Michael Jordan's Journey: Greatness, Setbacks and the Will to Rise

I'm gonna look you in the eyes, and I'm gonna tell you the future.

You were cut from your high school basketball team.

You willed your way to the NBA. You're gonna win championships.

It's an American story, and that's why Americans are gonna love it.

People are gonna build you up. God, are they going to.

Because when you're great and new, we love you.

Man, we'll build you into something that doesn't even exist.

You're gonna change the fucking world. But you know what?

Once they've built you as high as they possibly can, they're gonna tear you back down.

It's the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn't exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing all day, every day.

That's how it works. And we do it again and again and again.

And I'm gonna tell you the truth. You're gonna be attacked, betrayed, exposed, and humiliated, and you'll survive that.

A lot of people can climb that mountain.

It's the way down that breaks them, 'cause that's the moment when you are truly alone.

And what will you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on through all the pain and rise again?

Who are you, Michael? That will be the defining question of your life, and I think you already know the answer, and that's why we're all here.

A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it.

Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness, and we need you in these shoes, not so you have meaning in your life, but so that we have meaning in ours.

Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up, except for you.

You're gonna be remembered forever because some things are eternal.

You're Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly.