Wolf Blitzer Claims He Convinced Michael Jordan to Play for the Wizards

In a fun Q&A with the WaPo about the Washington Wizards, the NBA and DC sports, Wolf Blitzer tells the story of how he supposedly convinced MJ to un-retire for the second time: “You might not realize it, but the man responsible for convincing Michael Jordan to trade in his executive suit for a Wizards jersey is none other than . . . Wolf Blitzer. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But if you ask Blitzer, the host of CNN’s ‘Situation Room,’ about when he became a Wizards season ticket holder, he might share the story of how he convinced Jordan to come out of retirement during the 2001 NBA All-Star Game in Washington. Blitzer hosted a town hall meeting for CNN’s ‘Late Edition’ at the old Newseum in Arlington that included Jordan, NBA commissioner David Stern, National Basketball Players’ Association executive director Billy Hunter and Jordan’s two agents, David Falk and Curtis Polk. Blitzer asked Jordan a question about how much he missed the game. ‘At one point, I said to him, ‘This city would really explode if you put your uniform back on and starting playing a little bit.’ And he laughed. Then I pressed him and pressed him. After the interview, he did it,’ Blitzer said in a recent telephone interview. ‘Now being an egomaniac that I am, I take personal credit. But I suspect there were other factors besides my excellent questioning that convinced him to come back and play.'”