It really is amazing what people spend their money on.
A pair of sneakers allegedly worn by NBA legend Michael Jordan when he played basketball at the University of North Carolina sold for US $33,387 (Dh121,194) on Thursday, US media reported.
Grey Flannel Auctions, which sold the shoes, said they were consigned by a high school teammate of Jordan and that the winning bidder preferred to remain anonymous.
Grey Flannel Auctions said Jordan wore the shoes during his freshman year in 1981/82, which was the same year North Carolina won the NCAA title, beating Georgetown in the championship game in which Jordan drained the game-winning basket.
Scroll down to watch highlights from that game. Of course there is MJ, but the game also featured UNC coach Dean Smith without grey hair, a silky-smooth James Worthy, a towering Patrick Ewing and no 3-point line.
On Saturday, the auction house offered the winning bidder a chance to return them and get his money back.
According to a report on ESPN.com, an official from Grey Flannel Auctions said that it had received a letter from Lindsay Reed, who was a student manager on the team in the year before Jordan's freshman year (1980/81) and the team statistician for Jordan's freshman year, that assured them that what they sold days ago could not have been game-worn by Jordan.
“The 1981/1982 UNC basketball team did not wear blue Converse basketball shoes at any point during the ... season,” Reed wrote. “I challenge anyone to produce a photograph of a 1981/82 UNC basketball game (home or away) in which any member of the 1981/1982 UNC basketball team is wearing blue Converse shoes. No such photo exists.”
After word of the sale started to spread, doubts emerged among those familiar with North Carolina basketball history. Broadcaster Wes Durham, whose father Woody was the “Voice of the Tar Heels” from 1971 to 2011, tweeted: “The shoe was worn prior to his arrival (‘79 to ‘81), but don’t recall that model being worn after he arrived.”
Last December, shoes worn by Jordan in the fabled “flu game” of the 1997 NBA finals fetched $104,765 at auction.
The game, the fifth of the 1997 championship series between Chicago and Utah, has become part of Jordan’s legend. He scored 38 points, despite nearly missing the game with a debilitating illness diagnosed as flu that had struck in the early hours of the morning.
On Saturday, No. 24 North Carolina played No. 12 Ohio State while wearing retro 1980s uniforms with Air Jordan XI shoes. The Tar Heels won 82-74.
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