For The Love Of The Game Essay, Research Paper
For The Love of
The Game by Michael Jordan
Everyone has a hero. Every kid has a dream, and if you ask 10 kids what
their dreams are and who their hero is, more than half of them would say Michael Jordan. He is a true role model not just for little kids, but for everyone around the world. I have read Michael Jordan?s latest biography called For the Love of the Game, and it was the best autobiography or any book period about an athlete I have ever read.
In the book Jordan describes what it is like being a true champion. He tells what it was like to go through the hard times, and the glory days as well. He is known as one if not the best, basketball players to ever walk the face of the earth. I like the part in the book where Jordan was telling how he got cut from the J.V. basketball team, and then he worked hard and now he is known as the greatest of all-time. He worked hard shooting in his driveway, in the cold, and at the play ground. Reading this book has made me realize that if you do hard, in the long run it will pay off. I have watched basketball games, and every time I watch Jordan, I watch in amazement. Now I know why and how he is such a great player.
People look at sports and don?t realize how much of the game is mental. Jordan not only is a great athlete and basketball player, but he is one if not the smartest player in the game too. He knows how to get in player?s heads, and distract them for their game plan.
One of the saddest parts in the book was when he was telling about how Jordan lost one of his best friends, best teacher, and biggest fans, his father. James Jordan. Michael and his father were very close. James Jordan was shot and killed by some punks, and didn?t deserve to die. Michael and the whole family was devastated, and after Michael won the championship that same year his father died, he cried cause all that he went through ,and still won, and thought about his father. All the emotions just got to him.
One of my favorite parts in the book was when Jordan tells bout what it is like to go out in public, and have everyone mob you and ask for autographs every where he goes. He doesn?t mind giving autograph?s but fans need to respect his privacy and give him some space too. It was also interesting to hear about when he played on the Olympic teams in ?84 and ?92, and how fun it was to play with his friends and people who he has played against his whole career. In 1992 the U.S.A team dominated the world and even before they began to play games, he said that they had so much fun, everyone there was there to bring back a gold medal, but they had fun too.
In the book it also talks about how Michael was fined $5,000 a game for every game he wore his own basketball shoes, when they first came out. Well Nike paid for the fines, and they thought I t was worth it because it was great advertisement, to have the best basketball player wearing your shoe, when everyone is doing what he does. Now Jordan makes about 20 million dollars in advertising and shoe deals, so now that he is retired, he is still making more than half the players in the league.
People say athletes are paid way too much, but if we keep going to see them perform and like to see them perform, we keep giving them all that money. They are the ones that fill the stands day in and day out. So if they keep getting what they want, why should they stop getting all that money. People are happy when they go to games and when the team wins, so owners need to pay that money to keep the team winning, so people will go to games. Michael Jordan brings people to the games in Chicago, but everywhere he went people would fill the stands. The book was written before he was retired, but he kept dropping hints that he was over with his lustrous career. He was great to watch and I admire him a lot for all he has done for everyone, and after reading this book, it make me like and respect him that much more. I would recommend this book to anyone because it is interesting, and Michael Jordan deserves everything he gets.