This might be the story that supplants Michael Jordan as the GOAT.
There’s always been a healthy debate about who stands atop the mountain as the greatest basketball player of all time. Is it Michael Jordan? LeBron James? Kobe Bryant? Every player has their own argument, but I’d be willing to bet that no player other than MJ has a story that supplants his natural athleticism and competitiveness more than this one.
Jeremey Roenick, a hockey Hall of Famer who played with the Chicago Blackhawks from 1988 to 1996, told an all-time Jordan story back in 2019. I’m honestly surprised that this didn’t come up during ESPN’s sprawling The Last Dance docuseries, since even it included some of MJ’s propensity to gamble – and this story fits right along with the others.
According to Roenick, during the end of both the Blackhawks and the Bulls’ seasons, Michael Jordan called him up and said they should play golf together. And since you don’t turn down a request like that from MJ, Roenick kindly accepted the request and the two went out to the links the next morning, as the former hockey player told 670 the Score:
“Back in the 90’s when the Bulls were on fire. This was like end of the season for us, end of the season for them. I get a call from Michael. (He says), ‘Meet me at Sunset Ridge early, we’re going to go play 18 holes.’ We didn’t have a game, we actually had a day off. So I meet him at Sunset Ridge… we played a round, beat him for a couple thousand, and I’m getting ready to leave. Now, the Bulls are playing that night. They play Cleveland, that night. So I’m thinking he’s leaving (since) it’s 10:00 a.m. He’s like ‘No, let’s go play again.’”
If there’s one thing that’s really come out since Jordan’s playing days (and even during them), it’s that Michael loved to put a little money on the table… probably to a point where you could call it a gambling addiction.
But because Roenick had just taken him for a “couple thousand” during the first 18 holes, the hockey player decided to accept the offer of another loop around the course. The second 18 went much like the first for Roenick and Jordan, but the legendary NBA player had one more trick up his sleeve to try and win it all back:
“So we fill up a bag full of ice and Coors Light and we walk again. We roll around another 18 and I take him for another couple. We’ve been drinking all afternoon. Now he’s going from Sunset Ridge to the stadium to play a game. And I’m like 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. The man, to me, is the best athlete that I’ve ever seen.”
That right there is one hell of a story.
And for the most part, it seems to check out. Minus a couple of discrepancies, it appears that you can trace that anecdote back to March 28th, 1992. That’s when the Cleveland Cavaliers played the Bulls in Chicago, and Jordan put up 44 points to help his team win by 24. Roenick said that Jordan bet him he’d score more than 40 points, and that Chicago would win by more than 20.
Seems like Jordan held up his end of the deal… and knowing him, Michael probably came out ahead that day. You can hear Jeremy Roenick tell the hilarious story in the video below:
The post Michael Jordan Once Played 36 Holes Of Golf, Drank 10 Beers, & Dropped 50 Points For The Bulls…. In The SAME DAY first appeared on Whiskey Riff.