This. Is. Fascinating.

This oral history of Michael Jordan playing pickup games during his first retirement has everything: he just wanted to be one of the guys, he kept the competitive fire (largely) under control, there's actually a guy who talked more shit than him, he was extremely friendly and respected his teams, and on and on and on. A must read!

Boone: He was a funny guy. As competitive as he was, and certainly in his workspace he was different, but we didn’t see the whole combative side because he just wasn’t expecting the same thing out of us as he does his teammates. Just socially, if he was in the club, he didn’t act like he didn’t know you. He was very social. He would always say hello. You’d be walking down the stairs and he’d nudge or push you.

We’d go get dressed and go down to the restaurant and eat and laugh just like anybody else. He wouldn’t just go home or not socialize with you off the court. He would be in the restaurant or he would come on the court and talk in between games and just laugh. And it wasn’t all about basketball, it was just talking in general.