3 ms·

The 50-something coach said Michael Jordan, meaning the best. The writer just updated it to the best basketball player right now, same meaning.

bostonpete 11y ago
I don't think story writers typically write the headline but maybe the online version of WSJ is different from the print version...
Steko 11y ago
Lebron also broke onto the scene as a 16 year old -- high school all american as a sophomore, lots of other media attention and coverage (edit: SI cover was a couple months after 17th birthday apparently).
e40 11y ago
There's a scene, one of my favorites, in The Wire, where a gang member goes into a hardware store to buy a nail gun. He asks an older, white sales dude to give him the skinny on the nail guns on display. The sales guy picks up one and says it's the Cadillac of nail guns. He buys it and goes out to the SUV where his compatriot is waiting, where he tells his co-worker that he got the Lexus of nail guns. Here's the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpvkwBBu6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpvkwBBu6U
- adamtj 11y ago
  She, not he. The gang member in this case is a woman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson
  - jdc 11y ago
    http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html
  - comrh 11y ago
    Snoop!
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- balls187 11y ago
  Great scene. "He said Cadillac, but he meant Lexus."
heyheyhey 11y ago
They aren't the same meaning though. The writer's analogy is much more accurate. MJ is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. To say someone is the MJ in a sport is saying that someone is the best in history for that particular sport. This kid doesn't even have a single gold medal. Lebron James, on the other hand, was extremely hyped up as a high schooler. Everyone pretty much said he was going to be the next MJ. The potential for LBJ was limitless; same goes for the weightlifter.
balls187 11y ago
That is what I suspected was the case, but I'm curious if young people who are familiar with LeBron James but aren't familiar with Michael Jordan. Also one has to point out, this is an article on the WSJ, whose majority of readership would likely know who Michael Jordan was.

bostonpete 11y ago

I don't think story writers typically write the headline but maybe the online version of WSJ is different from the print version...

Steko 11y ago

Lebron also broke onto the scene as a 16 year old -- high school all american as a sophomore, lots of other media attention and coverage (edit: SI cover was a couple months after 17th birthday apparently).

e40 11y ago

There's a scene, one of my favorites, in The Wire, where a gang member goes into a hardware store to buy a nail gun. He asks an older, white sales dude to give him the skinny on the nail guns on display. The sales guy picks up one and says it's the Cadillac of nail guns. He buys it and goes out to the SUV where his compatriot is waiting, where he tells his co-worker that he got the Lexus of nail guns. Here's the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpvkwBBu6U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDpvkwBBu6U

adamtj 11y ago
She, not he. The gang member in this case is a woman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson
- jdc 11y ago
  http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Feb-17.html
- comrh 11y ago
  Snoop!
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
balls187 11y ago
Great scene. "He said Cadillac, but he meant Lexus."

heyheyhey 11y ago

They aren't the same meaning though. The writer's analogy is much more accurate. MJ is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. To say someone is the MJ in a sport is saying that someone is the best in history for that particular sport. This kid doesn't even have a single gold medal. Lebron James, on the other hand, was extremely hyped up as a high schooler. Everyone pretty much said he was going to be the next MJ. The potential for LBJ was limitless; same goes for the weightlifter.

balls187 11y ago

That is what I suspected was the case, but I'm curious if young people who are familiar with LeBron James but aren't familiar with Michael Jordan. Also one has to point out, this is an article on the WSJ, whose majority of readership would likely know who Michael Jordan was.