7 Stories That Prove Michael Jordan Was Not Human

When Michael Jordan dunked the ball from the foul line back in the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest, it was confirmed on live television. The man was simply not human. And the crazy thing is, everybody knew it. I mean, one time when a young Kobe Bryant was working out with the Philadelphia 76ers, he asked them what it's like to guard Mike, and they were like, Mike? You mean Black Jesus? Michael Jordan is a basketball god, living in a man's body, and today, we're going to prove it. We all know that MJ worked relentlessly hard on the basketball court to ensure his team's success. But did you know he also used every tactic in the playbook to get an edge over his competitors, including referee manipulation? Yeah, that's right. Sports writer Andy Andrews called this the Jordan Effect, and according to him, Jordan worked his way with the refs by interacting with them on a personal level. Here's what he said specifically. Jordan made sure he knew each official by name. So before the game started and the teams were in the arena warming up, he'd talk and say, hey Steve, how's your son doing? Bobby's in eighth grade this year, right? I hear he's doing well on the court. You tell Bobby for me that I got cut from my junior high school team. Heck, Steve, your kid is doing better at this stage of his career than I did. You tell him I said to keep it up. Now, that ref gets to go home to his son and say, hey, guess what Michael told me to tell you? Oh, you didn't know? Yes, son. Michael and I are great friends. Later during the game, who do you think gets the benefit of the doubt? Who gets more fouls called? The player griping, complaining, and cussing the official? Or the official's buddy? The guy who cares about his son? Sheesh, guys. Not only was MJ bending the laws of physics with his leaping abilities, but he also was bending the minds of NBA officials. No regular human would ever think of doing that. Anyway, guys, as you probably know by now, MJ's the type of guy who would never back down from any challenge. But despite knowing this, there were times when certain young guns still tried to poke the bear and, uh, as the saying goes, they learned their lesson the hard way. In 2013, when MJ was about to celebrate his 50th birthday, a 19-year-old Michael Kidd Gilchrist came up to him and said, hey, MJ, how about we play a little bit of one-on-one? MJ happily agrees to MKG's request, and though there were no videos to show proof of what really went down, MKG admitted that he got his butt kicked by the goat. He did play me one-on-one one time, and it was hard for me. I lost. I lost to a 50-year-old guy. That's my boss, though. He's the best player to play the game. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a 50-year-old beating a younger, more athletic hooper who was the second overall pick back in the 2012 draft. Tell me that ain't human. Anyways, throughout his career, MJ had great rivalries with all-time great players like Dominic Wilkins, Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thomas, and Larry Bird. But among these great names, there was one guy whom MJ shared a special two-day with. That person goes by the name of LeBradford Smith. I know the guy's name doesn't ring a bell for most of you guys, and, uh, I can't blame you for that. I mean, Smith was the 19th overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft, who only played four seasons in the league, and averaged just 6.7 points per ballgame. Though this guy doesn't look like a big deal, he became a totally different player on the night of March 19th, 1993. Against MJ and the Bulls, Smith went off and dropped a career-high 37 points while shooting 75% from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line. Though the Bulls won that tight contest against the Bullets, 104-99, certain rumors circulated that Smith kinda gloated his performance by walking up to MJ and saying, Good game, Mike. Apparently, MJ was triggered by those three words and said to himself, That's all I needed for him to do that, and it became personal with me. Coincidentally, they had their rematch the very next day, and, uh, let's just say that MJ sent a strong message to Smith. I mean, check these out. MJ was grilling him into barbecued chicken. Mm-hmm. When it was all said and done, Michael scored 36 points to match Smith's output the previous night, in the first half alone. Eventually, he ended up with 37 points to lead the Bulls to a 126-101 lopsided win. Meanwhile, Smith cowered back into irrelevance and had just 15 points in that contest. Here's the kicker, though. Years later, MJ said in an interview that Smith never really said anything to him and that he, uh, he simply made it all up because he needed some extra motivation to get Smith back for outscoring him the game before. What kind of human plays mind games like that? Sheesh. Anyway, whether the threats are real or not, Jordan has the habit of holding grudges against certain players who he feels disrespect to him, and he actually keeps a running tab on these names so he could cross them out one by one once he got his revenge. I mean, here's one example. When I was playing baseball, Utah was in town to play the Bulls. They're practicing at the facility, and I go over to say hi to John and Carl. And this kid, Byron Russell, comes to me and says, man, why'd you quit? You knew I could guard you. You had to quit. I said, Carl, you need to talk to this dude. Carl then responds and says, ah, he's just a young rookie, but from that point on, he's been on my list. This is MJ here, and this is Byron Russell. MJ scored the game winner in the NBA Finals against the kid who said, you can't guard me. And because of that one encounter, Jordan had all the motivation he needed to deny the Jazz twice in back-to-back years simply because Russell couldn't help run his mouth. Moving on, here's another classic MJ story that proves he isn't human. Jordan was once best pals with former Chicago Blackhawks center Jeremy Roenick. In an interview with a radio station, Roenick told a story about him playing golf with Jordan just a few hours before MJ was to suit up against the Cavs. We'd been drinking all afternoon. Now he's going from Sunset Ridge to the stadium to play a game. And I'm messing around. I'm like, I'm going to call my bookie. All the money you just lost to me, I'm putting on Cleveland tonight. He goes, I'll tell you what, I'll bet you that we win by 20 points, and I have more than 40. I'm like, done. Son of a gun goes out, scores 52, and they win by 26 or something. After 36 holes of golf and having maybe 10 Bud Lights. Sheesh. Talk about unreal. Anyway, this story happened back in 2016. Chris Paul has been one of the most well-known endorsers of the Jordan brand, and in 2016, he invited MJ to be part of his summer basketball camp. As the kids were having fun, CP3 suddenly issued a shooting challenge to MJ with the condition that if he missed three shots, then all the kids who attended the camp would get free-air Jordans. Despite being 53 at the time, MJ answered CP3's challenge, and here's what happened. Michael was a savage and never missed a single shot. Consequently, the kids went home empty-handed simply because MJ refused to lose a simple game of around the world. Anyways, moving on here. Did you know that Jordan actually had a chance to play with the Oakland A's in Major League Baseball, but chose to turn it down instead? As we all know, his heiress went to play baseball after winning his first three-peat, and would later sign a minor leagues contract with the Chicago White Sox, but before this happened, a longtime baseball executive, Sandy Alderson, actually tried to recruit MJ to the Oakland A's. In his own words, When I heard that was happening, or about to happen, I called the agent right away and said, hey, look, I understand he may be going to AA. I don't even know who the 25th man is on our Major League team right now. I will sign him and put him on the Major League roster. He'll be a part of our 25-man team tomorrow. Now, according to MJ's agent, David Falk, MJ was actually receptive to the offer, but ultimately turned it down simply because he wanted to earn a roster spot and didn't want things to be handed out to him. Sheesh, guys. I'm pretty sure 99.9% of people out there in this world would have jumped to nab a spot on a Major League's team, but like I said earlier, MJ is no human.