THIS shyt IS FIRE...ITS VERY LONG SO ILL POST CLIFFS
ABOVE THE WHOLE INTERVIEW.
HOW HE FOUND OUT
MAGIC HAD HIV
Playboy: How did you get the news about Magic?
Jordan: His agent, Lon Rosen, left me a message at practice and he said it’s an emergency, he’s got to talk to me. When I called him back, he told me, “Magic’s having a press conference today. He’s going to retire. He tested positive for HIV.”
Playboy: Where were you when he told you?
Jordan: I was driving home. I almost drove off the road. I said, “This has to be some kind of sick joke.” He said, “Well, Earvin wants to talk to you.” So he gave me Earvin’s number and I called him at home. He was as calm as you and I. I said to him, “Damn, you’re calmer than I am. I’m about to drive off the road.” He said, “I just want you to continue on with your life. I’m going to be fine, my baby’s going to be fine, my wife is fine.”
RELATIONSHIP WITH MAGIC
Playboy: What was your relationship with Magic early on in your career?
Jordan: I liked him when I was in high school. They used to call me Magic Jordan. My first car had a license plate with Magic Jordan on it. It was a 1976 Grand Prix.
Playboy: Things were pretty strained between you when you first got into the league, weren’t they?
Jordan: There was a little bit of envy because of the way I came into the league. Magic came in with even more flair and even more success. And he should have been even bigger than I was in terms of endorsements and business opportunities. But he wasn’t marketed that way. And I was fortunate to have good people. So there was some envy.
Playboy: How did the two of you get over it?
Jordan: During my third year, he invited me out to play in his summer charity game. We ironed out our differences in private in the locker room and we began a relationship.
NOT GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Playboy: Let’s talk a little about your public image. Why didn’t you go to the White House when President Bush invited the team?
Jordan: I didn’t want to go. I had something else to do. Before I would have said, “Well, I had my reasons.” I’d do it in a very respectful way. But that’s none of your business. The Bulls knew I wasn’t going, so why must I tell you? Go ask them why I didn’t go. They knew. I make my stand now because it’s easy for people to take advantage of me and become more opinionated about things that I choose to do. I may not be in agreement with what people want me to do. Who gives a damn? They don’t live the life that I try to live. Do I ask them why they go to the bathroom?
SPENT 100K ON TICKETS
IN THE 91 SEASON
Playboy: In the book, Sam Smith remarked on all the tickets you got to a sold-out game in last year’s finals. The implication was that you were being afforded preferential treatment. Are your Bulls tickets free?
Jordan: I buy every damn ticket. Ain’t nobody giving me tickets. I pay for all those fifty-dollar box-seat tickets I give to little kids. For all the loose tickets that I may have after a game that I do not use and I give to [Bulls forward] Scottie Pippen, give to [Bulls forward] Horace Grant, give to people, I pay for them all. I don’t ask them to pay me back. I spent one hundred thousand dollars on tickets last year that I didn’t get back. That’s money that I paid the Bulls and other teams. So don’t bytch at me about all the tickets I spread around.
ON GOING THROUGH DETROIT
AND MAGIC ENROUTE TO TITLE.
Jordan: When we were beating Philly in the play-offs last year and Detroit was going against Boston, everyone was saying, “I hope Boston wins.” I said, No way. If we’re going to go, we have to go the hardest route, or else as a team, we’re going to get criticized for it. First of all, Scottie Pippen would never redeem himself from having those three headaches, or whatever he had, in the final 1990 conference championship game against the Pistons. As a team we would never live it down because we always faltered under Detroit’s pressure. No one really gained respect from Detroit players.
Playboy: It would have reflected badly on you, too.
Jordan: All of that would have been right on my shoulders. Yeah, you won a championship, people would have said, but you didn’t go through Detroit to do it. I didn’t want that crap to happen. I wanted to go the hardest route.
Playboy: There was also the matter of how you compared to Magic and Larry Bird.
