The 2007 NFL season was "perfect" for more teams than just the New England Patriots.

Though the current form of the New England Patriots rates as a NFL dynasty thanks to their three recent Super Bowl victories, no one in football saw what the team had in store for the league in 2007. The Patriots did something that had not been accomplished since the NFL began its 16 game schedule in 1978 - they won every game they played. Now to point at the Patriots “perfect” season and say something fishy may have been occurring behind the scenes seems ridiculous. Yet to look at the numbers and what the Patriots’ run did for the NFL, you can see why the league and its broadcast partners may have not wanted to see that streak end prematurely.

In Week 9 of the 2007 season, the Patriots matched up against the also undefeated (at the time) Indianapolis Colts. This highly touted game resulted in not just a Patriots victory, but more importantly for the NFL, the highest rated regular season NFL game since 1987. Three weeks later, when the Patriots took on the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the game gave NBC its highest ratings ever for a Sunday night game, beating the previous figure by over 40%. The following week as the Patriots march to perfection reached the Baltimore Ravens and ESPN’s Monday Night Football, the game resulted in the biggest audience in cable television history, drawing in some 12.5 million viewers. As CBS Sports President Sean McManus said, “The Patriots have been a great story for us. They’re the driving force behind our ratings.”

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Patriots bandwagon was fully operational in 2007. Sales of their merchandise were more than doubled from the year before which translated into profit for every team in the NFL thanks to their revenue sharing program. And since the Patriots continued to draw in viewers in record numbers, suddenly the asking prices for TV commercial spots escalated dramatically. According to an article on Bloomberg.com, CBS’s asking price for a commercial during the aforementioned Pats-Colts game was $700,000 for a 30-second spot. Compare that to the $400,000 per commercial asked for on TV’s top rated show, Grey’s Anatomy, and you can see how everyone involved was profiting (or profiteering if you prefer). The NFL Network, by a supposed quirk of fate, was the beneficiary of the Patriots last regular season game (which was hyped as the Patriots chance as being undefeated prior to them actually beating the 1-14 Dolphins during Week 16) against the New York Giants. For that final game on which the “perfect” season hung in the balance, the NFL Network more than doubled its asking price for commercial spots. But the league then took everything a step further. It so wanted to use the Patriots run at perfection to its utmost (including hyping the NFL Network), the NFL did the unthinkable. The league broadcast the Patriots final regular season game on three different networks simultaneously – CBS, NBC, and its own NFL Network. This was the first time an NFL game was broadcast on more than one TV network since Super Bowl I was shown on both CBS and NBC. As NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy was quoted as saying, “There’s increased interest throughout the country. The scriptwriters on strike [the Writers Guild of America was on strike at this time which undoubtedly helped open up NBC’s and CBS’s prime time schedules] couldn’t have come up with a better storyline.” And yes, once again someone within the NFL did in fact say, we’ve couldn’t have scripted this any better. Do you still believe them?

What’s perhaps the most amazing aspect of the Patriots undefeated season is that the four record setting (ratings-wise) games – vs. the Colts, the Eagles, the Ravens, and the Giants – all were won by the Patriots in come-from-behind fashion. In fact, the Patriots managed just a three point win against each the Eagles, Ravens, and Giants while eking out a four point victory against the Colts. This wouldn’t seem odd except for the fact that the Patriots won their 12 other games by a grand total of 435 to 167. The closest of these games was a 20-10 victory over the New York Jets that was played in a combination snow and wind storm that rocked the East Coast late in December and hindered play on the field. Two of the teams the Patriots “struggled” to beat, the Eagles who posted an 8-8 record and the Ravens which went 5-11 then fired their head coach, failed to make the playoffs. So were these four games in question made a touch more dramatic to hold the viewers’ attention throughout and maybe make some of those sponsors that shelled out all that extra cash for an advertising spot a little less apprehensive, considering nearly every other Patriots game that season was a blowout by halftime?

