Be Like Mike

Happy Wednesday,

I have not watched it yet, but there is a new 8 part mini-series on ESPN which examines the life and career of one of my childhood icons, Michael Jordan.  My husband and I got discussing it this morning.  We were thinking about how, during this historic period where there are no major (or minor for that matter) sports to report on, it was unique to have this mini-series available to bring attention to the historic nature of sports and Jordan's career.  I have discussed Michael Jordan's greatness with my husband many times before as we constantly banter about our lists of basketball's all-time greats, favorites, and game-changers.  

My list of all-time favorite basketball players includes many from my childhood like Jordan, Larry Bird (The Legend), and many of his Celtics teammates like Ainge, Johnson, Parrish, McHale, and Walton.  Then it includes others like Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Isaiah Thomas, Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dominique Wilkins, John Stokton, and Carl Malone, and Reggie Miller.  I also add to the list players from my college/early adult years like Steven Nash, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Kobe and Shaq.  Today's great's that I love are Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant, and Zion Williamson.

Anyway, you are probably thinking, "thanks for the walk down your memory lane Mrs. Hempey, but please get to your point."  Right.  My point with all of this is that though I have so many NBA favorites I always come back to the idea that Jordan is the greatest because he transcended the game.  He helped change the NBA from what it was when I was a little kid 30 years ago, to where it is now.  My personal opinion, which admittedly doesn't have to count for much, is that Jordan took a game that was largely about shooting, passing, set plays, and back to the basket post players and turned it into the high flying, above the rim, run and gun, inside out game it is today.  

So you are not a sports fan, that's okay.  I still have a larger point.  Stay with me...

My point is that you don't know - can't know - when you are in the presence of someone or something that will become transcendental, or historic.  Something that will change the way you or we do things from here on out.  Yesterday, in my question of the day, I shared the video that Mr. Gratton sent my way about the Great Realisation.  If you haven't watched it yet please do.  This video points out that this will likely be a transcendental moment in our history, and my post from March 25th about the moments that define us talks about the same idea - that some things are just so momentous that we immediately understand their impact (this pandemic).  But it's the smaller things, like a great basketball player and the way he plays that game - we won't come to understand them as transcendental until later.  This is what I want us to tune into.  

Any of us could be part of this kind of important moment at any time.  It could depend on your motivation or your investment, and it could depend on your hard work and passion for something which is greater than yourself.  There are so many important causes and needs in the world that you could choose to be a part of.  You can take just about any passion and turn it into a job, a career, or a way of life.  Though you don't need to have the rest of your life mapped out at 10 or 13, what you do need to do now is reflect (who am I and what do I like to do), dream (what do I like to think about or imagine myself doing), invest (in yourself and your ability to learn things).  Doing these things will help you figure out who you want to be like...maybe Mike, but also maybe Ruth (Bader Ginsburg), or Maya (Angelou), or Jimi (Hendrix), or Sanjay (Gupta), or Jane (Goodall)!

This whole thought process today came to my mind when my husband reminded me of a Gatorade Commercial from the early '90's.  The commercial encouraged us to dream about how it would feel to, "Be Like Mike!"  Please check it out...

I loved this commercial!   The minute my husband reminded me of it, the tune immediately came to mind!  I even remembered sitting in front of my TV waiting to hit record on my VHS so that I could watch it over and over.  (Don't know what a VHS is - look it up.  We didn't have YouTube back then and a VHS was pretty much the only way to rewatch something we were passionate about)!  On Sunday, Gatorade released a refreshed version of the, "Be Like Mike," commercial.  It has appearances from Zion Williamson, Elena Delle Donne, from the Washington Mystics and Jayson Tatum.  If you watch the Mike mini-series, I think you'll see the commercial.   I look forward to sitting down to watch it in hopes of a little walk down my own memory lane, and maybe to get my answer...who was the greatest of them all?  

Have a great day everyone, and don't forget to, "be like Mike,"  or any of the great ones you admire!  

Be well,

Mrs. Hempey