JORDAN’S HALL OF FAME SPEECH
Last week Michael Jordan was enshrined into the Hall Of Fame along with David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan, and C. Vivian Stringer. All inductees were well deserved but the highlight of the night was Michael Jordan. The other 4 inductees gave their speeches thanking their families and teammates and coaches and saying how honored they are. Those were typical induction speeches and then their was Mike. Mike gave the best speech of all time starting off by saying “what about me you don’t already know“? Which is so true, we basketball fans know so much about Mike it is a very difficult to have something new said about Mike. Mike shared the story of how he was cut from his high school basketball team and his time at North Carolina when his coach decided to put the starters on the cover of Sports Illustrated but didn’t include Mike. Saying all these events “added logs to the fire”to make him work even harder. Michael goes on to get everybody back who doubted him or didn’t give him full credit. This included the media, opposing coaches, his own coaches, opposing players and the best of all Jerry Krause. Jerry Krause is the former general manager of the Chicago Bulls who got rid of Phil Jackson, Scotty Pippen, and Mike. Jerry is remembered for saying that “organizations win championships” and saying “Michael Jordan is not worth 25 million dollars a year, no one is worth that”. If there is ever a time to give the I TOLD YOU SO speech this was it and Michael gave it to everybody and I loved it. Michael’s speech was honest, fresh, and original and I wish more athletes would have the courage (and heart) to tell you how the really feel and think. Michael ended his speech by saying he was thinking of making a comeback at 50 and said “don’t laugh because limits like fears are just an illusion”. I met Mike in the summer of 1998 when I worked his camp in Chicago and had the opportunity to play against him and I truly believe that if anybody could make a comeback at 50 it is AIR MICHAEL JORDAN because we all want to be like Mike……