Overcoming His Fear of Drowning, Michael Jordan Bested Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas at Fishing to Win $17,000

has always been very competitive in every aspect of life. Be it basketball or golfing, Jordan is always competing with everyone at everything. This might make us think that the 6x NBA champion was practically fearless against every adversary. However, Jordan had a deep seated fear of water, which prevented him from going for a swim, a boat ride, or even a cruise on a yacht.

Advertisement A 1989 feature from detailed how Jordan had once conquered his fear of drowning to try fishing for the first time. Jordan was part of a celebrity sports tournament held at Kenny Rogers’ farm, wherein several celebrities participated in different sporting events. One event of the many was fishing, which Jordan reluctantly participated in, overcoming his fears of drowning.

And not only did he participate in the event, he even ended up edging out NBA stars Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas. While Jordan might be afraid of something, that never meant he would forego his ultra competitive personality. Alongside Jordan, NBA stars Dominique Wilkins, Isiah Thomas, and Larry Bird competed in this fishing contest as well.

Advertisement Nervous and without a life jacket on the boat, Jordan caught the biggest bass, ‘outfishing’ almost 12 opponents combined with his catch. This earned the Chicago Bulls legend a bass fishing bonus of $17,000, while simultaneously besting the likes of Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas. This excerpt from the GQ article best describes the win for Jordan in a competition where he was participating for the first time.

No matter what anyone competes with Jordan in, they can surely anticipate the best out of the NBA legend. Even if it is a casual event, MJ would give it his all just to feed the competitiveness in himself. Jordan’s relentless drive to compete made him a formidable force in the NBA. The Bulls star was obsessed with winning and besting his peers at absolutely everything.

This insane competitive drive would also fuel MJ’s gambling habits in the 90s. Advertisement Why is Michael Jordan afraid of water and drowning? Michael Jordan once revealed a really dark and unfortunate story that explains his fear of drowning and water in general. This involved a of one of his childhood friends, who passed away from drowning in front of Michael when they both were 7 or 8 years old.

Speaking of this incident in a 1992 interview with Playboy, Jordan said, This friend’s death caused Jordan to have a deep seated fear of going near water bodies. Merely just a few years after this incident, Jordan almost drowned at a baseball camp at the age of 11. Fortunately, he was saved by a bystander, who noticed him just in the nick of time.

Jordan also had a girlfriend from college who had unfortunately drowned and lost her life during one of the breaks. Such harrowing incidents explain why Michael Jordan has been so averse to fishing or other water related events. In a 2013 interview, however, Jordan revealed that he was slowly overcoming his phobia of water to appease his wife, who reportedly loves sailing trips.

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