Michael Jordan Was a Great Teammate

And by "great teammate", I mean the exact opposite.

For years, we've been hearing about Scottie Pippen's financial woes; hell, it's part of the reason he's trying to make a comeback. Well, it turns out that MJ might have had something to do with some of those woes.

Today, True Hoop's Henry Abbott posted a great email that he received from SI's Andrew Lawrence with a fascinating look at MJ's thirst for gambling:

It starts with Jordan shooting around at practice at old Chicago Stadium when he looks up and notices the M&M race on the jumbotron. Curious, he asks one of the Bulls' staffers what's up and learns what he is seeing is actually a dry run-through of the night's in-game entertainment, in which the jumbotron and M&M race factor prominently. (I'm pretty sure this was before shooting t-shirts out of an air cannon captivated a nation.) Naturally, MJ wanted to know if the winner of the race was predetermined. Of course the 8-bit graphics betrayed the answer: a resounding "yes".

So later that night, Phil calls a time out and Jordan & co. repair to the bench. As he's sitting down, he looks up at the jumbotron to see the M&M race about to start. So he nudges Scottie.

MJ: "Bet you 5 grand yellow takes this."

Pip: "Bet."

I'm told this went on for years before Scottie ever got wise...

It's just a hunch, but something tells me Pippen wasn't exactly the brightest guy on that fabled Bulls squad.