In an open letter to Michael Jordan, originally published in The Intellectual Activist, Ayn Rand Institute spokesman Andrew Bernstein thanked the basketball star for winning six NBA championships and earning hundreds of millions of dollars -- and taking pride in his achievement.

"There are few heroes today. Great men are no longer revered in our society; they are derided," writes Bernstein. "It is true that basketball, like any sport, is just a game. Mankind's survival does not rest on the outcome of the World Series or the Super Bowl. But in a broader sense, the world does depend on the spirit at the root of any athletic contest: the dedication to excellence. The superb athlete striving for a championship or a gold medal is a publicly visible symbol of achievement."

Bernstein cites the need for a glimpse of human perfection and the heroic as the reason why many people read only the sports page of the newspaper and why sports are so popular.

"You will continue to inspire those of us who, like you, hold a high estimate of man's proper stature and yearn to attain it," Bernstein writes. "This is the full achievement for which you have a right to be proud. And this is why all Americans should say: 'Thank you.'"