Michael Jordan’s competitive streak led to clashes with countless opponents down the years — on and off the court.
Most professional athletes have an aversion to losing.
GettyBuzz Peterson has known Jordan since high school[/caption]But Air Jordan was no normal athlete — and his winning mentality knew no bounds.
Chuck Klosterman shared a brilliant anecdote in an ESPN column that showed just how far MJ would go to come out on top in anything he did.
“There is a famous story about Michael Jordan visiting the home of North Carolina teammate Buzz Peterson; while playing a casual game of cards with Peterson’s mother, Jordan attempted to cheat while the old woman was using the bathroom,” he wrote.
Peterson and Jordan have been tight since their days on the Tar Heels having first met in high school.
While he didn’t follow his friend into the NBA as a player, Peterson became a coach and was assistant general manager of the Charlotte Hornets from 2014 to 2024, leaving shortly after MJ sold his stake.
Jordan was never one to back down from a challenge and his college teammate had a front-row seat to the future great calling out — and often beating — pros while still a sophomore.
“By the time we were going from our freshman into our sophomore year and were playing ball at Woollen Gym, the pros would come back, and Michael was the type of guy, he wanted to measure you,” he told The Athletic in 2020.
“So, ‘(James) Worthy, you are the best, so let me play one-on-one against Worthy. Here comes Walter Davis. Here comes Al Wood. These guys who are pro. I want to play against them.’
“And that’s when you found out this guy can play with them. And he might’ve been just as good or better than them.”
It is hard to imagine any NBA player past or present intimidating `His Airness, but a Hall of Fame NFL wrecking ball might just do the trick.
GettyJordan wants to win at everything he does[/caption] The Chicago Bulls icon dominated basketballGetty“There is one guy that I always thought, and I know to this day — I don’t know if Michael won’t admit or not, but I swear that he had a little bit of fear of — and it wasn’t a basketball player,” Peterson added.
“It was a football player by the name of Lawrence Taylor. LT, phenomenal athlete.
“Could guard east to west, as quick as anybody, could jump, big hands, strong and was a bit crazy.
“So Michael in the back of his mind said, ‘S***, I better be careful with this guy.’ And LT always wanted to guard him.”
LT was certainly a phenomenal athlete.
He left college as a the ACC Player of the Year and a Unanimous All-American with many North Carolina records under his belt.
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In a poll of NFL GMs taken before the 1981 NFL Draft, 26 out of 28 said if they had the first selection, they would take Taylor.
The New Orleans Saints, who held the first pick, happened to have one of the two, Bum Phillips, who selected George Rogers — a Heisman-winning running back who played seven seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins.
It was still a bad pick.
The New York Giants swooped with the second overall pick and selected arguably the greatest linebacker — and perhaps football player — of all time.
Peterson’s suggestion that LT was ‘a bit crazy’ may have been an understatement.
The future Hall of Famer hardly remembers the night he became a giant and he sank 40 beers over the course of the day.
Tom Brady could never.
LT finally admitted it decades later.
“I don’t remember too much, I had 41 Coors Lights that day,” Taylor said on the red carpet outside of the 2010 draft.
“Definitely don’t remember what happened.”
So there you have it, MJ wasn’t unflappable after all.
All it took to put him off his game was going up against one of the most feared football players of all time.
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