She called me into her office and asked me to have a seat.  In the previous four years, I had never been in “the” office prior to this.

Minutes later I was told that my services were no longer needed.

I stood up, pulled the keycard that I used to enter the building from my wallet and began to smile as I handed in what was to be the end of my television career.

I don’t know why I smiled.

Deep down I was lodged between shock and what am I going to do!?

I had began interning at the station around 22 hours per week as a sophomore in college and here I was, now a college graduate, with no job and no plan.

My demise – surely my loyalty – or perhaps the ability to quickly and sternly formulate a series of words for my mouth to use and the inability to hold my tongue when said loyalty was questioned.

A few days prior, I had been asked by the news director’s sidekick if I was loyal to the new team.  He was a weaselly little man.  I surmised that the reasoning behind his impromptu interrogation was that the sports team had recently turned over and new folks were brought in.  I had more tenure in the department than anyone at the time.

When questioned in a downright negative and assumptive tone, it lit a fire in me.

Keep in mind I had dedicated every weekend of my life for over 3 years and some nights to the television station for 0 compensation.  Communications interns didn’t get paid.  At the time of my firing, I was an actual employee but was making something like 8 bucks an hour, which means you can work a whole lot of hours, get taxed and not have much to show for it.

It wasn’t about the money for me though.  I loved sports and was loyal to the people that had given me an opportunity to have so many amazing experiences.  It was here where I first came face to face with MJ.

So I unleashed a verbal barrage on him in a way that I’m sure most wouldn’t.  I saw years of hard work and loyalty, like most will never posses, flash before my eyes and here was this small shadow of a man, new to the station, questioning me, in an editing bay as I attempted to get video ready for the sports segment of the newscast.

I let him have it – passion dripping off of every word.

He retreated – and that was the end of it, or so I thought.

Four days later I was fired from my first real job.

I don’t regret a word that I said that day.

TV was something that I didn’t feel was ultimately the right fit for me long term anyway.  Having the camera pointed at me, didn’t come natural and on-air jobs were after all, the jobs to have in television.

Shortly after I was let go from the station, I began writing for a local paper.  The sports section of course.  I got paid for space filled.  11 pages on a word document would then turn in to two pages in the paper – they used micro font – and net me a couple of hundred dollars a month.

After a month or two, the mother of one of my long time friends called my mom and the next thing I know I’m interviewing for a bank job.

I didn’t want to do it.  Not the interview.  Not the job.

But I did.

I went, took a personality and aptitude test and then proceeded in the interview to tell them that I would just do this job until my writing career took off.  My goal was to write for Sports Illustrated like Rick Reilly.

I didn’t get the job.

Not at first anyway.

My friend’s Mom had them reconsider – I had tested extremely well apparently (higher than anyone including the President, I would later find out) and with that I was opening checking accounts and talking to people about banking products for 40 hours a week.

They paid me 18,240 dollars a year.

23 years old.  Bachelor’s degree.  Two jobs taking almost every minute and not giving a lot of money back for it.

I wrote for the paper for another year or so before they decided to cut the sports section and then it was just banking for me.

I remember pleading to my parents in their living room one evening early on – “I have a four year degree and they are only paying me $18,240!!!!  Even if I get 10% raises for the rest of my life, I’ll never make any money!”

They replied – you have to start somewhere.

A couple of months in to the bank gig, the President of the bank saw my test scores, called me into his office and gave me a nearly four thousand dollar raise.

That was 13 years ago.

These days, I work in Private Wealth Management for a financial institution, which means that I help high-net-worth clients manage their wealth.

Until recently, (I spent the last 10.5 years at the same institution *loyalty* before moving in September to another employer) I couldn’t even enroll a client, per our wealth team’s enrollment minimums, unless they opened an account with $500,000 or more.

I share this story because I get asked on occasion how I pay for this site and all of the trips to Charlotte, Dallas, Vegas, the camps and training sessions, and everything else that goes along with attempting to make my dream of playing basketball with Michael Jordan come true.

I pay for it with 13 years of faith and hard work.

I’ve been so blessed, but I’ve also worked my butt off.

None of it was handed to me.  Trust me on that.

Anything Is Possible with Faith and Hard Work is something I was living far before the start of mevsMJ.com.

Looking back on those rather humble beginnings allows me to keep pushing in this journey when others would have surely stopped.

