I just spent my entire Holy Week reading a riveting book.  I can’t remember the last time I lugged a book from morning till evening even bringing it to the throne.  It felt like a guilty pleasure given the so many things I wanted to accomplish last week but what the heck, each one is entitled to a few and I feel this is mine.

It was not one of those suspense thrillers but rather a fantastic book on Michael Jordan – When Nothing Else Matters.  To summarize the book in one word – myth-shattering!

I was stunned to my core (and perhaps that is even an understatement) while I was reading the book.  I grew up idolizing the man, his aerial moves, what he stood for and what he has done to the sport of basketball.  As a boy learning the rudiments of the sport, we would dream of his fantastic hang-time – his ability to seemingly suspend himself in the air over, around or through a whole team of defenders.   Well, my only claim to fame is my stint in high school and university intramurals and countless village and company basketball tourneys which if I had the foresight of keeping all my jerseys can suit several teams all bearing my family name.

Later on in my early adult life , I learned that what sets him apart is his indomitable spirit of perfecting and practicing his craft all more than any other basketball player because of his pure love of the sport which translated to six championship rings for the NBA team of the 90s – the Chicago bulls.  Finally, his stardom has brought countless millions to the coffers of Nike not to mention the spillover effect it had on the sport of basketball and the economies around the world – cha-ching!

Mike Leahy has written a fantastic book that probably shatters the mystique surrounding the man who has brought basketball near the popularity of soccer (still the world’s no. 1 sport).  It somehow dehumanizes the most popular and gifted basketball athlete.  This was all too evident as he plotted his third and final comeback.  And like any other comeback it was doomed at its inception because the tragic fate of most comebacks is that it is met by reality that at near forty the body is not as invincible as it was once before.

Michael felt that he can still hold on to his throne for a few more years before he relinquishes it to a worthy successor but he did not read nature's rigid rules on gravity (which he so defied in younger years) the same way he would flawlessly read an opponents defense.  I thought it was sad that his comeback was tainted by his futile attempt to regain old form and glory.

And as I was nearing the book’s end, I am grateful that I am reminded of my own attempts to hang on to past laurels – in my case my attempts to ease the country’s unemployment woes.  In my lifetime, I may have already added to the economy around 7,000 to 8,000 new jobs to the country and perhaps more if I chose to and somehow I feel that I also need to move on.  If this means taking this on to a new level so be it.  The book was whispering “. . . move on man. . . “

But as important as the reminder was, Leahy also underscores the importance of evolving or reinventing oneself.  MJ, he observes, did not.  For all his contributions to the sport, he remained to be just the most athletically gifted basketball athlete of all time.  Nowhere was this most glaring than his lack of stand on any social or other more pressing issues and concerns where if he chose to, he would have had a tremendous impact just by his mere presence or support.  There were no MJ sightings in any AIDs, cancer, rights issue, etc.  In fact he shunned these. 

Are we holding on to a passion or craft that allows us to rack up unbelievable statistics, something the world admires?   In the grand scheme of things, has it really improved the lives within our circle of influence – the more than 10,000 people who we can touch in our lifetimes? 

Think about it, you may wake up someday knowing that your ladder is leaning at the wrong side of the wall.  That would be sad but something more tragic is denying the fact that it is and we try to convince all those around us that it does not.  And when we delude ourselves of this illusion, it taints whatever significant accomplishment we’ve done.  So far, it’s the story of MJ’s life.  I just wish Michael proves us wrong by somehow coming up with an unbelievable move similar to all those reel highlights we see in the sports stations.   He still has a lot to offer.  He is still the world’s greatest basketball athlete.

Eagle's Eyes
By day, the author is an HR practitioner of a large American multinational company and occasionally can accomplish some meaningful work (according to him).

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