So it pays to be a Washington Wizards fan this season, does it?  You have a new team, a new attitude, and the greatest player ever in Michael Jordan.  You have already blown past last seasons' win total and look to be in a solid position to make a strong run at the Playoffs, the place where you have only been once since 1987.  Sounds like a fairytale, right?  Pinch me, I must be dreaming...

Ouch!  There is an old clich? which could fit this Wizards organization perfectly; 'When it rains, it pours'.  Before All-Star break the team had won 7 out of their last 8 games, including one at home over the Western Conference leading Sacramento Kings, to go into the break with a 26-21 record.  More importantly this run solidified their position in the top 8, which meant playoffs if the second half went well.  Michael Jordan was an All-Star, while teammate Brendan Haywood was in the rookie game.  If you were a Wizards fan everything was right in the world.

How quickly the tide changes, as the Wizards have lost 7 of their last 8 and things are not looking any better with Michael Jordan now out of action.  Things have gone from bad to worse for Jordan, his tendanitis in his right knee being upgraded to arthritis, which experts describe as being bad news.  

Jordan went onto the injured list today, being replaced by 2001 first overall pick Kwame Brown, meaning he'll have to miss the next five games minimum.  Much worse news though is that Jordan will have exploratory arthroscopic surgery on his right knee today or Thursday.  Depending on the results doctors state Jordan could be sidelined from 10 days to the rest of the season, the latter of which would make things very difficult for the Wizards to remain in the playoff hunt.

"He's got to go in there and find out what's causing the irritation and why his knee is continuing to swell," Wizards Coach Doug Collins said yesterday. "Depending on how much work he has to do, that will be the deciding factor in how long Michael will be out."

For all the speculation that could be wrong the Jordan, all the speculation that his season - and perhaps his career - has drawn to a close, the fact of the matter is no one really knows.  Everyone will find out when the arthroscope is performed, otherwise they wouldn't bother cutting his knee open for a look.

"I think he knows that if he didn't have this done, he wouldn't be able to continue to play," Collins said. "More and more, the swelling is coming back. There's something in there that's irritating his knee."

The surgery will be performed by Washington's team doctor, Stephen Haas, who met with Jordan yesterday.

'So the last playing memory of the man many regard as the greatest ever to play basketball is now of a player sitting helplessly on the bench, his face a mask of pain and frustration, just nine points next to his name on the scoreboard and his team losing,' writes Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune.  While the world thought his dream ending finished with the ball falling through the bottom of the net against the Utah Jazz to win his sixth NBA Championship with the Chicago Bulls, now fate may dictate Jordan closing out his career on the sidelines - a feat not fit for the greatest ever.

"Michael's down," Coach Doug Collins said. "Michael's a competitor. What he's going to hear is, 'Yeah, we knew he couldn't make it through a whole season,' and, 'Why did he come back?' All the whispers are going to start. That's the way it always works. Michael wanted to play every game this year."

"Everybody's going to wait for us to collapse.  Everybody's going to wait for us to fold up the tent."