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So I think I found basketball's equivalent of the Kaiser Wilhelm-Annie Oakley moment. For context, MJ (who had, just a few months before, hit a national championship-winning shot for UNC that had put him in the spotlight for the first time) was at a prison to help out with a ministry tour. Before the organizer began to preach, they had a dude with a katana go up on stage and do some stunts to "ratchet up the yard's emotion." That guy dragged Jordan up on stage as a somewhat unwilling volunteer, then attempted to cut a watermelon in half with the katana while the fruit lay on Jordan's stomach. It took two blows, and he cut too deep; the resulting injury required 3 stitches.

So what are the implications if the katana guy cuts a little deeper, and fatally disembowels the unfortunate Jordan? Obviously UNC probably has a rougher time the next couple years, and the Bulls dynasty and everything that came with that is gone. What happens to the NBA without his obviously enormously influential career? And what might be the broader cultural implications, both of his absence and the manner of his death?

Reddit thread where I found out about this, including picture of the event and a link to a Yahoo article that goes into more detail:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/c4dezu/in_1982_michael_jordan_then_a_freshman_in_nc_was/
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