The NBA: It’s Dictator-tastic!
We don’t much get into politics here at Sportscolumn but this Union-Tribune story is too good to pass up. Apparently, Kim Jong Il is a tremendous basketball fan who loves the NBA and has a video library of almost every game MJ has ever played.
[In 1001] Jordan’s management team was approached about the athlete making a goodwill trip to Pyongyang to meet Kim. The North Korean government, according to documents obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune, sent a letter authorizing the request, and Samsung, a South Korean electronics company interested in promoting reunification of the Koreas, had offered to underwrite the venture.Jordan respectfully declined.
Apparently, because of the closed contact with the outside world, basketball in North Korea is a horse of a different color: “three points for a dunk, four points for a three-pointer that does not touch the rim and eight points for a basket scored in the final three seconds. Miss a free throw, and it’s minus one.” Kim Jong Il must not be much of a Shaq fan.
Links:
[SignOnSanDiego]: The Oddest Fan
