Will Perdue once shared a hilarious story about Michael Jordan that perfectly illustrates the absurdity of fame. After the Chicago Bulls landed at an airport, the team rushed to the bathroom, and Jordan found himself in a stall when a determined fan slipped a piece of paper and a pen under the door, asking for an autograph. Perdue and the teammates couldn’t believe their eyes!
“Everyone was at the urinals, and suddenly this guy thinks Michael’s gonna be in there for a while. So he just slides this note under the door!” Perdue recounted on the Bulls Talk Podcast.
Jordan, a global icon in the ’90s, was constantly swarmed by fans. As he reflected in a commercial, being him wasn’t all it was cracked up to be: “Let them try to be Michael Jordan for a year, see if they like it,” he said, highlighting the relentless pressure he faced.
For Jordan, true peace only came at home or in his hotel room. Bulls’ media director Tim Hallam noted that everywhere he went, the spotlight followed, making the idea of “being like Mike” an impossible dream. Despite his legendary stats—30.1 points per game, six championships, and five MVPs—one thing was clear: fame can be a funny, exhausting beast.
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