None of these four games were without controversy, especially the Patriots last minute win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens held a 24-20 lead as the Patriots took possession of the ball for what would be a do-or-die last drive. Little did the Ravens defense know what they would be up against in those final few minutes. Some 70 yards later and after the Patriots converted two separate fourth down situations (one of which came on a highly questionable defensive holding penalty), Tom Brady’s 8 yard touchdown pass put the Patriots in the lead for good 27-24 with just 44 seconds left in the game. Though it was the Patriots that won the game, several members of the Ravens pointed their fingers at the referees, crediting them more than anyone for the Patriots’ victory. The complaints over the officiating in the last moments of the game were so overwhelming, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating Mike Pereira had to later make a pronouncement that all of the calls made in the game were indeed correct. Correct, that is, if you were rooting for the Patriots (and as if the NFL would’ve said otherwise given what was on the line in that game). As for the Ravens, Baltimore cornerback Chris McAlister summed it up best when he said, “It’s hard to go out there and play the Patriots and the refs at the same time. They put the crown on top of them, they want them to win. They won.”

As if that weren’t enough, late in the 2007 season at was revealed that CBS, the network that broadcasts the AFC’s games of which the Patriots are members, had made a deal with Patriots owner Bob Kraft to open up a CBS themed restaurant in the Patriots home, Gillette Stadium. The restaurant, tentatively named “CBS Scene,” is a joint venture with the team. CBS Sports President Sean McManus said, “It’s not a business we’ve been in before, but we thought it was a no-brainer to further associate ourselves with NFL football and the Patriots.” But, of course, this deal begins and ends with the restaurant, right? Even though McManus also said, “It’s hard to overestimate the value of NFL programming, especially when you’re having the kind of season that we’re having with the Patriots. That obviously translates into significant revenue.” It sure does. And it’s obviously no coincidence that since 2005, Patriots owner Robert Kraft is on the board of directors for the media giant Viacom, the company that up until Kraft joined was partnered with/owned CBS. But since the two companies split, I’m sure every tie between the two was completely severed, right? So we’re safe to assume that the Kraft/Viacom/CBS connection is simply circumstantial. And we’re supposed to believe that all this revenue generated by the Patriots and such direct deals with CBS in no way, shape, or form could influence the outcome of any game involving this money making machine. That’s where the line is drawn in these business deals – right on the sidelines. Nothing crosses over onto the field of play. In fact, it’s blasphemy to even think such thoughts.

Yet part of that dual edged sword the NFL possesses in its 16 game schedule is the fact that because one game can have such a significant impact league wide, fixing one select game could make a huge difference in how a season transpires. Clearly the Patriots were the best team in the NFL in 2007, but as their undefeated season became more and more possible, more and more pressure was on the team to actually complete the task at hand – not necessarily from the fans, but from those profiting with each and every win. All of the games in question occurred in the second half of the season, weeks 9, 12, 13, and 17. By this point (especially after the victory over the Colts), the NFL knew what they had in the Patriots run at history. Wouldn’t it have made good business sense to ensure such a run didn’t get cut short? To not just make history, but a great deal of money along the way as well? Perhaps a tweak here and there in each of these games did just that. Or perhaps just the adjustment made in the Ravens game mentioned above was enough to seal the deal.

The truth is that one game in the NFL means more than one game in any other sport. In fact, out of all the major sports leagues only the NFL has a single game championship, the Super Bowl, to determine its ultimate winner. No other league possesses such a simple set up to culminate their season. This is why Super Bowl Sunday has turned into such an event. The day has become a new national holiday celebrated among friends and families with parties raging from coast to coast. In many circles, the activities surrounding the game – the pre-game concerts, the halftime show, and the commercials – overshadow the game itself. Many who tune in to watch the game do so not caring about the outcome (unless some sort of office pool hangs in the balance). This has made the Super Bowl consistently one of the most watched televised events every year. Out of the top ten most watched prime time telecasts in the United States since 2000, the Super Bowl holds the top eight slots (and by a significant margin. Number eight is Super Bowl XXXV with some 84 million viewers compared to the number nine telecast, the final episode of Friends, with 52 million viewers). It would likely hold all ten, but only eight Super Bowls have been played since 2000 as of this writing. The Super Bowl also holds fifteen of the top thirty slots in terms of the most watched television programs ever aired.

