The Jordan Rules Read Online Free PDF

had to use those back then) to check out books on genius to help understand Jordan better. I loved that and knew B.J. would have a special career after basketball; he is now a highly regarded agent. It’s the genius of guys like Kobe, as well. Really, most of them, like Kareem, Oscar, Isiah. You didn’t mess around with Larry Bird. If you wanted to have fun, Kevin McHale was the good time guy, not Larry. Brilliance rarely includes kindness. The really great ones have this streak in them that manifests itself in different ways. Kobe’s competitiveness is much like Jordan’s, and like Jordan, he’s tough on teammates. But Jordan was more comfortable with people and outgoing in a way Kobe never understood how to be. With Jordan, there generally was a good reason why he said or did something, and I always tried to explain what it was.
    One of the more controversial pages of the book included a joking comment attributed to Jordan by two sources about someday owning a golf club and omitting Jews. I never noticed the slightest bit of racism, anti-Semitism or any bias toward any group or individual by Jordan. He had been playing golf at a local club with primarily Jewish membership and said he wanted to join. They said he could play anytime he wanted, but membership was closed. His joke was in response to that. I was writing about how even great stars and celebrities had doors closed to them, sometimes because of race, and Jordan’s comment was a throwaway line; in no way did anyone involved take it seriously. But when the book was released, that was one of those “out of context” lines that stung.
    As the season progressed, the story was telling itself. There was the tough start, and Phil’s statement after the December loss in Detroit that the team might have to be broken up. The Gulf War started during a road trip to Atlanta, as I recall, and everyone was a little uptight even though we didn’t think there was going to be an attack on us. There was the All-Star break win in Detroit that everyone felt was a turning point. At the time I didn’t agree. But then there was the amazing post All-Star break run to the playoffs when it seemed they’d never lose.
    It was becoming surreal. The season had only been all about beating Detroit. I remember talking with managing partner Jerry Reinsdorf in the fall and we agreed it was Portland’s year with their fast start and previous loss in the Finals. Everyone just wanted to shut down the Pistons. People remember that final game in Detroit when the Pistons walked off the floor in the waning seconds of their famous loss to the Bulls, but not everyone recalls that Jordan had provoked it the day before with comments about how, despite winning two titles, the Pistons weren’t true or deserving champions because of their style of play. In those pre-Internet days, the Pistons’ players saw the comments just before the game and were fuming. Jordan had distracted them, exactly as he’d planned, even though it was almost unprecedented to talk that way about a team that was close to winning three titles. That was Michael.
    And then the Bulls stunningly blew through the Lakers in the Finals and that post-game locker room was the best I’ve felt for any sports team I’ve been around, primarily because I knew them so well, and because I knew how much they wanted it and how much disappointment they’d all gone through. And perhaps more than anyone outside that locker room, I knew how difficult it could be.
    And then a few months later there were accusations that one person was trying to destroy what could be a sports dynasty for Chicago, the only one of its kind, and the reason for its disintegration would be Sam Smith.

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    When you cover a team that goes all the way, it’s both exhilarating and exhausting. The newspaper becomes a beast and all those stories you slaved over that were cut and trimmed, well, now they can’t