Rachel Nichols recently shared an incredible story about Michael Jordan and how the Chicago Bulls legend pushed her to talk and ask questions while starting her journalism career.
During a recent interview on Showtime’s “All the Smoke” with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, the ESPN talent revealed how she was too shy to ask questions while covering Jordan and his Bulls.
It was until the 6x NBA champion noticed that she wasn’t talking to anybody that things changed for her (via The Sports Rush).
“I didn’t talk for like the first three or four practices that we covered… You’ve got this group of media around you with their little stuff. And I was just trying to not be noticed and learn and do.”
“And by like the fourth time he just looked at me in the middle of a press clump of people and was like, ‘What, you don’t speak? Do you not speak?’ I was like, ‘Oh OK,’ and then asked my probably ridiculous question at that point because I was so nervous.”
After that, she worked on her skills, got a lot better at her job, and right now is one of the premier names in female sports journalism. Perhaps Michael Jordan didn’t make her what she is today, but that little push certainly helped Nichols take her game to the next level.
Jordan always tried to get the best out of people and not even his teammates saw and lived that firsthand. This is a great story that shows how MJ was always watching everything and making sure people felt involved. That’s just like he did with fans and everybody who watched him play.
