Re: Stay classy, Michael Jordan!

On Sep 12, 11:03 pm, Johnny <apte...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Jabba wrote:
On Sep 12, 2:38 pm, Johnny <apte...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Fred. wrote:

http://shar.es/13kPU
It takes natural talent and highly developed skills to
successfully hit professional pitching, but I will always
wonder whether Jordan lacked the talent or the heart to put
in the long hours of hard work required to develop those
skills to the full measure of his talent. After all, he did
not take a hiatus from basketball because of a burning
desire to satisfy a love of baseball; he took a voluntary
suspension for consorting with gamblers, so I will always
wonder if he tried hard or just shined it on until things
cooled off enough to return to the NBA.

I'm with you on the voluntary suspension thing, but you are out of
your mind to question his effort or work ethic. As his speech
demonstrates, he's one of the most competitive guys ever, and you know
it killed him that he couldn't be great at baseball too.

        Yes, that is a fact that weighs heavily in favor of lack of
that particular talent rather than lack of effort as the
answer to my wondering.

        As for being out of my mind, I find it most satisfying to
get out of my mind as often as my obligations,
responsibilities, and commitments permit, and I have made it
my lifelong career to keep those bothersome things at a bare
minimum.  The digital age has been a great help in that
endeavor.  My income is automatically deposited in my bank
account, my regularly occurring expenses are automatically
paid when due.  I use a credit or debit card for cash and
repay the credit card debt electronically when I am playing
with the internet machine so I don't have to write a check
or physically withdraw any money except pocket money -
walking around money - a couple of times a year.  I can shop
using the internet machine, buy things through it using my
credit card, and have what I buy delivered to my doorstep
with no extra charge.  I rent from a landlord who has a
staff that takes care of all repairs, maintenance, and
replacement of major appliances and fixed lighting, and
every month a bug guy comes in and sprays a little around
the edges to keep the creepy crawly critters at bay.  So I
have lots of time to get out of my mind and leave all
worries behind.

        The digital explosion is especially amazing to me.  I was
raised in poverty.  When I was born, my father was a 44 year
old lifelong alcoholic in the very poor health that would
kill him shortly after I turned 15.  He couldn't hold a job
more than 6 months at a time, and was commonly out of work
for 3-6 months in between jobs.  We moved at least once a
year and sometimes every six months, and often lived in one
room shacks with no indoor plumbing or electricity, where
our only light was a Coleman lantern hanging from the middle
of the ceiling.  We would joke about the afterglow of the
sock allowing whoever turned off the gas to beat the light
to bed. I never saw a TV until I was 13, and never owned one
until after I got out of the Navy.  We got our first
telephone about the same time as TV came to our area.  It
had no dial or pushbuttons.  To make a call, you picked up
the handset and a live operator answered, asked for what
number you wanted to call, and she connected you.  We only
had that in just one place where we lived for about a year -
but I still remember our number: 246-J.  Odd, but despite my
lack of experience with telephones and electrical and
electronic machines, I became an Interior Communications
Electrician in the Navy and was responsible for telephones
and many kinds of electronic apparatuses.

        Well, as my babbling on and on must tell you, I am out of
mind right now.

As for the take on his speech, so what else is new?  <shrug>

I don't know where I've been (oh yeah, I only come out when
SuperDexterFisher does well, but anyway), but I missed the whole
Jordan's comeback was due to Byron Russell. You think Stockton and
Malone took Russell out behind the woodshed after hearing that story?

--
jabba
citizen of the empire

  They may have figured that Jordan's punking him was lesson
enough.

Ok, ok, I hear you on the out of your mind, and I fully support you in
your right to be, go and sometimes come back from there.

--
jabba
citizen of the empire
.

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