ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon passed on watching a sneak preview of “The Last Dance” sent to his laptop ahead of Sunday’s premiere date.
“I’m a person who still goes to the movies,” Wilbon told SportsCenter on Saturday. “I wanna watch this on a flat screen tomorrow and enjoy it like most people are and I’m glad I’m taking some pride in the fact that I didn’t need the sneak preview if you will.”
Wilbon covered Jordan’s playing days as a reporter at the Washington Post and is heavily featured in the ESPN Jordan documentary. Reflecting on what it was like to be courtside near Jordan, Wilbon recalled a time when he sat next to a nun on a flight to Chicago for a playoff game in 1998.
“I am a product of St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago, we have a nice conversation,” he said, telling the nun that he was on his way to cover Jordan and the Bulls. “…and she starts writing. And she writes a letter.”
The nun signed it, sealed it and gave it to Wilbon.
“She looks at me and she says ‘I need you to give this to him (Jordan) tonight when you see him,’’’ he said.
As a sportswriter, Wilbon was puzzled what to tell the nun, considering the strict locker room rules of no autographs, pictures or favors while on the job. But he didn’t want to let the Sister down.
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“I’m not saying no to her,” Wilbon said.
Wilbon got off the plane in Chicago, said ‘yes, ma’am’ to the nun and made his way to the United Center, doing something he’d never done before.
“I went up to Michael and I’m sure I had the sheepish look on my face, and I said ‘I’m sorry, you know I’ve never asked you for anything personal. I have to give you this,’” Wilbon said.
Jordan asked what it was.
“It’s a letter from a nun,” Wilbon said.
Jordan took the letter, knowing it was absurd enough for Wilbon not to make it up.
“I never asked him if he read it,” Wilbon said. “I never asked him what it said. I just handed it to him and I left.”
Wilbon said the next time he speaks to Jordan, he will ask him if he remembers what the note from the nun said, if Jordan can recall that time.
“All the time, people wanted to get at him (Jordan),” Wilbon said. “It happened to him, I’m sure, a dozen times a day.”
Wilbon also compared the crowds at the old Chicago Stadium during the first three-peat versus the crowds at the United Center in the second.
“It wasn’t quite the same,” he said. “Too much space. But it was still the loudest place.
“You never heard them [PA announcers] announce Michael’s name because it was too loud.”
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