Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, and considered by all to be at least in the top five. Jordan dominated a certain era of basketball, and while doing so he immortalized the #23 as sacred in the sport.
There was one night where he wasn't sporting #23 however. With the details fairly unclear at the time, MJ came out wearing a #12 jersey.
It was rumoured that he had forgot his jersey, and there were theories that his threads had been stolen as well. As it turns out, the latter was true, but it was even more like a Hollywood heist flick than we even expected.
According to an Orlando Magic equipment manager named Sid Powell, a member of arena security (ironically) was the culprit, and they did so by going through the ceiling.
Via Yahoo:
As the Magic continued to investigate in the days after Jordan’s jersey disappeared, someone noticed an out-of-place ceiling tile in the visitors’ locker room, according to Powell. Sure enough, there was the jersey, tucked away for safekeeping. Arena security “got a little worried and began spilling the beans,” Powell tells Yahoo Sports. One of their own concocted “this master plan.”
“In the end it was proven that the jersey was taken by a member of the arena security personnel with the intent to keep,” adds Powell. “The security member tried to come through the ceiling after the gameday shootaround in the morning. They were successful in getting to the jersey and must have planned on leaving the jersey in the ceiling for awhile to come and retrieve at a later date.”
We obviously would never condone these actions, but you have to appreciate a bold move like this. Goes to show just how much of a figure MJ was to the game. People are willing to risk their job and go through the ceiling just for a bit of his history.
For the record, MJ dropped 49 on the Magic so it didn't seem to effect him too much, although the Bulls did lose the game...
(H/T Yahoo)