I’ve LIVED the power of faith and hard work.

I know where it can take you.

Today, most people likely see one of two things when they view the crust of me.  They either know me through here and see a guy in his mid 30s with a wild dream he tirelessly pursues or they know me as a professional – dressed in a suit, driving a nice car.

Both fail to capture the struggle or help you understand the success.

My parents were right that night, some 13 years ago.

You do have to start somewhere.

Then you have to believe when others won’t and work hard with no defined assurance of success.

Sometimes we can be so shortsighted and fail to see the possibilities of tomorrow because we’re so focused on the realities of today.

I share over and over again that Faith and Hard Work can take you to places your mind can’t even comprehend.

This journey is my way of showing you that.

1 game.

Me vs. Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

Anything is Possible with Faith & Hard Work!

####

If you’re new here, I set out in August 2010 to get a game of 1-on-1 vs. my childhood hero Michael Jordan.  This site is about that journey…through every valley, to every mountain top of triumph!

Anything Is Possible with Faith & Hard Work!

####

Connect:  Twitter (@KennyEller) and mevsMJ.com Facebook Page.

 (Friday, February 15th)

Slouched down in a forest green metal chair, with just the right amount of padding in the seat to keep me content, I know that Sunday is Michael Jordan’s birthday.

I’ve known when Michael’s birthday is for most of my life.  Maybe it was all of the books and magazines I read about him when I was a kid.  Maybe it was the back of the basketball cards.  Maybe it was because he’s the reason I play ball.  He’s the reason there is a mevsMJ.com.

I’m 11 floors up in the most luxurious hotel in Central Florida, past the sliding glass doors, on the balcony connected to my room.  It’s the first of morning and there is a slight chill dancing in the air as I sit alone, overlooking the mostly empty pool and golf course.  I can hear the constant gentle rush of the fountain down below mixed with the occasional song of birds and light child laughter.

It’s peaceful.

– Reminiscing –

When I first began attempting to “Be Like Mike” I had metal brackets in my mouth pulling with all of their might to close the large gap between my two front teeth.

The smile I have today, not originally my own.

I was so innocent then.

I remember being in 8th grade gym class on the outdoor basketball court the day after my braces began renting space.  The pain was excruciating, as the fight to correct my genetics had my nerves wailing like Stephen A. Smith.

I was horrible at the game.  Couldn’t dribble.  Couldn’t shoot.  It seemed as though every single person was better than me.

I remember to this day, stopping in the middle of playing and asking one of my peers in those early times how they could make turn around shots.  I didn’t understand how they knew where the goal was.

I can’t help but chuckle at those moments now.  It was after all, back then, where mevsMJ began.

– Emotion –

My eyes flood with tears as I sit and take time to reminisce.  Some fighting to stay in, but too heavy to hold on, fall to freedom.

I‘m emotional about this game of basketball.  I’ve loved it longer than anything else in my life, outside of my family.  I’ve spent years on courts all over because it brings me something that I can’t yet adequately describe.  Something that I’m still attempting to fully comprehend.  A sort of perfect oasis, even for a guy who was far from blessed at the game in the beginning.

I care greatly about this game and owe knowing it to Michael Jordan.

Without him my life would be so very different.

– Basketball & Life –

Basketball helped make me the man I am today.  It helped build my confidence when I had little of my own.  It showed me teamwork, as well as, how sometimes, like Mike, you’ve got to take it upon yourself and just get it done.  It also showed me that if you work at something, if you pour your heart into it, there really is no limit on where it can take you.

True never before told story:  After the first few dates with my wife, I went where I always go when I have things on my mind.  I went to use up some of the excitement that was bouncing off my insides.  I went to the court, my home away from home.  I remember taking shots, hard difficult shots, telling myself that if I make this, she’s the one.  I made them and she was exactly that.

I of course would never have left such a life choice up to chance, but I always found peace after talking with the game.

Basketball has been my refuge.

I went from watching on the side of the court as a youngster just hoping to get run time in, to years later being the guy to take every shot.

Now nearly 23 years later, I’ve got young people calling and texting me weekly wanting me to help them shoot the ball better.

To go from traveling on back to back possessions in my first homeroom basketball game in middle school, to helping others is beyond humbling.  It’s an example of what’s possible in life.  I take the opportunity to help young people very seriously.  It’s such a gift I’ve been blessed with.

