"He just wants to beat you": Former MLB star reveals Michael Jordan's winning Mindset transcends bets
Michael Jordan's competitive nature is well documented. Throughout his career, hundreds of players tried to throw the Chicago Bulls player off his game, only to suffer defeat when they turned up the pressure. Jordan wasn't just a winner on the basketball court, though.
Instead, the NBA legend was a serious competitor in every aspect of life. According to former MLB star John Smoltz, who was speaking on a 2022 episode of 'The Dan Patrick Show,' it was in Jordan's nature to win; it's part of who he is as a person.
"Jordan will play for anything. He just doesn't care what it is. He's going to beat you," Smoltz said. "His ability to win, if it's a dollar, or if it's a billion dollars, it's no different to Michael Jordan...He just wants to beat you. And that's the competitive drive that when we were in our heyday, in our own sport, you love to be a part of, right?"
Jordan's competitive nature saw him become a six-time NBA champion. However, the Bulls legend also developed his skills on the golf course and is known for his love of competing at even the most basic of things, with something as simple as climbing the stairs seen as a potential competition.
Michale Jordan is terrified of snakes
Michael Jordan might be one of the fiercest competitors and a great basketball player in history. However, there's one thing that can apparently slow Jordan down.
According to his son Marcus Jordan, who was speaking on an episode of his Separation Anxiety' podcast with Larsa Pippen, the NBA legend is terrified of snakes. As such, if you want to beat Jordan at a game of golf or some pick-up basketball, do it where snakes roam freely.
"He's terrified of snakes," Marcus Jordan said. "My dad is terrified of snakes, literally. There was this one time when my brother and I we were young, probably like 12 and 14. We got a bunch of rubber snakes, and we threw them in my dad's room on top of the bed, in the master bedroom. And I'll never forget when he got home. .. .we were grounded."
"I think he was caught off guard. He realized that they weren't real after a while. So, he was running around the house, trying to figure out who pranked him...At first, he did (think they were real.)"
It may not seem like it, but Michael Jordan is human. He's going to have fears and phobias. However, he's also going to beat you at anything he puts his mind to, and that's what makes him such an amazing competitor.
So amazing, in fact, that we still speak about his indomitable will to win over 20 years after he retired from professional sports.