WHO'S YOUR LEROY SMITH?

In classic MJ style, the greatest basketball player to ever lace em up, spent the majority of his Hall of Fame induction speech on thanking the people who motivated him in his basketball career. He referred to these people as logs that were thrown on his competitive fire.

Sitting in the stands was the guy who was chosen over Michael his sophomore year in high school for the varsity team. Jordan said this,

"He started the whole process with me because when he (Leroy Smith) made the team and I didn't, I wanted to prove to not just to Leroy Smith, not just to myself, but to the coach who actually picked Leroy over me. I wanted to make sure he understood, 'You made a mistake dude.'"

As Leroy Smith, who was in attendance, and the rest of the crowd burst into laughter, Jordan went on to talk about all those who placed more and more logs on his competitive fire.

He thanked his teammate and roommate at North Carolina, Buzz Peterson. He said that when they first met, all he kept hearing was about how this kid was the Player of the Year. Jordan said, "Well he's never played against me yet, so how can he be called player of the year?" He went on to say that Buzz didn't know it, but he became a "dot on my board."

He talked about his Coach Dean Smith. The day that Coach Smith was on Sports Illustrated and named four starters but didn't name him. "That burned me up," Jordan said. He thought he belonged in that magazine.

Jordan talked about what continued to drive him as a basketball player through his career. "All the media nay-sayers, saying the scoring champion can't win an NBA title, you're not as good as Magic Johnson, you're not as good as Larry Bird. And that put so much wood on that fire, that it kept me each and every day trying to get better as a basketball player."

He said, "When you accomplish as much as I have in a period of time, you look for any kind of messages that people may say or do to get you to play the game of basketball at the highest level."

My favorite story was about Utah Jazz shooting guard Byron Russell. When Jordan retired from basketball and was playing baseball, he visited John Stockton in Utah. During that visit Byron Russell came to him and said, "Why'd you quit Michael. You know I could guard you. If I ever see you in a pair of shorts..."

Jordan went on to say with a smirk on his face, "So when I did decide to come back in 96' I'm at the center circle, and Russell was sitting next to me. I said to him, 'Remember in 94' when we had this conversation you made about when you said I can guard you, I can shut you down, I would love to play against you?...Well you're about to get your chance."

And of course Jordan drilled a free thrown line jumper to beat the Utah Jazz for the NBA championship about 10 seconds after that conversation.

Each and every day there will be people trying to talk you out of who you are, what you want to do, and who you want to be. I know that the majority of us actually listen and begin to believe these nay-sayers.

But instead of letting these people be buckets of water on your fire, like Jordan, turn them into another log. Like Jordan's Buzz Peterson, put them as dots on your board. Like not being named a starter by your coach, let them "burn you up," so that you will make sure this will not happen again. Like having someone make the team over you, put that deep inside so that you can prove to that person picked over you, yourself, and the coach who actually picked that person over you that, "you made a mistake dude."

My motto with myself and with my athletes is, "Give em no choice." This means you work so hard, you go after what you want with so much tenacity, that you give people no choice but to choose you.

If you live by this, your critics even start believing in you. They see you are never going to give up. And for those who continue to doubt you, write their disbelief on a piece of paper and carry it around with you, put it in your locker, keep it somewhere you can see it everyday.

When I was finishing my internship and looking for a job, I applied specifically to 5 collegiate programs for the assistant strength and conditioning coach job. Two of them, in particular, being the University of South Florida and Colorado State University programs both said that due to my lack of experience and probable knowledge that I was rejected the $20,000.00 per year position. I saved these letters and tacked them to my wall as reminders of their disbelief. They were two of my Leroy Smiths'. They helped me get to where I am today. Even when I look at them now, it burns me inside.

WHO ARE YOUR LEROY SMITHS?


Watch the 23 Greatest Jordan Moments on this Link.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/features/jordan23