Shooting Two for Illinois

I have never met Jeff Jordan, but I'd like to. Any young man who has the courage to know clearly his life's desires, and act on them in the midst of a media glare, gets my attention.

You may know that Jeff, the son of basketball great, Michael Jordan, has decided to quit basketball and get a 'real life'. The world appears to be in an uproar over this decision: how could he do such a thing and let daddy down? Doesn't he realize there is a legacy at stake?

I bet Michael is pretty proud of his son about now. I mean, really, doesn't this just speak to his parenting skills? What better gift as a parent than to know you have raised an independent thinker who has talents that can be shared in several ways?

Of course, I don' t know the whole story. Maybe they've had agonizing drama over this decision for the past few months. Maybe Michael has now disowned his son over his choice and has threatened harm with a creative use of those tennis shoestrings. I don't know. But I doubt it.

It can be tough when you lose a dream or a goal, but then, who's dream was it? The university's? The media's? Dad's? Your's? Life happens and things change. We can grieve for the loss of that goal or we can turn around and see even more opportunity.

Like father, like son: Jeff Jordan is jumping high and scoring points with me. Good luck, Jeff!