Jordan: When it came to comparisons, this is what always knocked me out of the top two players: People would always say, “All these great plays and he’s never taken his team to a championship.” So I wanted to go through one of those two. It worked out perfect
WOULD HE PLAY IN OLYMPICS
IF ZEKE & LAIMBEER ARE ON TEAM
Playboy: What will you do if Bill Laimbeer or Isiah Thomas makes the Olympic team?
Jordan: I would respect them as teammates and we would play as a team.
Playboy: You still would do it?
Jordan: If I walk off now, you think there’s not going to be a controversy? I would do it to avoid all the publicity and feelings between us. Americans shouldn’t be that way when they’re representing the country. You just have to do it.
ON GIVING BACK TO
BLACK COMMUNITY...
JESSE JACKSONS BOYCOTT OF NIKE
I get criticized about not giving back to the community—well, that’s not true. I do. I just don’t go out and try to seek publicity from it. I could hold a press conference on everything that I do for the black community. But I don’t choose to do that, so people are not aware of it.
Playboy: Does the accusation sting?
Jordan: Yeah, it’s really unfair. Because they ask for more black role models, yet they’re stabbing me when I’m up here trying to be a very positive black role model.
Playboy: You don’t seem like a very political person.
Jordan: I always keep my political views to myself.
Playboy: But there are others who want you to be more up-front.
Jordan: Look at what happened in North Carolina. I got criticized for not endorsing Harvey Gantt, the black guy who was running for the Senate against Jesse Helms in North Carolina. I chose not to because I didn’t know of his achievements, I didn’t know if he had some negative things against him. Before I put myself on the line, at least I wanted to know who this guy was. And I didn’t, but I knew of Jesse Helms and I wasn’t in favor of him. So I sent Gantt some money as a contribution. But that was never publicized. It was just that I didn’t come out publicly and do an endorsement.
Playboy: How do you handle pressure from Jesse Jackson and other activists?
Jordan: I never bow to that pressure because I always keep my opinions to myself. I avoid those types of endorsements from a political standpoint. That’s just me. That’s my prerogative to do so. If you don’t like it, lump it.
Playboy: How did you react when Operation PUSH called for a boycott of Nike?
Jordan: It was a valid point. But if you’re going to take that stand about having blacks in more controlling or executive positions, do it with every shoe company. Don’t pick the one on top and say, Hey, there aren’t enough blacks involved. Because you’re targeting Nike while Reebok and all these others are going to gain from us being attacked. That’s not fair. Say the whole shoe industry does not have enough blacks in powerful executive positions. OK, I’m with you. Maybe we have to change that. I’m saying, come to the black people involved and ask us, Well, are blacks being promoted in higher positions? We could have said yes. John Thompson is on the Nike board of directors. I hope I can be put on the advisory board, and we’re starting to move up. Naturally, you still want to have more. I think PUSH helped get more blacks involved in the business side. But they approached it from a bad angle.
1ST TIME BEING CALLER N*GGER
Playboy: When was the first time you ever had to deal with racism?
Jordan: When I threw a soda at a girl for calling me a ******. It was when Roots was on television.
Playboy: How old were you?
Jordan: I was fifteen. It was a very tough year. I was really rebelling. I considered myself a racist at that time. Basically, I was against all white people.
Playboy: Why?
Jordan: It was hundreds of years of pain that they put us through, and for the first time, I saw it from watching Roots. I was very ignorant about it initially, but I really opened my eyes about my ancestors and the things that they had to deal with.
ALMOST DIED SWIMMING
Playboy: You had a bad experience with swimming when you were a kid, didn’t you?
Jordan: I went swimming with a close friend one day, and we were out wading and riding the waves coming in. The current was so strong it took him under and he locked up on me. It’s called the death lock, when they know they’re in trouble and about to die. I almost had to break his hand. He was gonna take me with him.
Playboy: Did you save him?
Jordan: No, he died. I don’t go into the water anymore.
Playboy: How old were you?
Jordan: I was really young. About seven or eight years old. Now I ain’t going near the water. I can’t swim and I ain’t messing with the water
ON FASHION
Playboy: What can you do?
