A couple of weeks ago the greatest player I've ever seen play basketball was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. Michael Jordan was the signature inductee into the 2009 class that also included the likes of David Robinson and John Stockton. Jordan's speech, however, was a little baffling to me.
As I sat and watched an emotional Jordan walk to the podium to a hero's welcome, I was expecting a humble Jordan to acknowledge the people that helped him achieve his monumental success on and off the court. That, I got. What I wasn't expecting was the actual names of the people that he chose to recognize.
Instead of focusing on Dean Smith, Phil Jackson, his dad, Scottie Pippen, Jerry Reinsdorf and others, Jordan, instead chose to drive a few final nails in the coffin of Bryon Russell, Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, Isiah Thomas and others that provided the fuel for his killer instinct. I certainly understand the fact that these people drove Jordan in a particular way. However, I'm not sure a Hall of Fame speech is the sensible place to harp on these back-handed motivators.
As I sat and listened to the speech, it made me a bit uncomfortable for such time to be devoted to this cast of characters. It's not that he mentioned them at all, obviously these guys were a driving force in his efforts to use any and all reasons to fuel his fire. It was the fact that they were the basis of his speech. It seemed like he was using his final opportunity to address his decorated career to step on their heads one final time.
We all know by now how competitive Jordan was. It was certainly worth mentioning that part of what made him so competitive were the doubters and those that tried to stand in his way of success - good or bad. But a brief comment on these people would have been sufficient in this moment. To provide play-by-play examples and details of the ways in which he used these people to motivate him was over the top. It would be like giving a wedding speech and talking about all the girls that you didn't marry to find the one you ultimately chose. Maybe there is some credibility in the fact that there were other women in your life that taught you things about what you ultimately found in your wife. However, I'm not sure going that route on your wedding day is the time to reflect on these moments - and women. Instead, it would seem most appropriate to mention the more sentimental elements of why you were choosing to spend the rest of your life with THIS woman.
It was as if Jordan was saying, I might be done playing basketball, but I'm not quite ready to walk away. Winning was the ultimate high for Jordan. There's no questioning he would take any measure necessary to reach his goal. But in a career that is now over, I would rather have seen Jordan pay homage to those that taught him the game, those that inspired him to develop a love for the game, those that worked along side him to achieve success, those that provided him opportunities to succeed and those that were there to recognize his success. But Jordan took a different route.
I suspect one day he might look back on his speech and wonder why he spent so much time on the pee-ons instead of those that were true cogs in his final destination. Maybe not. But on a night where you only have one chance to get it right, it appeared Jordan fired a brick.
