Chris Paul is a smart player, one of the smartest minds in the game today. That being said, one has to wonder what made him think that it is a wise idea to challenge a certain 53-year-old retired NBA player.
There are things you just don't do in basketball, or in life in general. You don't carry the basketball, you don't kick it, and you never, ever challenge Michael Jordan. For goodness sake, the man manufactured slights all throughout his career to feed his primal rage and devour his competition. If you are competing against one of the most over-competitive athletes of all time, the last thing you want to do is stoke his fire.
Competition brings out the best/worst in us, and it brings out a Hell-spawn Demon hell bent on destruction from His Airness. You just beat him in Ping-Pong? Great, now he's gone out and brought a table and practiced incessantly for six months till he can beat you. That really happened when an unfortunate teammate defeated Jordan in Ping Pong.
Whether it is golf, or playing cards, or basketball, Jordan rarely stopped when defeated. He would insist on the opponent playing again, and again until he won. Put him in a drawing contest for kids and he'll be throwing out everyone's crayons and tearing up their pages to ensure his victory. What in the world would make anyone familiar with the fact that a basketball is round challenge Michael Jordan?
Michael Jordan, Chris Paul and Derek Fisher were conducting a clinic at Michael Jordan's Flight School camp when Chris Paul challenged His Airness that he couldn't hit six shots without missing three, and if he misses three, then all the kids get free shoes.
What happened next is no big surprise to anyone familiar with Jordan's insane competitive drive. He nailed every single shot. Nothing but net on most. Jordan swished two mid-range jumpers, hit three three-pointers and made a free throw with nonchalance. It’s not as if Paul stood idly by. He tried to block Jordan's vision during the free throw and got the entire building to stomp and make noise to create a distraction. All to no avail.
Later, Jordan bet Paul that if he makes all his shots then the kids at the camp get free shoes. Paul ended up missing one shot. The same rules applied to Derek Fisher who missed a free throw.
While the entire stadium didn't get shoes on those bets, there were numerous contests for kids to win sneakers. The kids didn’t all walk away with free sneakers, but they walked away with an important lesson: You don’t ever challenge Michael Jordan, regardless of his age.
