Michael Jordan: A Little More Humble Than We May Have Thought?

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Michael Jordan dominated our television sets in the 1990s, winning six championships and representing excellence in the highest degree. Even after a failed attempt at baseball and an uninspiring comeback with the Washington Wizards, Jordan remains a legend on the basketball court.

Many fans feel that the man they idolized is not the same man who gave his Hall of Fame induction speech a couple months back.

In his speech, Jordan showed a that a side of him would always hold a grudge. He is a man who would use any sort of slight against him as motivation.

He had to prove you wrong.

He spent his career proving that he not only belonged, but that he was possibly the best to ever step on a basketball court. For him, there was no other way.

Many seem to feel that Jordan would be above holding grudges like that. After all, he was so good that there was really no doubting the guy even before his first retirement. The question is, did he want to prove himself as the best, just so that he knew he was the best, or did he simply want to prove his critics wrong?

We currently have a situation in the NBA, where the idea of retiring the number 23 for all NBA teams is floating around. LeBron James recently said he will wear a different number next year, out of respect for Jordan. Jordan’s response should not surprise us.

Jordan doesn’t feel that he should be singled out as the only person to have their number retired league wide. There is a whole group of players that could deserve that distinction.

Now cynics will argue that Jordan enjoys watching players wear his number and try to emulate him.  That is not what we should take away from this situation. 

Instead, we can take away that there is no doubt that Jordan knows he was a great player, but maybe he is a little more humble than we might have thought.

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