LITERALLY, THE SICKEST SHOE TO TOUCH THE NBA COURT

Now, we know what you may be thinking.

“How do you determine what the sickest shoe is? How dare you? Who died and made you the decider of the best sneakers?

Well, there’s a reason we threw the word “literally” in the title of this email.

It’s because this is not a story about shoes that look sick, but rather, a story about a pair of shoes that one of the most legendary NBA players wore during a game, while he was sick.

This is the story of the Jordan 12 Flu Games.

Who Ordered Pizza?

Five guys showed up at the door.

First off, this isn’t the story of how Five Guys was founded, but it would be a cool origin story.

Instead, there were 5 pizza delivery guys. But here’s the weird part…there was one pizza.

These guys were looking in the windows, and acting a little more suspicious than 5 pizza delivery guys should be.

Jordan was there with other people, so his friend went to the door, paid them, and they left.

His friend put it down and said

“I got a bad feeling about this.”

Despite saying that, Jordan ate the pizza by himself.

He had to be pretty hungry to do something like that.

That bad feeling his friend had though turned out to be accurate.

He woke up at 3 AM and started throwing up. When his friend was called over to his place, he said Jordan was curled up in a ball in the corner.

Suit Up…It’s Game Day

The following day, it was game 5. 1997 NBA finals

Chicago Bulls vs. the Utah Jazz.

Now that morning, Jordan was throwing up nonstop. And here he was on the court.

But throughout the game, he wasn’t looking good.

Staggering.

Exhausted.

Dehydrated.

His teammates even had to carry him off the court in the middle of the game.

He was previously told not to play, but he did anyway. And not only did he play, but he singlehandedly destroyed the Jazz, scoring 38 points.

He also overtook the Jazz in the game’s final half minute.

All while wearing a pair of red and black Jordan 12s.

This is where the name “Flu Games” came from.

The Official Pair

In 2009, they were officially dubbed the Flu Games.

Same colorway as the OG Black Varsity Reds, except this one had a little twist to it.

On the heel, reading from left to right, was the following:

“97” then a flu emoji, followed by a “38.”

The 97 is reminiscent of the year, and the 38 symbolizes how many points MJ dropped during the final.

At its peak, the original 1997 Flu Games sold for $1,300+, which is now in the low hundreds.

As for the 2009 official pair, these seem to have a bit more of a consistent price.

The last sale was $550, and it has stayed between the range of $300-$700 since release.

So all this from food poisoning.

Some people think Michael went out and partied a little too hard. Some people think the pizza was intentionally poisoned because of the suspicious delivery men. What if they knew they were delivering to MJ himself and didn’t want him to win the championship?

But no matter what really happened, what we do know is one thing.

That sickness made for one crazy iconic shoe and a pretty dope name.