OT: 30 for 30 Jordan Rides the Bus
August 24th, 2010 at 8:37 PM ^
Captivating.... The ESPN 30 for 30 series is awesome ive seen every one of them so far
August 24th, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^
I loved every part of the gambling segment.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:26 AM ^
didn't see the show and don't plan on it. but the most underpublicised thing ever is why jordan "quit" basketball to play baseball. for those that don't know, he was "unofficially" suspended by the nba for a year due to his gambling. this baseball farce was set up to cover up this fact.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:28 AM ^
"ya, i quit basketball to play baseball, because that's what my dad wanted me to do". ya, right.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:56 AM ^
Yes the NBA tried to push away their biggest cash cow. Stern was begging Jordan not to leave. This the dumbest thing I have ever heard. He was thinking about leaving after the 2nd championship.
August 25th, 2010 at 1:51 AM ^
You have to be kidding me. The guy was a degenerate gambler. Who leaves in their prime to go play another sport? The only name that comes to mind is Ted Williams but he left to go fight a war.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:39 AM ^
Michael Jordan was not unofficially "suspended" by the NBA. Michael Jordan was rich, like very, very rich. Yes, he went to Atlantic City, yes he bet on golf, I am pretty sure he was good for it. Any connection between his gambling and the death of his father is so tentative and strained that it is a stretch to ever rationally connect the two. And an unofficial one year suspension that lasted a year and a half, what, he got the green light with 18 games left in the regular season after his year of suspension? Come on now.
August 24th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
Fuck I forgot about it
Going to have to watch online later
August 24th, 2010 at 8:55 PM ^
damn. missed it.,
Where do u watch these online?
August 24th, 2010 at 8:59 PM ^
Along with killing baseball for a lot of fans, it killed MJs baseball career. Great story. I never knew he developed into a legitimate prospect after the initial media hoopla.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:17 PM ^
if not for the strike he might have stuck with it. Imagine if he played major league baseball. Jordan was big enough that he actually could have altered the sports landscape where baseball might be more popular than it is now.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:52 PM ^
Baseball was pretty huge before the strike - MJ or not I think it would be more popular if it wasn't for the labor dispute. Even now that fans have come back, we'll see if it stays at these levels as the glitzy ballparks age and the glitzy hitting numbers return to earth in the aftermath of the Steroid Era. I think the NFL should pay attention to recent history.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:58 PM ^
This was a great piece of work. I thought they missed a point that there still was minor league baseball in 1995 I believe? Correct me if I am wrong.
No one would have blamed him for sticking with minor league ball that year during the strike. He needed a couple more years of seasoning and wasn't going to the majors. So I am not getting why he quit?
I think he didn't want to grind out two more years in the minors and really wanted to go back and play the game he really loved.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:00 PM ^
That's interesting, the notion that Jordan might have been a successful Baseball player
As I said I didn't have a chance to watch the movie but I did read the Halberstam biography of Jordan, and he supposedly wasn't a really good baseball player from what I vaguely recall in the book.
I would be very interested in watching this movie as we all know Jordan's exploits on the court, but his time in MiLB is less known.