Michael Jordan’s obsession with greatness extended beyond the court. A player who demanded excellence from everyone around him was also very particular about who wore his shoes. The same applies to his other ventures as he once famously stopped Pitbull from taking a shot of his vodka. Cincoro is consumed differently. In his own words, “You don’t take a shot of that. You sip that.”
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During an appearance on Theo Pinson’s Run Your Race, former Tar Heel George Lynch talked about an incident MJ had with his former roommate. A year after making his NBA debut, MJ returned to North Carolina. The Air Jordans had already become a sensation.
Lynch said that his roommate was very excited about playing pickup with MJ. He had already bought a pair of the red, black, and white Jordan 1s. Seeing one of his former Tar Heel teammates wearing his signature shoes, Jordan didn’t hold back. Lynch said, “Mike tell him to go take them off.” MJ had a peculiar reason for that.
“He said, ‘You’re not playing unless you take my shoes off.’ Because he ain’t get enough minutes…Like, the game stopped. He could not get in the game until he went and took those shoes off,” Lynch revealed. This shows how intensely competitive MJ was.
If you weren’t pulling your weight, he wasn’t about to let you rep his brand. Four years later, Lynch’s roommate was at the Bulls training camp and got to experience practice in true MJ fashion.
After the day was over and everyone else got to go home, Jordan would ask him to stay back and play one-on-one with him. There’s a reason why decades after his retirement, he’s still considered the GOAT.
However, Jordan was not just particular about his shoes being right for others. He loved his bets big time and would bet anyone over anything, be it basketball, golf, or pitching pennies. And no one knows that better than Lynch perhaps.
George Lynch is still waiting for his dinner
During a Tar Heels training camp, MJ created a team of underdogs. The team consisted of junior varsity players and walk-ons in an attempt to raise the stakes and he was still comfortably beating the opposition.
Lynch revealed that there was a rule, “If you beat the pros, they take you to dinner.” In his sophomore year, Lynch managed to beat MJ’s team once. It was time for the NCAA players to enjoy dinner, probably the most expensive dinner they’ve ever had since it was going to be paid for by the NBA legend.
Unfortunately, the dinner never happened. “I still, when I see Mike today, I say, ‘Man, you still owe me dinner,” Lynch added. The reason why MJ forgot about the dinner was a former Tar Heels guard turned coach started talking trash to him after the loss. In true MJ fashion, the NBA legend dismantled the team over the next seven games, not allowing them to even have a chance against him.
