Greenhornet
A God Among Kings
"This goes WAY deeper. When MJ came to Chicago it had been IT's town since the late 70s. He grew up there. There's an entire sub-culture of ballers of which IT was undisputed king. There were off season games at a couple different gyms where all the best college and pro players would come. After a couple years in Chicago those games got to be MJ's games. In order to watch you'd to have a serious tan or know someone in the know. It just so happened that I got to know Arsenio Hall a bit. This was years before his show. He worked a club on N. Wells and I worked one a few blocks away.
The place I worked had a late set and people from Second City across the street would come over to blow off steam after their shows. It was tough playing for that crowd. One night I had a good set and afterwards Arsenio came over and complimented me on how I maintained my cool and won them over. As we talked it came out we were both from Cleveland. Turns out he and my Dad both went to East Tech high school. My Dad had some classes with Jesse Owens. So, over the next couple years he would come see my sets and I'd go down to see his when he was in town. The last time I saw him he'd signed w/t William Morris Agency and was going on tour with Roberta Flack. I was happy for him.
One Firday night he came in and asked me what I was doing the next day as he knew about and was invited to one of those games. I was a huge Cavs fan as was he and they were in town that weekend. So, we met at his room and split a cab to the Southside. Being there was like an out of body experience. Orlando Woolridge, Austin Carr, MU, etc. Some ol' skool guys like Atis Gilmore, David Greenwood and Sam Smith were there, too. It was a who's who of ballers. Guys used to fly in from all over the States to run there. It was like And1or Rucker without the cameras or MC. Seriously on the down low. You better not come onto the floor either unless you were in the game. No refs, call your foul. Passes so true they were truth.
It's my belief their beef goes all the way back to those pick up games as Jordan used to D up Zeke and just snuff him. Made Zeke look a fool. See what most people don't understand about MU is he was head and shoulders above everybody at both ends of the floor in those days. But, he was still a youngster and hadn't matured into the GOAT we all know today. Still him torching IT in his own home town created a deep bitterness in IT that is the root cause for all of this. That's why they beat him up so bad in the playoffs. That's why Zeke had MJ froze out in the All-Star game. It was because MJ took IT's crown in his hometown and then in the league. And that's why they walked off with no handshakes. That's why Zeke wasn't on The Dream Team. Chris Mullin over Isaiah Thomas? C'mon man, you KNOW that was all payback."
The place I worked had a late set and people from Second City across the street would come over to blow off steam after their shows. It was tough playing for that crowd. One night I had a good set and afterwards Arsenio came over and complimented me on how I maintained my cool and won them over. As we talked it came out we were both from Cleveland. Turns out he and my Dad both went to East Tech high school. My Dad had some classes with Jesse Owens. So, over the next couple years he would come see my sets and I'd go down to see his when he was in town. The last time I saw him he'd signed w/t William Morris Agency and was going on tour with Roberta Flack. I was happy for him.
One Firday night he came in and asked me what I was doing the next day as he knew about and was invited to one of those games. I was a huge Cavs fan as was he and they were in town that weekend. So, we met at his room and split a cab to the Southside. Being there was like an out of body experience. Orlando Woolridge, Austin Carr, MU, etc. Some ol' skool guys like Atis Gilmore, David Greenwood and Sam Smith were there, too. It was a who's who of ballers. Guys used to fly in from all over the States to run there. It was like And1or Rucker without the cameras or MC. Seriously on the down low. You better not come onto the floor either unless you were in the game. No refs, call your foul. Passes so true they were truth.
It's my belief their beef goes all the way back to those pick up games as Jordan used to D up Zeke and just snuff him. Made Zeke look a fool. See what most people don't understand about MU is he was head and shoulders above everybody at both ends of the floor in those days. But, he was still a youngster and hadn't matured into the GOAT we all know today. Still him torching IT in his own home town created a deep bitterness in IT that is the root cause for all of this. That's why they beat him up so bad in the playoffs. That's why Zeke had MJ froze out in the All-Star game. It was because MJ took IT's crown in his hometown and then in the league. And that's why they walked off with no handshakes. That's why Zeke wasn't on The Dream Team. Chris Mullin over Isaiah Thomas? C'mon man, you KNOW that was all payback."
