Michael Jordan’s career is full of legendary, unforgettable moments that have marked the history of sport. A unique figure, he forever changed basketball, the consideration of the African-American athlete and, of course, the economic possibilities of the players beyond the courts. There is a clear before and after in a journey with six rings in six Finals played, five MVPs, six Finals MVPs, fourteen all-stars, ten NBA Top Scorer awards…for many, the best basketball player of all time.
In the life of Michael Jordan, already very much a legend, There were also dark places, points where light barely reaches and about which there are many narratives. between what is real and what has ended up deformed in the very elongated shadow of a unique player with a complex personality. The flirtations with the world of the game, the murder of his father, his first retirement from the NBA, the type of leadership he exercised in the Chicago Bulls… The biography of the 23 It has many nooks and crannies… and also space for the most particular anecdotes that made headlines in the press, like everything that happened to it, in its day. They were too juicy not to. For example, this: arrest warrant against Michael Jordan.
Happen, happened. Was on June 6, 1989, when Jordan began his vacation after losing to his Bulls in the Eastern Conference finalagainst Detroit Pistons. It was the toll he paid against the Bad Boyswho beat him to death in two preludes to the Finals (1989, 1990) with the famous Jordan ruleshis strategy (ultra physical and in many things beyond the regulations) to contain an almost indefensible player; And that in those years he toughened up and worked hard in the gym to once and for all surpass those Pistons who were champions, a legendary team led by Isiah Thomas, in those two seasons that linked the era of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (until 1988) with Jordan (from 1991).
So, on that June day in 1989, Jordan hit the road to drive to his native North Carolina. Along the way, he crossed Lexington (territory of the legendary University of Kentucky) not realizing that I wasn’t paying much attention to the speed limits on I-75. His 1988 Ferrari Testarossa, a car that in its current version is worth more than 200,000 euros, set a maximum speed of 152 km/h in an area where it was not possible to exceed 104. He was 26 years old, a very striking car and an unmistakable license plate: M-AIR-J.
When he was stopped by the police, they put him two fines. One for speeding and another because he did not have his driving license. At least, the agents said that he did not try get out of trouble using his name and fame, and said that his behavior had been “that of an absolute and perfect gentleman”. The problem, what lengthened the story and took it to the extreme, was that Jordan forgot to pay those fines. He never did until, a little over a month later, A Lexington court issued the arrest warrant that became famous throughout the United States.
The thing didn’t happen from there. When informed of his mistake, Jordan, who also had not appeared in court, immediately sent the money for the fines and a copy of his driver’s license. He was an agent then, Barbara Allen, the one who paid fast-track (via Federal Express) fines that amounted to 102 dollars.
Jordan liked speed. And sometimes he did take advantage of be michael jordan so as not to have to pay more fines. His former teammate Charles Barkley told it: “We always went everywhere together, and we would take the car and go 180, 190, almost 200… Once we noticed that someone was approaching us and we accelerated even more, at more than 200… The next thing we saw, three kilometers further, was about twenty police cars blocking the road. But when we stopped and got off everything was like ‘Oh, Mr. Jordan, we’re sorry. Just slow down a little, see you next week’”.
It is also known about Michael Jordan that He grew up (in the South, of course) a big fan of NASCAR and drag racing.. He idolized drivers like Dale Earnhardt Sr, Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough, and years later he had his own team: 23XI Racing.
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