This is why most would slough off any notion that the NFL actually cares which two teams meet up in the Super Bowl. If the ratings are always through the roof, if a thirty second commercial is selling for over $2.5 million (and for Super Bowl XLII, the 58 commercial “units” for the game were 90% sold out by November 1st, some 3 months prior to kickoff), and if the day is nearly a national holiday and seen by people world wide, does it really matter who’s playing? On the surface, that would seem very true. However, two teams do ultimately have to take the field, and not only that, one of them has to win. And I believe that the 32 NFL owners more than care who wins, they determine and “award” it to the franchise most deserving.

If, as we’ve seen previously in the 2006 New Orleans Saints' season, the NFL has the ability through a purposefully created system known as parity to sculpt a season in a certain team’s favor, similar actions within a playoff schedule would also be a very real potential. By this late date in a season, when Wild Card Weekend kicks off, the NFL is well award of which teams and players are their storylines, their money makers. With the assistance of their contacts in Las Vegas and the gambling world, they know which teams the public favors over their opponents. All this information can be quite advantageous. If something wasn’t arranged prior to the start of the season, by the time the playoffs arrive it would take just two or three properly arranged games (if one wanted to be certain) to propel any playoff team into the Super Bowl. An unlikely underdog, a league powerhouse, whatever the league might feel is the team du jour could easily have their way paved to a championship. If the NFL, through parity, truly wants to act as a utopia and share every aspect of the league among its owners, then why wouldn’t they also be willing to share and award Super Bowl rings in a similar fashion? Does this mean it happens every year and every team is given their time in the spotlight? No, but parity is supposed to allow for the possibility of it. Even so, constant upheaval wouldn’t benefit the league as suspicion could be aroused if a different team won every season. Even “randomness” allows for teams to repeat once in a while, so the allowance for so-called dynasties is necessary for such an illusion to seem real. Plus, remembering the NFL’s league wide revenue sharing plan, though one team may be repeatedly crowned the champion, the success seen by the likes of the 2007 New England Patriots is still spread around all 32 teams though not as openly as titles, trophies, and ticker tape parades.

But the Patriots lost the Super Bowl, right?

Yes, but why? Though it seemed as the NFL had managed to quash any discussion of what was dubbed “Spygate” (the Patriots’ video tapping of their opponents’ coaching signals as detailed earlier), somehow this story came back to the front burner in the week leading up to Super Bowl XLII. The NFL and its Commissioner Roger Goodell had dodged many questions regarding this “scandal” all season, yet when Senator Alren Specter and former Patriots’ video assistant Matt Walsh picked at that scab in the media prior to the game, the Patriots suddenly seemed doomed. Looking beat before they stepped on the field for the opening kickoff, the Patriots’ perfect season died with just 35 seconds left in the game. The controversy surrounding “Spygate” shouldn’t have factored into the game at all, and while no one on the Patriots cited it as a cause for their loss, it seemed odd to me that this issue reared its ugly head at such an inopportune time for both the Patriots and the NFL – unless the NFL wanted it to. Perhaps such talk was all part of the smoke and mirrors show the NFL runs with a startling regularity. A side show purposefully displayed to take some of the heat off the players in a game they were meant to lose. All attention instead became focused on head coach Bill Belichick, who was most likely the cause of the whole incident hence his $500,000 fine, and the Patriots’ organization which earned enough good will with their fans over the past few year to endure any such negative press that comes out of the situation. While Commissioner Goodell claimed to have “good reason” to destroy the evidence in the case against the Patriots while “reserving the right to revisit” the case should some new information come to light (which, I’m sure, won’t), what should be questioned more is how the Patriots seemed to get such preferred status in the NFL in the first place.

It all rests on the shoulders of Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Since buying the Patriots in 1994, Kraft had willed his way into becoming the most influential owner in the NFL. He’s the chairman of the NFL’s financial committee, and sits on the league’s audit, investment, broadcasting, business ventures, and expansion committees, as well as the special committee on league economics and the Los Angeles stadium working group. What’s more, Kraft was very involved in securing the NFL’s prized contracts with the major television networks which gives the NFL the bulk of its money every season. Kraft also brokered a deal in 2001 with his friend Paul Fireman valued at some $250 million for Fireman’s company Reebok to provide uniforms for all of the NFL for the next ten years. He was also instrumental in bringing the Texans to Houston as an expansion team, basically telling Texans’ owner Bob McNair that his investment in the NFL wouldn’t just give him the team, but would guarantee Houston the rights to the Super Bowl in 2004. Kraft was correct in making that promise. And as fate would have it, Kraft’s Patriots won that Super Bowl played in Houston, giving them their second title in three years.

