How One Friendly Bet Turned Into a War of Attrition With Michael Jordan
Welcome back to another weekly edition of “What odd thing happened in sports” featuring me and professional athletes. All jokes aside, this week offers an odd story with the actual greatest of all time, Michael Jordan. One of the greatest athletes, greatest competitors, greatest men to ever grace this earth, what more can be brought up about this man? Well this week a new story was brought up with him involving an odd combination of golf, alcohol, and gambling.
Former hockey grate Jeremy Roenick unveiled this tale on a Boston radio station where he and Jordan had an infamous morning of golfing. Roenick apparently beat Jordan in a game where they each bet a few thousand dollars that the other would win. Thinking he was done for the day, Roenick began walking away with his winnings. Jordan, who had a basketball game against Cleveland in five hours at the time, tells him double or nothing. Taken back by this, Roenick agrees and proceeds to beat the G.O.A.T. again doubling his winnings off him. Now at this point, Jordan is not only down almost five thousand dollars, but he is also extremely intoxicated from drinking through two whole games of golf. Did this stop him from making another bet? You better believe it didn’t! He wagered Roenick for a third time, however, this time on his performance in his game that would have been three hours away. Jordan bet him Roenick’s winnings that he would score more than 40 points and the Bulls would win by more than 20. In spectacular fashion, Jordan exceeded those numbers by scoring 44 points and winning by 24.
Now this new story brings up a few questions that the average reader might ask. One being if Michael Jordan is human or not. To that I can only answer that as far as I know he is although he does have unnatural talents that go farther than what a mere normal man can accomplish, he is human. Another question would be how did he perform so well while being intoxicated? Again, I’d have to direct that question back to the first. And finally, did Jordan have a gambling issue? This is interesting, actually as many stories have come out about Jordan and gambling. Some might say it is just his shear instinct for competition to why he kept on betting with Roenick. Others might find this as more evidence to a gambling addiction as there are more than enough stories that show Jordan involved with gambling; there is even a conspiracy theory that Jordan quit basketball to save his dad from loan sharks that he bet from. Regardless of what you believe in, I’m going to leave the answer up to the loyal reader. Its up to you in what you believe. One thing is certain, however, and that Jordan truly was a man that put his money on the table when he needed to preform both on and off the court.
The Fail Report 