OT: Jordan in the HOF

I met His Airness at the Michael Jordan Golf Tournament when I was in 8th grade. All of the golfers went into the club house when a rain storm came though. A group of us kids gathered there too to try and catch a glimpse of Jordan. He came out and said "Why aren't you kids in school?" and I shouted "Teacher word day!" He laughed and signed autographs for all of us.

 

That's silly. You can be be the ultimate team player and still hate your teammates - if they're all jerks. And you can also hate the organization, which, I believe, was Walton's issue - he thought they botched his medical care.

And you know this... because he admitted it. Ooh, where was his PR team? And guess what? His wife stuck with him. Meanwhile the Jordans had a severely messy divorce.

Thank you for your penetrating insights. The fact is, that the most marketed and packaged athlete in history is Michael Jordan. The fact that he can still be seen to be an asswipe of the first order shows how collossal his asswipery must be. They just didn't have such machines around when Walton was playing, and he still comes across as pretty genuine. The hagiography around Jordan is of such ridiculous proportions that it's good to see the mask slip a bit.

And how dare you assume I don't personally know these people! I saw Harold Miner in a grocery store once!

 

Right. So his teammates and the organization were all jerks, and Walton wasn't? Gotcha...

So because he stood up in front of the cameras and admitted it, he's not a jerk? His actions say more about him than his words, even if he admitted it or not. Plus he had no choice, he had to admit it.. he was announcing his retirement.

You're welcome. You're right, Jordan was the most marketed and packaged athlete in history. For his whole career, he always said the politically correct things. All professional athletes say the same stuff and play it safe. His HOF speech was the first time he was ever candid and honest.

Did you give him paper or plastic?

 

who really knows the truth about those days, but I recall rumors/stories of him being pretty into coke at the time.

STOMP

 

That was a really good read, and I was surprised to see Russell admit to saying what Jordan attributed to him during his Hall of Fame speech.

 

One of the most intelligent statements ever uttered by an athlete.

MJ was/is a marketing wizard, even in this acceptance speech. People are talking about it, which is amazing considering I can't recall a single Basketball Hall of Fame speech prior to MJ's.

 

cool story, least you have some experience to base you opinion off

 

running shoes maybe?

 

Huh?

 

Um, no you haven't. I'll be charitable and assume you're willfully misunderstanding me.

Again, I didn't say he wasn't a jerk. The point was to illustrate that not everything about him was controlled by marketers. It is true that he did have to say something about why he was retiring, but you probably don't remember how remarkable it was at the time to admit you had AIDS. Freddie Mercury didn't. Easy-E didn't. (Yes, yes - to be fair, he was just HIV + but that's a minor point.) And if he REALLY wanted, he could've blamed it on blood transfusion or just say it was a complete mystery how he got it.

And let's be clear here: there are jerks and there are jerks. Michael Jordan is the kind of jerk who bears grudges ridiculously past their sell-by date and who is so egotistical he has to be petty in his hall of fame acceptance speech. THAT'S the kind of jerkiness at issue here. No doubt everybody is a jerk in SOME way. Let's not pretend I'm denying that.

And in being so, he revealed himself to be a colossal tool. Your response to people pointing this out was "don't assume that others aren't just as much tools". Fair enough, but your reason was "you don't know them". However, it appears that you think you do, as you are now positively asserting the jerkiness of everybody ever. As I said, everybody is some kind of jerk, but the "refuses to acknowledge that anybody contributed to his success, invites people along just to denigrate them and holds ridiculous grudges" jerk is what's at issue.

I gave him your momma's phone number. He wasn't interested. (Does that make him a jerk or me a jerk?)

 

I only took issue when you put Magic and Walton above Jordan, when all we really know about them is their public persona. For all we know, they could all be jerks, but I guess that's part of the reason why they're hall of famers.

Both. Let's just get off momma's. I just got off yours

 

I have always found that if you want to make an argument about someone being classless, reach for the momma jokes.

 

I took that to be an awkwardly phrased apology for dragging them along into the limelight.

But then, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt...

 

In all this debate on Jordan, I have to ask, when did he change his sex? He was referred to in the introduction as being a skilled "seamstress". A seamstress is by definition female (the male equivalent is seamster.) Not as weird as when Bill Walton referred to Shaq as a "ballerina". If there is anyone in the world less ballerina-like than Shaq (aside from being the wrong sex), I have yet to see that person.

BTW, speaking of Magic Johnson, he chose to, instead of going to the HOF, to go to the ceremonies honoring Lisa Leslie, playing her last regular season home game. Leslie has decided to retire at age 37. Magic may be a despised Laker but I still like the decision.

 

I wish Jordan was a female. At least then, watching women's basketball would be tolerable.

 

Bull. You'd still find some reason to insult her.

 

Geez, relax. It was a joke. I'm one of the few here who watch women's basketball.

 

The whole time I was watching the video of MJ's HOF induction speech, I kept waiting for Kanye West to rush the stage, grab the microphone and say:

"Michael, I'm really happy for you. I'll let you finish, but Kobe is the best basketball player of all time! The best baller of all time!"

BNM

 

So, does that make a female teamster a teamstress?

BNM