Fans queue to snap up Jordan tickets
More than 400 people braved the cold and rain to wait in line last night for tickets to see Michael Jordan play for the Washington Wizards this season.
Wizards players Jahidi White and Brendan Haywood helped customers as the last few tickets were snapped up.
"I've been here since 1988, and certainly we've never seen anything like this," said Wizards spokesman Matt Williams.
Jordan, talking about his comeback in the National Basketball Association after an absence of more than three years, said: "It's an itch that still needs to be scratched and I don't want that itch to bother me for the rest of my life.".
The 38-year-old added: "Everybody has been so negative about what I am trying to do.
"If I read every negative newspaper report I swear I wouldn't live in America. America's supposed to be the place to do whatever you choose, whatever you want to do.
"That's all I'm doing. I'm not committing a crime. I'm just trying to play a game of basketball. I want to step into the elite competition. If I can do it, great.
"I'm not walking into this thinking I'm going to fail. I'm walking in thinking I'm confident and I'm pretty sure that I can make it work. If I listened to everyone else tell me that I can't do it, then obviously I wouldn't be here."