Without Michael Jordan I know that wouldn’t exist…around the game anyway.

– The Journey –

The journey here began over 2.5 years ago with a rather self-centered goal of playing MJ in basketball.  It was about me and MJ.

That however transformed into WE just a few months in.

Due to the response my walk generated, both good and bad, it became my goal to inspire and offer proof that anything is possible with faith and hard work.

For years, I had struggled with understanding why God made a small kid (I was only around 5’3″ then – currently 6’2″) fall in love with a game he had such a tough time with.

I’ve tried nearly every other sport during my life, but none of them tugged at my heart anything like the game of basketball.

It never mattered that I was more predisposed to success in other sports.  That round ball and 10 foot hoop always kept calling my name.

I never grasped the reasoning until I began this site.

– Face to Face with MJ –

Seven months ago I walked towards Michael full of hope.  I was living every single letter of the dream.

We talked, smiled and laughed as if he knew what the time meant to me.  He seemed to thoroughly enjoy the fact that I was brave enough to wear my shirt in his house.  He seemed to enjoy the fact that I was the me and he was the MJ in mevsMJ.com.

Proof of his liking would be found moments after we began talking, when he brought over one of his closest friends and allies, Fred Whitfield, to check it out.

Michael couldn’t have been more gracious.

It went how a storyteller would tell it.

– 50th Birthday –

Michael’s birthday will be celebrated all month for his greatness on the court but I celebrate his 50th for a different reason.

I celebrate it because I can’t imagine not knowing this game.  It’s been such a huge driving force in my life.  I value the pain and the pleasure it has brought me.

Now the game has become a vehicle for me to help and inspire others.  To show as I stated earlier that anything is possible with faith & hard work.

What a blessing.

I owe all of that to the man that grew up as Mike, who is globally known as the greatest, the MJ in mevsMJ.com, Mr. Michael Jeffrey Jordan.

Happy 50th Birthday Mr. Jordan!  I appreciate you.

me vs. Michael Jordan…the worthwhile journey continues.

1 Game – me vs. Michael Jordan – Anything Is Possible with Faith & Hard Work!

####

If you’re new here, I set out in August 2010 to get a game of 1-on-1 vs. my childhood hero Michael Jordan.  This site is about that journey…through every valley, to every mountain top of triumph!

Anything Is Possible with Faith & Hard Work!

####

Connect:  Twitter (@KennyEller) and mevsMJ.com Facebook Page.

The truth is, you can always get better.  You can always improve.

Just be careful with that knowledge.

When I was 18 years old, I was playing basketball one evening during the summer after my High School graduation at the Christian Life Center or the “CLC” as we called it in those days.  I had become a much better player than those clumsy sophomore days in the tight uniforms (pic).  I had become good enough, considering the people I was playing with and against, to be a large contributor to my team’s success.

A life lesson came on that night.

I’m a highly competitive person.  While my maturity in life has softened the edges of my being, my core is still fire hot when it comes to competition.  I absolutely love it.

Games were going back and forth.

After a loss, I stormed to the side of the court for a drink.  In my head, I felt I could have done more to help the team.  Better decisions, more focus, more drive, more effort.  Losing was something I detested.

At that moment, a gentleman from the other team (we were all friends) who was quite a few years my senior, came up to me and said something that I still remember today.

He asked me, “Why are you so hard on yourself?”

My response was some form of what I said above.  I thought I could’ve done better.

Then he said, “You did the best you could do in that moment.”

He went on with, “In that moment you were trying, you were giving effort.  So in that particular moment, you did everything you could do and that’s ok.  There will be another game.  Keep your head up and keep perspective.”

Hindsight, if you allow it, can be like a concrete block tied to your ankles in a deep lake.

What he was telling me is accept the moment.  Sure it may not have been the best, but know in your heart that you gave all you had and move on to the next.

Don’t waste another second thinking about what could have been.

Get better and make a difference NOW!

“If I’d Only,” is one of the many sisters of negativity.

Remove it.

Rather than wasting yourself with a lot of “If I’d Only done this or done that,” go into everything you do giving it your all.

Give everything you do your best…in that moment.

Sure tomorrow you may be better at the given task, but always know that in that moment, of which you are currently living, you are giving it your all.

Do that and life becomes a happier and more meaningful place.

