Well, Michael pretty much said it all. He's not concerned about his legacy. He's not concerned about money or marketing. He's not concerned about what "you guys" (media) have to say or think about his latest comeback.

	Jordan

In other words, he's doing it because he wants to do it and he really doesn't care what you, me or Charles Barkley thinks about it. As he put it, he has an itch that needs to be scratched and he's out of anti-itch medicine.

He wasn't angry, although there were a number of times he looked at us guys and said, in effect, "I've read what you wrote and heard what you said and you're all full of it." It was more a tone of defiance and determination. Diss me all you want, he was saying, but do so knowing who I am, what I've done, and what I am setting out to do.

"I'm not afraid to take on a challenge when people probably look at it as hurting the things I've accomplished so far," he said in his first public comments since announcing his return to basketball after a three-year absence. "I'm not afraid to take a step. If I fall, I fall, and move on. If we can all learn something in life, it's don't be afraid to take on something you think you're capable of achieving."

Clearly, Jordan knows there are a number of people out there who feel the itch could be treated in a different manner. He takes umbrage at that and rightfully so. It's his life. He said he cleared it with his family -- that must have been a tough sell -- and that they understand that playing basketball is still something he feels he needs to do.

He doesn't suffer doubters. He looks at them as another minefield, another obstacle, another irritant that can be discarded or swept aside. And try as he might, he cannot fathom why anyone would be so callous, cruel or, well, stupid to think that he shouldn't come back.

"I stopped reading and listening because everyone was so negative about what I was trying to do," he said.

Whoa. Here's what happened. Jordan said repeatedly, over and over again, that there was less than one percent of a chance that he would play again. No, he never said never. But many took him at his word that he was working out to lose weight and to get a hoop fix. We took his agent at his word when he said, "please write that he's not coming back so we can put an end to all this foolishness."

		He doesn't suffer doubters. He looks at them as another minefield, another obstacle, another irritant that can be discarded or swept aside. And try as he might, he cannot fathom why anyone would be so callous, cruel or, well, stupid to think that he shouldn't come back.

"The last time I looked, if I read every newspaper about the negative things I was trying to do, I swear I wasn't living in America," Jordan said. "America is supposed to be about free will to do whatever you choose or whatever you want to do. That's all I'm doing. I'm not committing a crime here. I'm just trying to play a game of basketball."

Aside from being a bit on the melodramatic side, Jordan here is coming off just a tad disingenuous. Let's start with the First Amendment. It does allow for a free press and free exchange and flow of ideas. I might be wrong, but I don't think anyone couched a potential comeback in felonious terms. No one said he couldn't do it. A lot of people suggested it might not work, or it might not be the best thing to do, or that he should get on with his life. He might not have liked that, but they were just opinions, echoing his buddy, Charles.

And, frankly, he had said before, emphatically, that he was retired. More than once. He said he'd never play in the United Center. He said he'd never play for anyone other than Phil Jackson. He made one-tenth of one percent the largest fraction in math.

But that's fine. Everyone is allowed to change his mind and he changed his. I say, welcome back. The Wizards have gone from hapless to hopeful just by his presence. The Wizards are, for now, relevant.

The thing I think I admired most about Jordan over the years was, as he put it, "that I'm not afraid to fail." He undertook something that was doomed from the start -- a minor league baseball venture -- and didn't care what anyone thought. He did it. It may have scratched that particular itch. But the basketball itch was greater.

The front office was the next place. He undertook what many saw as a hopeless task and ended up doing all right. Several agents who have done business with Jordan say he is sharp, focused and knows what he's doing. But even after making some encouraging personnel moves, he still felt the need to return to the court.

He's back -- again. He made one thing pretty clear today: he doesn't like people doubting his motives and he's going to do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. It's the American way.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.