Was Jordan's Flu game story in the Last Dance a Lie?

[97 bulls]

In the Jordamentuary 'The Last Dance', Michael Jordan's trainer (Tim Grover) tells a story that The Flu game as we have come to know it, wasnt really the flu, but that Jordan was poisoned. Well according to this video, the guy that made Jordan's Pizza that night is claiming that's Grovers story is a bold faced lie. He even goes on to say that hes a big Jordan fan, so much that he even named one of his kids after him. What do you guys think?

https://youtu.be/En18Y746Sfo

[The Iron Fist]

He was hungover.

[Stanley Kobrick]

He was hungover

[MrFonzworth]

In the Jordamentuary 'The Last Dance', Michael Jordan's trainer (Tim Grover) tells a story that The Flu game as we have come to know it, wasnt really the flu, but that Jordan was poisoned. Well according to this video, the guy that made Jordan's Pizza that night is claiming that's Grovers story is a bold faced lie. He even goes on to say that hes a big Jordan fan, so much that he even named one of his kids after him. What do you guys think?

https://youtu.be/En18Y746Sfo

I'm not sure.

[iamgine]

If so he should sue Jordan or the documentary for defamation.

[scuzzy]

Only NBA on NBC with Bob Costas could create the dramatical resilience of a Jordan hangover to become something memorable


Meanwhile everyone on Bulls bench is laughing all game watching dude torch Hornacek knowing full well he was out partying in Utah 7 hours earlier


Even big dick pip got a chuckle at his diva teammate acting like a freshman school girl after a frat party


https://www.opencourt-basketball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/jordan-flu-game.jpg





One can always respect a casual day drinker, MJ knew he could get ****ed up and still toast the YMCA late 90's league he played in.





https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/33/f2/1b33f2f45eb1dac25f31a0d36b5635e8.jpg

[Whoah10115]

Yeah, nobody said he was poisoned lol.

Food poisoning and being poisoned are not one in the same. Maybe they did something intentionally, but maybe it was just 5 guys who wanted to see Michael Jordan and Michael got food poisoning, cuz sometimes that happens. Maybe they weren't a good pizzeria. Maybe it was random.

You seem intent on getting mad at Jordan.

[Rysio]

Who the *** has a flu in June?

[Roundball_Rock]

Who the *** has a flu in June?

Good point. Isn't the flu, as we have learned due to the Covid-19 coverage, seasonal and abates in the summer and warm weather?

[Da_Realist]

He got sick from eating pizza. It happens. I once got sick from drinking eggnog.

[Roundball_Rock]

He got sick from eating pizza. It happens.

That isn't the issue. The issue is "journalists" passing off what even a MJ diehard like you admits was food poisoning as the "flu." If they got it wrong in 1997 you can understand--it is the fog of war, information can be wrong, maybe the Bulls and Jordan people fed incorrect information (NBC's reporter was MJ's buddy Ahmad Rashad). It is 2020, though. No excuse to pass along fairly tales 23 years later.

[Turbo Slayer]

Eh debatable if its the flu or not.

[Da_Realist]

That isn't the issue. The issue is "journalists" passing off what even a MJ diehard like you admits was food poisoning as the "flu." If they got it wrong in 1997 you can understand--it is the fog of war, information can be wrong, maybe the Bulls and Jordan people fed incorrect information (NBC's reporter was MJ's buddy Ahmad Rashad). It is 2020, though. No excuse to pass along fairly tales 23 years later.

I knew it wasn't the flu 15 years ago! I posted the game on youtube and called it "The Stomach Flu" game because I knew it wasn't the "flu". It was the result of bad pizza. I'm actually shocked that everyone acts like they didn't know this. This has been out for years. Even when Kobe was sick from a "bad cheeseburger" the media compared it to MJ's "bad pizza" game.

Secondly it doesn't matter. He was sick while he was playing the game. Whether he was sick with the flu or from eating bad pizza doesn't really matter.

[Turbo Slayer]

Only NBA on NBC with Bob Costas could create the dramatical resilience of a Jordan hangover to become something memorable


Meanwhile everyone on Bulls bench is laughing all game watching dude torch Hornacek knowing full well he was out partying in Utah 7 hours earlier


Even big dick pip got a chuckle at his diva teammate acting like a freshman school girl after a frat party


https://www.opencourt-basketball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/jordan-flu-game.jpg





One can always respect a casual day drinker, MJ knew he could get ****ed up and still toast the YMCA late 90's league he played in.





https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/33/f2/1b33f2f45eb1dac25f31a0d36b5635e8.jpg Stay mad. You being hella emotional about Jordan. Take a break from ISH.

