Originally posted by LA9erFan:
Originally posted by dobophile:
What a jerk.
LOL. I was wondering what the reaction to him would be from people for that. I'd guess that overall they'd eat it up simply because he's MJ.
I know this might be hard for people to believe, but MJ is everything I like about sports. He was born with insane God-given abilities and milked every last ounce out of them. I have tremendous respect for people who do that in or out of sports. He was also as competitive as they come, and wanted to rip his opponent's hearts out. That's all I really care about when watching sports. I want to watch world class athletes battle to the proverbial death while getting the most out of their abilities. He was all of that. I don't give a rat's ass if he's a swell guy off of the court, or if he cheats on his wife, or gambles, or any of that. The whole Mike Vick/Terrell Owens/Plaxico Burress soap opera crap is completely uninteresting to me, although it's everywhere.
My irritation about him has always been because of people's reaction to him, and making him out to be something that he wasn't on or off the court. He's on the beneficial side of a double standard.
He was just lucky enough to play before the interwebz. Had he started his career 20 years later, I think he'd be more polarizing.
I don't think the NBA should retire his number, and I think that idea is retarded.
I DO like that he was so often motivated to better himself.
I DON'T like that he brought up every single person that ever wronged him. We get it, you won.
My girlfriend was asking why everyone was laughing at his jokes (also, why I was making her watch it). I just told her it was because he was the richest guy in the room. You always laugh at the richest guy in the room.
I thought Stockton's speech was genuinely funny, and Sloan reminded me of John Kerry (boring!). No wonder he's been successful, he's a god-damn robot!