he had only to watch the Bulls game last night to be reminded of what a phenomenal athlete our next
guest is here now take a look at this videotape Michael Jordan scoring some of those 44 points
now this man was the NBA's most valuable player Defensive Player
of the Year in 1988. ladies and Gentlemen please welcome just possibly the greatest
basketball player in the world today Michael Jordan right here
hey
[Applause]
guys
[Applause]
all right
so what uh help us out here where do you guys go for you're close to eliminating Cleveland and
then what happens if you if you knock Cleveland out or if you're not leaving out tomorrow we'll
probably go to New York on Saturday morning any predictions about the outcome of that
series no no predictions yeah uh any predictions about the MVP in the League this year no yeah
foreign you know I I find this hard to believe and I guess uh the last time you're on the program a
couple years ago this was explained to me and maybe we've been chatted about it but in high
school uh the first time you went out for the team you did not make the basketball team I was cut
um cut wide I wasn't that good I was about 5 10 and uh I really couldn't make a layup
and chew gum at the same time but you know I thought I should have been on the team though
so that was your freshman year what happened to your sophomore year Well I barely made the team
I didn't start to play until middleweight of the season and the same guy who cut me
became my head coach now he works at my camp and I give him the dirty jobs [Applause]
no but I love that toy that you had uh you're like you are a very wealthy young man how old a guy are
you I'm uh 26. 26 years old uh and this is a great time to be a basketball star in isn't it well they
need to win and if you win they appreciate it a lot did you uh and when you were a kid growing
up what part of the country are you from I'm from Wilmington North Carolina so you're out one day
you're chopping wood now is this a true story you're actually chopping wood and what happens
well I was being bad first of all my parents told me not to mess with the ax so I'm out
chopping wood so they tell you don't go out there to chop wood you're too young to be
playing with the ax it's a very dangerous instrument how old were you I was about
I'd say five five yeah six is about to cut off six and above you can play with the ax
when I'm playing with the ax I don't have any shoes on oh
my God you're from the country you know you don't wear shoes outside
so I'm chopping little bits of pieces of wood and being hard-headed and I accidentally
Mr wood and I caught half of my big toe wow all right so now you got an emergency here well it was
an emergency you know I'm here I am a little kid five years old I'm yelling screaming don't know
what to do right so I run home and my mother and my father said well let's go down and see
this lady who's supposed to be the neighborhood doctor somebody who knows everything I've ever
seen in a certificate so I don't know if she's a doctor or not but the first thing she does
is well we need to do something to take away the pain yeah so she pulls kerosene over my kerosene
I did that it took away the pain yeah I would guess so but I remember that as it's the first
thing that that really happened to me so it's amazing as a young kid if this had been a worse
accident you might not have even been able to walk and now you're like the greatest basketball player
[Applause]
God loves a good inspirational story don't they yeah who knows though but every time
I've fallen out my father keeps telling me you shouldn't have played with that ax no
have brothers and sisters I have two brothers and two sisters are you the tallest one in the family
not as tall how does that work I'm the tallest my father's about 5 10. my mother's about five
five well everyone else is about five six and a half five seven the milkman's about six seven no
[Applause]
no my father's backstage I'm proud to have that set out here on no he
knows I kid with him about it so now when you're when you're playing you're
very uh demonstrative with your with your tongue right
I don't know what I'm doing yeah it's a habit that I've gotten from my father who uh I really get to
him about you know give me a bad habit but I just can't get rid of it yeah uh so anyway now is it
is do you guys have a shot at winning the title or is going to be tough in New York oh we got a shot
yeah it may be slim but we have a shot uh and then let's say you do win win the title uh or let's say
maybe you don't win the title whatever then your off season begins what kind of things do you do
in the off season things yeah a thing what what kind of thing do you draw you play a lot of God
it's a it's a pleasure to see you again congratulations on all your success [Applause]
it's been a lot of fun Michael thank you very much for being here my thanks
also to Lou Reed and Jay Leno have a good night ladies and gentlemen we'll see you
tomorrow thank you very much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]