Few in this world can say they got the best of Michael Jordan and didn’t live to regret it. Jordan is perhaps the only player who has been able to get a measure of revenge on any and every person that has wronged him.
Jordan was absolutely phenomenal during his time in the NBA, establishing himself as arguably the greatest player of all time. Much of Jordan’s success can be attributed to his determination to win.
An elite competitor, MJ couldn’t fathom the idea of losing. He would do anything and everything he needed to do in order to get the win for his team. MJ’s determination alone was extremely dangerous, but combined with his other-worldly talent was a recipe for disaster for any team that faced him.
Just like MJ destroyed the Detroit Pistons’ ‘Jordan Rules’, all his opponents fell victim to Jordan’s unparalleled desire to win. And his desire to win would translate to all walks of life.
Jordan was an avid golf player and participated in casual gambling. And from stories, others have told, Jordan rarely ever got bested by anyone else that was around him
As told by Rich Strafella, former VP of Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Jordan, and Gretzky were gambling when a waitress brought them their drinks.
Jordan gave her a $5 chip as a tip, until Gretzky stopped her, took that chip from her, and replaced it with a $100 chip. He then turned to Michael Jordan and told him that is the proper amount to tip someone in Vegas.
“I remember a night when Wayne Gretzky insulted Michael Jordan at the table. It was a private salon game. Michael had ordered a drink from the cocktail waitress, and he gave her a five-dollar chip. Wayne took it off the cocktail waitress’s tray, gave it back to Michael, grabbed a hundred-dollar chip from Michael’s stack and put it on the cocktail waitress’s tray. Then he said, “That’s how we tip in Las Vegas, Michael.”
Jordan wanted to win at everything he did, not just basketball. So when hockey legend Wayne Gretzky outdid him at a Las Vegas casino, Jordan may have not felt great.
We don’t know how MJ reacted, or if he followed Gretzky’s lesson on how to tip during his other gambling trips, but the moment sticks out as one of the few times someone dared to call out Michael Jordan in public — and won.
