Air Jordan XII Flu Game

"If I knew then what I know now ... about what I would have to go through in Game 5 of the 1997 Finals at Utah, I don't know if I would play. If the outcome was guaranteed to be the same, then I'd probably go through it again. But if the outcome wasn't assured, there's no way I would do it again. I could have died for a basketball game. I played that game on heart and determination and nothing else. I didn't have any food, any energy, any sleep or anything else. I don't even remember a lot about that game. I have never felt as awful physically as I did in that game. - Michael Jordan

George Koehler: To this day, I don't think anyone appreciates how seriously ill Michael was in Game 5 on the 1997 Finals against Utah. In those days, Michael never really left his room. So we'd all be in there close by, to pass the time. We all ordered room service, and Michael didn't order anything. Then at the last minute, he ordered a pizza from a local joint. If I'm not mistaken it was a pepperoni pizza. Nobody ate the pizza except Michael. At two or three o'clock in the morning, Michael wakes up with an upset stomach. So he calls Chip Schaeffer, the trainer, who gives Michael something to settle his stomach. After the antacids, they gave him sleeping pills. Nothing works. He felt like throwing up, but he couldn't throw up. And he's getting hot and cold flashes. All of this could have been attributed to the flu, or whatever.

Now its early in the morning, time to go to practice. So now they give him a laxative. He's too weak to go to practice, so he skips the shoot-around. Michael tries to sleep, but he cant sleep. We get on the bus to go to the game at 3 p.m. and he's just a rag doll. He has no energy. He still hadn't thrown up. And he still hasn't slept. Now he's got antacids, sleeping pills and laxatives in his system. At 5 o'clock, an hour before the game, he cant stay awake. So he pumps himself full of coffee. He goes out and plays, and we all know what happened. He plays 44 minutes, scores 38 points, brings Chicago back from 16 points down, hits a key three-pointer to put them ahead, and the Bulls win.

But at halftime, he's just drained. If you had seen him, you would have thought there was no way this guy could walk back to the court, much less play. Michael always drank Gatorade to full himself back up with fluids. So one of the locker room kids went to get some Gatorade. Two cans came back, but its not Gatorade. Its GatorLode, the stuff you are supposed to drink after you are done playing. Michael didn't even realize what he was drinking. He hasn't slept in more than 36 hours; he's got pepperoni pizza, all the medicines, sleeping pills, who knows how many cups of coffee, GatorLode in his body. Anybody else would have been in the hospital. And Michael should have been in the hospital. Nobody else would have been out there playing, much less been able to make a pressure shot and walk off the court. Michael was so dehydrated after the game that he could hardly move. He looked like he was dead. He was barely conscious. I had seen the whole show to that point, and I am still amazed by what he did and with what he had to deal with.Thats just who he is, and its hard for people to understand the depth of his will. His whole life is a competition every aspect of his life. And he's going to win. Its just that simple.

Michael Jordan: "I woke up at three in the morning with what seemed like stomach flu. I couldn't keep anything down and I couldn't sleep. I took something that I thought would make me drowsy, but the symptoms were so severe I never got back to sleep. By the time I got to the arena I was fighting to stay awake. I just sat back in the locker room drinking coffee, trying to wake up enough to play the game. I didn't have anything in my stomache and the coffee really didn't do anything to wake me up. By halftime I was getting dehydrated, so I started drinking what I thought was Gatorade. But someone had mistakenly handed me a bottle of GatorLode, which is what you are suppose to drink after you have finished a difficult activity.

By the time we went back out for the second half I felt bloated on top of being exhausted. I had continued to drink coffee, which utimately only helped the dehydration come more quickly. There were times in the 3rd and 4th quarters that I felt like I was going to pass out. I remember thinking, "Get this game over so I can lie down." In the fourth quarter, right before the three pointer that won the game, I had become almost completely dehydrated. I was shivering, but I continued to sweat. On that last shot, I didn't even know whether it went in or not. I could barely stand up. When I got back into the locker room the doctor were really concerned because I didn't have anything left. I was cold, yet I was sweating and dehydrated. They wanted to give me intravenous fluids, but I made it over to a table, lay down, and started drinking Gatorade. That's all I did for about 45 minutes. All for a basketball game."