Chapter 21: The Expert

Jordan had taken notice of the intriguing small ball sport of ping pong as early as 1984, when he first entered the NBA.

Jordan was a competitive person, who, in various sports and disciplines, would think of all kinds of ways to beat the people around him to satisfy his abnormal desire for victory.

Card games, golf, bowling, and then ping pong.

The Bulls' beat reporter Lacey Banks often competed against Jordan in ping pong.

Initially, Jordan and Banks played for fun, and Banks let Jordan win a few games.

Jordan began to mock Banks, saying, "You're not that great at ping pong, are you?"

As a beat reporter, Banks wouldn't take Jordan too seriously.

But then Jordan, as usual, started gambling on ping pong, proposing $25 a game.

Banks got serious, quickly defeating Jordan in 7 games, and Jordan lost over $100 to Banks.