{ Jordan smokes 'em if he's got 'em - flickr/simplistic.designs }
I’m not a ‘huge’ fan of Michael Jordan, and I definitely don’t hate him. When he was beating the Lakers and Blazers for a ring when I was 11 and 12, I was like, “Oh cool! It’s MJ!” When he was taking down Chuck Barkley, my sentiment was “may the best man win.” When Jordan came back, I rooted for the Sonics and Jazz because I thought the Bulls had won enough, it was time for someone else. Finally, when Jordan was a Wizard, I initially thought his presence would be good, then responded to his departure with shock/surprise, and ultimately, became apathetic toward his presence in DC.
Ok, now that my Jordan fandom disclaimer is out of the way …
Jordan’s HOF speech has been called petty, uninspiring, disparaging, vicious, and strangely bitter by Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski. He was called a clown, and vicious again, by FanHouse’s Terence Moore. Ken Berger of CBS Sports dubbed Jordan “ruthless,” and called him a “competitive sociopath.” In his Twitter one word description of each HOF entrant’s speech, The Washington Post’s Michael Lee used “cruelty” in reference to Jordan. J.E. Skeets of Yahoo!’s Ball Don’t Lie twittered that MJ’s speech was a bad idea, and akin to “finding out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were crackheads.” Joshua Lobdell of The Inquisitr called Jordan petty (again), and a disgrace, even going so far as to say, “a large part of Jordan’s legacy has been forgotten” as a result. Tim Varner of 48 Minutes of Hell called the speech “tacky, vitriolic, and unnecessary” … but Tim also recognizes that Jordan’s shots were “footnotes of his mythology,” and calls on us to better recognize the David Robinsons of the world (a more than valid request). And finally, Matt Moore of Hardwood Paroxysm calls Jordan a jackass, but has a great piece highlighting that such actions from Jordan are nothing new … although Moore does claim that, “Ron Artest probably has more going for him than Michael Jordan as far as a complete life goes,” and challenges readers to wrap their brains around that assertion. Not worth trying.
Tags: hall of fame, michael jordan, michael wilbon, nba, speech