I’m now just days away from what should be the most intense basketball experience of my life.  Impact Basketball training, which I’m doing to prepare for Michael Jordan, begins for me bright and early on Monday morning and I have merely one goal.

Do my best in each and every moment!

The rest will take care of itself.

Note: If you’d like to follow along and get daily updates on my Impact Basketball training next week, please be sure to follow me on Twitter (KennyEller). Wish me luck!!!

Sometimes I dream

That he is me

You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be

I dream I move

I dream I groove

Like Mike

If I could Be Like Mike

Again I try

Just need to fly

For just one day if I could

Be that way

I dream I move

I dream I groove

Like Mike

If I could Be Like Mike

Now two years down the timeline.

Soaked with sweat, the result of playing hours of basketball in a high school gym with no air conditioner, amongst the sweltering heat that is Florida’s life companion, I would throw myself into my car.  Imagine Patrick Ewing a few minutes into any game when he was with the New York Knicks.  Did anyone ever sweat more than Ewing?

I would drive down East Avenue, which was the width of two normal streets in most towns today.  It was a reminder of a slower time, when space and land weren’t at a premium.  Just a mile or two from the gym was an oasis or what is commonly referred to as a convenience store.  I would pull my then 16 year old, thin frame, out of my car and mosey into refreshment.

The cool wave of air from the opening of the store’s metal and glass doors would welcome me like Festus would U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (Gunsmoke).

I though, was there for one thing.

Citrus Cooler Gatorade.

I had read somewhere that Citrus Cooler was Michael Jordan’s favorite flavor and it just so happened to be mine as well.  Merely a coincidence.

Sliding open the refrigeration case door and not finding the Citrus Cooler Gatorade was the equivalent of opening that beautifully packaged Christmas gift and seeing some socks.  You needed the socks and were thankful, but for Christmas?

More times than not though, the Citrus Cooler was there.

In those days, I was probably Gatorade’s number one individual consumer of their Citrus Cooler flavor.  It was my go to drink.

In those days, just like the lyric in the jingle, I would imagine waking up and having MJ’s abilities for just one day.  The ability to take off and soar to the hoop Like Mike.  To be the best basketball player in the World for a few hours Like Mike.

I was a dreamer then and now!

Some 19 years after its original release, Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” commercial is still one of my all-time favorites.

Anytime I hear that marketing jingle I immediately want to grab a basketball and work on my game.

I know at this point, I won’t be Mike Jordan.

My goal is to merely push Kenny Eller (already thinking more like an athlete with my 3^rd person reference…haha) to be the best that he can be.

I’m now less than a week from Impact Basketball training!  I’m hoping to get a glimpse into what MJ did to become Like Mike!

Sometimes I dream…that he is meeee….

Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” Commercial

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak

Note:  I woke up Monday with a sore throat.  Everyone around me has been sick.  Pray for me and my health…please!  I need to be 100% for Impact Basketball training on the 18^th. Thanks!

The closest I ever came to throwing one down was repeated attempts in high school during gym class.  Each attempt thwarted by merely a few inches in jumping ability.  At the time, I could take a step or two and grab the rim with both hands, but I never could quite get the ball over the rim and down through the net on those attempts.

It was never really that disappointing though, because the logical side of me knew that jumping would never be how I made an impact on the court.  Not being able to dunk just focused my attention more on shooting and defense.  While the other guys, who could dunk, would stay on one side of the court attempting things they had seen on the tube, I’d practice shooting.

I had known the thrill of the slam from playing on the adjustable goal at my parents’ home.  We would lower it to 9 feet 6 inches and play games of 2-on-2 or 3-on-3.  There was nothing better than beating my man while the defense was looking the other way and dunking one.  I would get some sort of the feeling Mike had when he went baseline over Pat Ewing.  It was awesome!

My reality at 18 years past my birth was not dunking, but just trying to be the best overall player I could be.

I didn’t totally give up on the dream of being a high flyer though.  Around the age of 22 I bought a book written by the famed Tim Grover, called Jump Attack.  Tim was the guy that trained Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and many others. The list of famed athletes that turn to Tim’s Attack Athletics today is staggering.  At the time, it was mostly about MJ.

My brother and I went though the training for a few weeks.  It consisted, if I remember right, of a lot of polymetrics and strength training.  The workouts in the book were no joke.

