Michael Jordan had a sponsorship with McDonalds and the best way the Golden Arches could take advantage of his staggering fame was to come up with a limited time only McJordan Burger.

I was coming off the bench of the JV basketball team at the time and when that burger came out, it became my pre-game meal.

You have to understand that I had gotten serious about basketball as an eighth grader, when my parents got my brother and me our first hoop.  Making the JV team was a good accomplishment for me and by the time the season began I was the sixth or seventh man, meaning the first or second off the bench.

I had grown to around 5’8” or 5’9” over the summer, so I was average size for a point guard in the 10^th grade.  Size wasn’t really the hindering issue with success on the team though.  No matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t make up for the real game experience the other guys on the team had.  I had never played in a YMCA or City League growing up or even on the High School Freshman team.  My first exposure to team basketball was the JV team.  Looking back, making the team was a decent accomplishment.

I wouldn’t leave mouths agape with my athletic ability, but I could shoot.  Not off the move, I still wasn’t strong enough for that and really had never practiced it.  Just set up three pointers, like John Paxon and BJ Armstrong.  Sounds so dumb now, as I was so ill prepared, but I had taught myself to play so every experience was a learning one.

I remember the first day of practice, the coach had us do left handed layups.  We couldn’t use our right hands, at all.  What?  I had never practiced with my left hand.  It was sad.  It took me quite awhile before I felt comfortable going to the basket (wide open) with my left hand.

There were most likely only a couple of reasons I was even on the team.  One, because I would hustle like there was no tomorrow.  No one would out work me.  The other because I could shoot.  If I had a wide open three I thought it was automatic.  At the time it wasn’t, but I was a better shooter than most on the team.

So the McJordan came out and I begged my Mom to take me by McDonalds as often as possible.  I would eat one or two of them before every game.  If I remember right, it was basically a quarter pounder with cheese, mustard, BBQ sauce, pickles, onions and bacon.  Doesn’t even sound good now and from a nutritional standpoint, I’m fairly certain it wasn’t the best pre-game meal:-)  At the time though, if Mike ate them, and he did according to those commercials, so would I.  Whatever MJ did, I wanted to do.

The burger, like the shoes and the Gatorade never made me a better player, but at the time I believed that they would:-)  Today I realize of course that it was just great marketing.

Some would call the small breaths of air those companies put in my sail, false hope.  I, on the other hand, enjoyed growing up believing that I could one day be like Mike.

It sure beat someone coming to me and saying at 15 years of age, it’s not going to happen kid.