Leave Your Legacy

You don’t need to be a basketball fan to learn a few valuable lessons from the speeches that Michael Jordan and David Robinson made during the NBA Hall of Fame inductions on September 10.

While Michael Jordan is known as the greatest player of all time, not as many people may be familiar with David Robinson. A former San Antonio Spur, Robinson is best known for leading his team to two championships, dominating the league as a ‘big man’, and donating $9 million dollars to the building of a private academy for less-fortunate children. While Jordan and Robinson share many similarities as successful, revolutionary, and highly-respected former players, the speeches they delivered at their inductions were nothing alike.

Although the words Jordan spoke were sincere and moving, two foundational aspects of his speech were rather disturbing: firstly, how he spoke about the game of basketball and secondly, who his speech revolved around.

Jordan closed his speech by saying, “the game of basketball has been everything to me…my refuge, my place I’ve always gone when I needed to find comfort and peace. It’s been a source of intense pain, and a source of the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It’s been a relationship that has evolved over time.”

The way in which Jordan speaks about the game of basketball is troubling. I found it interesting and slightly disturbing that the way he described basketball is the way I feel about Christ. I was deeply saddened that the greatest basketball player in NBA history has filled God’s place in his life with a game.

Jordan’s continuous focus on his own achievements and abilities was the other startling aspect of his speech. Though he thanked many people for their support and input in his life, Jordan always steered his words back toward his own accomplishments and his status as the best player of all time. His speech was overwhelmingly self-centered and this made me question the legacy he leaves.

On the other hand, Robinson spent the entirety of his speech thanking and recognizing those who had invested in his life. He spoke directly to each one of his family members, expressing his joy in them and publicly recognizing their positive qualities. He then thanked his wife for standing by him and being ‘a rock for him to lean on’. His relationship with his wife stood as a testimony to the life of a basketball player who had his priorities straight. It also provided a stark contrast to the noticeably absent ex-wife of Michael Jordan. Once one considers the way Jordan so tenderly spoke about basketball, however, it is no surprise that his marriage ended in divorce.

Unlike Jordan’s speech, Robinson’s words were clothed in humility, and he spoke little of himself. Though, like Jordan, Robinson provided an emotional close to his speech, he acknowledged his source of joy and refuge comes from the God who sustain and upholds him, not a sport.

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