At the time I was working in the sports department for a local Orlando TV station and the Orlando Magic had drafted Corey Maggette out of Duke.  I saw in the book where Corey also trained with Tim.  Maggette could and still can jump out of the building.  After one game, in between interviews, I asked Corey about Grover.  The training was kicking my butt and I needed to hear from someone with experience if this was really going to help.

Corey confirmed that he did workout with Tim and was emphatic that if I did the workout it would add at least six inches to my vertical.  That was exactly what I needed to hear, but I still had questions.  I knew that talking about working on my vertical wasn’t the most professional thing to be doing as a young journalist in the making, but I didn’t really care.  I had a goal of being able to dunk and we were close to the same age, so I asked away.  Corey was beyond nice enough to answer each question and we even compared verticals (verbally), which gave him a good laugh:-)

Imagine not being able to dunk and then talking about your vertical in the locker room of an NBA team, to a guy who has springs in his legs.  That’s a enough pressure to make a polar bear sweat:-)

At the time my vertical was around 23.5 inches.  Corey’s was around 38-40 inches.  Over the following weeks, I would ask a question here and there.  He could tell I was into basketball and was really working my way through this book.  He even offered to allow me  to workout with him during the summer if I wanted to, so that I could see how he prepares and trains.

This was my chance to join the aerial elite!  Training with an NBA guy like Maggette would surely take my jumping ability to the next level.

Unfortunately for me, Orlando traded Corey a couple of months later, so that never happened.

I in turn slacked on the Grover workout program and to this day still have not dunked.  I haven’t even tried in over nine years.

Today I have little desire to slam, but it would be nice to get some of that limited jumping ability back.  When I match up with Jordan I at least need to be able to grab the rim.  The last time that happened was 10 years ago:-)

Note:   All those looking to improve their vertical, I highly endorse Tim Grover’s Attack Athletics.  Don’t let my lack of focus keep you from giving Attack Athletics and Jump Attack a try.  While I never achieved my goal, I did see improvement.

We were down by one.

:03 illuminated by small red led lights was all that was left showing on the clock.  Out of the timeout the inbounds pass would be from the right baseline beside the basket.

This was my first chance to truly “Be Like Mike.”  I was 17 years old.

Walking out of the timeout, everyone on the court knew I’d be taking the shot.  In this league, in that game, with only a few parents and a couple of friends watching, I was the man.  I had played well enough to earn the shot at the end of the game.

I learned earlier in life that not everyone wanted the last shot.  To some the possibility of failure was crippling.  That always blew my mind because I wanted to shoot every time.  To me the possibility of making the shot far outweighed the other side of the coin.

I always fell back on something I read once in one of the many Jordan books I read as a kid.  MJ said something like, you can’t make a shot you don’t take.  If you miss it, you’ve done it before.  Though if you make it, you win the game!

That always made so much sense to me, so here I was with opportunity one.

As the ref handed the inbounds passer the ball, I prepared to make a quick cut to the baseline from the top of the key.

The guy guarding me had the nickname “bear” and his first name wasn’t teddy;-)  He was very athletic and strong.  I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

The ball now in the hands of the passer, the whistle blown, I made the cut and got the inbounds pass 3-4 feet from the right baseline.

I had already imagined what I would do moments ago in the huddle during the timeout.

I knew I would have to get every inch of lift on my jump shot to get the ball over “bear”.  Of course then the ball would go in, the game would be won and celebration would commence.

So I get the ball and go hard right before pulling up with a 10 footer from the right baseline.  As I got up in the air, I was surprised.  “Bear” didn’t jump.  He just put his hands up.  This was going to be easier than I had thought.  As I released the ball with all the hope I possessed, I thought for sure it was in.  Game winners are what I was born to make.  So I thought.

As the horn went off, so did the ball…off the rim.  There would be no game winner that day.

In my basketball career I probably took 3-4 game winners in organized games and missed every one of them.

I made plenty of game winners in pick up games over the years, but never in an organized game.  Having said that, if I were to play in an organized game of basketball tonight and my team was down by one, I would want the shot.  It’s who I am.

The lesson is just like Mike said, you can’t make it, if you don’t take it.  We all miss shots in life, but it’s the ones who keep shooting that make the game winners.

You can’t be great without some sort of risk.

Almost everyone I have told about my goal of getting a game of one-on-one against MJ laughs and thinks I’m crazy.

I understand the perception of the task seems unlikely.  Perhaps it is.

