“Nike’s expectation when we signed the deal was, at the end of year four, they hoped to sell $3 million worth of Air Jordans,” says David Falk, Michael Jordan’s agent. “In year one, we sold $126 million.”
Just one of the revelations from The Last Dance (2020), the Neflix documentary focused on Michael Jordan’s hugely eventful, and highly successful, time at the Chicago Bulls. I just had to quote this show again, even after my recent post.
My high school coach George Fox used to tell me to never take my talent for granted.
“You’re special, Earvin,” Fox used to say. “But you can’t stop working hard. Just remember there’s someone out there who is just as talented as you, and he’s working just as hard. maybe even harder.
When Coach Fox told me those things I’d nod my head, but in my mind i was thinking, “I’d like to meet this guy because i haven’t seen him.” Truthfully? I wasn’t sure anyone like that existed.
That changed the day in 1978 when I walked into a gym in Lexington, Kentucky, and met Larry Bird for the first time.
As said by Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the brilliant biography When the Game was Ours. Written by Johnson, Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan, it is filled with insight and anecdotes of the engrossing rivalry between the two stars of the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics that peaked in the 1980s.
I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
Michael Jordan (1963 – )
Alex Raphael 