48 Comments:
Blogger Cortez said...
This probably goes without saying but I thought that Jordan speech was great.

He certainly didn't fuck around with the niceties, did he?

Blogger chris said...
Bawful, I bow down to your excellence, yet again. :D

Blogger ChrisH said...
His speech was awesome, as is this interpretation of it. In 15 years Kobe will try to do the same thing, that will be sad.

Blogger chris said...
ChrisH: I will facepalm so hard in 15 years if Kobe attempts to refer back to a certain Shaq rap.

Blogger Japes said...
I agree with Cortez, he didn't try to sugarcoat anything. Instead of the typical, I thank God, I thank my family, etc... that we always hear, he just went up there said it like it is. Some people might not like it, but that was Jordan uncut, haha. I find it kinda funny that even after all these years, he still remembers how personally he took it when Russell said he could guard him.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
bawful, u r losing your touch....months back, ur posts really cracked me up, but now i think ur writing charm died off in the middle of livin' large :( ....

Blogger Trino said...
I'm all for honesty and openness in these kinds of events, but I think Jordan could have gotten his point across without throwing so many people under the bus. I mean, did he really have to invite the guy who got picked over him in high school just to throw his success in the face of his former high school coach? And don't forget the "sucks to be you" he gave to his kids. Gee, thanks dad. That's so nice of you to say.

It's sort of sad when a man who has accomplished so much in the public eye still feels the need to dig up past offenses.

It did make for some great entertainment, though. :-)

Blogger David Landon said...
I really think MJ's foray into being a team executive was at least partly motivated by a desire to beat Jerry Krause at his own game. In the executive arena, though, Crumbs is the MJ-type alpha dog and Jordan is Stacey King. A list of his draft picks (Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison) looks like an NBA All-Vagina team.

If the Bobcats really want to be successful, they should make him a consultant and do the opposite of whatever he says.

Anonymous AK Dave said...
This MJ speech is like the Sarah Palin Katy Couric interview. You didn't even have to change the words- it's comedy on it's own.

Best part was when he told his kids "I wouldn't want to be you." Yeah, thanks, pop.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Bawful- You forgot to mention Jordan throwing his own kids under the bus ;-)

Blogger CassavaLeaf.com said...
Byron Russell still can't catch a break lol

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Damnit, like a cherry on top, the best part was (unintentionally?) using the MJ speech bubble to block the guy next to him.

Later, bitches.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yeah, let's all preemptively hate on Kobe.

Kobe is such a lame-o trying to be like the greatest player ever. Why does he even try?

Kobe is such a copy-catter.

Lebron is already 10 times greater than Kobe will ever be even though he hasn't won a ring or really done anything period.

good job Chris's. It's good to know people still bring up Kobe's name even though he wasn't mentioned anywhere in the post.

Blogger DocZeus said...
Michael's speech was the basketball equivalent of "The Takeover"

And I'll admit I've always wanted to win a major award and only thank myself for being awesome.

Blogger chris said...
BTW, "Organization" has an "I" in it, which I'm surprised Jordan didn't jump on at the first opportunity.

Anonymous Lucas said...
I guess the lesson is, if you're going to be an asshole, you should try and be a famous asshole, because everyone and their mother will defend virtually anything you do or say. Thank you for not being one of those people, Mr. Bawful

The Bryon Russell part did for me. Now people are looking at me strange cause I was laughing so har... good one, sir...

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Fishinastorm -- Well, sorry the continuing adventures of this blog aren't doing it for you. Just know that your criticism lights the will of my fire and one day I will be forced to destroy you, MJ-style.

Anonymous -- Crap, you're right! I originally intended to use one of the last four panels for Jordan's kids but forgot. My bad.

AnacondaHL -- That was totally intentional, which is why that's the only frame where I used two speech bubbles. I meant to do it the second time I used that pic too, but of course I forgot.

DocZeus -- It was a glorious example of wanton, unapologetic superdickery. The evil side of me loved it.

Lucas -- You're welcome. We don't sugarcoat things here.

Blogger Trino said...
On another note: Considering the recent actions of Kanye West and Serena Williams, it was a weekend chock-full of superdickery.

Anonymous john stockton said...
Did he thank Bavetta and David Stern for that game 6 in 98 ?

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Did I catch a Fright Night reference in there, or am I just being silly?

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Yams -- Well spotted, sir! I honestly didn't think ANYbody would catch that one.

Blogger chris said...
Bawful: I'd call this a heel turn, except considering the life and times of MJ as an "executive," and his money management skills that led him to Retirement #1...I think the whole weekend was a massive debutante ball on par with Starbury's live video streaming rants.

As for your response to Anonymous...well, that's clearly about as much attention as His Airness pays his own offspring, isn't it?

Blogger Fowill said...
When viewed with a mindset skewed toward professional wrestling, this speech constitutes one of the greatest heel-turns of all time. I fully expect "Hollywood" Jordan to run wild over the NBA this upcoming season.

Anonymous Arlen said...
ah, fright night is awesome

BTW, perhaps this will inspire some footbawfulness on its own:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/buf/gallery/im:urn:newsml:sports.yahoo,ap:20050301:nfl,photo,2219f30a4faa4ac3806967236f51844a.patriots_football_mass108:1#photoViewer=urn%3Anewsml%3Asports.yahoo%2Cap%3A20050301%3Anfl%2Cphoto%2C4af95581d037428e88fa09f142fef1b3.patriots_football_mass107%3A1

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Mr. Bawful - It's a somewhat embarrassing admission on my part I suppose, but I've seen that movie dozens of times (at least). To say I'm a fan of Fright Night is putting it mildly, so I daresay that few references to it, no matter how subtle, will go past me unnoticed :) I will say though, that it took me a shocking number of viewings to realize that the movie takes place in Iowa...