Does such standing within the league mean Kraft’s team gets some preferential treatment? It’s known that Kraft, thanks to his role on the league’s finance committee, authorized a program that allowed teams in the NFL’s six largest media markets $150 million each in low-interest loans to build new stadiums (every other team was allowed up to $100 million). Unsurprisingly, Kraft’s own Patriots were one of those 6 special teams. He immediately seized the opportunity for the loan, and then leveraged $70 million out of the state of Massachusetts’s infrastructure (under the threat of moving the team to Connecticut where he already had a deal in place, but later rebuked) to build his Patriots a $325 million dollar stadium to which he already owned the valuable parking lots. From that loan came the Patriots’ dynasty.

In 1998, the New England Patriots were valued at $252 million by Forbes magazine. Today, just ten years later, the Patriots are worth $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, his work for the NFL reaches around the world. Kraft met and gave Russian President Vladimir Putin one of his Super Bowl rings (or Putin simply took it in a misunderstanding, depending on who you hear the story from). He took the Vince Lombardi trophy from the Patriots’ third Super Bowl victory with him to Israel for a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. It’s there in Israel where Kraft has spent some $500,000 to dedicate the Kraft Family Stadium – the only stadium in Israel dedicated to American football. Kraft also helped build what’s known as “American Football in Israel,” a flag football league with some 900 active players.

All of this stems from a man who hasn’t been an owner in the league for more than 15 years. Is the Patriots success just a coincidence? Is it another example of parity at work? Is Kraft simply a great owner, who realized from the start what it takes to run a successful NFL franchise and create a winning formula? Was he just lucky to fall into players in the draft like Tom Brady or pick up forgotten veterans like Corey Dillon, Junior Seau, and Randy Moss while casting off such stars as Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy at the right times? Or did Kraft’s hard work within the NFL behind-the-scenes earn his team its on-the-field success? The more Kraft immersed himself within the ranks of other NFL owners, the more the Patriots succeeded as a team. That cannot be questioned. What can be is how such success was possible. Was it Kraft’s grand strategy for his franchise that created the Patriots’ dynasty or was it a reward, given to (maybe even taken by) Kraft for his contributions to the NFL?

--By Brian Tuohy

Think MJ simply retired while playing for the Bulls in 1993? Think again...

This article was referenced by Jack McCallum of Sports Illustrated and by Henry Abbott in his ESPN.com TrueHoop blog. Click herefor more details.

Don’t Wanna Be Like Mike

“I’m no Pete Rose” - Michael Jordan

October 6, 1993. Not what you’d call a red-letter date in history. But in the sporting world, especially the NBA, nothing could’ve been more shocking. Michael Jordan, the biggest and brightest star in the entire sporting world, suddenly announced his retirement from the NBA. Having just led his team, the Chicago Bulls, to its third World Championship in as many years, and still reeling from the tragic murder of his father James Jordan in July of that same year, MJ had had enough.

But almost forgotten in the hubbub surrounding his retirement was the NBA’s ongoing investigation into allegations of Michael Jordan’s gambling problem. Not surprisingly, just two days after Jordan’s speech, the NBA announced its five month long investigation had ended with the league apparently finding nothing of significance.

Under this squeaky clean surface, however, bubbled true ugliness. For I don’t believe that Michael Jordan willingly “retired” on that October morning, but was directed by the NBA and its commissioner David Stern to seek counseling for his growing addiction to gambling. An addiction that was well known both inside and outside the league, and one that had to be kept as invisible as possible so as not to tarnish the image of both Michael Jordan and the NBA.

High Stakes

In the 1970’s, Dr. J brought excitement to the NBA. In the 1980’s, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird added fuel to that smoldering fire with their skill and rivalry. But in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Michael Jordan turned that fire in an inferno. And with him, came an economic boom unlike anything the NBA had ever seen.

