It was food poisoning, not the flu
Like many great myths in sports, the exact facts tend to paint a different picture than the mainstream are led to believe. Why is it called the “Flu Game”? Probably because the “Food Poisoning” game doesn’t sound nearly as good. However, one of the accepted pieces of information revealed about what transpired comes from former Bulls trainer Tim Grover. He was with MJ the night before Game 5. Jordan was hungry so they decided to order pizza. Here’s what happened next.
“So we order a pizza, they come to deliver it, five guys come to deliver this pizza. And I’m just … I take the pizza, and I tell them, I said, ‘I got a bad feeling about this.’ I said, ‘I just got a bad feeling about this.’ Out of everybody in the room, he was the only one that ate. Nobody else … then 2 o’clock in the morning, I get a call to my room. I come to the room, he’s curled up, he’s curled up in the fetal position. We’re looking at him. We’re finding the team physician at that time. And immediately I said, ‘It’s food poisoning.’ Guaranteed. Not the flu.”
So in this case the conspiracy theory is that it was intentional poisoning. Perhaps by some nasty Jazz fans trying to derail the one man who could stop their team from becoming NBA champs. It’s impossible to prove, but it’s also fair to say that Jordan suffered from food poisoning. Doctors later confirmed the symptoms matched up.
