Michael Jordan pizza poisoning story from ‘The Last Dance’ raises a lot of unanswered questions

What a weird story.

There are only a few people who can truly say what happened the night before Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, when Michael Jordan delivered an unreal performance while suffering from — what was said at the time — the flu.

Three of those people — Jordan himself, trainer Tim Grover and assistant George Koehler — revealed the story on The Last Dance on Sunday: the Chicago Bulls legend was hungry that night, so they found a late-night pizza joint open, ordered a pie in, and Jordan ate the whole thing. He ended up very sick from it.

It wasn’t the “Flu Game.” It was the “Food Poisoning Game” or the “Pizza Game.”

So although it’s hard to dispute an account that none of us, save for a few people, were a part of, there are a lot of questions about this story.

Let’s review some of them:

1. Did Jordan think eating an entire pizza the night before a vital game was a good idea?

We’ll start simply and build up. I know this is the mid-1990s and it’s not like today, when nutrition for athletes is the utmost priority. But … really? Didn’t Jordan figure he might not feel great even if the alleged pie didn’t give him food poisoning?

2. How did the pizza place know the pie was for Jordan?

Or: did they REALLY order a pizza under Jordan’s name? We go now to Kumail Nanjiani:

Seriously!

I have a theory about this one, if indeed the pizza was poisoned somehow: the alleged poisoners figured the hotel was where the Bulls were staying and thought it might hurt multiple members of the team including Jordan.

But if that’s not the case? What the what?!

3. Someone let five guys delivering a pizza up to Jordan’s hotel room?

This is where I get confused. Was there a security guard who said, “There are multiple pizza delivery people who are here to give something to the greatest player who’s about to suit up tomorrow for a Finals game. SURE! Go right on up!”?

If it’s a hotel, wouldn’t you leave it in the lobby and then have the staff bring it up?

4. This was all suspicious, but he decided to eat the pizza ANYWAY?

It would be totally understandable to be a little paranoid while in Utah. As Rob Perez tweeted, “love that Jordan’s trainer was like “four guys at the door delivering one pizza. in enemy territory during the finals. i have to say, i’ve got a bad feeling about this.” and then they still ate it anyway.”

5. Jordan ate the whole thing himself?

Dude, c’mon. You can’t eat the whole pie yourself. Give someone just a slice!

6. How come we’re just hearing about this now?

In other words: why did the “flu” narrative last for so long? It seems very weird that we’ve spent the last 22 years — including that day — hearing about how Jordan was under the weather due to the flu, and suddenly, it all changes with some strange details. There’s nothing embarrassing about the fact that Jordan had food poisoning instead of the flu, so I don’t get why it wasn’t reported that way back then or since then.

I’m not saying anyone is lying here, it’s just … very weird.

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