Michael Jordan was one of the greatest trash talkers of all time. Jordan never quite cared who was in front of him, he would try to verbally break his opponents.
On top of that, Jordan was also an incredible 1-on-1 player, being able to defeat almost anyone he faced. But one of his rare losses came from the unlikeliest of candidates; Ariel Investments CEO John Rogers Jr.
Michael Jordan was playing against a bunch of corporate employees after his final retirement in 2003, taking all of them on 1-on-1. When it was Rogers Jr. who stepped up, MJ looked to extend his winning streak.
But Rogers shocked MJ, as he went 2-0 up against him. Jordan tied the game up 2-2, but Rogers eventually made a layup on Jordan, winning the game 3-2 and handing MJ a rare loss.
It was clear that, even at 40 years of age, Jordan was not playing to his full capacity. This was a version of Michael Jordan who had just recently retired from the NBA, so he was used to playing at a very high level. But his trash talk was still at a very high level.
Considering his opponents were not professional basketball players, one can hardly blame MJ for taking things lightly. But no one can ever take away Rogers Jr.’s accomplishment, as he was able to get the better of the greatest basketball player of all time, regardless of how that happened.
MJ was renowned for his trash talk, and how he used that ability to get under his opponent’s skin and throw them off their game. But this was one of those times that it did not work.