For Michael Jordan wasn’t just an NBA superstar. He was the NBA. It was estimated at one time that 70% of all basketball fans considered themselves Chicago Bulls fans –meaning Michael Jordan fans. Almost single-handedly, Jordan made the NBA into a commercial powerhouse. Ticket sales increased league wide (Jordan almost always played to sell-outs, both home and away). Merchandise (mainly Bulls jerseys with the number 23 emblazoned on them) flew off shelves. And most importantly to the NBA, the money taken in from TV revenues went through the roof. In 1985 (Jordan’s rookie year), CBS paid the NBA $188 million for a 4-year TV contract. In 1989, NBC was willing to shell out $600 million for that same amount of time. Who do you think the #1 attraction was?

However in the fall of 1991, a series of events began that threatened not only the image of Michael Jordan, but the millions of dollars his name meant.

Money on the Line

Michael Jordan craved competition. It was this passion that led to his compulsive gambling. He gambled on just about anything. While at North Carolina, he used to bet fellow players sodas or small amounts of money on free throws or games of “Horse.” Although not necessarily sanctioned by the team, it went largely ignored. These activities carried on into the pros, and with the huge influx of money, the stakes steadily increased. He played poker with his teammates on road trips and was known to be quite the shark. Bulls coaches would warn the younger players not to play poker with him – he was that good. He even gambled on the outcome of video games.(1) But it was golf, his second passion, which proved to be his downfall.

He began betting small, maybe $100 on a hole or a putt. But as his confidence on the golf course grew, so did the amounts of the bets. And why not? Jordan had plenty of money and he was a good golfer. Just not good enough to avoid losing to the wrong people.

In 1991, Jordan and a group of friends went on a week long gambling spree at his Hilton Head home in North Carolina, golfing all day and playing poker all night. By the time it ended, Jordan was into James “Slim” Bouler for $57,000 and Eddie Dow for $108,000. This in and of itself wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the fact that Bouler was a convicted cocaine dealer and had two probation violations for carrying semiautomatic weapons.

This was just the beginning for Jordan. On October 21, 1991, Jordan paid the $57,000 to Bouler who turned around and placed the money in an account for the “Golf-Tech Driving Range.” The IRS quickly seized it, believing the funds may have been ill gotten since Bouler was again under investigation for dealing cocaine.

Now the shit hit the fan for Jordan. In the wake of these dealings coming to light, Jordan told the press that the $57,000 was merely a loan to a friend to start a golf range. That lie carried a lot of weight. So much so that U.S. District Court Judge Graham C. Mullen ruled that the IRS violated Bouler’s rights in seizing the $57,000 check. Judge Mullen admitted that he based his ruling on Jordan’s claims that the money was a loan – even though he never actually questioned Jordan.(2)

That seemed to suffice. For a while. Then in February of 1992, Jordan’s gambling associate Eddie Dow was robbed of $20,000 and murdered just outside his home. In Dow’s belongings they found photocopies of three checks that totaled $108,000 – the exact amount Jordan had lost to him months earlier. Two of the checks were from Jordan’s personal account. The third was a cashier’s check made out by Jordan.

Then, almost one year to the day after originally paying Bouler the $57,000, Michael Jordan was in court at Bouler’s trial for drug and money-laundering charges. Under oath, during a nine minute testimony, Michael Jordan admitted that the $57,000 was not a loan but indeed a gambling debt.

Tip of the Iceberg?

In June of 1993, another Michael Jordan gambling story broke. This one hovered around the book Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction…My Cry for Help! written by San Diego businessman Richard Esquinas. Esquinas claimed that during a ten-day period in 1991, Jordan had lost $1.25 million to him gambling on golf. No one initially believed his story, until Esquinas produced the correspondences with Jordan and the canceled checks to back it.

At the beginning of 1992, Esquinas contacted Jordan several times asking Jordan to pay off the bet. After a few token payments (some sent to Esquinas by Jordan’s wife Juanita) and many broken promises, Esquinas offered Jordan an out. Jordan agreed to settle the matter at $300,000. In March of 1993 Jordan had Chicago attorney Wayne A. McCoy send Esquinas $100,000. Then in May of that same year, McCoy sent Esquinas another $100,000. But by then, Esquinas had lost his patience waiting for his money and he published the book.

