May 16, 2020: Zoning In

If there’s anything people have learned, it’s just how focused Jordan was. As with most things we’ve seen, this was not a surprise. I do love the levels, the different ways he motivated himself. That’s a lot… hard to fathom… trying to find ways to motivate yourself daily to be the absolute best you can be; keeping that fire burning intensely at all times. I guess that’s why there’s only one…

Couple things I wanted to zone in on today. The first is when it comes to his shoes and all the endorsement dollars he made. Jordan said something that was very important. If he was averaging 2 points and 3 rebounds a game, none of that would have happened. All the money he made off the court was because of his accomplishments ON the court. Without that, there would be nothing. That’s something I think today’s players lose sight of. Players want to manage their self image, promote themselves with this and that; nothing wrong with that. But let’s just remember, it’s what you do on the court, or on the field, that opens all these other doors. If that goes away, everything else slowly will too. I think of guys like Antonio Brown; the only reason you’ve done all this stuff outside of football is because of football. Once you’re not playing any longer, watch out. People shouldn’t forget that. Folks needs to stay focused on their bread and butter. Only then, will all these different types of opportunities will come along.

Speaking about zoning in, one example of that we saw in episode 5 was when he wore his original Air Jordans in his last regular season game in New York. They were uncomfortable; his feet were bleeding. Yet, he still had an awesome game. The ability to focus, and raise your level of focus when things are not ideal, was another skill that MJ had in his arsenal. The best example that comes to mind is the Flu Game; I’m sure we’ll see this in the last 2 episodes. But there were all those big moments, the postseason runs, the end of games, crunch time; that is when this star shined the brightest. It wasn’t just then either. Something else that most folks outside of Chicago won’t know is how many times from season to season that we heard Jordan wasn’t feeling well before the game. I’d be driving, listening to sports radio, and they would say “Jordan feeling a little ill during practice earlier today”. Your first reaction would be; uh oh… the Bulls could be in trouble tonight. I don’t know if this was to throw off the gamblers or what. But smart money knew, the other team was in trouble. It never failed; when Jordan was “sick” he raised his level of play. Nothing would distract him… no sickness, no flu, no food poisoning, no throbbing bloody feet, not being up all night playing cards, not playing golf all day. The great ones have that ability to raise the level of focus, and really zone in on your game when the situation is not ideal; they have that knack for playing their best when the stakes were highest. Nobody was better at that than Jordan.

Yeah, I think I’m going to finish re-watching episodes 6-8. I’ll write one more about that, and then I’ll be ready for the grand finale. Back to the DVR…