Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame Speech: Raw and Uncut

As he stood in front of that crowd Friday evening Michael Jordan, the final inductee, the closing act, the main attraction, stood, wiping tears from his face, barely able to look over the crowd. He stuttered a bit to begin his speech, kept looking down, clearly emotional.

Critics have already been slamming Jordan since his speech, as they were prior to the induction ceremony. Many believed he should have chosen a Chicago Bull teammate (not Rodman of course) or perhaps Dean Smith, his coach at North Carolina, to introduce him. They've (critics) have picked him apart for years, his every move, every little piece of dirt, for a man that was more popular around the world at one time than any political leader ever has been.

Jordan was basketball in the eighties and nineties. He was also tormented. The man was under so much scrutiny early in his career that he developed a huge chip on his shoulder. The Chicago Bulls weren't winners before Jordan joined them. They were awful. Michael scored and defended and played his heart out all those years and listened to the critics. He's a ball hog. He's not Magic Johnson. He can't win the big one.

He eventually proved them wrong. While Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant and many others were apart and even essential to their success in the nineties, the Bulls never could have won without Michael. Take any of the players that he played with away and the result would likely have been the same; six championships in eight years.

There are of course defining moments in a person's life when they stand back after the wake of a career and a life and they reflect on what brought them to that point. And while that person may smile and remember the good, they are also likely to remember the hard times, the dark times and what fueled them to push through the muck that life has to offer. While everyone in the world could criticize Michael Jordan as being blessed with an extraordinary talent and consider him to be lucky, they of course are looking from the outside.

So when Jordan stepped onto that stage Friday night in front of that enormous crowd and in front of millions of viewers, Jordan decided to go one way with his speech; raw and uncut. He didn't pick the sexy choice to introduce him at the ceremony although everyone wanted him to. They would have loved for him to choose Scottie Pippen or Dean Smith or James Worthy. He chose, for reasons he kept to himself, David Thompson.

That was only the beginning.

He first acknowledged Scottie Pippen for always being there during his success with the Bulls. Then he quickly covered ground by thanking Dean Smith and a few other coaches. Then he got going. He told the world during his Hall of Fame speech not of all the glorious moments of a storied career, but of how he pushed through the muck and the gunk and came out on top. He told of how he was competitive, how the choices of others fueled him to be better, how he refused to let anything stop him. He called out his high school coach for not choosing him for varsity and how it only made him more determined to prove him wrong. He told of how Bryon Russell taunted him during his brief retirement in ninety four and how he wanted to show him what was what. He wasn't bitter, although some could take it that way. He was honest and direct with how he felt. He told the world what drove him to be the best, not what they wanted to hear.

Jordan told his story. He did it without apologies or regret. Only Michael knew what it was like going through the stages of his career, fighting his inner demons and his battles both on and off the court. He shared with the world not a story of bitterness or regret, but a story of survival and success. He did overcome obstacles and he let the naysayers and the Bulls upper management and his competitors fuel his desire to win. And he gave them credit, all those who tried to knock him down. He stood there on that stage and smiled, told the story of how he was inspired by the things they did, the words they spoke, how he turned those negatives into a pure desire to win.

In his closing remarks he said that the enshrinement into the Hall of Fame wasn't the end of the road for his relationship with basketball, but a continuation. He said for us not to be surprised if we see him out there someday, fifty years old, competing again. The crowd laughed at him. Don't laugh, he said. "Never say never. Because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion. Thank you very much."

And he walked off the stage with his friend, David Thompson, and went to his family, perhaps in the most poetic of forms. Through all the success, trials and tribulations, in the end it is only family and true friends that are there, purely and simply, without expectations or wants, just there.

Whether or not Jordan said what the world wanted to hear or not does not change the fact that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. And whether the world wants him to or not, Michael Jordan may indeed lace up his shoes once again, to take to the court, fueled still by the naysayers and doubters, turning that into a desire to overcome and win.