Greatest #12 no one is talking about
by Chris Strauss, USA TODAY Sports
Thanks to an enterprising thief at the Orlando Arena, Michael Jordan became the best athlete to ever wear number 12, at least for one night.
On Valentine’s Day in 1990, someone snuck into the Bulls locker room about 90 minutes before the team’s tip off against the Magic and brazenly swiped the NBA legend’s game jersey out of his locker. After searching the arena and many of its employees, the jersey wasn’t recovered.
After trying a young fan’s replica Jordan jersey failed to fit, the team’s equipment manager salvaged an extra uniform the team had in case of emergency. The replacement had no name on the back and bore the number 12.
“That has never happened to me before,” Jordan told the Orlando Sentinel at the time. ”It’s pretty irritating because you’re accustomed to certain things and you don’t like to have things misplaced.”
It’s rumored that Jordan refused to sign autographs in Orlando after the incident, which is surprising, since he’s never shown any indication of being someone who holds a grudge.
Jordan ended up scoring 49 points in the game, although the Bulls would lose 135-129 in overtime.
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