If the technology was around at the time, it’s possible the infamous ‘Crying Jordan’ meme would have been created a long time ago.

According to Sam Perkins, Jordan’s 1984 USA Men’s Basketball Olympic teammate, the basketball legend got emotional after coach Bobby Knight berated him following a victory against Germany.

“Bobby Knight, he got after us,” Perkins told Tina Cervasio and Tim Legler on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “He told Michael that’s the worst he ever played. Now, Michael’s going to deny this but he cried, he cried after the game because of the fact that Bobby Knight told him, ‘You should apologize to everybody in here.”

Knight was famously a wild card during his coaching days. He was filled with range and went from 0 to 100, dangerously fast. If he did lay into Jordan after a game, I don’t blame the GOAT for crying. Being called out in front of your teammates on the international stage wouldn’t be fun. Even if you are MJ, getting yelled at could bring out the tears.

Jordan crying wouldn’t be a big deal, if the ‘Crying Jordan’ meme wasn’t the biggest sports meme on the Internet. You can’t go a single day without someone cropping Jordan’s tear-filled face onto an athlete who was defeated or screwed up. Someone will surely read this story and crop ‘crying Jordan’ onto one of MJ’s 1984 Olympic pictures.

‘Crying Jordan’ was a thing, long before it was a meme. Even the greatest of all time needs some downtime to get it all out.

[Uproxx]

 

About Liam McGuire

Social +Staff writer for The Comeback & Awful Announcing. Liammcguirejournalism@gmail.com