Skip Bayless Quotes

To put it another way, Michael Jordan was a gym rat.

I used to do a lot of interviews in the early '80s, when my career started, but it came to a point when I decided I didn't want to talk anymore, and people kind of understood that and left me alone.

And people who know me would tell you that away from hockey I'm really not that competitive.

Being Michael Jordan means acting the same as I always have.

The great champions were always vicious competitors. You never lose respect for a man who is a vicious competitor, and you never hate a man you respect. I don't like Rod Laver because he's such a vicious competitor, but I don't dislike him.

Baseball grew rapidly in favor; the field was ripe. America needed a live outdoor sport, and this game exactly suited the national temperament. It required all the manly qualities of activity, endurance, pluck, and skill peculiar to cricket, and was immeasurably superior to that game in exciting features.

Being named Michael Jordan - I think growing up playing sports and having a name like Michael Jordan - and I was extremely competitive - I used to get teased a lot. But it made me want to strive for greatness and be able to compete at whatever I decided to do.

I always say, to this day, that the Air Jordan guy was great and God bless him. But I'll always just remember Michael, the guy.

I think my biggest trait is to play extremely hard within the rules of the game.

I'm a very competitive person, but at the same time, as a quarterback, you gotta be poised; you gotta be very poised and patient. I'm pretty loose and relaxed, but I'm also very competitive.

I'm not a nice guy on the field, and I've never really respected a guy who's been a 'nice guy' on the field. I want opposition to be hard, to play to win the game for their team.

I think there is so many elements of the culture of basketball that Jordan leads in and has been a leader over the years - from Michael's on court legacy to his work ethic, competitiveness, passion, and leadership.

I thought the lanes opened up when Michael Jordan used to drive. I used to be like, 'Wow.'

You wanted to compete against Michael Jordan, because they were the best. You wanted to beat them. Never once in my mind, I went, 'I would love to play with him.' I was always like, 'Man, we've got to beat them.'

I don't change the way that I play. I love the game of basketball, man. I ride with these guys in this locker room. They know that. If I've got something to say to them, I will say it. You may not like the way that it comes across. That's fine. But that's who I am.

Larry Bird was a talker. He'd tell you something and you'd be like, are you kidding me? You're really telling me that?

To me, that's the brilliance of Michael Jordan. He was an incredible, amazing individual player who matched his talents to the team, matched the team's talents to him, and he lived in the middle of those extremes. I don't know how you do that.

I love competition, but my approach to the game was to never make it personal. It was business. It was what I did, so it didn't matter who the opposing team was, or who the receiver was. I approached it as business and I never let myself get outside of that.

Carlo Ancelotti is very competitive, but he does it with respect.

In my day I think the toughest was Derek Harper. The old-school Derek Harper. He was tough. He had the most toughest, nastiest game ever. I hated playing against him because he would always try to rip you, and try to talk to you. People just didn't really know that about Derek Harper. I used to hate bringing the ball up against him, really.

If we are running sprints, I want to beat everybody by 10 yards. If we are playing checkers, I want to win: I'm pretty good at checkers, and I'm trying to get on chess.

Poker is not a team sport. It's every man for himself. It's perfectly okay to root for your buddies and hope they do well, but when it's time to play the game, you have to give it your all. All by yourself, that is.

He's extremely clever and I learn always so much when I fight with Lewis. He always knows exactly what you are going to do next with his experience, and that's what makes him so good on track with the battles. He's not very aggressive, always very correct, but always very good to anticipate what you are going to do.

I may not be the most physical player, that's not my nature. But I am a competitor and I play as hard as I can.

Michael Jordan was a great individual and a great player. You can't say enough about what he brought to the game. He took the NBA to another level.