In most quarters, Michael Jordan is unequivocally the greatest NBA player who ever played — without question it’s most admired and influential ambassador. But MJ debased the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame proceedings when his acceptance speech degenerated into a mean spirited, vicious tirade against a legion of “adversaries” who were unaware they were about to be served up for Jordan’s brand of naked ruthlessness.
Jordan used the international stage as a bully pulpit to upstage and then bludgeon his real and mostly imagined rivals in a petulant and vengeful way. Unlike his famously tailored suits and elegant manner in which he played the game of basketball, Jordan’s speech was low class, low brow and remarkably adolescent.
Speaking of adolescence, Jordan even invited the man who was picked over him in the 10th grade so that MJ could smack him around the auditorium with impunity – one last needless jab in the ribs for merely having the audacity to compete for a high-school basketball spot and being picked over Jordan. Jordan told tales of waging a secret war against his college roommate and “friend”, Buzz Peterson, who was chosen as prep Player of the Year in North Carolina and had no clue that his new buddy was aiming for his jugular. Perhaps there was something to the authors of “The Jordan Rules” and “Blood on the Horns” – detailed accounts of His Airness that were highly unflattering.
Contrary to his meticulously manicured press conferences and the homogenized, bland image he displayed during his historic, transcendent playing days, this night Jordan revealed who he really is — a profoundly embittered multimillionaire who harbors vengeance in his heart. He took great pleasure in delivering roundhouse blows to an unsuspecting audience who came to praise his remarkable career.
That barely controlled rage and bloodless savagery Jordan demonstrated during his playing days was unleashed inside the Hall of Fame as he lasered two people who are scarcely mentioned in sports talk these days, former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, and his former boss, ex-Bulls GM Jerry Krause. This pretty much encapsulated Jordan’s current state of mind right here more than any other during his 20 minutes of uninterrupted vitriol. Needlessly asking “I don’t know who invited Krause? I know I didn’t” and mimicking former Knicks coach Pat Riley’s assistant Jeff Van Gundy, calling him ‘that little assistant’ — while holding out his hand to emphasize Van Gundy’s diminutive stature — [was] quite amazing to watch. That Jordan needed to win a game that that had been decided many years ago says more about Jordan than his vanquished foes. – terry shropshire
