Everyone knows Michael Jordan was a highly competitive athlete with an overwhelming will to win, but what you may have not known is how much Jordan cared about all the people who piled into arenas to watch him play.
Michael Lewis, former team doctor of the Chicago Bulls during the ’90s recently told a Michael Jordan story far different from the more prevalent storylines we are used to hearing about Jordan.
Here’s what former Bulls Trainer Michael Lewis had to say about one particular instance he experienced during his time with Jordan:
One night, 10 minutes before a game, he had such severe neck pain that he could not move his neck in any direction. So I suggested he not play that night and he looked at me like I was crazy. He said, ‘fans have come from hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away to see me play and I’m not going to disappoint them.’”
It’s safe to say Michael Jordan would not be a fan of today’s new normal in the NBA where stars sit out games in an effort to preserve themselves for more meaningful games, what may be load management for some players could be the difference between fulfilling a dream or being disappointed. Michael Jordan as far as the evidence shows, never intentionally cheated fans out of an opportunity to see him play.
Flip through the pages for a few Jordan highlights and reactions to Michael Lewis’s new story.