[Roundball_Rock]

I'm actually shocked that everyone acts like they didn't know this. This has been out for years

It has been called the "Flu Game" in media coverage for 23 years. That is why. One example, from ESPN, 4 years ago:


On this date: Jordan's legendary 'flu game' On June 11, 1997, Michael Jordan played through fatigue and dehydration to lead the Bulls to a 90-88 Game 5 win over the Jazz in the Finals.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/16089261

[Da_Realist]

The name is iconic so it's been used. Doesn't mean the truth wasn't out there. I knew it. So did many others. When you refer to that game as "The Flu Game" everyone knows what you're referring to. Who cares?

[HoopsNY]

I remember I watched the pre-game and if memory serves me correctly, they had said he had "flu-like" symptoms. But after the game, it was uncovered that it was more of a stomach flu. We've known this for years. It isn't something new. Anyone who was watching the game 20+ years ago knew that it was food poisoning.

[HoopsNY]

The name is iconic so it's been used. Doesn't mean the truth wasn't out there. I knew it. So did many others. When you refer to that game as "The Flu Game" everyone knows what you're referring to. Who cares?

Anything to taint the accomplishment. Half of these guys weren't watching basketball back then, otherwise they would know that sports media did in fact uncover that it was food poisoning.

[86Celtics]

That isn't the issue. The issue is "journalists" passing off what even a MJ diehard like you admits was food poisoning as the "flu." If they got it wrong in 1997 you can understand--it is the fog of war, information can be wrong, maybe the Bulls and Jordan people fed incorrect information (NBC's reporter was MJ's buddy Ahmad Rashad). It is 2020, though. No excuse to pass along fairly tales 23 years later.

You're the one with issue. The rest of the world doesn't care if it's the flu game or the food poisoning game. The rest of the world couldn't give a damn either way.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

You're the one with issue. The rest of the world doesn't care if it's the flu game or the food poisoning game. The rest of the world couldn't give a damn either way.

I did not care before I saw the documentary. I care now.

[baudkarma]

It was "flu-like symptoms". It's called the flu game because that's what the Bulls PR department told NBC, and of course the Bulls doctors could not discuss the situation. NBC repeated the story, amplified it. And I do think MJ played up his condition at the end of the game, making it seem like he was heroically overcoming a condition that would have crippled any other player. Jordan was sick, but not that sick. But either way, add one to the MJ legacy tape.

[Hey Yo]

When it was talked about in the Doc, they made it sound as if they called the order in and told them the pizza was "specifically for Michael Jordan!" Which we all know would never happen.

"Five guys showed up to deliver 1 pizza!??!?!" I call bullshit on that. They were having trouble finding a place that was open AND delivered that late (was the time specified.?) Why would there need to be 5 delivery guys on the clock, if it was really late and everything was already closed? If there was an increase of people that came in from out of state to see the game, then other places would stay open later in hopes of cashing in a little extra, no??

I say the whole thing was made up bullshit.

[97 bulls]

You guys are incredible. Michael Jordan publicly lied on someone. Even more, concoct a story about 5 guys going to his room to deliver a pizza.

I mean, he had a great game. Why just keep it at that. Why try to make the situation more than what it is?

[Roundball_Rock]

It was "flu-like symptoms". It's called the flu game because that's what the Bulls PR department told NBC, and of course the Bulls doctors could not discuss the situation. NBC repeated the story, amplified it. And I do think MJ played up his condition at the end of the game, making it seem like he was heroically overcoming a condition that would have crippled any other player. Jordan was sick, but not that sick. But either way, add one to the MJ legacy tape.

It was also an incestuous situation with NBC. Rashad was their game reporter and he was MJ's buddy. Jordan himself advertised on NBC ("Jordan brand").

[RogueBorg]

It was also an incestuous situation with NBC. Rashad was their game reporter and he was MJ's buddy. Jordan himself advertised on NBC ("Jordan brand").

Counseling is available

[Whoah10115]

You guys are incredible. Michael Jordan publicly lied on someone. Even more, concoct a story about 5 guys going to his room to deliver a pizza.