The thing is I can’t achieve my dream of playing Michael Jordan one-on-one if I don’t take that shot.  If I miss and the game doesn’t happen, I’ve missed before.  If I make it though, well, stay tuned.  You’ll see what happens.

Until then, keep shooting!  It’s better to have a life of missed shots, than to never get in the game.

Michael Jordan had a sponsorship with McDonalds and the best way the Golden Arches could take advantage of his staggering fame was to come up with a limited time only McJordan Burger.

I was coming off the bench of the JV basketball team at the time and when that burger came out, it became my pre-game meal.

You have to understand that I had gotten serious about basketball as an eighth grader, when my parents got my brother and me our first hoop.  Making the JV team was a good accomplishment for me and by the time the season began I was the sixth or seventh man, meaning the first or second off the bench.

I had grown to around 5’8” or 5’9” over the summer, so I was average size for a point guard in the 10^th grade.  Size wasn’t really the hindering issue with success on the team though.  No matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t make up for the real game experience the other guys on the team had.  I had never played in a YMCA or City League growing up or even on the High School Freshman team.  My first exposure to team basketball was the JV team.  Looking back, making the team was a decent accomplishment.

I wouldn’t leave mouths agape with my athletic ability, but I could shoot.  Not off the move, I still wasn’t strong enough for that and really had never practiced it.  Just set up three pointers, like John Paxon and BJ Armstrong.  Sounds so dumb now, as I was so ill prepared, but I had taught myself to play so every experience was a learning one.

I remember the first day of practice, the coach had us do left handed layups.  We couldn’t use our right hands, at all.  What?  I had never practiced with my left hand.  It was sad.  It took me quite awhile before I felt comfortable going to the basket (wide open) with my left hand.

There were most likely only a couple of reasons I was even on the team.  One, because I would hustle like there was no tomorrow.  No one would out work me.  The other because I could shoot.  If I had a wide open three I thought it was automatic.  At the time it wasn’t, but I was a better shooter than most on the team.

So the McJordan came out and I begged my Mom to take me by McDonalds as often as possible.  I would eat one or two of them before every game.  If I remember right, it was basically a quarter pounder with cheese, mustard, BBQ sauce, pickles, onions and bacon.  Doesn’t even sound good now and from a nutritional standpoint, I’m fairly certain it wasn’t the best pre-game meal:-)  At the time though, if Mike ate them, and he did according to those commercials, so would I.  Whatever MJ did, I wanted to do.

The burger, like the shoes and the Gatorade never made me a better player, but at the time I believed that they would:-)  Today I realize of course that it was just great marketing.

Some would call the small breaths of air those companies put in my sail, false hope.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed growing up believing that I could one day be like Mike.

It sure beat someone coming to me and saying at 15 years of age, it’s not going to happen kid.

So with baby powder covered hands I would practice fadeaway after fadeaway.   I was Mike Jordan on my backyard court.   Playing against my younger brother, who was born six years after me, certainly helped that belief.   I was much bigger than him and outweighed him by quite a bit.   The difference between a 15 year old and a 9 year old is pretty substantial.   As my brother grew older, and stronger, he would more than get his revenge, but at the time, I was the man…like MJ!

So I was sitting on the long pine bench of the Junior Varsity team.   I don’t remember the team we were playing, but I remember the moment the coach called my name. “Ken,” he would grumble out in his raspy, northern accent, “Go in for so and so.”

In those days the Clermont High School Varsity team was really good.  Many believed they had a good shot that year for state playoffs.   So that meant as the JV games got into the later part of the third quarter and into the fourth, the place would be packed!   Standing room only most nights.

“Ken, go in for so and so,” the coach yelled out.  The game was basically over.   Just a few minutes in the fourth remained.   The truth is, I couldn’t mess anything up and neither could the rest of the subs.  So I checked in to my first ever high school basketball game.

The jerseys were about as close to skin tight as possible.  White with gold numbers outlined in dark green.   We were the Highlanders.

The shorts were pre-Jordan short shorts.   It was embarrassing actually.  We all would try to tug at them during the game to keep them down as far as possible and still they wouldn’t go lower than half way down our thighs.  I mean we weren’t talking the 1950s, this was the 90s!  Long shorts were in, but the school was old and so were the uniforms.

