Coach says M. Jordan was never cut in high school

[Moranis]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1193740/index.htm

Basic gist is MJ was never cut he just didn't make varisty as a sophomore while one of his close friends did.  The reason his friend was 6'7" and none of the seniors on the team were above 6'3".  The article is a great read but incredibly long.

Some clips from the article

Over the next three decades Jordan would become a world-class collector of emotional wounds, a champion grudge-holder, a magician at converting real and imagined insults into the rocket fuel that made him fly. If he had truly been cut that year, as he would claim again and again, he wouldn't have had such an immediate chance for revenge. But in fact his name was on the second list, the jayvee roster, with the names of many of his fellow sophomores. Jordan quickly became a jayvee superstar.

That someone else, of course, was Pop Herring. He faded from public view soon after Jordan left town. When a crew from NBA Entertainment went to Wilmington around 1988 to film the short documentary Michael Jordan: Come Fly with Me, Herring was no longer coaching at Laney High. The varsity coach was a man named Fred Lynch.

It's unclear how Lynch came to replace Pop Herring on Come Fly with Me. One of the documentary's producers, David Gavant, says he looked for Herring but couldn't find him. He says he was told that Fred Lynch had been one of Herring's assistants in 1978, the year Jordan didn't make varsity, meaning Lynch would have taken part in the decision. In fact, Lynch didn't even work at Laney then. Lynch says he tried to tell the filmmakers the truth but gave up because they didn't want to hear it. About five minutes into Come Fly with Me, he makes a brief appearance to say, "I'm the coach who cut Michael as a sophomore."

And so the Great Cutting Myth was enshrined in the top-selling sports video of all time, while the man who could have disproved it was written out of existence.

That was 23 years ago.

[adam8]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

[rickyfan3.0...]

That's crazy.

[dark_lord]

this has been known for a while.  its one of those things that a lot of mj fans have known, but casual fans have not.

[jambr380]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

[Moranis]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

cut from a team implies you were actually on the team.  At least that is how I see it.

[Inside-Out]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

That's what we used to call it, too.  "Making the cut."

"Hey, did you make the team?"

"No, I got cut."

[bdm860]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

That's what we used to call it, too.  "Making the cut."

"Hey, did you make the team?"

"No, I got cut."

I'm with most other guys here, I never thought much of the Jordan story, but I remember growing up, I always thought it just meant that he didn't make the team.  If you don't make the team, you got cut.

Besides, when do high school players ever get "cut" after making a team?  This is something I never really heard of.  You can get kicked off the team for various on or off court disciplinary reasons, you can flunk off, but do high school kids really make a team, and then the coach "cuts" them for non-disciplinary, non-academic reasons afterwards?  Never heard of that (but I suppose it could happen).

And according to Homer, Jordan got cut 
   
www.youtube.com/watch?v=saKRZEMqdis

[soap07]

I'm surprised this is getting so much play now - I was under the impression that this was fairly common knowledge at this point? I remember when MJ got inducted into the HOF articles were coming out about this.

[fairweatherfan]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

That's what we used to call it, too.  "Making the cut."

"Hey, did you make the team?"

"No, I got cut."

Yeah, but in most places 10th graders are JV by default - some JV players can get a shot at the varsity, but most of them stay where they are.

At my school we all practiced together for a couple of days, then split up into JV and varsity for the rest of the season, give or take a few more dual practices.  Sometimes someone would get invited up to the varsity early.  But the people on the JV team weren't considered "cut from the varsity", they were right where they started off. 

MJ's situation sounds similar, but I can see where a guy that competitive could see another 10th grader called up and consider it a huge slap in the face.

[pearljammer10]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

cut from a team implies you were actually on the team.  At least that is how I see it.

Cut from the team actually implies that you DIDN'T make the team. In this case, Jordan was cut from Varsity and played for the JV team.

[Celtics4ever]

Makes for a great story and it probably took a life of it's own.

[Moranis]

If I were MJ I would consider not making varsity as being cut just saying

I agree, not making varsity and playing JV instead is exactly the same thing as being cut from the varsity squad. I don't think anybody ever thought he didn't play high school basketball, at all. When you don't make a certain team, you are cut. That is what we called it in high school.

cut from a team implies you were actually on the team.  At least that is how I see it.

Cut from the team actually implies that you DIDN'T make the team. In this case, Jordan was cut from Varsity and played for the JV team.

he was never on varisty.  The only reason he feels he was cut was his buddy, also a sophomore, was called up.  He didn't try out or anything, he was just never on the team.  10th graders are almost always on JV by default, especially when the varisty has a ton of seniors and is coming off a playoff appearance.