I mean, he had a great game. Why just keep it at that. Why try to make the situation more than what it is?

Something's wrong with you.

You behave like an alt.

[ImKobe]

You guys are incredible. Michael Jordan publicly lied on someone. Even more, concoct a story about 5 guys going to his room to deliver a pizza.

I mean, he had a great game. Why just keep it at that. Why try to make the situation more than what it is?

Jordan was clearly compromised in that game, the media made it a story. It's one of the greatest Finals games regardless of what really happened to him.

[Roundball_Rock]

Jordan was clearly compromised in that game, the media made it a story. It's one of the greatest Finals games regardless of what really happened to him.

In other words, the media embellished a story to make MJ look even better.

[ImKobe]

In other words, the media embellished a story to make MJ look even better.

Which apparently the media has never done with any other athlete ever, according to this delusional Jordan hater.

[Roundball_Rock]

Which apparently the media has never done with any other athlete ever

:oldlol:

Care to share any examples of the media doing this with any other athlete 20+ years later? Thanks in advance.

I'll help you out: the only examples probably involve Babe Ruth (who played a century ago), and those tall tales that exist aren't repeated like they happened yesterday in the media when it comes to Ruth.

[Soundwave]

The pizza manager admits

He knew beforehand the pizza was likely going to a Bulls player. The Bulls stayed in the same Mariott hotel in Utah and the Pizza Hut was tipped off that the order was for a Bulls player.

So now you have to take his word that he or no one else in the kitchen couldn't have possibly done something to that pizza.

But he admits straight up, they knew it was for a Bulls player, and possibly Michael Jordan. It's why he wanted to go to the hotel personally.

So you basically from that point on have to take him on his good word that nothing happened to the pizza, which I call bull sh*t on. There are many, many, many people who would have no problem food poisoning a dish of a visiting opponent in a heated playoff series if they knew beforehand and if you work in a kitchen, tampering with a food item is not terribly difficult either.

Can be done very easily.

[Elosha]

You guys are incredible. Michael Jordan publicly lied on someone. Even more, concoct a story about 5 guys going to his room to deliver a pizza.

I mean, he had a great game. Why just keep it at that. Why try to make the situation more than what it is?


Pretty sure you're wrong about this supposed Jordan lie. I'm about 95% sure that one of Bob Green's books about Jordan, either Hang Time or Rebound, specifically referenced this game because Green was travelling with Jordan. And I believe it specifically states that Jordan got sick from pizza in Utah. Jordan obviously authorized the book's contents, so he wasn't hiding anything. And those books came out in the early 2000s at latest. I have those books somewhere, I will have to look it up and then I can give you chapter and page.

[PeroAntic]

Only NBA on NBC with Bob Costas could create the dramatical resilience of a Jordan hangover to become something memorable


Meanwhile everyone on Bulls bench is laughing all game watching dude torch Hornacek knowing full well he was out partying in Utah 7 hours earlier


Even big dick pip got a chuckle at his diva teammate acting like a freshman school girl after a frat party


https://www.opencourt-basketball.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/jordan-flu-game.jpg





One can always respect a casual day drinker, MJ knew he could get ****ed up and still toast the YMCA late 90's league he played in.





https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1b/33/f2/1b33f2f45eb1dac25f31a0d36b5635e8.jpg

Love watching this imbecile melt down on a daily basis. The Last Dance is even more amazing when you see what it does to these moronic Bran stans

[Soundwave]

A hangover is actually less implausible. Anyone who's gone throgh their drinking/partying/clubbing phase knows full well that after a short adjustment period your body is fine with that, you're not going to be hungover that bad to the point of 6-7 PM the following day, certainly not if you're a professional athlete that's 220 pounds.

You can't really have this argument both ways and say he was a regular drinker/partier (OK fine) but then also say that he has the tolerance of a novice drinker.

If you're a 120 pound stick twig who's never had more than a single beer in an evening, OK sure, but even then by about 3-4 PM you should be coming out of it the next day.

[Whoah10115]

Lol guys I play with sometimes play better when they're hungover because their bodies are desperate to sweat it out.

