Getty Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon told had some fun stories about golfing with NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon remains a legendary figure in Chicago. The only quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl for the team, McMahon is beloved not just because he won, but because fans enjoyed his devil-may-care attitude — and that hasn’t changed.
McMahon went on 670 The Score’s McNeil & Parkins Show Friday to discuss everything from his time with the Bears in the 1980s to his vocal support of marijuana legalization. When the subject shifted to the recent ESPN documentary series The Last Dance, about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, McMahon shared a few hilarious memories about his experiences hanging with Jordan.
Jim McMahon & Michael Jordan Used to Bet $100 Per Golf Game
McMahon noted that while he hadn’t seen The Last Dance yet, he remembered the glory days of Chicago sports fairly well. When co-host Dan McNeil asked the former Bears QB about whether he ever hung out with Jordan, McMahon answered in the affirmative. “I got to play a lot of golf with Michael,” McMahon remembered. “He used to come over to the house, play some pool. You know, we hung out a little bit. Not a whole lot, but I enjoyed going to their games. What they did was special,” McMahon said of the Jordan-era Bulls.
Co-host Danny Parkins then asked McMahon what the stakes were like when he and Jordan used to go golfing, and McMahon revealed that things were costly — and could have gotten even more high-priced had Jorden gotten his way.
McMahon said golf matches with Jordan were “usually $100” each. “That’s about all I could afford at the time. Playing for the Bears, I didn’t make a hell of a lot, so I had to supplement my income somehow,” he joked. Did he ever best Jordan in golf? “I won some, I lost some,” McMahon said, before revealing details about one memorable game in particular he played against Jordan.
McMahon: Jordan Wanted to Bet Me $1 Million on a Golf Game
McMahon discussed one particular golf game against Jordan that still stands out. “We had our $100 Nassau going, and I’ve got him down maybe three bets, maybe four bets on the front side. I was playing pretty good that day,” McMahon remembered. “And I tee my ball up on 10, and before I take a swing, he says: ‘Alright, I’ll play you this side for a million.’ And he was dead serious. And I said: ‘You know, I’d love to do it cause of the way I’m playing right now,’ but I said ‘Somehow, you’d pull it out and then my kids don’t go to college, so no,” McMahon recalled as the show’s hosts could be heard trying and failing to hide their laughter in the background.
He had a point — the income disparity between the two was quite staggering. “We can keep the $100 games going, but I don’t even have a million dollars,” McMahon says he told Jordan at the time. The two don’t golf together anymore, but it seems as though they have enough memories to last a lifetime.
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