Our economy Their season opened in Boston, against a young Celtics team who had listened to 80-year-old Red Auerbach. “David Stern’s name is on the basketball,” Auerbach said. “Not Michael Jordan’s.” That night, Celtics TV analyst Tom Heinsohn made sure his audience knew who Jordan wasn't. “He is not God,” Heinsohn said. "Everyone treats him like a messiah or something. He's not." If it seems odd at this point that so many people are confused about who Michael Jordan is, it's only because Jordan is making things confusing. He doesn't own the Bulls, and he's not the general manager, but as sure as they lost their first game to the Celtics and as sure as they drifted through the first two months of the season, it He is the one who built this team, for better or for worse. Shortly after the Bulls beat the Jazz in the NBA Finals last spring, Jordan said, “We deserve a chance (to win a sixth title). » Much of what followed was a consequence of Jordan's desire, ambition and power. Phil Jackson is coach, Scottie Pippen is still on the team, albeit unhappy, and Dennis Rodman is back in Chicago, thanks to Jordan. The power to shape a basketball team, not just any team, but the reigning NBA champions, the winners of five titles in seven years, that is indeed an awesome power. That's one reason why Jordan, 34, is Sporting News' most influential person in sports in 1997. Here's another: Jim Jannard, chairman and president of Oakley, Inc., hosted this week a new director, Bill Schmidt, on its board of directors. California-based Oakley manufactures high-tech sunglasses in a state-of-the-art factory in Orange County. Schmidt is executive vice president of Quaker Oats-Gatorade, creator of the hit "Be Like Mike" ad campaign in which Gatorade and the basketball superstar invite thirsty consumers. Jannard and Schmidt were introduced by Jordan, an Oakley executive who is developing one - rising above boardrooms - to complement his outside shot as a marketing superstar. The cross-pollination of Oakley and Gatorade, Jannard and Schmidt, is a reflection of Jordan's power outside the game, just as his Bulls roster reflects it inside. .He became the first No. 1 to have started as an athlete before turning to business and the media: Laurence Tisch (1990), David Stern (1991), Phil Knight (1992), Ted....... middle of paper ... Jordan and Jackson appreciated his tenacity. A key big man in the 1997 playoffs, Brian Williams, was lost to the cap. As the Bulls limped toward January, Pippen was still sidelined due to foot surgery, and he asked to be traded. Rodman plays lethargically. Jackson's Zen is disappearing. Only Jordan, averaging a league-leading 26.8 points, stands between the club and humiliation. In business, as with the Bulls, he has the power to be who he is, to make his decisions, to control his image. A bold display of Jordan's power occurred this year when two companies he represents, Nike and Oakley, clashed over the use of his image. Jordan has worked at Nike since 1984; he earns between $15 million and $20 million a year from the $9 billion behemoth. He has worked at Oakley since 1995; he earns about $500,000 a year, plus the newcomer's $220 million stock. An Oakley print ad featured Jordan wearing Oakley sunglasses..