At about 9 a.m. on Oct. 6, 1993, a black Mercedes slowly pulled into the Bulls training facility. More than a half-dozen men wearing White Sox jackets jogged alongside to form a rim of protection worthy of a pope or president.
Turned out the driver was an even bigger attraction — Michael Jordan.
And his retirement news conference would be even more memorable than the human motorcade.
“It was a fiasco,” sportscaster Mark Giangreco said, “one of those events you never forget.”
It featured audio glitches. A rude question that got under Jordan’s skin. A halfhearted remark about NBA Commissioner David Stern that would become fodder for conspiracy theorists. And jokes from Jordan about his new life: watching the grass grow and developing a pot belly.
Chicago Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf spoke first, calling it “a very bittersweet day. There is a certain sadness because the greatest athlete to ever play a team sport is leaving the game. But it’s a very happy day because somebody I admire and respect is doing exactly what he wants to do. And I’m absolutely convinced he’s doing the right thing.”
Then Jordan, dressed in a tan suit, fielded questions for a full 40 minutes.
“I probably should have stopped it about 15 minutes earlier,” said Brian McIntyre, the NBA’s PR chief. “It was getting a little redundant.”
Reporters formed a massive semicircle around Jordan. The standing-room-only crowd at the Berto Center in Deerfield drew so many reporters, “it felt like a high school reunion,” Melissa Isaacson said.
Jim Gray was there and recalled his feeling: “As a reporter and lover of basketball, it was a sad day.”
David Falk, Jordan’s agent, sat at a crowded podium with Stern, Jordan, wife Juanita, Reinsdorf, coach Phil Jackson, general manager Jerry Krause and Jordan business adviser Curtis Polk.
“At the time Michael was the most successful and popular athlete in the world,” Falk said. “How many great athletes retire at age 29 with no injuries in the prime of their careers? It’s rare. And it was a huge news event.”
Here are more recollections from an event that will be featured Sunday as ESPN’s “The Last Dance” sashays into Episodes 7 and 8.
The background
Jordan threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1 of the American League Championship Series between the Blue Jays and White Sox. He then retreated to the owner’s box at new Comiskey Park.
Gray, then a reporter for CBS Sports’ TV broadcast: “The baseball game was an afterthought. To this day I can’t tell you who won (the Blue Jays did, 7-3). The greatest player in the history of the NBA was going to retire, and he was in the stadium.”
Isaacson, then the Tribune’s Bulls beat writer: “I remember how crushed everybody was as the news trickled out.”
Giangreco, then the lead sports anchor for NBC-5: “I knew it was coming. I knew he was going to announce his retirement. I was so upset because I thought we were going to be able to break that story. A bunch of outlets went with it at the same time. I remember chasing Michael up and down the corridor: C’mon, Mike, you’re retiring, right? He said: ‘Stay tuned.’ I wish I had a Fitbit. I learned how to moon walk chasing that guy.”
Gray: “I ran to the suite where Michael was sitting. I stood outside for a couple of innings. Finally I asked the people next door: Can I come in? They thought I wanted to get a drink or have something to eat. I stuck my head out of the window, the balcony, and I got Eddie Einhorn’s attention. He was a past president of CBS Sports and a great guy, so Eddie was going to cooperate. He confirmed. And I got Reinsdorf to say yes, he nodded, that there would be a press conference. But no one would go on camera.”
The start
As those at the podium took their seats, Giangreco commented on air: “It looks like the Last Supper.”
Krause arrived last and tapped on Falk’s shoulder, asking him to move down. Krause — irony alert — wanted to sit next to Phil Jackson.
“That is absolutely true,” Falk said. “Incredible, right?”
The news conference was called for 10 a.m., but most reporters arrived long before.
Isaacson: “I remember seeing all the employees tearful. And I remember trying to find a seat. And then I’m just thinking, how in the world am I going to write this and properly capture the enormity of this story and still convey emotion that everybody in the city was feeling?”
The national media throng included Tom Brokaw and Dick Schaap.
Giangreco: “It was surreal. That place was packed.”
McIntyre, the NBA’s chief PR guy from 1981-2010, flew into Palwaukee Airport with Stern that morning.
McIntyre: “I remember being with David when we went to Magic Johnson’s (HIV) press conference. That was sad. This was melancholy. Let’s celebrate this guy who has elevated the league and put money in every owner’s pocket.”
McIntyre started by introducing everyone at the podium for the benefit of photographers. When he arrived at Jordan, he paused and cracked: “I’m not sure who it is.”
McIntyre: “It was meant to just lighten up the situation, put a smile on his face. Michael looked at me and started to chuckle, so I thought: OK, good move.”
Reinsdorf closed his opening remarks with: “I used to say Michael was the Babe Ruth of basketball. I have now come to believe that Babe Ruth was the Michael Jordan of baseball.”
Jordan, the three-time NBA Finals MVP, said in his opening statement: “When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense of, to prove something as a basketball player, it’s time for me to move away. It’s not because I don’t love the game. I always will. I just feel that I have reached the pinnacle of my career.”
Giangreco fired the first question, asking if the death of Jordan’s father, James, influenced his decision. Giangreco then followed up a Jordan remark about playing basketball “somewhere else” by half-jokingly asking if he would play in the driveway or start his own league in Europe.
“Pickup games when I feel the desire,” Jordan responded.
With hundreds of reporters in attendance, Giangreco then asked a third straight question, about whether Jordan would ever unretire.