Jordan didn’t lie this time. Instead, he issued a statement. “I have played golf with Richard Esquinas with wagers made between us. Because I did not keep records, I cannot verify how much I won or lost. I can assure you the level of our wagers was substantially less than the preposterous amounts that have been reported.” (3)

Even with that admission of guilt, Jordan managed to deny any sort of problem. He told player friendly NBC reporter Ahmad Rashad “If I had a [gambling] problem, I’d be starving. I’d be hocking this watch, my championship rings, I would sell my house. My kids would be starving. I do not have a problem. I enjoy gambling.” (4) For a man that made hundreds of millions of dollars to claim that “if” he had a gambling problem, he’d be “starving” is quite laughable. He went on to say to Rashad, “My wife, if I had a problem, would have left me or certainly would have come and said seek help…my wife never said anything, and she’s the chief of finances in our household.” It’s obvious she must’ve known something since she’s the one who originally paid Esquinas.

During the time this story broke, Jordan decided to make an ill-advised trip to Atlantic City – right in the middle of the 1993 playoff series against the New York Knicks. Jordan claimed to the media that he was gone well before midnight the night before Game 2 in New York; however, he was seen in the casino well past midnight and into the wee hours of the morning. That was the last time Jordan would do that – during the playoffs. It has been reported on more that one occasion that when Jordan played in New York or New Jersey he’d venture down to Atlantic City, or if he were in Los Angeles or Utah he’d likely make a pit stop in Las Vegas.

The day after this new gambling story broke about Jordan and Atlantic City; NBC announcer Bob Costas had a halftime interview with NBA Commissioner David Stern. During that interview, Costas badgered Stern about the story – much to the disdain of NBA Sports President Dick Ebersol who was screaming in Costas’s earpiece to lay off and switch subjects.(5) Costas, much to his credit, did not back down and asked the tough questions that should have been asked. But to little avail.

NBC laid off the story from that point onward. Jordan became quite tight lipped as well. He stopped talking to the media. Even though such silence - especially during the playoffs - is a fineable offense in the NBA, Jordan never received a single fine. For Stern and the NBA, Jordan’s silence might have been a blessing in disguise.

Breaking Point

By now, the NBA had had enough. They had been through this once before in 1992 with the Bouler ordeal. That two-week “investigation” ended with Commissioner David Stern announcing, “This situation has been investigated with complete cooperation of Michael and his attorneys and [the head of the NBA investigation] Judge Lacey has assured us that there appears to be no reason for the NBA to take action against Michael.” (6) But in reality, the “two week investigation” consisted of a 2½-hour meeting between Jordan, his attorneys, and top NBA officials. The NBA never questioned either Bouler or any of the local or Federal investigating officers in the case, and never asked to see the records from Bouler’s trial. No wonder there appeared to be no reason to take action against Jordan.

Jordan was merely given a slap on the wrist and told to watch who he associates with. He himself claimed to Chicago Tribune writer Bob Greene, “Was I gambling with goons who had bad reputations? Yeah, I was. Should I not gamble with goons anymore? Yeah, I shouldn’t gamble with goons.”

But now, in 1993, Jordan was on strike two and a half. During this second, and much more thorough investigation, the league was to discover that not only were the amounts involved larger, but also that the accusations were much more damning. According to the book Money Players: Days and Nights Inside the New NBA, in July 1993 the NBA interviewed Esquinas in its New York offices. During that interview, Esquinas told the investigators that in March of 1992, he had overheard a telephone conversation Jordan was having with an unknown person. During that phone call, Jordan talked about a betting line; saying “So you say the line is seven points.”(7) Of what game, it is unknown. But this was a serious accusation. If Jordan was indeed gambling on sports, then he had broken that sacred, unwritten rule for professional athletes.

The question is, how credible did the NBA think this allegation was? I think they took it as quite credible. They most definitely did not want Jordan to become the NBA’s version of Pete Rose, who was a certain Hall of Famer in baseball until he was suspended for life over gambling. Rose, the all-time hits leader in the MLB, never made it into the Hall of Fame despite all of his on the field accomplishments because off the field, he was a sports gambler.

