Michael Jordan: I Don't Want To Say Goodbye

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Michael Jordan: I Don’t Want to Say Goodbye

September 11, 2009

I watched the Basketball Hall of Fame induct Michael Jordan, David Robinson & John Stockton tonight as many of you did. It was a great reminder of the era in which I grew up in watching the game. I miss the days of old when things were different and dare I say better. I now understand what my parents must have felt seeing some of the sports stars of their day, land on earth as mortals and end their careers in similar fashions.

David Robinson is such a great man. You forget about how wonderful he is and all that he has done for the game and the community. He is truly an example of man, that all of today's youth should strive to be. A class act through and through who served his country and even more importantly, served God through his actions and words. We need more men like David Robinson, not only in sports but also in the world. 

John Stockton was also a class act and someone who played with a ton of passion. He ranks at the top of the list in a few categories and remained humble, and at times funny, during his acceptance speech. He was an assist machine and some say the most perfect point guard of all time. I enjoyed watching him play throughout his career. Stockton to Malone was the Montana to Rice of Basketball.

Coaches Sloane and Stringer were also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Both had very interesting stories and I’m sure we all learned a lot from both of them. They come from a different time when things were hard. People lived a much harder life back then and yet, they never complained. It reminds me of the famous DH Lawrence poem called “Self Pity” where he stats “ I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough, without ever having felt sorry for itself”. No matter what the obstacle or level of pain, our roots were planted by people who never complained. Although their lives were much harder then the cake walk we have today, they endured.

All four of these tremendous people truly deserved the accolades bestowed upon them. But the night belonged to Michael Jordan. Even MJ’s fellow inductees knew that and yet handled themselves with grace. Imagine having one of the greatest moments of your life overshadowed by arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. I applaud their ability to share such a moment of individual recognition with each other.

To put it quite simply, Michael Jordan is the reason I began to play and follow basketball. There isn’t much I can say about the man that you don’t already know. He was overwhelmed with emotion as he approached the podium tonight and even shed some tears. He talked briefly about his life and career and said thank you to those who have helped him along the way. I wish I could say thank you back to him for all of the memories he has given me and all of the joy I had from watching him play. Basketball fans followed his whole career and life, since he was basically under a microscope. And because of that, we all felt like we knew him personally. We all rooted for him to do well. How could you not? We saw him hugging that first championship trophy crying like a child and we saw him collapse in the locker room after winning another championship on father’s day, right after his dad had died. It made us all look within ourselves and ask what it was that we felt that passionately about. What was it that we loved that much.

Michael Jordan may not have had the same social impact of a Jackie Robinson or Arthur Ashe but it doesn’t mean his impact had any less of a punch. We saw and felt his sincere love for the game. It was pure. He even hinted at returning to the game at fifty years old tonight. How serious he was can be up for debate. Even in the end, on a day when he was supposed to be honored forever, for his body of work, Michael Jordan still couldn’t say goodbye. And I realized that deep down inside, I didn’t want to say goodbye either.

Congratulations to all of the 2009 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees!

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?