#23’s Induction Into The Hall Of Fame

Got your email TW.  I would cut and paste what you wrote, but just writing this is testing all of my patience.  I have been house sitting at my parents’ house this week while they are away at Tahoe, and for some reason, I am no longer able to access my laptop while there.  And further, what’s irritating, is that I can’t use their computer to write this because there is a formatting issue with Earclops on their Mac.  Apparently something is outdated.  So here I am sitting at the Teddy Bear Laundry place in Moraga attempting to write this stupid thing since they have free internet access.  And what is now driving me to the brink is that the laptop I am writing on is my old one, which is nearly entirely destroyed, and I am  having all sorts of trouble accessing everything.  So thanks TW for  motivating me to respond.  You have effectively killed the start to my Sunday

Before I respond…did any of you watch the Nadal vs Del Potro match this morning.  Nadal is not at 100% due to an abdominal strain, but regardless Del Potro looked awesome in his dismantling of Nadal at 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.  Of course, Nadal handled the loss with the utmost class and respect.  Love that guy.  Loved him from the first day I saw him five years ago.  Back when he was this no name who came out of nowhere to take the Australian Open.  I actually told one of my classmates in grad school that if he won that I would dress up like him for our Comprehensive Exams that was days away.

By the way, our Comps were the “big deal” for our joke of a program.  You don’t pass that and theoretically you are screwed.  Well, you are allowed to not pass once, but then have to wait X amount of time to try again.  And if you were to fail again….well, you would be one of the lucky ones, because you would get to exit out of the field sooner than the rest of us inevitably will.

Anyways, true to my word, come the day of the Comps, I came to the building dressed in a sleeveless muscle shirt, headband, and wristbands.  My friend DN could only shake his head and place it down on the desk.  My act truly showing three things.  1# I am a man of my word.  #2 I had mad respect for Nadal and his style of play.  And #3 in contrast to my respect for Nadal, I had next to no respect for my program I was attempting to finally put to rest.

Now this isn’t meant to come off as boasting, but more poetic justice or irony.  I actually received one of the highest scores on the Comps (in fact I am not sure anyone scored higher).  What was beautiful about that was that a) I didn’t crack a fucking book, and b) everyone knew how much I didn’t give a damn at this point.  The exam was essay and I could BS thus BS is how I viewed my program, so who better to dish it right back?

Point Nadal.  Point BN.

Anyways, the only backlash I got following my ‘Nadal’ appearance at the exams, was that there was an introduction to a possible BN gay rumor.  I got wind of this at a post-grad party where some female classmates were confused why I was all decked out in a tight sleeveless shirt.  Genius is often misunderstood.

So…  Nadal.  Love the guy.  He is class.  And so is Del Potro apparently.  I loved his post interview.  I will effectively be rooting for him against (I assume) Roger in the finals.  (Roger I believe is playing Djokovich today.  I don’t know about you, but I lost mad respect for this guy over the past year or two.  Twice bowing out/quitting when the going got tough.  Either for questionable injury, or because it was too hot.  The guy revealed his pebble-sized heart and toughness and for me it was a 100% deal breaker.  Cause I used to like the guy.  *Just watched a portion of him live w/ Fed and saw a pretty classic moment.  You will have most likely seen the replay on Sportscenter before you read this, but Fed was at the net attempting three times to smash a winner and Djok kept unexpectedly hitting it right back up at the night.  On the 4th return, Djok just turned his back, bent over, and stuck his ass in the air because he was toast.  It was actually really funny.  I forgive you a bit now, Novak).

Anyways TW….  Michael Jordan.  I got your email off my phone, so here you go.  You’ve effectively forced me out of writing hibernation.

TW’s email to me this AM:  (Hope you don’t mind me sharing amigo)

Re: Jordan’s Retirement Speech

I know you really like Jordan.  I did too.  I really can’t get past the rampant infidelity and pettiness.  Any way, if you saw his speech, you know what I am talking about.  If not it seemed so bitter.  TW

I in fact hadn’t seen his Hall of Fame speech.  I was annoyed actually because I didn’t know it was on.  Fortunately, I went to NBA.com and found the 20 minute speech.  Go check it out if you haven’t seen it already.  Also, check out Stockton’s speech.  I really enjoyed that one.  I’ve never really heard this dude speak before, and after getting over his slightly unexpected sounding voice, I was really moved by his words, his love for his family, and entertained by his humor.  Class f-ing guy.

So take some time to view the videos.  I will wait for you…

La

 La

 La

Do

 De

 Do.

You ready?

Ok.  

You check out Stockton?

No?

Go ahead.  I’ll wait…

Hum

De

Do

Dah

Doo

Doo

Doo

Okay?

Worth it, eh?

See.  I wouldn’t steer you wrong.

So here is my take TW…

I actually really enjoyed Jordan’s speech.  I get where you are coming from with the pettiness angle and all (which is clearly reflected in the Washington Post article you sent along with your comment (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/12/AR2009091202344.html)

However…(my font changed so I started a new paragraph down here)…respectfully, I feel that he wasn’t being bitter, petty or a bully or any of that.  I actually found it refreshing that he was being so candid and opening up that side to him that we haven’t really gotten to see before.  A better peek into the psyche of the man who was so ‘perfect’.  So unstoppable on the court.  And very much lock-and-key with his private life and inner thoughts.  I took his premise…his point to the speech…that all the examples that he used, was to illustrate how he got to where he got.  More specifically, how the competitive beast works.

 And beast being almost as much the operative word as competitive.  A beast is ruthless.  A beast is opportunistic.  And he wasn’t shying away from that at all.  He was explaining all the “logs” that stoked his fire.  Breaking it all down, to see how he worked.  Without being as extreme in his competitives,  feeling the slights as strongly as he did, and using them the way that he did, then….as I think your article stated…he wouldn’t be the MJ that he was.  The best to ever play the game.  

Thus for me, I much preferred it to a polished, thank you, appreciative this, that, or the other speech.  Even if the latter is more appropriate.  Granted there were a few comments that almost pushed the envelope for me, but again I really appreciated the candor.  And I do think he was tongue-and-cheeking the tone in parts, but again, I appreciated it more than I would have MJ just saying all the right things or something.  It was almost like a toned down roast.  And he did give love to his coaches, players, fans, etc.  But I do think his ‘thesis’ was an homage to the competitive nature.  And further, at the beginning of his speech he said, “What is there that you don’t already know about me?”  And in a way he answered that by giving us something fresh by not doing the typical.

I appreciated it.

BN