Kobe Bryant made Michael Jordan think about Hamburgers and… Cokes?

It has been a couple of days since Michael Jordan spoke at Kobe Bryant’s memorial and I can’t stop thinking about passions.

For those of us who have always rooted for Michael Jordan, many have learned to appreciate what I call Jordanisms. Things like, “If you can perceive the perception, quite naturally, nah, ( with the headshake ) and now, this classic Jordan explanation about Kobe Bryant and passions.

"“This kid had passion like you never know,” Jordan said. “It’s an amazing thing about passion. If you love something, if you have a strong passion for something, you will go to the extreme to try to understand, or try to get it. Either ice cream, Cokes, hamburgers, whatever you have a love for. If you had to walk you would go get it, if you had to beg, you would go get it.”"

Ice Cream? Cokes? Hamburgers? Walk? This is a new level of Jordan that even I, the self-proclaimed ultimate Jordan understander of all things Jordan, am having trouble comprehending.

On the surface it seems like Jordan is talking about someone who reallllly loves his hamburgers, ice cream and Cokes. If there was a diner 100-miles away, this passionate burger, ice cream, Cokes person would, walk there, at 2:00 AM, just like Kobe texted Jordan about the triangle in the middle of the night. Passion.

Or, is Jordan perhaps talking about business executives? Perhaps he was showing one of his longtime sponsors, McDonalds, some love from a business perspective, quite naturally.

Maybe Jordan was having a hard time identifying any passions outside of basketball. He could have said, really, anything. Doctor, lawyer, politics, the environment, it all would have worked. Jordan came up with ice cream, Cokes and burgers.

The speech as a whole was touching, and it was great to see Jordan, even under the horrifying circumstances. The most honest part was his reflection about Kobe being an adversary. This was crystal clear look at how competitive Jordan remains. He will forever look at someone attempting to take his mantle as the greatest player to ever play the game as a threat. Ultimately, over time, he took it as a compliment from Kobe and appreciated, the appreciation.

Learning Jordan and Bryant would text at 2:00 AM was somewhat surprising and fun to hear. Seeing Jordan have emotions about his little brother, touching.

And, now I am thinking about my true passions in a new way. Coffee, Snickers, yogurt…