Blogger Cortez said...
"To say I'm a fan of Fright Night..."

Fright Night > Underworld.

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Okay, I also have to confess that I'm a big Fright Night fan. So much so that several years ago, back before you could find anything over the Internet, I paid a lot of money to import a copy of the soundtrack from Europe.

It was classic vampire goodness from back before vampires became lame. These days, they can walk around in daylight and go to high school and have no weaknesses. Basically, they're Superman with a pale complexion. Meh.

My favorite scene in Fright Night was when Dandridge confronted Charlie and gave him what was really a pretty generous (and seemingly sincere) offer: Forget about me, and I'll forget about you.

Of course, Charlie, like the idiot he was, refused. Fool.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Cortez - In my mind it's not even close. Underworld is a decent movie, but Fright Night holds a very special place in my heart.

Mr. Bawful - I too am one of the deranged people who spent endless hours and blew countless riches on not only the soundtrack to Fright Night, but to the Brad Fiedel score as well. You're totally right about that scene in Charlie's room though. When I was a kid I never realized how generous Jerry Dandridge was there, but as an adult I gotta say, he seems like a pretty nice and affable guy (except for the whole beheading prostitutes thing).

A year ago I found out about this the morning after it happened, and I'm still pissed I didn't know about it sooner :(

Blogger AnacondaHL said...
Nice ninja edit on the last pic ;)

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Yams -- I don't know what CD or CDs you got, but I have a combo CD with the soundtrack and Fiedel score. Because I had to have both the vocal and instrumental versions of "Come To Me."

Dude, I'm pissed FOR you. That would have been very cool.

AnacondaHL -- Wha, huh, wha...?! I don't know what you're talking about. ;)

Blogger Basketbawful said...
Arlen -- By the way...that is a funny pic.

Anonymous tabman said...
loved it bawful (your cartoon). just wish it was longer! btw, your cartoons may be my favorite part of the site. keep 'em coming!

Blogger Japes said...
"Fright Night > Underworld."

While this is true, it goes without saying that:

Kate Beckinsale >>>> Marcy

I think half of what made Underworld good is the fact that you see Kate Beckinsale in spandex for almost 2 hours.

Blogger Wild Yams said...
Mr. Bawful - Yeah, that's the same disc I've got, and I got it for the exact same reason. I've got tons of movie soundtracks, and in there I've got a couple other similarly cheesy ones from the mid 80s (Teen Wolf & another Brad Fiedel gem, Terminator among them).

I was mainly pissed about missing that event I linked to above because Stephen "Evil Ed" Geoffreys was there. Since the guy went on to apparently have a long career in gay porn, I was curious as hell to see what kind of questions a room full of Fright Night nerds might ask him. Plus, seeing the movie on the big screen would be a treat :)

Japes - Spandex nothing, she was wearing skin tight vinyl in that movie. You gotta love clothing that needs to be washed with Windex :)

Blogger Japes said...
My bad, you are correct Mr Yams. Skin tight vinyl is even better.

http://chockblock.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/kate-beckinsale-underworld-evolution.jpg

Anonymous Axe Head said...
I'll tell ya why Jordan laughed and smirked through the whole thing. Because more than he loved the game, he loved crushing the people in his way, so Leroy Smith, Bryon Russell, et al, were fond memories for him.

Anonymous Ruben said...
I was very happy to read this and By The Horns and see that you didn't pussy out on the issue. Not that I expected you to, but still. It's exactly why I love this site because noone is safe, and judging by the comments so far, you seem to be getting away with it (apart from the one Kobe troll). Nice work on doing the basketball version of what Stephen Colbert, Eric Cartman and Charles Barkley do. (although on this issue I somehow don't think Barkley would call Jordan's speech "turrible"...)

And thanks for making me feel left out with these old school movie references. I remember something about you making a list of movies/shows that a basketbawful reader should know to fully appreciate all the references. Today's comments section was like a straight man watching project runway.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yams - Windex nothing. The only washing she's getting is a cat-bath from me.

Anonymous EstDude said...
Hey Bawful, how about some bawfulness in ongoing Euro 2009? $56m-man Hedo Turkoglu layed bricks all over the court tonight, shooting 1 of 16, but team Turkey still managed to carve out a win in overtime. Good night and good luck to everyone (especially in Toronto).

http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/cid_toT,ovGDH2EaLKL67XnPo2.gameID_6366-F-6-2.compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2009.roundID_6366.teamID_.html#{5E70D78D-E480-4F66-9B60-839D032EE21A}

Anonymous kazam92 said...
I know its Jordan but I was still a bit surprised at how condescending he was. The player never was CLOSE to resembling the person

Anonymous kazam92 said...
Completely unrelated but


Oh. My. God.

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/61583/20090914/ostertag_looking_to_make_nba_comeback/

Anonymous Arlen said...
I never actually knew fright night was so popular

And, I'm not the type to usually point out something along these lines, but goddamnit Jordan's daughter is finnnne

Blogger dzupiris said...

Blogger CassavaLeaf.com said...
Mike Jordan looks like that Louis CK bit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSbpyxFC24k

Blogger CassavaLeaf.com said...
Jordan's daughter is 16

Anonymous poker rakeback said...
I have really enjoyed watching Jordan over the years, but was disappointed that he appeared so bitter in this speech. I would have thought with all of his accomplishments, he would have let go of such trivial things.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
the jordan speech was okay, have to watch it a couple of times to appreciate it, and also realize that no one is perfect. Read this blog: http://benhinson.blogspot.com/2009/09/michael-jordans-hall-of-fame-speech.html