For those who didn't see it..he starts off teary eyed and then decides to tell eveyone how great he really was.... Michael Jordan leads Hall of Fame's Class of 2009 - NBA Videos and Highlights Click on the 23 min vid called Micheal Jordans' speech.
Jordan has no class. Never did, never will. This was the perfect opportunity for him to be classy, and he failed. Just a poor human being IMO.
Woj's take Jordan's night to remember turns petty - NBA - Yahoo! Sports Side note: if you thought that speech was bad, just wait for Kobe's or LeBron's when the time comes.
Re: Woj's take His speech was humble and arrogant at the same time. It was humble when he said that he couldn't say that he was the greatest player in the NBA because he never played against players like Jerry West or Wilt Chamberlain. It was arrogant when he said on the road to winning a game at UNC with 22 points and his coach told him that it wasn't an I in team and he replied that there was an I in win.
Okay, I get where you were going with that now. Very true. It did seem like he was roasting people for than he was thanking people.
You try to be funny ON A TALK SHOW...... You should show grace and humility at a induction ceremony. Can you imagine the President doing that? >break< represents the ObamaPause BARACK OBAMA at inaugaration: " I paid $1000 for his ticket. But I flew out here> break < an old high school friend. > break< There was this guy in High School > Break< , Jimmy Lefrevowicz. Well, we both ran > break < for student council. And Jimmy won by > break < 1 vote. Just one vote. BUT....>break< LOOK AT ME NOW, JIMM-AY! TOP OF THE WORLD , Ma! There's an 'I" in PresIdent!"
That's pretty much what it was like. The basis of his speech wasn't a bad setup for a final conclusion. For instance, he could have gone through his whole hit list and then at the end said something like "all these sleights that I'm telling you about... they were all in my head. That was a tool that I used to motivate myself to give that extra effort. I don't blame my high school coach for cutting me because ___ was a better player at the time. I don't blame Dean Smith for keeping me off the cover of SI, because he knew that I was too young and it would go to my head. Isiah and crew didn't disrespect me, they taught me a lesson and made me self reflect about what the greatest players in basketball were telling me. Byron Russell had the guts to challenge me and it made the game more fun for me... when I thought about competing against him, it wasn't a job, it was a childhood game again. And all of these memories of the people, coaches, and friends are what I think back on most at the end of the day. The NBA community has been like a second family to me and I sincerely thank you all for your support AND for the way that you challenged me. God bless you all and good night."(followed by immediate crying again.......)
He could have summed up this speach in 15 seconds: HATERS! ...I sure as hell showed you! ...and to my family: I'm a tough act to follow and I feel sorry for you! God bless & good night.
Couldn't have said it better myself. What bugs me are all the suck up writers like Mike Wilbon who think the speech was great. It's just Jordan being Jordan. But those guys seemed to have miss the part where Jordan doesn't just rag on guys he played against who can take as well as give like Zeke and Stockton, but Jordan has to bring his own kids into it, and even flies the guy who beat him out for the varsity spot his sophomore year in high school and his coach just to say nyaa nyaa nyaa? Is this guy 3 years old? This isn't Jordan being a ruthless competitor, this is just childish.
maybe its just me, but I thought the whole point was that most of it was in his head and motivated him. The kids bit was weird though.
