ESPN’s The Last Dance: Predictions for episodes 7 & 8

3. Jordan Rides the Bus

Episode six of the Dance culminated with Jordan’s strenuous ascent to championship glory for the third straight year in 1993 but hinted at a forthcoming monumental career transition that would follow the grandeur of that season.

Marred by multiple tantalizing news stories and shocking once-hidden exposés that rocked the core of his public image throughout the campaign, Jordan visibly displayed the one quality fans for so long thought he was immune to at its close: fatigue.

What happened next is widely known by most who’ve followed his rather strange yet unparalleled career. So begins the tale of the most widely recognized two-sport athlete known to human history.

Not Deion Sanders. Not Bo Jackson. But none other than His Airness himself: Michael Jordan.

Despite never reaching Triple-A status, let alone Major league prestige, Jordan serves as one of the more polarizing figures to ever don a professional baseball uniform – and still owns the highest sold jersey in Birmingham Red Barons’ history to this day.

But the exact reasoning behind his appalling pursuit of the diamond remains a question that begs to be answered.

Some speculate it was a result of the pulverizing murder of his father James just months after the Chicago Bulls’ third title. MJ had previously alluded to his father’s long-standing dreams of seeing his son in an MLB uniform, stating that he had always held a preference for metal spikes over rubber soles.

Others claim the decision stemmed from much more obscure circumstances, ones that were entirely uncontrollable on Mike’s part. Those that adhere to this train of thought like to believe in a certain conspiracy that required the ostracization of Jordan from the NBA while he dealt with the repercussions and repayments of the many gambling debts he had accrued throughout his tenure in the association.

No one knows more than the one behind the plan himself though. With Jordan serving as the star witness to the show’s interrogations, we’re more than sure to find out about the whereabouts, and personal inklings behind basketball’s original “decision.”