Newports And 40s Are His Medicine

January 10, 2012 9:17 PM

The sad tale of the man who (supposedly) cut Michael Jordan, found after not a little searching and digging. (via)
posted by mreleganza (19 comments total)

Growing up the two favorite teams in my neighborhood were the Suns, and whoever was playing the Bulls. This meant pulling for the Knicks and the Pacers most of the season too. The playground consensus was that "John Starks and Reggie Miller are buttheads, but Michael Jordan's way worse."
posted by Old Man McKay at 10:21 PM on January 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

On reading the word "cut," my first thought was "circumcised" and my second was "socially snubbed." Apparently I'm not a sports fan.
posted by ottereroticist at 11:52 PM on January 10, 2012 [5 favorites]

I like the way this article ended - the quote from Pop feels like a flash of lucidity with a lot of meaning.
posted by thedaniel at 1:33 AM on January 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Byron Russel could and did guard Jordan. That shot is the most famous uncalled offensive foul in the history of basketball and if it had been any team other than Utah people would have cared.
posted by srboisvert at 5:05 AM on January 11, 2012

Metafilter: It's a lie you continue to tell.
posted by Renoroc at 5:08 AM on January 11, 2012

Sometimes a story is told so perfectly that there is nothing to add or ask. The only thing I can say is I have never heard of Thomas Lake before but I am googling him in about 15 seconds.

(& thank you mreleganza for posting this)
posted by bukvich at 5:48 AM on January 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Amen, bukvich. This was a very, very good article. I don't hate Jordan any more than I already did, so it must be pretty even-handed.
posted by Arquimedez Pozo at 6:09 AM on January 11, 2012

Hey Mike, he didn't cut you. He promoted you, from benchwarmer on the V team to captain of the JV. You ungrateful wretch. He didn't make a mistake; you did - getting all bitter about the wrong thing (even if it *did* work for you in the end).

...and I don't even give a shit about basketball...
posted by notsnot at 6:48 AM on January 11, 2012 [2 favorites]

So, it isn't the shoes?
posted by narcoleptic at 8:22 AM on January 11, 2012

I think I was fine until I read that part about investments, and the 44 year old cook at TGI Friday's. That's the piece that cut into my own seemingly innocuous middle class existence.

Having grown up just a short ride from where this took place, it was very surreal seeing the environment through an outsiders eyes.

A well written article about a man who gave it is all until he didn't have anything left to give. Too bad that kid he cut never could seem to see it the same way.
posted by Blue_Villain at 9:13 AM on January 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

...his daughter was their baby sister ... Clifton Herring was only 26

wat
posted by klanawa at 9:29 AM on January 11, 2012

Are you reading "baby sister" as "babysitter" klanawa?
posted by yoink at 10:14 AM on January 11, 2012

There's an odd disconnect in this article. It reads as if Michael Jordan has gone on and on about how this coach did him wrong, and it wants to tell a story vindicating the coach (and, vaguely, implying that Jordan's obsession with the coach lead--somehow--to the coach's downfall). But they also make it clear that Jordan's obsession was with the one other sophomore who made the Varsity team rather than the JV team. The coach was so utterly not part of Jordan's personal mythologizing of the incident that he ended up being completely written out of the story--with another guy, who had nothing to do with it, standing it briefly as "the man who cut MJ" in the Jordan bio-doc.
posted by yoink at 10:18 AM on January 11, 2012

The proper perspective on Jordan's part should be "the challenge I overcame", not "the coach I overcame."

Asshole.
posted by Edison Carter at 10:48 AM on January 11, 2012

On reading the word "cut," my first thought was "circumcised" and my second was "socially snubbed."

I thought it said Michael Jackson and was expecting a story about a plastic surgeon. I'm actually a little disappointed!
posted by shelleycat at 1:03 PM on January 11, 2012

Compare and contrast Jordan's disgusting Hall of Fame acceptance speech with that of Dennis Rodman's.

One used his speech to "square up" with those he felt had slighted him, while the other expressed his love of the game, and those who had helped him in a heartfelt, humble and tearful way.

Rodman's was a beautiful speech that showed respect for the game. Jordan's only showed a lack of class and love for himself.
posted by chris88 at 2:45 PM on January 11, 2012

I don't really follow sports at all, so I rarely read Sports Illustrated, but when I do, I'm always really impressed by the quality of the writing.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:22 PM on January 11, 2012

A great read; I had no idea this story, annoyed that Jordan framed his compliments of this guy as he did, a totally left-handed compliment. Invite a guy to town, to a huge party, then cut at him publicly, even knowing that the guy has real health problems—yikes!

What Pop takes is malt liquor. Also Newport cigarettes. They are his self-prescribed medication...
So many people who suffer schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, or manic depression self-medicate with alcohol; it's a fairly effective anti-psychotic, it soothes what ails, quiets the fears, calms the beast. Problem is that they often end up with alcoholism also, and to treat both alcoholism and their other illness is often unsuccessful, from what I've seen anyways.
posted by dancestoblue at 4:32 PM on January 11, 2012

Honestly, reading this made me feel worse for MJ than I do for Pop. Pop's got it rough right now, no doubt, but I fully believe MJ has his coming in this life or the next. They say the measure of a man is in how he treats those who can do him no good. What a sad, sad man.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:34 PM on February 1, 2012