Con Artist Scammed Michael Jordan and More, Reveals 40YO Comedian Exposing Father’s Massive Fraud
Michael Jordan was never a person to be easily fooled. Ask any player who has faced him. But it seems the alertness toned down off the court. And one cannot blame the 6x NBA champion, considering the one to scam him was comedian Gary Vider’s father, Manny Vider. Gary had earlier opened up in his ‘Confession Of A Fake Kid Reporter’ how he and his father managed to run a major scam in the sports world. The comedian has yet again spoken of the experiences with his father in a recent episode of ‘Pardon My Take’.
Appearing on the podcast, Vider revealed he and his father had a complicated relationship. “This is in the early nineties, my dad, he for one, he’s a con man… And we stopped talking 24 years ago,” he said. However, there was a particular con that involved Gary as well. As revealed by Vider, he would go to Madison Square Garden along with his father, posing as an employee of Sports Illustrated. While Gary would act as a reporter, his father would become a photographer.
The advantage of being imposters, you ask? Free passes to games that would otherwise be very difficult to get your hands on. But the perks do not end here. The father-son duo would also get access to locker rooms for interviews. “So I met all the New York Rangers back in the nineties. I met all the Knicks back in the nineties. And then if they’re playing a cool opposing team, especially like the Bulls, when they came to town and Michael Jordan was there, I met and interviewed Michael Jordan as well,” Gary said on the podcast.
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Further in the podcast, Vider revealed he did not even actually write stories and yet no one ever got suspicious. “People just believed us because after they see you a few times, they’re like, oh, here you are again,” he said. After a certain point, the father-son duo got so proficient in their thing that they surpassed the real Sports Illustrated employees to an interview with MJ.
The time Gary Vider and his dad met Michael Jordan while actual SI writers waited in line
In his “Confessions of a fake SI Kids reporter” on SI itself, Vider detailed in on an instance of going to Michael Jordan’s game in SG after his return from his first retirement. Gary recalled reaching the venue early enough to pick the press passes and take some pictures during shoot around.
During this shoot around, it became quite apparent to the father son-duo that it would be difficult for them to enter the locker room that night. Gary recollected his father telling him there were real ‘Sports Illustrated for Kids’ reporter and photographer at the game. Vider stated this to be a first of a kind situation during the period they ran this scam. However, this did not stop his father from meeting the real employees to say hello.
After the game concluded, Gary and his father rushed to the locker room, but as expected, the security was quite heavy. But Manny Vider’s habit of taking the security guards’ photos during the games and handing it to them later worked in the father-son duo’s favor. Not only did the security let them in, but Vider also got a chance to interview MJ. “Riding an adrenaline high, my dad and I made our way out of Madison Square Garden. As we left, we walked by the real ‘Sports Illustrated for Kids’ guys. They were still trying to get through security,” read the piece by Gary Vider.
The post Con Artist Scammed Michael Jordan and More, Reveals 40YO Comedian Exposing Father’s Massive Fraud appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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