Jordan: Oh, I can sew shirts, I can make clothes.
Playboy: Still?
Jordan: I could hem pants right now. I can cook and clean and all that stuff. But do I do it? No. I don’t want to. But I could if I had to.
ON POSSIBLY PLAYING BASEBALL/FOOTBALL
Playboy: Weren’t you planning to play baseball in college, too?
Jordan: I wanted to, but I got talked out of it. I still want to play baseball. I may play Triple-A ball this summer. I keep trying to talk to the people in Charlotte. You know George Shinn, the guy who owns the Charlotte Hornets? [Hornets players] Muggsy Bogues and Dell Curry played for his minor-league baseball team last summer. I told them I want to go play baseball. They don’t believe me. I’m serious. I may think about football, too. I ain’t going across the middle, though. I’ll do down and out.
FAVORITE PRO COACH
Playboy: You have had four pro coaches. Whom did you like to play for the most?
Jordan: Who was best for me? Kevin Loughery.
Playboy: Why?
Jordan: He gave me the confidence to play on his level. My first year, he threw me the ball and said, “Hey, kid, I know you can play. Go play.” I don’t think that would have been the case going through another coach’s system. Look what Loughery’s doing right now with Miami. He’s doing exactly what he did to me. He’s giving those guys so much confidence, he’s giving them an opportunity to create their own identity as players. With other coaches, you have to fit into their systems.
Playboy: Even Doug Collins?
Jordan: No, I just felt Doug would have tried to manipulate me. For that sense of control, power. I saw that with the way he dealt with Pippen and Grant. I would have been able to deal with it because I respect all my coaches. But Loughery never tried to do that. I could relate with him as a friend.
Playboy: What about Phil Jackson as a coach?
Jordan: Phil’s a good coach. He has some Dean Smith credentials out there. He’s relaxed, he’s knowledgeable. He’s a philosopher about everything. He believes in sharing the wealth among everyone, yet he believes in not trying to overshadow his team.
ON ENDORSEMENTS
Jordan: My time is very important to me, as well as being credible about what I endorse. If I endorse McDonald’s, I go to McDonald’s. If I endorse Wheaties, I eat Wheaties. If I endorse Gatorade, I drink Gatorade. I have cases of Gatorade, I love drinking Gatorade. I don’t endorse anything that I don’t actually use.
Playboy: What have you turned down?
Jordan: Two or three years ago Quaker Oats came to me to endorse Van Kamp’s pork and beans—Beanee Weenees, I think it was called. You ever heard of Beanee Weenees pork and beans? It was close to a million bucks a year. I’m saying, Beanee Weenees? How can I stand in front of a camera and say I’ll eat Beanee Weenees? If I wanted to be a hardnosed businessman, I could have been in a lot of deals, like the one with Johnson Products. I had a deal with them for their hair-care products. I had two or three more years on that deal when I started losing my hair. So I forfeited the deal. But if I had wanted to be greedy, I could’ve said, Screw you, you didn’t know my hair was falling out so you owe me money. But I didn’t.
ON BEING THE BEST PLAYER
Playboy: Where do you think you fit in the game? Are you the best?
Jordan: I can’t ever say that I’m the best. I think I play both ends and do more than people perceive. I’m not just an offensive player. I play both ends. I can pass, I think I can play defensively as well as offensively. I don’t think most stars can say that they try to do that. You can’t say that I’m a one-dimensional player or a two-dimensional player.
ALL TIME STARTING FIVE
Playboy: What’s your all-time starting five?
Jordan: Me and Magic, Bird, Worthy, McHale or Malone, David Robinson or Abdul-Jabbar.
Playboy: And you can beat anyone ever?
Jordan: I did this with Jerry Krause once. He chose Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Jerry West. At small forward he had Dr. J. The power forward was Gus Johnson. I told him I’d kill him. Of all players, the all-time greats, he left off Magic and he left off Bird. He was excluding me. He put West at two [shooting] guard.
Playboy: What if you couldn’t pick yourself?
Jordan: I would put West at two, too.
Mike is cold as fukk
