THE OTHER JORDAN
Due to his elongated trunk, short limbs and large head, John Jordan is what medical science calls an "achondroplasic dwarf". The only thing that prevents me from calling him that is that he measures 2.95 meters, a figure that makes him the tallest player not only on his team, the "Toronto Cold", but in the entire National Basketball Association (NBA).
"Don't worry. They all have that same expression the first time they see me in person,” he told me when I arrived at his house to interview him on the occasion of his 23rd birthday, on August 5, 2062, and I couldn't hide my silly face at his outlandishness. figure.
John's house is baffling as is its owner. His parents – also dwarfs, now deceased – adapted it to make life easier for themselves. The doorknobs, for example, are placed at the height of the knees of an average human, the tables and chairs have short legs, the kitchen counter is low, and a mini-bar occupies the space that a refrigerator would occupy in another house. bigger size. Although the house is somewhat uncomfortable for him due to his current height, John decided not to make any changes to it or move to another home. The only concession to excess is an old 120-inch flat screen that occupies a prominent place in the living room of the building, since it is difficult to install a holographic television in that space. Perhaps to compensate for its excess, some bonsai surround the low chest of drawers that serves as the base for the television.
When John was fifteen years old, he survived a tragic car accident in which his parents lost their lives. He was barely 70 centimeters tall, so he was still riding behind in a baby seat. This saved his life, but fractures in both legs with loss of bone prompted doctors to experiment with growth hormone to speed his recovery. The treatment did not give the expected result, quite the opposite.
“I started to lose height,” recalls John. "If that's worrisome in a normal person, imagine it in a dwarf."
Doctors were able to stop his decline, but not reverse it, so John was a standard dwarf until he was 16, when an uncle of his, who grew giant carrots in Illinois, took him to live with him. The scientists do not know if out of pure empathy with the colossal vegetables, because he was affected by his uncle's innovative agrotechnical methods or because he followed the saying "grow in the face of adversity" to the letter, from then on the orphan, injured and tiny John began to increase in size rapidly, although maintaining his usual disproportionate figure.
"The shoes began to squeeze me, the clothes to stay tight, the hats, not to mention... In just six months I grew to 1.20 meters and when I turned 16 I was already close to 1.90. I was much taller than my classmates from high school, but everyone kept referring to me as "the dwarf," he says.
It was in early 2055 that a scout from the “Toronto Cold” dropped by John's school and, despite his crooked legs and short arms, took him down to the minor divisions of the team. Two years later, at 2.95 meters tall, he debuted with the senior team and won his first NBA ring.
“I don't know if I'm good at this basketball thing," John admits. "I just get under the hoop [which he reaches with his hands without jumping], they pass me the ball and I shoot it. I'm not a spectacular center but what I do It does not contravene any NBA rules."
With an average of 40 baskets per game in his debut season, John Jordan was voted "rookie of the year." His last name, and the fortuitous fact of wearing the number 23 on his uniform, made it inevitable that the sports press began to call him “the other Jordan” (alluding to the mythical guard of the Chicago Bulls). Six championships in a row later –prophesied, according to some, in his polydactyly–, in which he also won the title of best player (MVP), they have made him the benchmark for basketball throughout the world. Its shirts, the best sellers in any sport, can be purchased exclusively in our store; also those of the legendary Michael Jordan whose fame he helped preserve.