really good article about mj. An inside into why he seems so bitter

Shanegerous

Shanegerous

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http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Michael-Jordan/michael-jordan-not-left-building

Apologize I am on my phone.

This article was really good, showed really why mike is the way he is and how he thinks in today's world. Yeah everyone knows he is a jerk, but It all makes a lot more sense. His behavior and mindset are stuck in the times of when he motivated himself so much to be the best. Hes rich, pampered and competitive nature all make him into who he is. I personally would find it so hard to be around him.

Anyways, happy b day mike
 
Crazy EBW said:
Cliffnotes?
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Great article. Some things jumped out at me though:

"The packing and cataloging started several years ago, after his divorce. One night at his suburban Chicago mansion, he sat on the floor of his closet with Estee Portnoy. She manages his business enterprises and, since the divorce, much of his personal life -- his consigliere. It was 1 in the morning. They were flummoxed by a safe. Jordan hadn't opened it in years, and he couldn't remember the combination. Everything else stopped as this consumed him. After 10 failed attempts, the safe would go into a security shutdown and need to be blown open. None of the usual numbers worked. Nine different combinations failed; they had one try left. Jordan focused. He decided it had to be a combination of his birthday, Feb. 17, and old basketball numbers. He typed in six digits: 9, 2, 1, 7, 4, 5. Click. The door swung open and he reached in, rediscovering his gold medal from the 1984 Olympics. It wasn't really gold anymore. It looked tarnished, changed -- a duller version of itself."

WHO JUST FORGETS WHERE THEY HAVE THEIR OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL?!

"Jordan saw an old pair of shorts that didn't fit anymore. He found first-edition Air Jordans. In his cavernous Nike closet, he counted nearly 5,000 boxes of shoes, some of which he marked to keep, others to give to friends. There was his uniform for the Dream Team. An employee found letters he'd written his parents as a college student at North Carolina, and what struck her as she flipped through the pages was how normal he seemed. Despite all the things that had been gained in the years since, that person had been lost. The kid in the letters hadn't yet been hardened by wealth and fame and pressure. He told his parents about grades, and practice, and the food in the dining hall. He always needed money. One letter ended: P.S. Please send stamps."

Well, there it is. 5000 Pairs. In his "Nike" closet. Must be like raiders of the lost ark ish.
 
Pretty solid skim through.

I can't say i was really surprised by too much. Jordan is super competitive. That's him. The HOF speech basically said everything. He is still competitive still thinks he is the best and best there ever was.
 
I've always wondered how he handled being old...

I fear the time when I become 40-50 years old myself
 
Skimmed it but I gotta go back and read the whole thing. MJ has an amazing basketball IQ, I'm gonna see if he was right about LeBron's tendencies that he was talking about.

Sidenote: MJ's fiancée 
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Great read.

He thinks about the things Phil Jackson taught him. Jackson always understood him and wasn't afraid to poke around inside Jordan. Once during his ritual of handing out books for his players to read, he gave Jordan a book about gambling.
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Phil :pimp:
 
Probably one of the best articles I have read in quite some time. Amazing to see that the fire that MJ had as a player is still around even today. There will be a player that comes along that will be better than MJ ever was, post better stats then he had, and win more rings but there will never be anyone that had that drive to win like MJ did. Unreal.
 
"Back when they used to shoot a lot of commercials, Jordan's security team would wait for him in his trailer while he was on set. A woman named Linda cooked Michael's meals, and he loved cinnamon rolls. She'd bake a tray and bring it to him. When it came time to film, he'd see the guards eyeing the cinnamon rolls and he'd walk over and spit on each one, to make sure nobody took his food."

"In the late '80s, Jordan looked in Whitfield's closet and saw that half of it was filled with Nike and the other half filled with Puma. Jordan bundled the Puma gear in his arms, tossing it onto the living room floor. He took a knife from the kitchen and cut it to shreds. Call Howard White, his contact at Nike, he told Fred, and tell him to replace it all. Same thing happened with George. He bought a pair of New Balance shoes he loved, and Jordan saw them one day and insisted he hand them over. Call Howard White at Nike."

Where's that scumbag Jordan thread :rofl:
 
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A few things that stood out to me while reading...

"I remember going up to that McDonald's and getting my damn McRib. When I first got there."
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:smh:, my man scarfing down Mcribs? :lol:

"Who stole my rings? Who stole No. 5?"
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- Made me think of the puppet commercial with Lebron and Kobe.


"I like reminiscing. I do it more now watching basketball than anything. Man, I wish I was playing right now. I would give up everything now to go back and play the game of basketball."
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I know he's burnt watching dudes now :lol:


Jordan genuinely believed his father liked his older brother, Larry, more than he liked him, and he used that insecurity as motivation. He burned, and thought if he succeeded, he would demand an equal share of affection.
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Referring to Bill Cartwright as "Medical Bill" :wow: :rofl:

The part where he saw other brands of shoes around friends, then the following quote from a friend..."He demands that loyalty" (He likes that y'all come back after getting screwed release after release :lol:)

"Anywhere we go," Portnoy says, "he looks at people's feet."
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-:smokin

Yahweh? Seriously dude? :smh:


He does what he wants, when he wants. On a long trip to China in the Nike plane, he woke up just as everyone else was taking an Ambien and settling in to sleep. Didn't matter. He turned on the lights and jammed the plane's stereo. If Michael is up, the unwritten rule goes, everybody is up.
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A-hole :smh:


I don't think it really shows how much of a douche he can be. Do you really think he'd let that run? I'm sure they ran the piece by him before it went to print. It shows an inside look to some degree I guess. I still firmly believe if he was able to play, he'd shut Lebron down. He studies him for goodness sakes :smh:. What people forget is he has a distinct advantage over Lebron-intensity. You can compare stats, rings etc. but he was intense. When he played his sole purpose was to basically embarrass you at every opportunity. He felt he had to continue to prove himself despite being the best. That came out of his own insecurity. Compare that to Lebron, who grew up feeling entitled and not having that need to constantly prove himself. That part, which you can't quantify, plays heavily into how each of them play. In that sense, Mike would give Lebron fits. I always felt people miss that intangible all the time. Nice article, but he can still be a ****. He's still human, maybe as he gets older he'll reflect more and realize some of the not so nice things he's done. We all do at some point. The question is whether we come to terms with it or run from it.
 
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