Who knew that a man who hardly said anything controversial in 25 years in public life could cause such a buzz in his Hall of Fame induction speech? But Michael Jordan's remarks Friday night in Springfield at the Basketball Hall of Fame have stirred quite a debate.
There are essentially two camps: those who think Jordan's comments were a candid, funny, raw, refreshing and perfectly representative of the ruthlessness with which he played; and those who think one's Hall of Fame induction speech should be much more deferential, gracious and appropriate than Jordan's was.......
My reaction was to be surprised at the reaction of people who were so stunned. What did they think separated Jordan from merely great athletes? Almost certainly it was the controlled rage with which he played every single night of his life and probably 90 percent of the practices in which he participated. A less ruthless Jordan would have been, well, Clyde Drexler.
If it sounds as if I'm praising Jordan for this trait, I am. It's as much who he is as the wagging tongue....
......There were times Jordan would talk to me at the Berto Center where the Bulls practiced. More than once we sat in the complete dark while he put his shoes on because the lights of the gym hadn't been turned on yet.
One morning we talked just about Dean Smith, Phil Jackson and Jordan's own father, James, who had been murdered. We'd lost our fathers at about the same point in life (me at 27 him at 30), though for very different reasons. Proving ourselves to our fathers was central to both of us. So no, not everything was trash talking or making a competitive point. I was trying to remember over the weekend if I ever heard anybody get the best of Jordan in a verbal exchange, and I came up with one example, just one.
At dinner one night in Washington when Jordan was running the Wizards -- so this was the 2000 season, I'm guessing -- one of Jordan's older brothers, Larry (a damn good player himself at one time), was on the wrong end of some needling from Michael. Larry's probably, oh, 5-foot-8 or 5-9, though MJ always calls him "5-4, 5-5" as he did during his induction speech.
Anyway, Larry waited politely until his younger brother finished a rant and said, "Michael, if you hadn't had that growth spurt., your ass would have wound up working at Pep Boys."
The laughter seemed to last forever. And nobody at the table laughed harder than Michael Jordan.
If that floats your boat. Jordan only exists for me as a basketball player. As a Blazer fan, I hated him. As a basketball fan, I recognize his greatness. Other than that, he is no more part of my life than some actor or rock star.
