Michael Jordan Poisoned? Trainer Says ‘Flu Game’ Should Be Called ‘Pizza Game’

Michael Jordan’s flu game is one of the most dramatic performances in NBA history. And, well, the legend is about to grow a little larger. According to his former trainer, MJ was poisoned before he took the court in the 1997 NBA Finals.

Yep, Tim Grover says that Michael Jordan was poisoned and didn’t actually have the flu.

But before we get to Grover’s version of the story let’s take a look at the facts.

Michael Jordan was visibly ill when the Chicago Bulls played the Utah Jazz during game 5 of the NBA finals. Despite the fact that he could barely stand under his own power, Jordan dropped 37 points to give the Bulls a 3-2 series lead.

At the time, it was reported that Jordan was suffering from “flu like conditions.” But Grover, his personal trainer, said that Jordan wasn’t suffering from the flu. He was suffering from food poisoning.

Grover told ESPN that Jordan was at his hotel in Park City, Utah when he got hungry. The hotel wasn’t delivering room service anymore so they decided to order out for pizza. Grover said that all of Utah knew where the Bulls were staying and that Jordan may have received a poorly cooked, or poisoned pizza, on purpose.

Grover said: “Yes, 100 percent poisoned. Everyone called it a ‘Flu Game,’ but we sat there and we were in the room, we were in Park City, Utah, up in a hotel. Room service stopped at like 9 o’clock. And he got hungry, and we really couldn’t find any other place to eat so we ordered. I said, ‘Hey, the only thing I could find is a pizza place.’ He said, ‘All right, order pizza.’ We had been there for a while, so everybody knows what hotel. I mean Park City (didn’t have) many hotels back then. Everybody kind of knew where we were staying. So we order a pizza, they come to deliver it, five guys come to deliver this pizza. And I’m just … I take the pizza, and I tell them, I said, ‘I got a bad feeling about this.’ I said, ‘I just got a bad feeling about this.'”

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Jordan was purposefully poisoned. It’s a little suspicious that five guys delivered the pizza but they probably just wanted a chance to meet MJ. And really, if you were sabotaging the greatest basketball player to ever live would you really send five guys to do it?

Do you think Michael Jordan was poisoned? Regardless of what MJ was suffering from, he still dropped 37 points on the Jazz while suffering from “flu like conditions.”