【The Last Dance導賞（9之3）】97年總決賽係最好睇一次 The Flu Game定食物中毒？ 佐敦玩吐口水落神秘pizza真衰格

看完《The Last Dance》之後，很多人急不及待來個排名，例如最強的Michael Jordan是哪一季，最強的公牛隊是前三連霸還是後三連霸，當然也會討論公牛在六次總決賽中，五個對手哪隊最強。這些討論，容後再寫，但看完紀錄片，之後再陸續重溫總決賽的全場比賽，得出的結論是97年的總決賽最難打。對手同是爵士，公牛在東岸晉級過程也遠為輕鬆，為何有此一說？因為在這次總決賽之旅，佐敦試過在關鍵的第5戰食物中毒，一場本來輸了九成九的比賽，卻在他四肢乏力下，用意志力戰勝病毒，攻入38分，千辛萬苦勝出game 5，史稱為The Flu Game！比起98年的最後一擊，這一戰更能代表佐敦為勝利所付出的決心和鬥志，當完場前倒在Scottie Pippen懷中，十足《英雄本色》的片段，無論重看幾多次，仍舊感動。

第五戰開打之前，雙方各贏兩場，打成2:2平手，當時賽制仍為2–3–2（2014年才改回舊制），戰績較差的一方中間有三場主場，本是免球員及記者舟車勞頓之苦，但反而成了一種優勢，要是頭兩場偷到一場，那先主場出擊的一方，壓力就會極大。第一場公牛靠柏賓的trash talk，以及佐敦之後的最後一擊建奇功，以兩分力克對手，之後公牛再贏；去到鹽湖城後，爵士也把握機會，連下兩城。在比賽末段，John Stockton和Karl Malone都兩罰全中，反而是佐敦在落後一分下射失，讓史托頓搶下防守籃板，然後一記長傳，像心有靈犀般交到馬龍手上，直接射入兩分；得手後史托頓跳起揮拳慶祝，是極少數的情感外露。在這年的季後賽，兩軍主場的戰績都極好，爵士在第四戰完結後，是10戰全勝，公牛則是9勝1負。

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所以在關鍵的第5戰，公牛是壓力更大的一方，反而總決賽新丁爵士經過頭兩戰的戰戰競競，越打越好。當年看直播，其實沒有講得太多，只知佐敦有病，是感冒還是其他，也不清楚。歷史上，無數球星在更艱苦的環境戰鬥，例如Isiah Thomas大拗後仍忍痛單節攻入25分，更是將比賽帶到第七戰；紐約人傳奇中鋒Wills Reed在70年總決賽帶傷上陣，力抗魔人Wilt Chamberlain，創出紐約人鐵血傳統，全都是經典。可見要稱得上超級球星，必先有過人意志力，面對傷患仍交出表現，才能符合期望。

當年的報導，是他有”flu-like symptoms”，賽前一日都未能進食，一直躺在床上，在開賽前繼續嘔吐大作，也缺席了練習和射波熱身。可是當比賽開始前公佈正選陣容，MJ赫然在名單之上，當時的主持Ahmad Rashad是其老友，他就指佐敦仍然頭痛及胃痛，全身乏力。在比賽時我們也見到，每次暫停，佐敦都用毛巾蓋住頭，像連飲gatorade也無力；但只要球證哨子一響，佐敦就像重新上電，中距離、背籃fadeaway，甚至在隊友射失後補樽，以及在重要關頭射入三分，助公牛以90:88勝出。如斯神奇的表現，傳媒也爭相傳誦，說是「神級表現」，也不為過。公牛教練Phil Jackson見慣了愛徒的神奇，賽後也讚不絕口；Gatorade甚至在之後推出廣告，再次呈現「籃球之神」的意志力，真的是神的級數。

“This was a heroic effort, one to add to the collection of efforts that make up his legend.” Phil Jackson

