Should Michael Jordan be respected?

[cyanide]

No doubt he was a great basketball player, but let's talk about him as a human being, especially off the court.

phpBB [video]

P.S. Remember Space Jam?

[Patr1ck]

Any nice stories out there that aren't for PR?

[volsey]

He's fucking Chamillionaire. Why should I respect him?

[NovU]

Sounds pretty fucked up. Not cool.

[Nick]

I don't really care about who Michael Jordan is off the court, to be honest with you

[SkyLine03LT]

I don't really care about who Michael Jordan is off the court, to be honest with you

Same here. Besides, I don't think many people will watch a 7 minute video of some guy complaining.

[shadowgrin]

lol cyanide. Silly canadian.

If I were Michael Jordan I wouldn't give a rat's ass about Chamillionaire too.
Chamillionaire is just pissed that the other guy didn't fulfill paying the other half of that $7000 bucks.

[benji]

Wouldn't watch that video, but it's really been no secret that Jordan is an epic level asshole.

But let's get some perspective. Punching teammates, endless bullying, egomanical power struggles, all these things are really minor.

For his real capital crimes, lets talk about how he's dressed the last decade.

[shadowgrin]

For his real capital crimes, lets talk about how he's dressed the last decade.

http://wtfismikewearing.tumblr.com/

[bowdown]

II dont respect him off the court from what I know of him. There is no need to.

[Sauru]

the best always are assholes. its part of becoming the best

[Andrew]

Do any of us really know him well enough to have or lack respect for him as a person? We have fluff pieces that are intended to paint him in a positive light, which obviously need to be taken with a grain of salt. Then we have pieces intended to expose him and portray him as an irredeemable jerk; those have their own agenda, too.

I tend to think that the truth is somewhere in the middle. He's not what you'd call "evil", I think in the grand scheme of personalities and noteworthy people in history, he's more good than bad. However, there are plenty of anecdotes that suggests he can be an incredibly difficult person, as prone to moments of weakness as the rest of us.

As much as I'm a fan of his, I certainly don't agree with, condone or respect everything he's done. However, I respect his worth ethic, his determination and drive, his pursuit of excellence and dedication to his craft (on the court at any rate, his front office career is difficult to defend), which is all part of his personality. There are definitely ways we shouldn't want to "be like Mike", but I don't think that renders him unworthy of any respect as a person.