[97 bulls]

Pretty sure you're wrong about this supposed Jordan lie. I'm about 95% sure that one of Bob Green's books about Jordan, either Hang Time or Rebound, specifically referenced this game because Green was travelling with Jordan. And I believe it specifically states that Jordan got sick from pizza in Utah. Jordan obviously authorized the book's contents, so he wasn't hiding anything. And those books came out in the early 2000s at latest. I have those books somewhere, I will have to look it up and then I can give you chapter and page.

The guy that said he made the pizza is a Jordan fan. According to the video, he even named one of his kids after Jordan. Grover says that 5 guys show up at the door to deliver the pizza. 5 guys? To deliver a pizza at 3AM? How many pizzas do make at that time that they need that many people working? How does hotel security allow 5 men to deliver 1 pizza to Michael Jordan's room?

[SATAN]

I've had food poisoning and there is absolutely no way I could play a game of basketball without passing out or puking everywhere. You generally throw up frequently for hours before your body can handle whatever is going on and even then you still really struggle. Him being hungover makes much more sense.

[iamgine]

It might not even be poisoned and just a case of bad ingredients. They said it's not downtown Utah but at the outskirt so a shady pizza place at 3am, could it be one of the ingredients were not fresh or contaminated?

[DoctorP]

Someone wiped their ass with a slice.

[BigShotBob]

They said "Flu-like" symptoms and they weren't wrong so that's why it was and still will be called the flu game.

[Soundwave]

I've had food poisoning and there is absolutely no way I could play a game of basketball without passing out or puking everywhere. You generally throw up frequently for hours before your body can handle whatever is going on and even then you still really struggle. Him being hungover makes much more sense.

You can move when you have food poisoning it's not like you're paralyzed. I've had a bad case of it and I hauled ass to the toilet several times.

After you throw up a couple of times the first 6-8 hours are the worst. After that you just feel like sh*t and can't hold down any food or even liquid for a time. In my case it was so bad I couldn't even hold down water, but my mouth was so dry that I had to chew on ice cubes.

The human body is capable of being pushed further than people think, you think back in the stone age when someone got food poisoning they couldn't run away from a predator chasing them. Nah the body will adjust once you give it a shot of adrenaline. The body will go into fight or flight mode.

[FKAri]

Did the doc or MJ comment on his drinking much in the series? I was always thought it very likely that he was hungover. If you rule that out then the food poisoning is certainly the next most likely story.

[Soundwave]

Did the doc or MJ comment on his drinking much in the series? I was always thought it very likely that he was hungover. If you rule that out then the food poisoning is certainly the next most likely story.

It doesn't really add up. Unless you are a lightweight drinker who doesn't partake much in drinking, a hangover will pass by the next afternoon or so.

If you drink on a semi-regular basis you'll be fine by the next late afternoon/early evening.

It doesn't even make sense, why of all times in your career choose to get black out drunk in *Utah* of all places, lol. In your hotel room. That never happened in any other playoff game where he was that visibly sick, not even close.

The story used to be that he flew out to Vegas that night and partied there, but this pizza delivery guy basically confirms Jordan was in his hotel room playing cards the evening before so that whole angle is bunk now too.

People get food poisoned all the time, and I wouldn't really take much for one person in a Pizza Hut kitchen to containment his food. It's possible he ate something earlier in the day also that had food poisoning if it wasn't the pizza, but I'm guessing it was the pizza.

The Pizza Hut knew the pizza was for a Bulls player beforehand, the guy admits as much, so basically you have to then take him on his good word that he or no one else in his kitchen did anything to it.

[ImKobe]

Did the doc or MJ comment on his drinking much in the series? I was always thought it very likely that he was hungover. If you rule that out then the food poisoning is certainly the next most likely story.

Why is it so far-fetched to say that he had food poisoning? He's an elite athlete. A morning shooutaround would get rid of a hangover, plus he had an IV.

[Soundwave]

Even the worst hangover I had when I was not used to drinking much, I remember playing cards and having to do a bunch of straight shots ... and threw up multiple times that night ... by the next afternoon even for me I was over it and I was maybe 170 pounds soaking wet in those days. I was a skinny kid back then and a novice drinker.

By the next afternoon I was alright. Went out with friends and got lunch.

For a hangover to last into the following evening is really not very believable, least of all for someone who is high end athlete at 220 pounds who's evening routine is to have a few drinks and smoke cigars while playing cards.

Maybe it was just some bad pepperoni left out too long and it just happened unintentionally, maybe he ate something else earlier in the day that actually is the culprit ... but I don't buy the hangover theory.