Baseball was more than Pete Rose. But Jordan was more than basketball. He was Nike. He was McDonalds. He was Chevrolet. He was even considered a national hero by winning a gold medal for Team USA (the “Dream Team”) in the 1992 Olympics. Jordan meant a lot of money to a lot of people. $40 million dollars a year in endorsement deals alone. And here it seemed that he was spinning out of control. Inching closer and closer to a revelation that would not only bring down a man, but what seemed like an American institution.

What was potentially even more threatening to the league than MJ’s gambling was the fact that he was consistently associating with seeming criminals. He was putting himself in a position where he could easily be blackmailed. Perhaps blackmailed into doing something on the court like shaving points or worse – throwing games. I think at this point the NBA and Commissioner David Stern stepped in and talked to Michael Jordan about “retirement.”

Retirement

I don’t believe that the news conference called on October 6, 1993 was what it purported itself to be. There were no tears in Michael Jordan’s eyes. There was no sadness, no cracking voices. Merely a statement followed by some quick, easy to answer questions, and then “retirement.”

According to his own statement, why did Jordan decide to retire? First, he stated, “I just feel that at this particular time in my career, I’ve reached the pinnacle…that I don’t have anything else to prove to myself.” Quite hypocritical considering 17 months later he was back playing for the Bulls. I guess even after being named Rookie of the Year, leading the league in scoring for 7 years in a row, being named MVP twice, winning the NBA Championship three times, and being hailed as the greatest player to ever play the game, Jordan found something else he needed to prove.

Then came, “The biggest gratification, the biggest positive thing that I can take out of my father not being here with me today is that he saw my last basketball game, and that means a lot.” Having occurred in July of 1993, the murder of James Jordan surely weighed heavily on Michael’s mind at the time.

Although some have speculated that his father’s death had something to do with Jordan’s gambling, I don’t believe that to be the case. James Jordan wasn’t a saint, truth be told. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison (which were suspended) for being a cog in a larger embezzlement scheme in 1985, and at the time of his death, he was the subject of several lawsuits concerning the unpaid bills of his clothing company, JVL Enterprises, Inc.(8) And even though there are some odd facts surrounding his murder (like the fact that a man like Michael Jordan’s father decided to sleep in his car on the side of a rural highway rather than find a hotel or stay overnight at a friend’s home), there is no real evidence to support a conspiracy. However, the pride Michael felt in his father seeing his last game seemed to be rather fleeting.

Finally he stated, “Now that I’m here, it’s time to be a little bit unselfish in terms of spending more time with my family, my wife, my kids, and just get back to a normal life, as close to it as I can.” When asked, what will he do now, Jordan replied, “In retirement, you do whatever comes to mind. Relax. Enjoy the time you’ve been deprived of for many years.” I guess what came to Michael’s mind was playing baseball. Not spending time with the wife and kids, unless of course they were on the bus with him and the rest of the Birmingham Barons while traveling from small town to smaller town across the Southern US.

Which brings up an interesting point. The only reason Jordan was even given an opportunity to play baseball was because Chicago Bulls’ owner Jerry Reinsdorf also owned the Chicago White Sox. The Barons were an affiliate of the White Sox, so MJ could easily pass through the filters that would’ve normally kept him off the team. Reinsdorf stood to lose as much as anyone with MJ’s retirement (just compare Bulls tickets sales today compared to when MJ played). Yet he was one of the first people Jordan contacted regarding a potential “retirement.” How did Reinsdorf respond? By paying Jordan $4 million and leaving a contractual window open for him to return (9) – even though after being ask would he ever return, Jordan replied, “No – if so, I’d still be playing.”

Let’s face the facts; Jordan was a horrible baseball player. In his one full season in Birmingham, he hit .202 – even with opposing teams' catchers telling him which pitch was coming next. White Sox General Manager Ron Schueler was quoted at the time as saying that Jordan’s chance of making the majors was “a million-to-one shot.” So was he truly living a childhood dream of his to play baseball, or was it something more?

