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Basketball Fan Franchise Player
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 24799
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Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:29 pm Post subject: Do you remember the time Michael Jordan wore #12? |
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http://thebiglead.com/2018/02/14/do-you-remember-the-time-michael-jordan-wore-no-12/
Quote: | Do You Remember the Time Michael Jordan Wore No. 12?
In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is a fun throwback. Did you know that 28 years ago today Michael Jordan’s No. 23 jersey was stolen before the game?
Indeed, it was Valentine’s Day and the Chicago Bulls were playing the Orlando Magic. The details are a little hazy, but for all we know some lucky sweetheart or jilted lover stole MJ’s jersey right before the game started. Since the Bulls did not have a backup, Jordan ended up wearing No. 12 instead of the number closest to his heart, No. 23.
Ultimately the number on Jordan’s jersey didn’t matter, as he still hit 21 of his 43 shot attempts for a game-high 49 points. The more you know… |
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non-player zealot Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 21365
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Gatekeeper Star Player
Joined: 11 Jan 2012 Posts: 5103 Location: Southland Native
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adkindo Retired Number
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 40345 Location: Dirty South
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:21 am Post subject: |
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non-player zealot wrote: | Yes. Orlando. 90ish. |
I think it was actually in 1990...Nick Anderson's (Orlando's 1st draft pick) rookie season. The Magic preferred Jordan wearing #45....the number he wore in the playoffs the season the Magic beat the Bulls and went to the NBA Finals.
MJ in #12
The GOAT and Terry Catledge...who I think the Magic got from the Washington Bullets in the expansion draft. |
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non-player zealot Franchise Player
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 21365
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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adkindo wrote: | non-player zealot wrote: | Yes. Orlando. 90ish. |
I think it was actually in 1990...Nick Anderson's (Orlando's 1st draft pick) rookie season. The Magic preferred Jordan wearing #45....the number he wore in the playoffs the season the Magic beat the Bulls and went to the NBA Finals.
MJ in #12
The GOAT and Terry Catledge...who I think the Magic got from the Washington Bullets in the expansion draft. |
Yeah, Mike changed back to 23 the game after Nick Anderson stripped him and the NBA fined him every game, but he no care. If Mike had consistency problems after jumping into the 95 season halfway, he sure got things in order that offseason, can't deny that one. Probably less gambling, golf, and tail-chasing in Summer 96. I loved that Summer, that was a good'n for me too.
Anyway, Catledge was the big lug that occasionally served as a doppleganger for young Shaq like Laron Profit did to Kobe. You'd look at Terry all sweaty and he looked like him. They were similar height and skin tone. If you pulled a TC card out of a pack, you thought you got a Shaq rookie, but realized it was just Cat. He wore 33 which was more associated with Shaq at that time. I dunno if Shaq asked him if he could have that number or not, but he never went back to it. Did the same thing Magic did (33 to 32). _________________ GOAT MAGIC REEL
SEDALE TRIBUTE
EDDIE DONX! |
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Basketball Fan Franchise Player
Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Posts: 24799
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Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 8:34 am Post subject: |
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https://sports.yahoo.com/solving-the-mystery-behind-the-night-michael-jordan-wore-a-nameless-no-12-jersey-30-years-ago-143314287.html
Quote: | Solving the mystery behind the night Michael Jordan wore a nameless No. 12 jersey 30 years ago
Michael Jordan was forced to wear No. 12 when his No. 23 jersey was stolen on Valentine's Day 1990.
It has been a mystery 30 years in the making, one of the NBA’s biggest — perhaps until now.
On Valentine’s Day 1990, Michael Jordan’s No. 23 was not yet the jersey emblematic of a G.O.A.T., although the Chicago Bulls legend already had MVP and Defensive Player of the Year to his name.
“Jordan was obviously a famous player,” says Sam Smith, the Hall of Fame sportswriter and author of “The Jordan Rules” who covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune then and still does now for NBA.com, “but the jersey number wasn’t quote iconic yet because the Bulls hadn’t won anything.”
At the very least, the person responsible for stealing Jordan’s No. 23 jersey from Orlando Arena’s visitors’ locker room prior to the Bulls’ game against the Magic on Feb. 14, 1990 should be credited for the attempt to make a sound investment. Not that Jordan would even concede that much.
“That has never happened to me before,” the notoriously superstitious Jordan told The Orlando Sentinel’s Tim Povtak prior to a 135-129 overtime loss, Chicago’s fifth in six games. “It’s pretty irritating because you’re accustomed to certain things and you don't like to have things misplaced.”
Searches conducted by equipment personnel and arena security turned up nothing prior to tipoff. According to Rodney “Sid” Powell, the equipment manager and director of team operations for the entirety of the Magic’s existence, “people were accusing Magic personnel of stealing the jersey, cleaning crews, just about anyone working in the building that day.” He is sure the visiting locker room was dead-bolted and secured with a lock and key following Chicago’s morning shootaround.
“We always assumed it was just some clubhouse worker,” says Smith. “Back then the locker rooms were open to everyone. Celebrities were always in there pregame and postgame getting autographs from Jordan. I remember refs at times getting autographs from him pregame. It was another time.”
A locker-room attendant placed Jordan’s uniform by his locker at 5:30 p.m., Povtak reported from the arena that night. “By 5:45, when players began arriving, the jersey was gone without a trace.” Other reports at the time and more recently indicated the jersey disappeared closer to shootaround.
“I know when MJ found out his jersey was missing he was very upset and did not want to wear a different jersey,” Powell recollects with Yahoo Sports. “Luckily the Bulls staff carried a backup jersey just in case something was to happen, like a ripped jersey or in this case a missing jersey.”
Teams carry duplicate jerseys now. They didn’t then, when teams flew commercial and traveled lighter to cut costs. According to Smith, the Bulls scoured the stands for a No. 23 Jordan jersey that would fit him. None did. All Bulls equipment manager John Ligmanowski had on hand was a nameless No. 12 jersey. Jordan begrudgingly wore it, scoring 49 points in 47 minutes of defeat.
A typical performance, a not-so-typical result. When Matt Maloney debuted as No. 12 for the Bulls years later, the late and legendary Bulls broadcaster Red Kerr revealed that Jordan removed his No. 12 jersey that Valentine’s Day in 1990 and declared, “I’ll never wear this again.” And he never did.
Jordan was back to his white No. 23 jersey when the Bulls returned home from a six-game trip that saw five losses, giving Ligmanowski ample time to supply fresh red duds for the road. They rattled off nine straight wins en route to 55 on a season that ended against the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. The rest is history. (As fate has it, Jordan also famously switched from the No. 45 he wore for 18 games upon returning to the NBA in 1995 back to 23 in Orlando.)
Nameless No. 12 jerseys are on sale at NBA.com for $300, which might just be the real theft here. After all, they never did find that missing red No. 23 jersey — or so conventional thought once went. |
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