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That Time Michael Jordan Allegedly Ran Up a Million-Dollar Golf Debt
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:00 pm
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:00 pm
LINK
quote:
Just before the 1993 NBA Finals, one of Jordan's golf buddies published "Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction...My Cry For Help!" The book is forgotten, but its lesson is not.
quote:
Jordan was explaining, but pointedly not apologizing, for a visit to Atlantic City the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals that either ended fairly late or very late, depending on whether you took the word of the best basketball player in the world or New York's tabloid sources. At halftime of a game in which he would lead all scorers, viewers saw Jordan expand upon this theme without quite changing his tune. Jordan was responding to a self-published book titled Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction...My Cry For Help! that had been released that week, and which had been excerpted in newspapers for weeks before. "I felt I was betrayed by this individual," Jordan said of the book's author, a 38-year-old San Diego sports executive named Richard Esquinas. "I don't consider him a friend, because friends don't do this to other friends."
quote:
. The story that Esquinas sold about his peripatetic life of golf and gambling with Jordan, which allegedly involved Jordan running up a $1.2 million debt over a ten-day golf binge in San Diego—a debt Jordan supposedly played down to $908,000, negotiated down to $300,000, and ultimately paid $200,000 of—was bigger than the ones that had come before. But it wasn't new. When basketball fans were introduced Esquinas, they had already met James "Slim" Bouler, a golf hustler who was either a drug dealer or drug dealer-adjacent. In December of 1991, the feds seized a $57,000 check from Jordan to Bouler which the two first spun as a loan; later, as a witness in the federal case that would eventually earn Bouler a nine-year sentence, Jordan admitted that the check was repaying a gambling debt.
quote:
In the interview with Rashad that aired at halftime of Game 1 of the 1993 NBA Finals, Jordan echoed that assessment with barely concealed exasperation. "Gambling is legal," he said, smiling mirthlessly, "betting is legal." "My wife, if I had a problem, would have left me," Jordan said. Rashad laughed lightly. Jordan picked up the pace: if he had a problem, he said, his family would have told him, his wife would have told him. "If I had a problem, I'd be starving, I'd be hocking this watch, my championship rings, I would sell my house," Jordan said. "My wife would have left me, my kids would be starving. I do not have a problem. I enjoy gambling."
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:04 pm to RedRifle
quote:
"My wife would have left me, my kids would be starving, my dad would be murdered. I do not have a problem. I enjoy gambling."
Fixed
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:05 pm to RedRifle
I don't think that it's possible for MJ to gamble all of the money he's made and is currently making before he dies.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:05 pm to RedRifle
quote:
Jordan was explaining, but pointedly not apologizing, for a visit to Atlantic City the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals that either ended fairly late or very late, depending on whether you took the word of the best basketball player in the world or New York's tabloid sources. At halftime of a game in which he would lead all scorers
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:07 pm to RedRifle
If he wasn't the best basketball player ever, he would've been throwing bones on a cardboard box behind the Shop Rite
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:08 pm to Damone
Yeah, LeBron wouldn't even think about fricking off before a playoff game of that magnitude.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:11 pm to RedRifle
So Jordan had a 7 figure gambling debt shortly before the 1993 Finals and then he "retired" a few months later.
Hmm
Hmm
This post was edited on 6/16/17 at 1:13 pm
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:14 pm to RedRifle
OMG the MSM made such a HUGE deal about that episode throughout the 93 playoffs, in ways it overshadowed one of the best NBA postseasons and Finals ever bc it was ALWAYS included in narratives surrounding the Bulls almost obligatory.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:15 pm to Thib-a-doe Tiger
quote:
If he wasn't the best basketball player ever, he would've been throwing bones on a cardboard box behind the Shop Rite
Think if his prime was during the social media era? He was bigger than life then and the NBA still suspended him for a year. Is it a lifetime ban now? Would he have ever been his Airness?
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:17 pm to David Ricky
quote:
So Jordan had a 7 figure gambling debt shortly before the 1993 Finals and then he "retired" a few months later.
Hmm
Might need another book.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:25 pm to Damone
quote:
Jordan was explaining, but pointedly not apologizing, for a visit to Atlantic City the night before Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals that either ended fairly late or very late, depending on whether you took the word of the best basketball player in the world or New York's tabloid sources. At halftime of a game in which he would lead all scorers
Coupled with the Monte Carlo Dream team stories...and you look at last week's Flu game thread and there are still people out there that think Jordan had the flu.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:29 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
There is just as much evidence to say Jordan was sick as there is conspiracy theories that draw conclusions to him being hung over or tired from pulling an all nighter.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:30 pm to AwesomeSauce
quote:God no. If LeBron had this lifestyle the NBA would do all they could to cover it up just like they did with Jordan. LeBron nor Jordan aren't bigger than the league, but the league sure as hell knew then and knows now that they are way too valuable to send packing for good.
Think if his prime was during the social media era? He was bigger than life then and the NBA still suspended him for a year. Is it a lifetime ban now? Would he have ever been his Airness?
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:31 pm to David Ricky
If this is true, it definitely gives some merit to the Jordan secret suspension theory.
The NBA in the late 70's/early 80's was hemorrhaging money and could not sell tickets or get sponsors until they fell arse backwards into the GOAT player/team rivalry. Then as Magic/Bird start getting older after saving the league, along comes this scoring, dunking, marketing cash cow unlike anything seen before in sports history.
All that happened under Stern. Imagine the black eye the NBA would've had if peak Jordan's gambling addiction became public knowledge. Everything Stern did to save the league would've been undone.
The NBA in the late 70's/early 80's was hemorrhaging money and could not sell tickets or get sponsors until they fell arse backwards into the GOAT player/team rivalry. Then as Magic/Bird start getting older after saving the league, along comes this scoring, dunking, marketing cash cow unlike anything seen before in sports history.
All that happened under Stern. Imagine the black eye the NBA would've had if peak Jordan's gambling addiction became public knowledge. Everything Stern did to save the league would've been undone.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:34 pm to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:It is this type of stuff that makes Jordan the goat. To be able to be so cavalier about the ECFs and the NBA Finals, and gamble all night before a game and still dominate is just beyond belief. The dude had 38 in the flu game on 13/27 shooting.
Coupled with the Monte Carlo Dream team stories...and you look at last week's Flu game thread and there are still people out there that think Jordan had the flu.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:39 pm to David Ricky
quote:
Imagine the black eye the NBA would've had if peak Jordan's gambling addiction became public knowledge. Everything Stern did to save the league would've been undone.
Do you think that would have been better, worse or about the same as the steroid controversy in MLB
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:46 pm to Kracka
Better, steroids affected the actual competition, gambling doesn't unless people are throwing games which they weren't.
Gambling especially sports betting should be legal everywhere.
Gambling especially sports betting should be legal everywhere.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:48 pm to Kracka
quote:
There is just as much evidence to say Jordan was sick as there is conspiracy theories that draw conclusions to him being hung over or tired from pulling an all nighter.
Totally agree. That summer flu is a killer.
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:52 pm to RedRifle
Well this thread is quite entertaining
Posted on 6/16/17 at 1:53 pm to arwicklu
quote:
Totally agree. That summer flu is a killer.
Not really. What's great about the Summer flu is that you show no signs of it until the day it hits you and then it's gone before game 6 or two days, whichever comes first.
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