If you hear the name Michael Jordan, and your mind immediately jumps to an all-time NBA great who’s one of the most popular athletes worldwide, you have something in common with a particular pizzeria employee.
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In 2019, the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Ohio State offensive lineman Michael Jordan. Yes, you read that correctly, Michael Jordan.
The 23 year old Guard and the Bulls legend not only share a name, but they are also the same height and now live in the same state. In September, the Panthers claimed Jordan (the football one) off of waivers and promoted him to the active roster just last week.
Of course, Jordan (the basketball one) is a North Carolina native and part owner of the Charlotte Hornets, so fans were pretty freaked to see the similarities between these 2 athletes.
The Panthers’ Jordan played for the majority of Carolina’s loss to Minnesota on Sunday and he’s expected to be the starting LG next week against the Giants.
Michael Jordan: “I’m actually pretty terrible at basketball”
There’s a headline you probably thought you would never read.
The backstory begins when the Panthers’ Michael Jordan tried to order a pizza from Papa John’s during his freshman year of college. Obviously, a name like his invites a common response from anyone who hears it: slight disbelief.
So when Jordan tried getting his grub one day, he got himself into a weird situation that ended happily.”I placed it online in the name of ‘Michael Jordan,'” Jordan recounted. All of a sudden, it says it will be here in 20 minutes. So I called the place and said I placed an order for Michael Jordan.”
“He started cussing me out. He said, ‘It’s Super Bowl Sunday. You can’t be playing around with fake names like that.’ Then I went in and showed him my ID, and I got free pizza for a week.”
But apparently, the Ohio State alum isn’t too great at basketball and wasn’t actually named after the NBA Hall-Of-Famer. “I was named after my father,” he explained. “I’m actually pretty terrible at basketball. You can ask the guys in the locker room. They already know that. I’ve been terrible since I’ve been a kid. I’ve got to look at the ball when I dribble.”
