Matila, Ray Jezreel T.

Comm 1-A
2014-68088 Ins. Jasmin Bayquen

Michael Jordan – An Inspirational Story!

We, Filipinos, are known for being ultimate, die-hard fans of sports. Whether local or

international, basketball or boxing, billiards or bowling, football or wrestling, name it, a Filipino

would definitely know something about it. I, for one, am an avid follower of basketball, the

National Basketball Association or NBA at that. And when one mentions the NBA, s/he should

definitely know of a certain someone named Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

As a student of the game, I make sure to always do my research and find ways to improve

mine and one way of doing that is to watch some of the greatest of all time to ever play it play. In

the discussion of the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), names like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James,

Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Wilt Chamberlain would always come out, but on top of all of

them, sitting pretty on his throne is Michael Jordan. Most of the following story about the earlier

stages of Michael Jordan’s life are borrowed from ESPN documentaries, interviews, and

personal stories about him and the rest are from personal memory of watching his games and

interviews. So! Who was Michael Jordan anyway?

A Star is Born

Born in Brooklyn on February 17th, 1963, Michael Jeffrey Jordan is fourth of five

children. His parents James Jordan and Dolores Jordan brought their family back to their native

hometown in North Carolina when he was still a toddler. Hence Michael’s eventual love for his

hometown. As a growing kid, he would be opened to the issues of racism surrounding him

because of his African-American descent which would then be de-flamed early by his parents.
Michael idolized and loved his parents. He loved doing energetic activities, engaged in sports

and was a very confident and competitive kid. He would always have the perseverance to

overcome his opponents whoever they may be, however younger or older they may come, and

his ultimate favorite would be his brother, Larry Jordan. Larry introduced the game of basketball

to Michael and would always win against him in one-on-one battles until Michael would

eventually jump over the hump and beat his older brother. He said, “I grew up playing against

my brother, and that’s the best way you can learn competition. Once you feel like you could beat

your brother, you can beat anybody.” Thus, his love for the game coupled with his extreme

competitive spirit launched into this world a star in the making.

Jordan fails to make the Team

However, he would experience the worst kind of rejection in his life during his

sophomore year at Laney High School, North Carolina when he was cut from the high school

basketball varsity team. With the height of 5’9”, his high school coach, Fred Lynch from the

ESPN documentary said that at the time, Jordan was the best shooting guard in that tryouts, but

they just weren’t looking for another guard. Jordan took it to himself as a challenge more than a

doubt of his skills and rose to the occasion. The next year, he stood at 6’3”, and joined the varsity

and by the end of that season, he became one of the top prospects for the colleges in the state.

College Glory

Michael Jordan would eventually go to the only college he wanted to go to, the

University of North Carolina. He stood at 6’5” in college and faced tougher challenges as the

road to glory seemed to only favor the people who work hard for it. Jordan’s real road to fame

and glory started in the 1982 NCAA championship final against Georgetown. With his team

down 1, Jordan was given the opportunity to hit the game winning shot and he calmly delivered
and brought the University of North Carolina the championship trophy. It would signal the start

of Jordan’s career as the finisher and/or closer of games in crunch time, playing and finishing

games in a dominant fashion. He would ravage through college winning individual and team

awards. After representing the United States in the Olympics in ’84, Jordan decided to call it

quits to college basketball and continue on to play in the pros.

Getting Drafted

Jordan would enter the legendary 1984 draft as one of the favorites at the top picks or the

lottery. He would however be picked at 3rd by the Chicago Bulls, right after Hall of Famer

Center, Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets at 1st and Sam Bowie of the Portland

Trailblazers at 2nd. The Chicago Bulls was at the midst of a rebuilding phase during this time and

Michael Jordan was the perfect piece in the puzzle. His athleticism coined him the nicknames

“Captain Marvel” and “Air Jordan” as he seemed to fly through the air, with the latter as his

preferred one. He won Rookie of the Year that season and led the Bulls to its first playoff run

after a 4-year drought. In addition, he would win a total of 10 scoring titles including 7 straight,

Defensive Player of the Year award, 3 All Star game MVPs, and Slam Dunk champion back-to-

back.

Setbacks and Solutions

But Michael Jordan was not content with these personal awards, he wanted something

more, something that of a team accomplishment–a championship. However, this quest would be

delayed by a couple of years because of Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and Larry Bird’s

Celtics of the 80s and with the late spurt of dominance by the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons, who

beat him up in their series and won the NBA championship in the last two years of the decade.

