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Michael Wilbon Says He Once Bit David Aldridge During a Bulls Game Due to a Great MJ Play

In Wednesday’s Hot Clicks: Michael Wilbon’s bizarre reaction to a classic Jordan layup, how Warren Moon made sure he stayed a QB and more.

Dan Gartland

Mike Wilbon takes press row etiquette very seriously

A lot of people don’t realize that attending a game as a member of the press can actually be a pretty dull experience. While everyone else in the stadium is going wild, you’re supposed to be a level-headed recorder of facts. It can be torture. In college, my FCS school upset an FBS team on a Hail Mary and everyone in the press box just calmly took notes. All I could do was put my hands on my head and slowly stand up out of my seat when what I wanted to do was yell. 

At least I didn’t do what Michael Wilbon did during the 1991 NBA Finals. 

Wilbon recently recounted his experience watching Game 2 of the Bulls-Lakers series, in which Michael Jordan dropped 33 points on an incredible 15-of-18 shooting. Jordan put on a show, especially on one drive to the basket in the fourth quarter. He went up strong with his right hand—he said after the game that he had planned to dunk it—but decided midair to switch to his left hand for a layup off the glass.

“Oh! A spectacular move by Michael Jordan,” Marv Albert exclaimed. 

Wilbon was sitting on press row for the game and was equally amazed by the bucket. Unlike Albert, Wilbon wasn’t supposed to show any emotion, so he needed to find another way to vent. He bit fellow Washington Post reporter David Aldridge. 

“I turned and, rather than scream, I bit David’s arm,” Wilbon said. “I bit him. I just bit his shoulder and Aldridge didn’t scream out. He just looked at me and said, ‘You bit me.’ I said, ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t want to scream.’ Later, he takes the jacket off and I had bit him right through the jacket and the shirt. There were marks on the skin. Very embarrassing.”

Aldridge says Wilbon’s version of the events is “100% true.”

But biting a guy so hard you leave teeth marks through his suit jacket? Maybe you should be allowed to express some emotion instead. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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