The greatest and most adored athlete of the past 50 years was Michael Jordan, and he was also one of the biggest bullies we've ever seen in sports. You can probably find stories all over the place, but here are two. There was Steve Kerr
on the radio a year ago, talking about an old Bulls practice. Jordan said something Kerr didn't like, Kerr snapped back at him, and Jordan just punched him in the face right there on the court.
As Kerr remembers it now: “It was one of the best things that ever happened for me, I needed to stand up and go back at him, I think I earned some respect. But we have a great relationship ever since … you gotta prove it and then once you prove it, you’re fine.”
This is where a bunch of athletes would nod and say, "That's what Martin should've done."
Then there was Jordan and Kwame Brown during a scrimmage in D.C., as it's recounted in Michael Leahy's book about Jordan's comeback in Washington:
Brown became maddeningly frustrated, a kid convinced he was being repeatedly fouled in intrasquad scrimmages by two veterans, Christian Laettner and Jahidi White, who weren't quick enough, Brown believed, to stay with him. He would drive toward the basket and feel himself being bumped by a hard hip, sometimes losing the ball, infuriated that the referees wouldn't blow a whistle. "
That was a foul," he finally groaned.
Play stopped. There was an electric silence. A wide-eyed Jordan was walking toward him. "You fukking flaming f----t," Jordan exploded. "You don't get a foul call on a little goddamn touch foul, you fukking f----t. You don't bring that f----ty shyt here. Get your goddamn ass back on the floor and play. I don't want to hear that shyt out of you again. Get your ass back and play, you f----t."
A stupefied Brown could say nothing. He looked close to tears, thought a witness.