The infamous ‘Flu Game’ stands among the most iconic moments in sports history. While the 38-point performance by Michael Jordan has inspired retro releases and Gatorade commercials, a recent interview with famed trainer Tim Grover by TrueHoop TV suggests that Jordan’s symptoms were not from the flu but rather food poisoning. Grover details the night before the game:
“We were in Park City, Utah, up in a hotel. Room service stopped at like nine o’clock. He got hungry and we really couldn’t find any other place to eat. So we said eh, the only thing I can find is a pizza place. So we says all right, order pizza.
We had been there for a while. Everybody knew what hotel. Park City was not many hotels back then. So everyone kind of knew where we were staying.
So we order pizza.
Five guys came to deliver this pizza.
I take the pizza and I tell them: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. … I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”
Out of everybody in the room, [MJ] was the only one who ate. Nobody else had it.
And then 2 o’clock in the morning I get a call to my room. Come to the room. He’s curled up in the fetal position. We’re looking at him, finding the team physician at that time.
Immediately I told him it’s food poisoning.
Not the flu.”
While ‘Park City Pizza Game’ certainly doesn’t have the same ring as the original nickname, it does make for an interesting story. What’s your take on this MJ tale? Does it change your pre-game meal routine? Let us know in the comment section.
Source: Ball Don’t Lie
