Friday, September 18, 2009

WOW! Never thought I'd see this happen...

I put a lot of stuff about MJ on here, and 99% of it is intended as “I can do it” type of motivational stuff from one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game.

But I read an article on ESPN The Magazine today where columnist Ricky Reilly threw ‘his airness’ under the bus following his Hall of Fame speech.

As Reilly points, although MJ's speech was from the heart, “…It's just that Jordan's heart on this night could give you frostbite. Nobody was spared [criticism], including his high school coach, his high school teammate, his college coach, two of his pro coaches, his college roommate, his pro owner, his pro general manager, the man who was presenting him that evening, even his kids!”

In the entire 23-minute cringe-athon, there were only six thank yous, seven if you count his sarcastic rip at the very Hall that was inducting him. "Thank you, Hall of Fame, for raising ticket prices, I guess," he sneered. By comparison, David Robinson's classy and heartfelt seven-minute speech had 17 [thank yous].

Jordan had decided that this was the perfect night to list all the ways everybody sitting in front of him had p'd him off over the past 30 years: Dean Smith, Doug Collins, Jerry Reinsdorf, Pat Riley, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, George Gervin and Jeff Van Gundy. It was the only one-man roast in Hall of Fame history. Only very little of it was funny.

This is how Jordan really is, I just never thought he'd let the world see it.

Rick Reilly
ESPN The Magazine

No comments: