 So I did promise Skyla that I would, and Skyla put quite a bit of dollars into this, that I would talk about Michael Jordan, so we're going to talk about Michael Jordan a little bit. On Friday it was Michael Jordan's 60th birthday. I didn't realize he was only about a year and a half younger than me, so it's hard to believe. It really is hard to believe that Michael Jordan is already 60, but even harder to believe is that I am over 60. I don't know how that happened. I don't feel 60. I feel a lot younger than that, so anyway, so let's talk a little bit about Michael Jordan. Now remember, you can use the super chat to ask questions, to make comments, to disagree with me, and so on. I don't know what heroam is saying on the super chat. I mean, for those of you who, I don't know how many of you did not see Michael Jordan in his prime, but many of you were probably born afterwards. I know that a lot of people listening to show in their 20s and 30s probably didn't have the opportunity to see Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan was, I think, and many experts think, the greatest basketball player who ever lived and one of the greatest athletes who ever lived. I mean, he was a dominant player, and I think that the thing that really made him special, I mean, he was unbelievably athletic. He could do everything. He could dunk, he could shoot, he could pass. I mean, he really had every aspect of the game down. He had what many people call a basketball IQ, that is, he could see the quality understood, you know, who was guarding him, he understood the other team. He would watch hours and hours and hours of tape. He was a smart basketball player who just didn't have the physical, the physical capability. He was incredibly, incredibly smart. But, you know, what made him really spectacular was the fact that in spite of all his natural talent, if you will, that he had an athletic body and he had the skill and he had the height and he had the agility and he had the athleticism, he worked unbelievably hard. I mean, he was a guy who could probably be one of the best players in the league just cruising, not doing anything, could probably make a lot of money for himself, but Michael Jordan worked harder than anybody. And he was ruthlessly committed to victory. He was ruthlessly committed to winning, to being the best in the game. The game of basketball is about winning. It is a competition. And he wanted his team to be the best. He wanted his team to win championship every time they played. And he wanted to be the best. So he individually practiced, practiced, practiced, practiced with non-stop. And he, you know, elevated the team to win, win, win, win. So he was a man committed to being the best that he could be and committed to making the people around him be the best that they could be. So that together they could win. His selfish motivation was to win. And for that, he needed teammates. He needed four other players, indeed, and a bench. And a coach to put it all together so that they could defeat their opponent. And he did. You know, he won six championships, three in a row. He didn't retire, went to play baseball, returned, won three more in a row before retiring again. And then when he returned, he returned to a different team. And this time, yeah, he did not win. But by that point, he was pretty late in his career. He played against some of the toughest players ever. He played against the Detroit Pistons, who were tough, strong, kind of, and beat them all, beat them all. But the thing, I think the thing that differentiates him, you know, he worked hard, by that sort of, by that sort of, a lot of players, I mean, any players who are greats, who are greats, it worked hard. You just can't be one of the greats if you don't work hard. What made Jordan maybe the best player who ever lived was his ability, his willingness, and his willingness and his competence in taking the game-winning shot. That is, when the game was on the line, when his team was down by a basket, I don't think there's ever been a player who, A, was as eager as he was to take that last shot, and as successful as he was at taking that shot. He was, you know, it's uncanny. I mean, they are, you know, one remembers, the shot, right? Which was, you know, the shot, which is a Michael Jordan shot. I mean, he came to, he came to symbolize the move, right, the last shot, and all of these at moments, critical, critical moments where his making the basket was what would differentiate between winning and losing the game. So he was an incredibly, incredible talent, unbelievable hard work, but then the, I don't know, the, what would you say, the soul of a champion, the spirit of a champion that is just committed to victory and is able, able to will himself to rise to the challenge. I mean, Michael Jordan played sick, Michael Jordan played in all kinds of circumstances and always rose to greatness, and that's something I think that's truly stunning, that ability of human beings, I mean, to excel when they're under the most pressure. Somebody like Jordan to be a better basketball player in the last 30 seconds of a basketball game, to make that shot almost every time if it's in the last minute of the game, you know, the rest of the time he maybe makes it 50% of the time, 40% of the time. And that's truly amazing. Michael Jordan, you know, was, had learned from failure in his early career, in his early career he did not win titles, they were not incredibly successful. He learned from other players, he had the opportunity to play against Larry Bird, play against Magic Johnson, he had the opportunity to watch and to learn from, and both from his lack of success and from their brilliance and genius on the court, and then elevated to the next level, and then on top of that, what makes him a seminal figure in basketball is not just his actions on the court, but then his actions as an entrepreneur. The deal he struck with Nike, now there's a movie about this coming out, this is such a big deal, you know, Jordan made, there were never Larry Bird shoes. You know, there was some paraphernalia sold, there was some for, what's his name, Dr. Jay, there was some for Magic, but Michael Jordan turned himself into a business, and he turned himself into a very successful business, and a businessman made a huge amount of money. He is today one of the few athletes in the world who is a billionaire, and he's a billionaire not because of what he made in basketball, he's a billionaire because of what he made off the field, selling products he endorsed, and particularly the Air Jordans that still sell for huge valuations, still means something in the shoe, I guess, shoe world. I never understood it, but unbelievably successful and worked hard at it, again just like he did on the court with basketball, worked hard at excelling shoes, at turning it into a brand, giving it meaning, and making it worth as much money as he did. Now I just want to tell you that Skyler has written an essay called The Diamond Jubilee for Jordan, it's on his website and vocal.media slash trader slash the slash diamond jubilee for Jordan. Anyway, the link is in the description below, I am also going to post the link in the chat so you have it, right, it's right there, enjoy, you know, read it and enjoy, and thank you again Skyler for supporting you on Bookshow and encouraging me to do this and doing some super chats, to encourage me to do it, so this is profitable for everybody all around. James says with regard to this, in addition to being the greatest, Jordan is also a huge proponent of failing in order to succeed in having his mind overcome his emotions, yes. I think that's the thing, it's that elevating your game in the last minute means an elevating your game in the finals of the NBA finals or in a crucial game, it's that ability to control your emotions, that ability to control the stress, that ability to focus your mind on what needs to be done and to get your body to follow and to execute in spite of the pressure, the stress, the emotion of the moment, and his ability to command that what made him, the superstar that he was, it's what made it possible for him, ultimately, to be the closer that he was, to be as successful as he was as closing games. But that's here, that's the ability to control your emotions, your ability to control what you do and how you act and how you engage with the world even under a massive stress and Jordan never cracked. And I agree with you about failure, I mean there's this great quote that I really love of Jordan's where he says, and I can't remember the exact numbers, I took, I don't know, I'm just going to make up numbers, I took 10,000 shots or I missed, I missed, 10,000 shots in my career, more than half the shots I ever made, I missed, right, that's how I became a winner or something like that. So he understood that almost every time he, so over 50% of the shots he would take at the basket would miss, that's just the nature of the game. He understood that and embraced it. Every miss was an opportunity to learn on how to take the shot better next time. And he also understood that you can't succeed, you can't win, you can't achieve without taking the shot, without taking the risk. And I think that is such a life lesson for everybody. If you're not in the game, if you're not taking shots, you'll never win. You'll never be successful in life. If you don't go out there and take a risk, knowing that you will often fail. If you don't ask the woman for a date, if you don't ask your boss for a raise, if you don't go out and start a company or join a startup or whatever it is that you want to do or whatever profession you're in, take that big leap, take that big risk, you're never going to be succeed. You're never going to be successful. You're never going to be reach your full potential. That's what it requires. It requires missing shots, lots of shots, thousands and thousands of shots, more than half your shots. And yet it's the only way to win is to miss lots of shots. So, yes, I agree completely. And Adam finishes and says, no surprise. Kobe Bryant modeled himself after Mike. Yes, very much so. I mean, Kobe, if you look at his work ethic, if you look at the seriousness with which he took the game, the other thing that both Kobe and Michael Jordan did, every great player does in any sport is they studied the game. This is, you know, team sports are not only physical. There is a massive dimension, massive dimension here of mental, not just mental, but intellectual, of understanding the game, understanding what your opponents are capable of, understanding the layout, understanding who can shoot from where, understanding what can be achieved, went to pass, went to shoot, went to dribble, all of that. And you learn that, you study that. And the amount of tape, as they say, they watch film, right, though it's film of previous games, though it's film of the opponents, they keep going and going and going to try to become better and better and better. And Michael Jordan was definitely a student of film, as was Kobe, as was all of them. My favorite player is Larry Boat, again, a real student of basketball and a master of it and a real, he didn't have the physical skills that Kobe and Jordan had, but he had the intellectual skills galore. One of the aspects I want to mention is that Jordan, I think, like Kobe, came from a very difficult background, very difficult upbringing. And that only, I think, increased his determination to be the best that he could be. And it's really, he really is a role model, not in a sense of becoming a great basketball player, but a role model in a sense that you are not a product of your environment. You are not just a product of whatever. You can achieve great things. It's up to you. It's what you make of your life. It's what you choose, it's the choices you make. So, you know, don't use your background. Don't use your upbringing as an excuse. Look at people like Michael Jordan and see how, you know, what they made of their lives and how much. Thank you for listening or watching The Iran Brook Show. If you'd like to support the show, we make it as easy as possible for you to trade with me. You get value from listening, you get value from watching. Show your appreciation. 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