I believe there was more to his minor league career than waving at curve balls. I believe the NBA came to Jordan and laid it out for him. They didn’t want to see him go down for gambling, but at the same time, they couldn’t seem to control him. So they asked him to “retire” and seek some help. Allow the media investigations (if there even were any) to cool down and soon the public will forget all about it. Go play baseball so you can keep in shape and remain at least somewhat in the spotlight. Then, when the time is right, Jordan would be allowed to return to the NBA as the mighty king he once was.

At a certain point in time, Michael Jordan stopped playing by the NBA’s rules and began playing by his own. The NBA, not wanting to upset its cash cow, bent as far as it could to accommodate him. Be it with the lack of foul calls, or limited media access, or getting away with a crime, the NBA was always willing to do it for Michael.

He made a very interesting comment during his retirement press conference. When asked, “will you miss the sport?” he replied: “I’m pretty sure I’ll miss the sport. To come back is a different thought – I can’t answer that. I’m not making this a ‘never’ issue. I’m saying right now I don’t have the mental drive to come out and push myself to play with a certain focus. Five years down the line, if the urge comes back, if the Bulls will have me, if David Stern lets me back in the league, I may come back.(emphasis added)” No reporter there bothered to ask him, why wouldn’t the Commissioner let you back in, Michael? It’s a very interesting choice of words. One that lends itself to a very different interpretation of the situation.

Even during his second (and more formal) retirement, Jordan had to again tip his cap to Stern. In thanking a few people that came before him, Jordan said, “And Mr. Stern and what he’s done for the league and gave me the opportunity to play the game of basketball.” How, exactly, did Stern give him an opportunity to play basketball? By drafting him? By offering him a contract? By putting him in the starting line-up? No. By, as MJ said at his first retirement press conference, letting him back in the league.

Having seen the financial dip the league took post-Jordan retirement, the league wanted him to return. They needed him to return. There was no replacement for Michael Jordan. And after his two-word press release in the middle of the 1994-95 season, which simply stated, “I’m back,” Jordan was. Presumably having put the gambling behind him (the stories, at least), Jordan played another three full seasons with the Bulls, winning the championship in all three.

Conclusions

You may be asking yourself, be you a fan of the game or not, why should I care if Jordan did “retire” on his own accord or if the NBA coerced him? The answer is as simple as it is obvious. If there indeed was more to the Jordan story than reported (as I most certain believe) then the NBA, like many big businesses, is lying to you and covering up the facts. The NBA, with NBC as its partner in crime if you will, isn’t giving us the real deal. They are broadcasting a fairy tale and allowing Michael Jordan to live happily ever after at our expense.

Just take a look at Jordan’s final game, the 1997-98 NBA Championship game against the Utah Jazz. With 5.2 seconds left to go and the Bulls in possession of the ball, to whom do you think they’d look? Michael Jordan, of course. A wide open, nearly unguarded Michael Jordan who not only takes the last, game winning shot, but poses there for the cameras, so that image can be placed on every piece of merchandise the NBA can sell. If the NBA ever conspired to fix one of its own games, that would be the one to most point your finger at. They allowed the man who made the league rich beyond even their greediest expectations to go out on top, in style, and without a hint of controversy standing in the way.

--By Brian Tuohy

Sources

1 – David Halberstam, Playing for Keeps (Random House, 1999), pg. 317

2 – Armen Keteyian, Harvey Araton, & Martin F. Dardis, Money Players: Days and Nights Inside the New NBA (Pocket Books, 1997), pg. 191

3 – Ibid, pg. 177

4 – Ibid, pg. 196

5 – Halberstam, pg. 321

6 – Keteyian, Araton, & Dardis, pg. 191

7 – Ibid, pg. 196

8 – Ibid, pg. 173

9 – Ibid, pg. 185

Quotes from both Michael Jordan retirement speeches taken from transcripts as published by the Chicago Tribune.

Other quotes and figures taken from various issues of the Chicago Tribune.

More in-depth details on both the Bouler and Esquinas investigations can be found in the book "Money Players" for which this article is indebted.

This article reflects my opinion and is based on my own research. It is copyrighted and owned solely by myself. If you have read this article anywhere else besides this website it has been used without my permission.

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