“I went to my room and I closed the door and cried,” Michael Jordan said. “For a while I couldn’t stop. Even though there was no one else home at the time, I kept the door shut. It was important to me that no one else hear me or see me.”
In a sense, Jordan owns the world. To me, though, perhaps the most remarkable part of the Jordan story is the fact that, as a sophomore in high school, he was cut from his school’s basketball team. I kept wondering about how it affected him at the time it happened. He wanted to play with the others, and was told that he wasn’t good enough.
One evening, as we sat and talked before a Bulls game, he spoke about it. I wasn’t surprised that Jordan remembered every detail.
“For about two weeks, every boy who had tried out for the basketball team knew what day the cut list was going to go up,” Jordan said. “We knew that it was going to be posted in the gym in the morning.
“So that morning we all went in there and the list was up. I had a friend, and we went in to look at the list together.
“We stood there and looked for our names. If your name was on the list, you were still on the team. If your name wasn’t on the list, you were cut. His name was on the list. He made it. Mine wasn’t on the list.
“I looked and looked for my name,” he said. “It was almost as if I thought that if I didn’t stop looking, it would be there.”
Jordan, as if envisioning the list anew, said: “It’s alphabetical. I looked at the H’s and the I’s and the K’s, and I wasn’t there, and I went back up and started over again. But I wasn’t there.
“I went through the day numb. I sat through my classes. I had to wait until after school to go home. That’s when I hurried to my house and I closed the door of my room and I cried so hard. It was all I wanted — to play on that team.
“My mother was at work, so I waited until she got home, and then I told her. She knew before I said anything that something was wrong, and I told her I had been cut from the team. When you tell your mom something like that the tears start again, and the two of you have an after-cry together.”
At the end of that basketball season, Jordan said, he asked the coach if he could ride the bus with the team to the district tournament. Just to watch the other boys play.
“The coach told me no.” Jordan said. “But I asked again, and he said I could come. But when we got to the gym, he said he didn’t know if I could go in. He told me that the only way I could go in was to carry the players’ uniforms. So that’s what I did. I waked into the building carrying the uniforms for the players who had made the team. What made me feel the worst about that was that my parents had come to watch the tournament, and when they saw me walking in carrying the uniforms, they thought I was being given the chance to play.
“That’s what hurt me. They thought I was being given a chance.”
He is very likely the best basketball player who ever lived. If you ever wondered why he continues to work so hard, the answer may lie in this story. It must be so rare for a professional athlete to have once been cut from a high school team. The men who make it to the pros have always been the best on every playground, the best in every class, the best in every school.
“It’s OK, though,” Jordan said. “It’s probably good that it happened.”
Good?
“I think so,” he said. “It was good because it made me know what disappointment felt like,” he said. “And I knew that I didn’t want to have that feeling ever again.”
– Bob Green – Chicago Tribute
I got cut from the final round of TEDx interviews for my school.
When I found out, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was in not having made it. I had been dreaming about making this speech…a speech that would knock the audiences socks off. But after my sadness disappeared, there was one thing left: fuel. Fuel to propel myself to a point where I don’t have to be interviewed for anything anymore. To a point where I will be asked and paid for my time as a speaker. Where hundreds to thousands of people will come to see me and hear me. I want to be the best there is…and I have a plan to get there.
I hate losing more than I like winning. It’s the way I have always been. One of the best things you can do for me is tell me I can’t do something. I will make sure that one day, I can. It’s time to launch past where I was. Let’s go.
Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project
Reblogged this on AraBelle!.
this rocks. absolutely =)
I loved each second of reading this, your quote at the end was the cherry on top I wish you lots of success !
I needed this. Thank you.
Encouraging words for a time when encouragement is what is needed. Thank you.
Reblogged this on Creative Sparks and commented:
notice how the expressions progress from fear, insecurity to confidence, determination. it is a brilliant short video. nice inspiration for a cloudy Wednesday morning! peace!
Thanks Evan. As always your words come at just the right time – when I need to hear that piece of particular advice. I’m going through some very scary changes at the moment & whilst they are scary they are exciting too but sometimes you need to have that “chin up young person’ talk to help you keep the faith. You’re blog is great by the way. I try read every entry. You are always so inspiring.
Reblogged this on life. unlimited..
Very inspiring as always-it’s so easy to give up and live in mediocrity, but it certainly isn’t as satisfying as finally getting where you are meant to be.
Reblogged this on conditionedexistence and commented:
“I hate losing more than I like winning.” – Evan Sanders.
How do you know if you can’t do something if you’ve never tried? What’s the worse that can happen? You fail? Oh well, try again or try something else. Failing at something does not mean your life ends. Quitting does though. Never give up.
Reblogged this on Positively Rachel and commented:
This is a beautiful story. This makes me ache for Jordan, because we’ve all been there. We’ve all had to sit on the side and realize that we weren’t given a chance to be our best.
It’s what we do after that counts.
Reblogged this on A journey to a better future.
Awesome post and very encouraging. It just goes to show that there is good in every bad situation and we need to seek it – we need to hold our heads up high and we need to find it!
Thank you for posting this.
I’ve been in a similar situation in my life. Although I never achieved the success of fame of Michael Jordan I know the pain he is going through. Getting cut from the varsity track team to JV just before state finals as a freshman. It hurt, but I skipped the JV meet to go watch and cheer on the varsity team. I would go on to captain the team the next 3 years and win multiple state championships.
The same thing happened to me a few years later when auditioning for one of the most successful drum & bugle corps in the country. I was denied two years in a row. I eventually helped lead them to a World Championship title.
Even later in life as people tell me I am not good enough to do things I make it a point to go out and prove everyone wrong. People who tell me that I can’t or I won’t only add fuel to my fire. A man filled with sheer will and determination can accomplish anything once he has the necessary skills.
This was so good! Not only is it a nice tribute to probably the greatest athlete of all time, but its also a great reminder on not quitting, hanging in there & working hard will always outlast defeat! Great job! 🙂
Thank you for sharing your heart.
I like you Evan.
You’ve got it. You’ve got what it takes to inspire other people.
I hope I can accomplish at the least what you have in my life.
But I know I’ll see you soon on all stages.
Thanks for liking my blog post. That brought me to your blog.
And I thoroughly enjoy reading.
Thanks again and have hope!
Great post! Just tell me I can’t, and I will show you I can!
I have never seen that Michael Jordan video before, powerful stuff. I really like what you’re doing here Evan. Persistance and perseverance with hard work are the tools everyone needs to be legendary.
Love your blog.
You WILL get there Evan, of that I have no doubt. Thank-you for sharing this great story from an amazing athlete, very poignant and appropriate for me right now.