duncan228
09-11-2009, 02:20 PM
Jordan unplugged (http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/buckharvey/2009/09/jordan-unplugged.html)
By Buck Harvey
Michael Jordan was the only inductee Friday morning who coordinated his clothes with the Hall of Fame blazer each was given on stage. Jordan must have had someone do some research.
So while David Robinson wore jeans, for example, Jordan was decked out in slacks and a tie that were a perfect color match.
That's perfect, too, for someone who remains the endorsement champion years after he retired.
But Jordan has never been about fluff, either on the court or off, and he didn't sell himself that way in the morning press conference. Then he took the microphone and reminded everyone of a magnetic personality that was sometimes overshadowed by his basketball talent.
Tiger Woods, the athlete most compared to him today, doesn't come close to Jordan at this.
Jordan was this way when he played. Before one game in the Alamodome, for example, he sat in the back of a locker room with several reporters and shared opinions. He was smart, engaging and funny.
This is the same personality that influenced his teammates, too. Jordan took control of every room he was ever in.
This quality has been hidden, mostly by the crowds that surround him. Friday, then, reminded everyone he was more than a well-dressed pitchman.
He was humble even when he announced, "There's not going to be another Michael Jordan."
He meant: Quit trying to find one.
The media has appointed everyone from Grant Hill to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James as the next, and Jordan says the games and eras change, as do the players.
"First of all," he said, "you didn't find me. I just came along."
He says today's players have the potential to be better than he was, and that those who played before him could have been as good. That's why Jordan says he cringes when others say he's the greatest to ever play.
"I receive that as an opinion," he said. After all, he never got to test himself against Jerry West or Wilt Chamberlain.
Among his better stories was a turn on an old phrase. At the end of one game he had deviated from the Triangle offense, and he had scored 20 points in the final five minutes to lead his Chicago team to a victory. Afterward a Bulls assistant, Tex Winter, congratulated Jordan but added, "There's no 'I' in 'team.'"
Jordan's response: There is an "i" in "win."
"I told him," said Jordan, smiling, "whichever way you want it."
By Buck Harvey
Michael Jordan was the only inductee Friday morning who coordinated his clothes with the Hall of Fame blazer each was given on stage. Jordan must have had someone do some research.
So while David Robinson wore jeans, for example, Jordan was decked out in slacks and a tie that were a perfect color match.
That's perfect, too, for someone who remains the endorsement champion years after he retired.
But Jordan has never been about fluff, either on the court or off, and he didn't sell himself that way in the morning press conference. Then he took the microphone and reminded everyone of a magnetic personality that was sometimes overshadowed by his basketball talent.
Tiger Woods, the athlete most compared to him today, doesn't come close to Jordan at this.
Jordan was this way when he played. Before one game in the Alamodome, for example, he sat in the back of a locker room with several reporters and shared opinions. He was smart, engaging and funny.
This is the same personality that influenced his teammates, too. Jordan took control of every room he was ever in.
This quality has been hidden, mostly by the crowds that surround him. Friday, then, reminded everyone he was more than a well-dressed pitchman.
He was humble even when he announced, "There's not going to be another Michael Jordan."
He meant: Quit trying to find one.
The media has appointed everyone from Grant Hill to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James as the next, and Jordan says the games and eras change, as do the players.
"First of all," he said, "you didn't find me. I just came along."
He says today's players have the potential to be better than he was, and that those who played before him could have been as good. That's why Jordan says he cringes when others say he's the greatest to ever play.
"I receive that as an opinion," he said. After all, he never got to test himself against Jerry West or Wilt Chamberlain.
Among his better stories was a turn on an old phrase. At the end of one game he had deviated from the Triangle offense, and he had scored 20 points in the final five minutes to lead his Chicago team to a victory. Afterward a Bulls assistant, Tex Winter, congratulated Jordan but added, "There's no 'I' in 'team.'"
Jordan's response: There is an "i" in "win."
"I told him," said Jordan, smiling, "whichever way you want it."