“Michael Jordan was cocky.” The best picture of what is in Jordan’s heart came when he gave his Hall of Fame speech… The only surprise was that people were surprised at all, and/or offended by what he said. You think Steph Curry and Larry Bird and even Fred Roberts don’t have people in their pasts who they are vicariously proving wrong?

All great athletes, indeed all who are among the elite in any industry, are generally full of themselves. To reach such platforms, there must be a single focus, an arrogance and confidence that they can compete on the highest level. We know these are not the best qualities for a human being, but for the purposes of big-time competition, they are celebrated. Because we know that this pride of being seen as the best eventually makes our entertainment factor that much more intense. This lust for fame and money and status helps shape a historically great athlete.

One talking head makes a habit of mentioning that Jordan punched Steve Kerr during practice, as if that has never otherwise happened between teammates. Except many of our brightest sports stars were legendarily vicious. Don’t let Magic Johnson’s smile and backslapping fool you. By all accounts, he was aiming to cut the heart out of the opponent. As a multimillion dollar businessman, there is little question that he needs an element of ruthlessness in that arena, too.

Larry Bird talked so much trash that Dr. J famously lunged at Bird, right there on the basketball court. Quarterbacks like Russell Wilson and Tom Brady and Drew Brees are presented as self-deprecating. No way is that an accurate rendering. These are the equivalents of company CEOs, and there is a certain image to project. That is all.

This erosion of great athletes’ legacies happens to everyone. Time not only brings retirement. Time throws dirt upon anything that happened yesterday, at least to all of you prisoners of the moment. It’s inevitable. The new generation wants to remove the landmark set by their fathers. The younger always believes the newer way is better. Then, hypocritically, they will roll their eyes at older folks who laud anything time-tested from the past… things that actually did work for the time. There are ditches of extremism on either side of any argument.