Jordan still Rules (6 Titles, 5 MVP'S, 1 Speech)

So all I have had to hear over the last few weeks is about the Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. No one seems to be happy with the speech except Jay Marriotti. So I find myself doing something I don't even remember doing when Marriotti was one of the only three sport's writers I knew (the other's being Woody Paige and Peter Vescey), agreeing with him.

To many Jordan gave a petty and bitter speech (obviously they did not hear the Peter Vescey speech that weekend). M.J.'s speech seemed out of place for those who choose to live behind and sell the falsities of the game and life to the public. At the same time it allowed many Americans to say to themselves after 25 years a man who had been in their house more than some relatives, "I don't like Michael Jordan". But the greatest basketball player did nothing of out character. He for once, in front of the camera was completely his self and to be honest, I liked it and found it humorous.

Jordan lost no fans in his speech, for 25 years we have been told how competitive he was. He simply reconfirmed that and gave us a great insight on who and what motivated him at every level, and that my friends was fascinating. Kobe Bryant is almost as competitive as "his airness" and in many ways has modeled his self after MJ, but Kobe is often faulted for having a cosmetic personality. Yet MJ showed the public what the media had been hiding for the sake of not upsetting the status quo, suddenly, many want the cosmetic, corporate MJ. Folks this is why corporate executives paid $25,000 to spend a week in his camps, they posses they have same character traits and they "want to be like Mike". The smile is for the camera and the stockholders, the personality pays the bills. 

If we move past the Montessori school personalities for a moment you don't get to the top of anything without hard-work and an ego to drive that work ethic. MJ gave a great case study on what it takes, as he openly admitted perceived and real insults. If the Knicks had just a portion of Jordan's personailty I get  back the last 10 years of my life. In a room full of millionaires and greats Jordan set the pecking order, just as any alpha male would do. He gave a speech the only two people who could possibly be feel insulted were his high school basketball coach and Jerry Krause (the architect of the Bull's championship teams), but let us not forget Krause had a huge ego of his own.

Over the last few weeks members of the media have piled on about his personality, his gambling and womanizing but these banters come long after the show and when it benefits them. They applied their own set of Jordan Rules during his career. With Jordan's Hall of Fame speech, we have learned two things, the kind of wood that "burned his fire" and the secret discomfort that many of the media always felt about his presence. Far as myself, I can't wait to hear the O'Neal's and Bryant's Hall of Fame speeches, since a new precedent of settling debts has been established.