“I Never Watched NBA Sports at All When I Grew Up..”: Emotional Michael Jordan Made an Honest Admission on His Struggles, During His Hall of Fame Speech in 2009

Published 11/03/2022, 1:50 PM EDT
Michael Jordan is one of those names that every kid could recognize just by hearing it. Probably considered the greatest ever to play the sport of basketball, many even think of him as the greatest athlete of all time. He was one of the most admired and richest stars of all time. Michael Jordan engaged in a contract with Nike and created a legacy with his Jordan brand. He was also responsible for single-handedly making NBA a global phenomenon.
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However, the achievements and glories came at the expense of being the best every single day in his career. Michael Jordan went on to explain how he ignited the fire inside him to become the best in the world.
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Incidents that brought out the best of Michael Jordan
In the year of 1982, Michael Jordan was an unknown teenager who used to write letters to his mom asking for money. But from that time, he had high expectations of himself and always used to question how the other players were better than him. His unreal work ethic and focus towards the game from the beginning helped him achieve all the achievements.
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He recalled how he was unsatisfied with his coach Dean Smith. Mr. Smith picked up Leroy Smith, a player from Jordan’s university, for the university ahead of Jordan. MJ kept questioning why what was the reason for not picking him up. This incident actually started to ignite the fire in him.
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Michael Jordan, forward for the Chicago Bulls, holding a basketball in the locker room. | Credits: Getty Images
When Jordan first met Peterson, he knew Peterson as a kid from Ashville, North Carolina, who was the Player of the Year. Jordan immediately started thinking about how he became Player of the Year without even playing against Jordan. Different thoughts came to his mind. He started to stress about whether it was any kind of media exposure or something that made Peterson the Player of the Year.
In regard to this matter, he said, “I never watched NBA sports at all when I grew up..” He quoted this as he didn’t have news of the NBA while growing up in North Carolina. So he thought he was unaware of the fact of Buzz Peterson due to not growing up watching the NBA.
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But whatever, Michael Jordan took Buzz Peterson as his focal point. The competitive nature of Jordan made him think that Peterson was not a better player than him. And eventually, all these incidents ignited the fire inside Jordan, pulling the best out of him.