SI.com Daily Cover: How I Conned My Way Into Interviewing Michael Jordan (and Shaq and Elway ...)

If you’re a regular kid, how do you get to meet NBA royalty, cover Stanley Cup finals and rub elbows with celebrities? You can become a kid reporter for Sports Illustrated Kids.

As a kid, Gary Vider interviewed Michael Jordan, got his hand squeezed by John Elway and skated with Nancy Kerrigan. He watched the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup – then partied with them afterward.

How did he do it?

Vider provides all the details in Tuesday’s SI.com Daily Cover.

My dad was the one who came up with the cunning ploy. I was getting a monthly subscription to Sports Illustrated for Kids. That's what gave him the idea. He was a world-class schemer. If you got in a fender bender with my dad, he would wear a neck brace for as long as it took your insurance to pay up. As my little league coach, his biggest lesson to me was, “Allow yourself to get hit by the ball; it’s a sure way to get on a base.” He might have fibbed about my age so I could play against younger kids in hockey tournaments.

Was he the world’s best role model? No. But sports was how we bonded. Like so many dads and sons, we went to games together. Unlike most, my dad, being my dad, got us in for free by using his cute son.

The scam was pretty simple. Dad would let the unsuspecting PR flack know that a reporter from Sports Illustrated for Kids and a photographer would like to cover a particular event. We would not only get into the arena, but we’d have access to the locker rooms, where I would (fake) interview the players, take pictures and get autographs.

Over the course of four years, no one doubted them for a second.

Click here for this amazingly fun story.