Michael Jordan very well may be the most ruthless competitor in the history of sports. Jordan’s competitive streak is legendary — you can probably think of a few stories that prove this — but he wasn’t just competitive about basketball. He, of course, tried his hand at baseball and has not exactly been shy about how much he enjoys gambling on any number of things.
One such story got confirmed by Scottie Pippen in a sit-down with Rachel Nichols of ESPN. Nichols asked about the rumor that Jordan used to find out the results of jumbotron games from the Bulls game ops staff, then when they’d air during time outs, he would wager with teammates on the outcome knowing full well what was going to happen. Unsurprisingly, Pippen revealed that Jordan indeed used to do this, but clarified he didn’t often do it with other members of the Bulls’ roster.
When @ScottiePippen & @SteveKerr crossed paths at a Warriors game last month, you know I had to get alllllll the stories
Some great stuff here on when they first met, whether a particular MJ gambling story is true (it is) and why Scottie may soon be driven to coaching himself pic.twitter.com/pp9RJRP5fZ
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 14, 2020
“That is a true story, but he never bet at me, I don’t think he bet at … Steve’s not betting anybody,” Pippen said, pointing to former teammate Steve Kerr. “He did bet, we had a security guy sit at the head of our bench — his name was John Capps, he’s now passed away, but Capps would bet Michael every game. The only way Capps would win (was) if he was able to pick the right one, because if Michael picked, obviously he knew he was gonna win. But yeah, he probably beat the guy out of $4,100.”
This wasn’t exactly the kindest gesture Jordan could have pulled, but Michael Jeffrey Jordan did not win six championships by being a nice guy. The moral of this story is that if MJ ever tries to bet on something with you: 1. Please tell me so I can talk to you about it and, 2. Don’t.