多年之後，才知道當年佐敦是食pizza後食物中毒。他的私人訓練員Tim Glover在13年接受訪問時，已詳細講過過程，就是因為抵達鹽湖城時已很晚，所以就叫外賣。當時全市的餐廳都已關門，最後只能叫pizza，但送到時就覺得很怪，因為多達五個外賣員，又向房內張望；他指Park City的五星酒店不多，所以很多人都知公牛隊住在那裏，言談之間，像暗示有人故意下毒。由於其他人都已用過晚飯，最後只有佐敦吃了薄餅，也成為唯一一個中毒的人。

The real truth, Grover says, is that Jordan was poisoned. “100 percent,” Grover says on TrueHoop TV. “He was poisoned for the ‘flu game.’ Everyone called it a flu game, but we sat there. We were in the room.” Grover explains:

We were in Park City, Utah, up in a hotel. Room service stopped at like nine o’clock. He got hungry and we really couldn’t find any other place to eat. So we said eh, the only thing I can find is a pizza place. So we says all right, order pizza.

We had been there for a while. Everybody knew what hotel. Park City was not many hotels back then. So everyone kind of knew where we were staying.

So we order pizza. Five guys came to deliver this pizza. I take the pizza and I tell them: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. … I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”

Out of everybody in the room, [MJ] was the only one who ate. Nobody else had it. And then 2 o’clock in the morning I get a call to my room. Come to the room. He’s curled up in the fetal position. We’re looking at him, finding the team physician at that time.

Immediately I told him it’s food poisoning. Not the flu. “

到《The Last Dance》上演，The Flu Game當然再被提起，佐敦亦清楚表示，當日是半夜吃了pizza，之後就整晚不舒服，他也認為是食物中毒；鷹隊球星Trae Young甚至在twitter表示，以後作客爵士也不敢再食pizza。

“I ate the pizza,” Jordan said in the documentary. “All by myself. Nobody else ate the pizza. I wake up about 2:30am throwing up left and right … It really wasn’t the flu game. It was food poisoning.”

想不到當傳媒再次炒熱話題後，事件的主角、即97年任職Pizza Hut的Craig Fite，也出來回應；當時他剛成為助理經理，也是出名的公牛fans，當知道難得有機會為偶像送外賣，自然義不容辭。

“I remember saying this: ‘I will make the pizza, because I don’t want any of you doing anything to it,’” he told “The Big Show” on 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City. “And then I told the driver, ‘You’re going to take me there. And it’ll be my first delivery.’”

Craig Fite自言是超級公牛擁躉，甚至以Jordan來為兒子命名，所以焗pizza時一絲不苟，想送上一個完美的薄餅；他也表示，當時很想升職，所以一定不會出錯。

“I followed all the rules,” Fite said. “At the time I was trying to impress the store manager there.”

他回憶送抵酒店時，房間煙霧瀰漫，好不容易才親手送上。當被問到是否五個人去送外賣，Fite就說全都是垃圾，他們只是兩個人去，而當時全間Pizza Hut也沒有五個人。

“That’s a bunch of crap,” Fite said. “Sorry, we were five creepy looking guys that the guy felt threatened? I guess you have to sell your book but it really wasn’t that exciting.

“There were two of us. I didn’t even have that many people working [at the Pizza Hut].”

Fite一直都認為薄餅沒有問題，有問題的是佐敦。「當時半夜三更，房間的窗開了，佐敦赤裸上身，在房間不停食雪茄，要知道Park City在太陽落山後是很冷的。」言下之意，是暗指佐敦根本是自己著涼，才會引起這麼多風波。

最好笑是連紀錄片的導演Jason Hehir也出來分享故事，他說的大致和Tim Glover版本相同，都是半夜才飛到猶他，因為連room service也沒有了，最後只能叫pizza；但最好笑是因為佐敦先前要和球隊睇片，所以他的助理和訓練員等，沒有等他就吃了晚餐。佐敦非常不滿，所以當pizza送到時，他就吐口水在薄餅上，讓其他人「有得睇，冇得食。」那晚應邀做Live，和阿勤及H講起這一段，我們都不約而同想起《精裝追女仔》的港台群星團劇情，你唔明？睇片啦！

“Their was no room service in the hotel so they call out,” Jason Hehir, the director of The Last Dance, said Monday on Jalen & Jacoby. “When the pizza shows up, Michael says, ‘Everybody, do not touch this pizza, this is mine. You didn’t wait for me [for dinner], don’t touch this.’ So he spits on the pizza.’”