Regardless, I knelt by the scorekeeper and waited for the horn.  I went in, heart thumping, so nervous.   Seconds ran off the clock faster than Usain Bolt.   All I remember is running back and forth on the court, lungs burning, fatigued even though I was in great shape.   The boost in adrenaline had drained my frail frame.

With just over a minute to go in the game an errant offensive rebound came off to the right baseline.   It somehow came right to me, as I was surely out of place had there been a need to get back on defense.  Then time slowed down.

I thought in my head about all those fadeaways I had taken with the assistance of Johnson and Johnson.   It was time to unleash some Jordan on this team, with everyone watching!

So I faked one way and turned around the other and let the ball go.   I couldn’t compose myself to go into full Jordan mode.   The lean back, the head fake the shoulder shrug.   I did the best I could do, thinking MJ the whole way.

What is crazy is that the basket actually went in.   I galloped down court, now full of energy.   My first two points were scored in what I thought was Jordan fashion.  Of course the game had been decided long ago, but that didn’t matter to me.   I was beyond happy!

In my mind’s heart, I really believed this was going to be a regular occurrence.   Me checking in, draining baskets and making a difference. The rest of the season went quite different, but I enjoyed the journey.

I guess you always remember your first shot.

My Dad never played hoops, so I basically taught myself.   I would watch every Chicago Bulls game that WGN broadcast here in Central Florida and study everything.   Everything my young basketball mind could comprehend anyway.

On All-Star weekend I would tape and study the way the 3 pt champions shot the ball.   The Bulls had their share of great shooters over the years.  Craig Hodges, John Paxon, BJ Armstrong, Steve Kerr all shot the ball extremely well.  They were great teachers for me as a youth.

I would go out to our house hoop, a fairly large slab of concrete with a basketball hoop, and shoot for hours.   I did this just about daily, usually with my younger brother.   We would have 3 pt contests and when I was shooting alone, I would have shooting contests against myself.

I was moving between 8^th and 9^th grade at the time.  Basketball was all I did.

Michael Jordan was of course the biggest influence in my basketball life.   No surprise there, as MJ was the biggest influence in most player’s lives that were born in the late 70s and thereafter.  I would try and emulate everything the man did.   From the soaring to the basket, to practicing fadeaway jumpers.   I would do the head fakes, the footwork, everything.   I studied the guy like a stalker.   Seriously.

Jordan at times during games, would hold the ball in one hand and kind of wave it in front of defenders.   I couldn’t do this, as my hands were too small, but I always thought that was the coolest thing.  I would dream about being able to do that and then slash baseline to the basket and hammer in a dunk over the outstretched arms of the help defender.  Those were the days!

One thing Michael did before every game was shake some talcum powder in his hands and then clap in face of the great, late Johnny Red Kerr before he went out on the court and played.  A couple of fist bumps later, the ball was up in the air, and Jordan was dominating.

I incorporated the talcum powder in my backyard games.  I had to.

I remember finding a large canister of Johnson and Johnson’s baby powder in the house and taking it out to the utility shed that was right next to the court.   At the time my brother and I would play with our neighbor Steve, a grown man who enjoyed basketball, and our neighbor Brian.  None of us were great players.  We were all just having fun playing the game.

Before every game I would shake some baby powder in my small hands and give them a clap.  A tiny cloud of powder in the air, I was now ready!

I never even wondered at the time why MJ would add the talcum powder to his hands.   I just saw the guy do it, and found the closest thing I had and began emulating.

I also never thought that his talcum powder was unscented and mine smelled like a room of babies.  So funny, thinking back:-)

Honestly that baby powder made the ball so slippery to me.  You have to remember I had pretty small hands at the time.  I was around 13 years old and just beginning to hit my first growth spurt.  I might have been all of 5′ 4” at the time.

So at times the ball would slip out of my hand as I was going up for a shot, but that didn’t deter me.  I kept using the baby powder and continued playing.   Continued working on posting up my younger brother and working on the fadeaway, which really wasn’t anything close to a Jordan fadeaway.  In my head though, it was identical.  In my head everything I did on the court was very Jordan like.

I was delusional and it was ok:-)

My baby powder days lasted for a year or so.   I stopped once I made the JV basketball team as a sophomore because it wasn’t an option for me:-)

There is no telling how many bottles of that baby powder I went though back in the day.   All for the goal of one day being able to play like Michael Jordan.

Delusional for sure, but those were the days!