict of $l million in damages.

The news organizations are joining the tabloid in the appeal.

There are limits to freedom of the press. Wallace was absolutely right in condemning the news organizations.

Freedom of the press also gives Wallace the right to express dissent. CBS respected that.

- Credit card companies deal with millions of people a day and billions of dollars.

They're so huge it is intimidating to expect fast service from humans to correct errors.

We recently were charged $3 interest. I have never paid a dime interest on credit card charges.

It was a mix-up. My wife wrote them. We got a quick phone call, followed by a personal letter, correcting the error and canceling the finance charge.

Thanks, Visa. But I'm still going to pay our monthly bill before finance charges set in.