During Monday night’s broadcast between the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder — Stacey King recalls a time when he would rub a poster of Michael Jordan for good luck.
Via Hank Hersch in a 1988 Sports Illustrated profile:
“A creature of habit, King follows the same routine before every Oklahoma home game: He rubs a 12-year-old rabbit’s foot in his dorm room and lovingly touches three Michael Jordan posters on his walls, contemplates a picture of his late friend Len Bias, whom King had met on a recruiting visit to Maryland, goes to the bathroom and prays, takes extra shooting practice at the arena, winks at his mother in the stands, and then wishes each of the three referees a good game with a pat on the butt.”
Things changed when he actually started playing for the Bulls, so before his first game, he walked over to the real MJ and rubbed him for good luck.
When I got to the Bulls, I felt like I could rub Michael instead rubbing of the poster. So, I rubbed him my first game as a rookie, and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Hey, man. What are you doing?” He had no shirt on and just had a pair of boxers on. At that particular time, I thought it was awkward. I could see why he thought it was awkward.
It was awkward. It was awkward.
I figured I don’t need the poster anymore. I got drafted by the Bulls. I get to do it every game real-live Michael Jordan version. And he just looked at me crazy when I did it.
It wasn’t too awkward as King would be on the team for the 1st 3-peat for the Bulls in 1991, 1992, and 1993.
