OpinionAfter Michael Jordan’s The Last Dance which sport star should be next?

There is only one Michael Jordan. Obviously that’s not the case, there are thousands of people who share the name – the US has over 3,000. Even in the world of sport, the name has been shared by an English football goalkeeper, two American footballers, a British racing driver, a baseball player who actually made the majors, and if you’re willing to allow slight changes, basketball (Michael-Hakim Jordan) and ice hockey (Michal Jordan). However, if The Last Dance taught us one thing it’s that the Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls makes for great television. The ESPN-Netflix co-production has dominated the sporting landscape during this coronavirus lockdown, bringing in a new generation of basketball fans into the conversation and even touching those who otherwise have no interest in sport in general. Putting aside the concerns that Jordan’s own production company were involved and that he was the one who signed off on the behind-the-scenes footage, it makes you wonder which other sporting figure could hold such a documentary. In basketball, it has been suggested that either of the post-Jordan GOAT candidates – “that little Laker boy” Kobe Bryant and LeBron James – would warrant such treatment. Perhaps there is also an argument for either of the NBA’s two famous exports to China, Stephon Marbury and Jeremy Lin, but both have already had one-off documentaries, last year’s A Kid From Coney Island and 2013’s Linsanity. Yao Ming was also the subject of a film, The Year of The Yao, so it is not like Jordan is the only basketball player of interest to documentarians but he might be the most interesting, save for a chance to let teammates Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman have their own say. Outside basketball, the obvious choice is the world game. Football is the only sport that has more global appeal – and the only one to have any athletes that rival Jordan’s recognition. David Beckham’s career would make an interesting parallel. A voracious trainer like Jordan, the England captain’s football achievements have been somewhat overshadowed by his celebrity but he was a vital part of winning teams at Manchester United and Real Madrid, while also playing for AC Milan and Paris St Germain and evangelising soccer in the US with LA Galaxy. That movement between clubs arguably detracts from The Last Dance’s dynasty element, where the Bulls were set to be pulled apart. Football is not basketball. Even the best players are but one of 11, compared to being a fifth of the team and playing both ends of the court in basketball. That is why even Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi might not warrant the Jordan treatment. Ronaldo was not an interesting watch and Messi, all powerful as he is on the pitch and in the Barcelona boardroom, comes across as more boring. The real Ronaldo’s story has everything. “El Fenemeno” was a prodigious talent like Jordan and there is a question mark over what happened before the Fifa World Cup final in 1998 that matches anything conspiracy theorists can conjure regarding Jordan’s gambling. Big Ron is too nice, though, a player universally admired by the football community, often mentioned as better than the Ronny-come-lately, Cristiano, and Messi. Even when his waistline was expanding he was clapped off the pitch at Old Trafford after knocking the home team out of the Uefa Champions League. Whoever it is needs to be flawed. All heroes do. That’s why Diego Maradona was such a captivating subject for Asif Kapaldia during his time at Napoli, winning the scudetto, getting in bed with the Camorra and finding a taste for cocaine. That story feels told so where else? Zlatan, Pirlo, Zidane. All fine players and interesting off the pitch, while Paolo Di Canio is a fascinating character and his career packed with incident but his politics make Jordan’s “Republicans buy sneakers too” non-alignment look positively progressive. Eric Cantona is the documentary we need. The backstory is there, with his time in France marked by punching a teammate in the face – Bruno Martini playing the Steve Kerr role. To be fair, there were several teammates and fans that Cantona fought with in France before he was exiled to England, following a brief retirement after calling everyone on a disciplinary committee an idiot. Four Premier League titles in five years followed in England, the ban for kicking a fan, the “seagulls follow the trawler” speech, and then retiring for good at 30. How can we not have a documentary about a man who said he would “p*** in the Pope’s a***” – and that of journalists – when his Selhurst Park attack was described as “unforgivable”? Cantona is basically Jordan, his work ethic shaping the team that became the most dominant in the most watched league as it went global. it’s also the same time in history. He even had the shaved head and starred in Nike adverts. Like Jordan, Cantona might have even transcended his sport to become a cultural icon. He certainly transcended traditional rivalries. He’s an actor now, with Manchester City fan Liam Gallagher using him in a music video. As Cantona said at the Uefa Champions League draw last August, “we will become eternal”. A 10-part documentary seems a good place to start.