A hangover doesn't last that long and there is no regular season or any other playoff game where he ever looked anywhere near that sick or bad. You only look that bad when you are dealing with food poisoning, usually you'll puke for the first 10-15 hours continuously and then you enter into another 12-24 hour phase where you just feel like sh*t and can't hold down food.

You don't need a freaking IV over a hangover either. That is far beyond a hangover.

[Whoah10115]

I just find it sad that people are obsessing about proving this wrong with logic that is ignorant to the fsct that the burden is on you to make a convincing case.

Plus your logic is not logical.

Hangovers lol. Desperate to undermine something you know nothing about. People doing anything other than laughing at these types are failing.

[Monta Ellis MVP]

I’ve watched the documentary and I am watching it a second time. He might be lying but he does not look well in that game footage. He could be drinking.

[SATAN]

Hangover effects can be felt for two days in rare circumstances. Doesn't matter whether you're a "novice" or "pro" drinker. Depends what you drink, how much, what you have eaten if anything, age..a range of factors.

[SATAN]

I’ve watched the documentary and I am watching it a second time. He might be lying but he does not look well in that game footage. He could be drinking.

Indeed

[PeroAntic]

You can't really have this argument both ways and say he was a regular drinker/partier (OK fine) but then also say that he has the tolerance of a novice drinker.

Logic is irrelevant to Bran stans.

[SATAN]

A guy stanning Rose still is completely illogical tbf

[PeroAntic]

A guy stanning Rose still is completely illogical tbf

Not to gloryhunting statwatching bandwagoners like Bran stans, yeah.

[Soundwave]

The more you look at it the more bunk the hang over theory is.

Realistically a grown ass man who's 220 pounds is not going to be hung over past 12-16 hours. Even skinny ass novice drinkers who can't handle any booze are able to get back to their regular life in that time span. The human flushes out toxins in quick period of time for a reason, you'll throw up a few times, but then you'll rapidly get back to being yourself.

The people who don't understand this have likely never partied/gotten drunk in their damn life, lol.

It had to be a flu or food poisoning, maybe it was from that pizza, maybe not, but given that the pizza guy admits they knew it was for a Bulls player, well then, basically you're taking some random pizza guy's word as gospel that he wouldn't tamper with a food item. The guy is not going to go public now and admit to doing it because his name would be out in the public and he wouldn't be able to get a job, certainly not in any restaurant/hospitality business.

But he wants his 15 minutes of fame, so he can just very easily say "I delivered it, but it wasn't tampered with".

[sdot_thadon]

I dunno, everybody's favorite....Sam Smith says it's Bs.


"That was a complete and blatant lie by Michael," Smith said of Jordan wanting to return for the 1998-99 season. "There were several things in the documentary that I saw, I would know, that he made up or he lied about. They weren't major things, but it was like when a TV movie comes on and they say, 'this is based on a true story.' That's what that was. It was based on a true story."

Smith also disputed Jordan's story about getting food poisoning from bad pizza the night before the "Flu Game" during the 1997 NBA Finals in Utah.

"The pizza thing -- the poison -- that was complete nonsense," Smith said. "There were a couple of other things like that I won't go into. They weren't major, but the thing at the end [about Jordan wanting to return for the 1998-99 season] was a complete, blatant lie. I know what happened."


But again according to some here his life's mission was to take down the mighty Mj and everything he stands for, so take with a few grains of salt.....:rolleyes:

[Soundwave]

I dunno, everybody's favorite....Sam Smith says it's Bs.



But again according to some here his life's mission was to take down the mighty Mj and everything he stands for, so take with a few grains of salt.....:rolleyes:

He says it wasn't a hang over either though, so does that kill that theory? He says he was "sick".

I mean really too who is Sam Smith to tell Michael Jordan he was food poisoned or not? Like does he live up Jordan's ass or something?

Imagine you throwing up and someone else saying "no, you're not actually food poisoned", how the f*ck do they know that for sure, lol.

[jayfan]

The whole "controversy" is so incredibly dumb. Food poisoning or the flu - who cares? The bottom line is, either way, he was sick as a dog. There is no question about it. Anyone who saw the game knew he was sick.

To conclude that he was simply hung over, one would have to accept that this was the only game he ever played hung over. Because this was the only game he ever played looking anything like that.



.