On Tuesday afternoon Michael Jordan said perhaps his two favorite words again, “I’m back.”

Michael Jordan announced his return to the National Basketball Association on Tuesday, as he signed a two-year contract with the Washington Wizards.

Jordan last was seen on the court in 1998, where he supposedly ended his career superbly by hitting the game-winning jumper in Utah to beat the Jazz and give the Chicago Bulls their sixth NBA title.

Fans all around the Chicagoland area are experiencing mixed feelings in response to Jordan’s announcement. Many people feel he is only a Bull, and that if he is going to return it should be for the Bulls.

Members of NIU’s men’s basketball team also have mixed feelings about Jordan’s return.

“Obviously a guy like that you wanna see play,” junior Mike Morrison said. “However, he left the game as the greatest player of all time and really has nothing left to prove.”

Jordan raises everyone’s interest in basketball and increases the league’s economic standing by helping sell apparel such as jerseys, shirts and hats, as well as tickets.

“I think anything he brings is going to be purely economic,” sophomore basketball player Marcus Smallwood said. “He’s going to bring the NBA more revenue.”

Jordan has announced that his entire salary for this season will go to relief agencies working with the victims of the terrorist attacks in Washington and New York. This alone shows that he didn’t come back for more money, but for the love of the game and to help younger players develop.

Jordan started and ended his career the same way, hitting a game-winning shot for a championship. However, the game means so much to Jordan that he can’t seem to get away from

it. Not everyone agrees with his decision, though.

“I think he has nothing left to prove,” said Smallwood. “He’s just doing it for either more glory or he just still has that goal.”

He will still be known by many as the greatest player ever when he retires again, for real, so his return shouldn’t be seen as anything but positive.

The Washington Wizards hasn’t been a very popular franchise over the past few years, but Jordan should help solve that problem. Not everyone is going to become Wizards fans, but almost all basketball fans will be rooting for Jordan.

“I will never be a Wizards fan,” said Morrison. “I will be a Jordan fan but never a Wizards fan.”