I watched Jordan's speech the other night and while it was rough, I don't have a big problem with it. Jordan's getting a lot of heat and people are taking shots at him because he apparently wasn't gracious enough. I'm not sure what people were expecting. Just because he was an out of this world basketball player doesn't mean he's automatically going to a polished speaker who understands the magnitude of the moment or his responsibilities as the premier player and ambassador of the game. To me Jordan came across as a guy who is ultimately disappointed that he is too old to compete. And it was his drive to compete that inspired him to greatness. Because Jordan apparently doesn't care about his legacy as a GM/president, he's never going to be that good at it because he isn't motivated by that kind of competition. He'd much rather beat you at a game of skins on the golf course.
Jordan is the GOAT and competition is in his blood. He wouldn't give a shit about the haters. I thought the speech was good and showed something about who MJ was is. Krause was the the only mention that perhaps was a borderline. Tough luck. Everyone else that got mentioned loved it, I am sure.
Well, I was right about Russel at least... http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-jordanrussell091209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns "Russell said Jordan’s story was accurate and that he was honored, not offended, by his words. “It was during my rookie year,” Russell said. “He turned to Karl [Malone] and said, ‘Hey Karl, is that your rookie?’ I really did say that to him. Karl was laughing and [Jordan] was laughing, too. …I guess I motivated him to come back. There had to be other reasons. You know he likes all challenges. “Out of all the people he came across, he thought about me. I’m happy to be in his Hall of Fame speech.” Russell did challenge MJ to a 1-1 game.
I don't know why its such a big controversy. It was just an athlete talking about his motivations, IMO it's a great speech for young players to hear.
That's what's surprising to me. The good part of his speech was he was quite clear that he understood that his ability to hold a grudge is what drove him to greatness. And he didn't, it seems, completely hate the folks he had grudges against. He might bust their chops about it forever... to the extent of inappropriateness... but at least there was some recognition and understanding of it. But yeah, why doesn't picking Kwame Brown or Adam Morrison drive him to insane amounts of practice and study in the arts of being a GM? I don't get that.