“Was that pizza spiked? I don’t know. I do believe that nobody else ate that pizza.”

重點：真的食物中毒也好，是食雪茄食到感冒也好，起碼吐口水一事千真萬確，說他是自己攞嚟衰，半點不過份；話雖如此，他可以在重病下交出神級表現，勝出關鍵的第5戰，也真的值的敬佩；若非如此，公牛在千斤萬力下回到芝加哥，能否在落後2:3下反勝也是未知。這些The Flu Game的插曲，我認為是除了佐敦經歷喪父之痛外，最能表現他真性情的片段，籃球之神亦常人，這個pizza故事表達得淋漓盡致。

冷知識1：

在Pizza Hut職員出來澄清後，有個在公牛下榻酒店附近的壽司店主廚，就指當年佐敦叫的肯定不是Pizza Hut，因為當年不會開到這麼夜；這個叫Otto的主廚就指，薄餅是來自另一間餐廳。是真是假，不得而知了。

“I have a friend who’s a bartender there, Chris, and he’s told the story from Day 1 that late at night they got a call. The owner of La Coda delivered the pizza himself. I don’t know if it was two, three, four, five people — I just know the owner of the restaurant went up there that night, late night with the pizza run. And the night before, or two nights before, they brought $3,000 worth of alcohol up [to] the room on a bell cart for those guys.”

“It wasn’t Pizza Hut because Pizza Hut would have been closed,” Otto said. “During ‘The Last Dance’ they said it was late night, nothing was open. Pizza Hut’s closed early, everything closes early in Park City in ’97, especially in the summer.”

冷知識2：佐敦試過食物中毒，Kobe當然也試過。在02年對網隊的總決賽第二戰，有傳因為新澤西黑幫買重了網隊，所以在Kobe的煙肉漢堡中落毒。Kobe試後嘔吐大作，也要打針才能上陣，但仍能攻入24分，助湖人領先2:0。

1997-98 Chicago Bulls Roster

0  Randy Brown     PG 6-2  190
5  Rusty LaRue     PG 6-2  210
7  Toni Kukoč      SF 6-10 192
8  Dickey Simpkins PF 6-9  248
9  Ron Harper      PG 6-6  185
13 Luc Longley     C  7-2  265
22 Keith Booth     SF 6-6  226
23 Michael Jordan  SG 6-6  195
25 Steve Kerr      PG 6-3  175
24 Scott Burrell   SF 6-7  218
30 Jud Buechler    SF 6-6  220
33 Scottie Pippen  SF 6-8  210
34 Bill Wennington C  7-0  245
35 Jason Caffey    PF 6-8  255
42 David Vaughn    PF 6-9  240
53 Joe Kleine      C  6-11 255
91 Dennis Rodman   PF 6-7  210

Record: 62-20, Finished 1st in NBA Central Division  
Coach: Phil Jackson (62-20)  
Executive: Jerry Krause
PTS/G: 96.7 (9th of 29) 
Opp PTS/G: 89.6 (3rd of 29)

NBA 1998 Playoffs: 
Won Eastern Conference First Round (3-0) vs New Jersey Nets  
Won Eastern Conference Semifinals (4-1) vs Charlotte Hornets 
Won NBA Eastern Conference Finals (4-3) vs Indiana Pacers 
Won NBA Finals (4-2) vs Utah Jazz