Transcription
The latest episode of Insights to Excellence with Michael Jordan just dropped, and he spoke about playing at Madison Square Garden when you're the key player against the hostile crowd.
"What we loved as fans when you played," he said, "was the places and the buzz in the building, and it was nothing like Madison Square Garden when you played there."
"Oh, wow."
"So, can you talk about what it's like for a star player to go into a place like that where you know everybody is waiting to see you be special?"
"Well, I I've always considered Madison Square Garden the mecca of basketball, right? You know, the knowledge of basketball, the way that people, you know, perceive basketball, and they hard workers. And the New York Knick teams always seem to play hard for their fan base, and the fans knew it, too. And if they didn't, the fan the fans let them know that, right?"
"But they also let you know it, too."
"They I go in there with the notion that I know it's not hostile. It's just it's it's it's more of the awareness that they're going to cheer for the team, and they're gonna they do everything to get you off of your game."
"It wasn't hostile towards you."
"No, it it was never hostile towards me. It was more motivating and trying to get me off my game."
"Right. And look, once I'm in a game, once the ball goes up, I never even hear the fans. You know, if the fans ever can affect or I can hear the fans, that means I'm not focused on what I'm should be doing, which is playing the game of basketball."
"You truly blocked it out."
"I can I get into the game, my opponent becomes more the focal point. The fans are fans. Now, you got you get to a free throw line and you you have a pause, and I see Spike. Hey, sit down. You're not playing. You know, those types of scenarios happen quite often, right? But in the mix of the game, when tension is always happening, that's when, you know, I get tunnel vision, right? What they're doing is trying to distract you. I take it as a challenge. You know what? I'm going to I'm I'm going to keep you quiet for a while. I'm going to show how you all that stuff that you're saying doesn't affect what I'm I'm doing on the basketball court. The only way you can affect what I'm doing is to put on some shorts and come out here. Right. But but that's my mentality. That's, you know, and I and as a leader, I got to make sure the team, Scotty Pippen and all these guys don't fall prey to that, you know."
"So, as the big player, as the star guy, would you consciously, if you were going into a hostile environment, make sure the other guys knew?"
"100%. We can shut them up."
"Yes. Yes. Take the crowd out right from the beginning."
"Right."
"Phil says it in his in his speech, or he playing in New York. That's taking the crowd out coming from Phil. You know, I was a I was a mouthpiece. Me and Scotty, we're a mouthpiece of Phil, you know, in those those situations. So, we would go into New York City. I was never afraid of playing in New York City. Actually, it was a privilege because, you know, if you do your job, you do the things that you're capable of doing, right? The New York fans going to cheer you over their own fans. So, the challenge was, let's see if I can turn that guy over there on the fifth row, instead of calling me names, he start cheering Michael Jordan."
"So, what what's your advice going into the Garden or where you know it's going to be a different juice in the building and it's a big game for your team? What would you tell a a star player about handling that night?"
"Be you."
"Mhm."
"Be you. You are you 365 days of the year."
"Right."
"What they're trying to get you to do is not be you. And to me, that is a challenge for a young kid. But it's a privilege. It's an honor. If they're coming in and they yelling at you, you are impactful player, right? That means if they feel like they can take you out of your game, then they have a better chance of winning. So, if I'm talking to the young kids of today is that, you know, if you are an impactful player to your team, shut them up. Go out there and be you. If you be you, then they can't, you know, they can't say anything. But if you're not you, they win."