Since the conclusion of The Last Dance documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, viewers haven’t been able to get passed the “flu game” story.
During Game 5 of the NBA finals in 1997, where the Bulls faced off against the Utah Jazz, Jordan wasn’t 100% himself as he had come down with an illness.
What was presumed to be the flu, turned out to actually have been food poisoning from an alleged spiked (or bad) pizza.
Now, after MJ confirmed details of the ”Pizza Game,” a Utah man named Craig Fite, is coming forward, claiming to be one of the men who delivered the pizza.
“Being the guy that delivered that pizza…I have an issue with this,” Fite wrote on Facebook as he posted an article referencing the story.
Fite has since gone on The Big Show on 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City, Utah, to share with listeners, his side of the story.
According to Fite, every restaurant nearby knew what hotel the Bulls were staying in.
So when an employee took a phone-order, they were quite sure it was for a player.
Fite, who had just been hired in as assistant manager at the Pizza Hut location in Park City, Utah, was the only Bulls fan on staff; therefore, he thought it’d be best to deliver the food himself.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m delivering it,’” Fite remembered. “I remember saying this: ‘I will make the pizza, because I don’t want any of you doing anything to it.’ And then I told the driver, you’re going to take me there.”
Fite, who because he was a new manager, recalled following every guideline using only fresh ingredients, to ensure that no one would get sick from the pizza.
“As soon as the [elevator] door opened, it was like I got punched in the face with cigar smoke,” Fite said.
Since the story has resurfaced, Tim Grover, Jordan’s trainer, said that five guys, who were “all trying to look in” Jordan’s room, delivered the food. Jordan’s driver, George Koehler, backed this story, revealing it was “four or five guys.”
However, Fite insists it was just him and his driver. According to Fite, there weren’t even five staff members on the shift that night.
All in all, Fite guarantees that his pizza isn’t what got Jordan sick.
“Did you get it diagnosed? Did you go to the doctor? All this is innuendo on their part,” Fite continued. “One thing I remind everybody is, he was smoking so many cigars. They had windows open. He didn’t have a shirt on, or he was in a tank top. At around 3 or 4 o’clock in the afternoon in Park City, the sun is gone behind that mountain, so it gets colder up there. … Or they could have brought him food from somewhere else if it really was food poisoning.”
Fite also remembers Grover being the one to open the door when he dropped off the order. When Grover opened the door, he paid Fite, including a tip, and Fite requested to speak to Jordan.
From then, Grover opened the door wide enough to visibly show Jordan as the NBA legend responded, “Thanks, man.”
According to Grover, he thought the order, which consisted of a large, thin and crispy pizza with extra pepperoni, was tampered with and warned Jordan against eating it, but Fite disagrees.
“But that pizza was made well. I followed all the rules,” Fite added.
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