Thomas Lake on Pop Herring, the man who "cut" Michael Jordan in high school

I remember Jack McCallum writing in retrospect about Jordan at some point during the late 1990s or early 2000s. He might have been with Chicago, he might have been with Washington; the city doesn't matter as much as what was said. McCallum had talked with Jordan dozens of times, but Jordan knew McCallum was working on a story for Sports Illustrated, and when McCallum asked to talk with him, Jordan said something along the lines, "I like you Jack. I just don't like your magazine."

 

I didn't get the impression that Jordan was a dick by reading the story. He invited Pop to the United Center. Such a dick move, I guess.

 

He invited Herring to the United Center to get booed by a sold out crowd who believed him to be that idiot that cut Michael Jordan from the basketball team. Yup. Swell guy.

 

The story is well-written and interesting, but it's built entirely on a false premise. I've never heard of anyone disparaging Herring for cutting Jordan. And the idea that he didn't cut Jordan, but simply put him on JV is a silly semantic argument. If I tried out for a high school varsity team and didn't make varsity, I would consider it getting cut from varsity.

And Jordan is the king of trash talk. I never got the sense that his little jabs at Herring's decision to cut him were said with malicious intent. They seemed to be Jordan just being Jordan and talking a little trash. I always got the sense that Jordan genuinely appreciated the motivation and coaching he got from Herring (and Dean Smith and his other coaches).

 

To someone who knows that about Jordan, they can take away what you said. But for the casual fan, or the non-fan, they'll think that Jordan got screwed over and that the coach was an idiot for not seeing the greatest talent on earth.

 

Everything I've heard about MJ indicates he's a nice, humble guy that's easy to deal with and mostly friendly with the press.

 

Other than his mom, who have you talked to?

 

Anonymous sources /crossthread

 

Yeah, if I was going around saying those things about Michael Jordan, I'd stay anonymous too.

 

Jordan himself built his myth atop "I got cut in high school." Motivational speakers, coaches and teachers have tried to instill confidence in their kids by citing the great Jordan coming back after being cut in high school. At his HOF induction speech, where Jordan said fuck you by name to everyone who's ever pissed him off, Jordan ripped on Herring for cutting him.

Jordan has never said, "You know what, I wasn't cut. I was sent to jayvee. Like 99 percent of sophomores."

Herring's current problems are way bigger than Jordan's lying, but it might be nice for Jordan to acknowledge may he's fucked over the guy. I won't hold my breath.

 

He's a great basketball player. Instead of forgetting him, he has the wherewithal to keep his number and call him up, say hey man I'd really appreciate it if you come to the United Center, my treat. Such a dick.