Reggie Miller says Michael Jordan is getting fat

March 9, 10:51 AMSports ExaminerPaula Duffy

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    Jordan poses with Nike Air Jordan 2K9 shoe

While catching some of the Duke vs. North Carolina game on Sunday I couldn't help but notice that Michael Jordan isn't tucking his shirt in these days. And his neck looks a bit thick, at least to me.

It's not like you had to look hard to find that. The camera panned to him on virtually every big score made by the Tar Heels. All reports of the game mentioned that Jordan got the loudest ovation during introductions of the luminaries in attendance on Senior Day in Chapel Hill.

Could His Airness be out of shape? I know that Magic Johnson has given up striving to look like the extraordinary athlete he was, but wiry, sculpted MJ?

If I thought I was wrong I was disabused of that notion when Reggie Miller spoke (listen to interview) about it on the Dan Patrick radio show saying: "He looks good for a retired guy. But he's 30 to 35 pounds overweight." Ouch.

Miller, only out of the game a few years, is still the stick figure he always was. And from the way he's built it's hard to think he'll have much of a weight-gain issue as he passes through his 40's.

If it's true, it pains me to say this but I am not giving him a pass. If Jessica Simpson is humiliated around the world for putting on 10 pounds and being brave enough to tuck her shirt in, I have to ask why speculation about Jordan's current look isn't more prevalent.

Maybe it was just the angle of the picture or perhaps he's just more comfortable with his badly wrinkled shirt tails outside his slacks. I can't think of any more excuses. But then I took at look at this photo on Deadspin.com taken at the recent NBA All-Star game and I just sighed.

Let's revisit the basketball wonder when he was at his peak, in the video below.

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