Jordan was also yet to have a teammate whom he could trust to ease the scoring load off of him.
He also needed a system that does not heavily focuses on him so as to not have defenses focusing

on him, solely, as well. Enter the draft of Scottie Pippen, a raw talent out of Arkansas and Horace

Grant, a solid big man who plays good on both sides of the court and the trade of John Paxson, a

sharpshooter point guard and finally, the promotion of assistant coach Phil Jackson as head

coach of the Chicago Bulls paved the way to the next chapter of Jordan’s life.

A Champion! At last!

By the turn of the decade in 1991, the Chicago Bulls are rearing for revenge against their

rivals, Pistons who had literally beaten them up and eliminated them for three consecutive years

in the playoffs. But this time it was different, the Bulls had the guns, they had the system, and

they had the right mindset coming into the series against them. The onslaught that the Bulls

would give to the Detroit Pistons in their fourth meeting in a row would have the latter leave the

court mid-game after a humiliating 4-0 sweep in the series. The end of an era and a beginning of

a new one took place after that infamous walk-off. Jordan and the Bulls advanced to the NBA

Finals and never let go of the chance to win it all even after a surprise defeat in Game 1 to the

Magic Johnson led Lakers. The Bulls would close out the series 4-1 with Michael Jordan

receiving the Most Valuable Player award, the one he wanted the most. After that, the Bulls

would never relinquish control of basket

all dominance and would go on to win another two titles, a three-peat, all of which Michael

Jordan was the Finals MVP, a feat that was last seen in the 1960s Celtics of Bill Russell. All was

well and good until that fateful day when Jordan’s dad, James Jordan, his idol, his inspiration,

was murdered by two teenage boys, one sunny morning.

Death of an idol

Michael Jordan took the loss deeply and rightfully so and decided to quit the game of
basketball for good and switched to the sport, baseball, which was what his father wanted him to

try and do. Jordan joined the MLB and sucked at it, he was just not trained to be a batter or a

pitcher or as a midfielder, etc., he was, in other words, still sulking at the loss of his inspiration to

continue on with living and was not really into it and in the end discovered that it was really not

his heart’s desire.

The Return

After a year and a half leave from the game he truly loved, Jordan once again suited up to

play basketball for the Bulls to the delight of the millions of fans around the world. He came up

late for the ’95 season and was not in basketball shape and the proper chemistry with his

teammates and lost in the second round in the playoffs. Jordan couldn’t wait to get back to his

original form the next season to avenge his squad, and with the addition of rebounding Hall of

Famer Dennis Rodman, the Chicago Bulls was again rejuvenated and went on to play the 1995-

96 historic season where they won 72 games and lost only 10 games, a record that stood until the

Golden State Warriors beat it last 2015-16 season. The Bulls would again advance to the Finals

after sweeping the team who beat them last year and win another world title with Jordan

regaining his spot as the best to ever play after retirement, a feat no one has ever done before and

up to this day. Following that historic season, two more championships were added to his bag

and again, all of which Michael Jordan was the Most Valuable Player.

One final shot

In his final year with the Bulls during the 1997-98 season, Jordan would leave the perfect

ending to a wonderfully built career he had in Chicago. In a yet another NBA Finals stint, this

time in a rematch against Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz, during the dying seconds of the game,

with about 20 seconds left on the clock, the Jazz with a 1-pt lead, Jordan steals the ball from Karl
down on the post and delivers an eternal memory to all of those who watched it as Jordan hits a

midrange dagger to the heart of the Jazz and the fans in their arena to clinch his sixth and final

championship as an NBA player.

Lasting Legacy

The shot was reminiscent of the shot that jumpstarted his career in the University of

North Carolina. A fitting ending to a stellar career marked by ups and downs, struggles, setbacks,

pain, eventual overcoming, and finally, greatness and immortality. Overall, Jordan finished his

career with 6 Finals wins with 0 losses, 6-time NBA Finals MVP, 5-time season MVP, 14-time

All-Star selection, 3-time Steals leader, 10-time scoring champion, back-to-back Slam Dunk

Contest Champion, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and a Naismith Hall of

Fame induction to cap all of the awards not mentioned here.

Bidding Farewell

Michael Jordan will surely leave something behind for me, as a student of the game that I

am. His competitive spirit, will to win, drive to succeed and demeanor to face challenges in life

inspires me to be the best that I can be in any situation. I hope, as I leave this story here, I am

also able to inspire others by the way I wrote the life story of my inspiration and model of

excellence in the sports that I am playing in and in the court or field called life.
References:

ESPN Basketball Documentary – Michael Jordan. Directed by Michael Husain. United States.

ESPN Films. 2013.

Online Sources

ESPN. NBA: Game Logs. 2003. Accessed Dec. 2, 2018.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/1035/michael-jordan

Basketball Reference. Michael Jordan. 2018. Accessed Dec.2, 2018

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.ht