“The word retire means you can do anything you want,” he replied. “So if I desire to come back and play again, maybe that’s what I want to do. Maybe that’s the challenge I may need someday down the road. I’m not going to close that door. I don’t believe in ‘never.’ “
Giangreco: “Back then it was so viciously competitive. General managers and news directors expected you to break stories and be present in the story. In a huge, historic news conference like that, you have to go in with a plan. I kept going until Reinsdorf leaned into Jordan and said: ‘Call on somebody besides Giangreco.’ My college roommate was in his car on a sales call in North Carolina or something. And he goes, dude, I just heard you got dissed by Reinsdorf!
“Michael came in and the first thing I noticed was how relaxed and relieved he appeared. He was at peace with this decision. I think even in the back of his mind he knew he was eventually going to come back. But he needed a break, for sure. I think it was just this intersection of: I am totally burned out plus I’ve had it with the media.”
Say what?
Next came several questions that viewers could not hear.
McIntyre: “It’s interesting to see the evolution of press conferences. Originally they were a scrum in the locker room. As they got bigger, we tried to organize them with speaking stations and small microphones so the group could hear. The next evolution was to start miking the audience so you could hear the questions being asked. I used to fight sometimes with some people internally: Hey, this is still for the media who are there on site. This isn’t a TV event. And then it became a TV event.”
This was anything but a slick production. Feedback from speakers caused a harsh sound. And then the audio went out entirely, causing a delay.
Giangreco: “There were so many cameras and microphones that it basically blew up the system. Somebody kicked out a plug or shorted the ‘mult’ box. Michael couldn’t hear the questions. We couldn’t hear the answers.”
McIntyre: “Watching it (again), that sinking feeling came back. At the time, I didn’t know who to call to fix it. We take a lot of pride in testing stuff to make sure it works. You learn the hard way.”
Jordan did hear a question from Isaacson, who traveled with the team that year and asked him what drove the decision. He replied: “Melissa, I’ve always told you, I never wanted to leave the game when my skills started to diminish. Once that starts to happen, I feel the foot in my back, people pushing you out of the game.”
Isaacson: “They lost a ton of games in the middle of that season. They lost a game to Orlando when Jordan had attempted 49 shots. I got Michael alone in Houston and he was really cranky. He said: ‘It’s human nature that when success comes around, everybody’s fat and independent where before everyone was supportive and connected. That will be the ultimate destruction of this team.’ He told me later that practices were bad, people had gotten bored and it was no longer fun.
“After games the players would have beers at the training table and point fingers, and he’d say: You watch, I’m not going to be around much longer. This is going to be my last year. And they’d say: ‘Sure, MJ.’ He dropped a ton of hints.
“He didn’t want his dad to ever miss another basketball game. He couldn’t bear to think of playing another game without him.”
The other reason he exited, of course, was baseball.
“Michael had called me a couple of weeks before and out of left field said: ‘I just want you to know I’m going to retire,’ ” Falk said. “He was expecting me to say: Are you freaking kidding me? But I processed the thought and said: It’s the American dream to work really hard at something, become really, really good at it, perhaps the best in the world, earn a ton of money and then do whatever makes you happy. You’ve accomplished Part A. If retiring and playing baseball will bring you happiness, go for it. God bless you. It was a way of honoring his dad.
“Everybody wants to come up with their little conspiracy theories. Were you banned? Were you disciplined? Sometimes it’s hard for people to accept the simple fact of what you’re telling them.”
On the subject of returning to the NBA, Jordan said: “Five years down the line, if that urge comes back, if the Bulls have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back.”
Lets me back?
The conspiracy theorists who want to believe Stern suspended Jordan over gambling issues blew that quote up. Why did he say it?
Falk: “I have no idea, but Michael has a great sense of humor. There was never a conspiracy. David Stern denied it categorically. He is a smart, smart guy. Do you think David Stern wanted to lose his cash cow? Zero chance.”
As Stern put it that day: “Michael Jordan did nothing wrong, and I resent any implications to the contrary.”
The final word
At one point broadcaster and Bulls legend Johnny “Red” Kerr approached the table and clapped his hands, releasing talcum powder. Touche.
Jordan laughed and said: “I guess he’s even now.”
The frivolity ended when a reporter — Isaacson and Giangreco can’t remember who — asked a brutal question: Did Jordan choose this day to upstage the Sox? Game 2 of the ALCS would be played that night.
“Yeah, I heard you last night and I don’t appreciate what you said,” Jordan shot back. “The reason I did it today is get it over and done with before (Bulls) training camp starts. I’m not here to overshadow anyone. I’m here to say ‘goodbye’.”
Giangreco: “He was excited to get back at the media. He held a grudge, and from his perspective, I totally get it. Can you imagine (dealing with) that every single day of your life? One day (ABC-7 investigative reporter) Chuck Goudie went to the Berto Center and asked: ‘Michael, is that how you prepare for a playoff game, going to Atlantic City and gambling?’ Michael said: ‘I’m done.'”
Falk: “Michael is so honest. Things that bother him, he shares. He is unvarnished.”
Gray: “What I kept thinking at the press conference was: This guy just needs a break. And the only way he can free himself of this is to say: I need some time for myself.”
Jordan did not share that he was thinking about playing baseball. He did talk about adding family time.
Isaacson: “When he said he looked forward to carpooling, we all said: Yeah, right. Picturing him in the carpool lane was not his personality. He was a guy who would shut down a mall if he ever shopped.”
Giangreco: “He said he would spend more time with his wife and kids. Or was it play more golf and smoke cigars?”
OK, say Jordan embellished here and there. He answered a question about whether he would play for an NBA team other than the Bulls: “No, I can’t even think about playing for another team. That’s not even a train of thought.”
Can we all just pretend those 142 games with the Wizards from 2001-03 never happened?
“For many years,” Jordan said that day, “Chicago’s been known as a gangster town. From now on, it can be known as a championship town.”
