2002 Dismissal
In January 2002, Michael Jordan was scheduled to return to the United Center for the first time since leaving the Bulls in 1999. Jordan was then playing for the Washington Wizards, and Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti asked Clay how he was going to introduce the ex-Bull. Clay explained that he wanted to deliver his familiar introduction for Jordan, but team management had ordered him to introduce Jordan as he would any other opposing player. "When I gave my opinion, that was Ray Clay, the fan, talking. But when you work for an organization, you are bound by rules and how they want you to talk and act," he said.
Clay was then fired in May of that year. The Bulls gave no official reason for Clay’s dismissal, but Clay speculated he was fired because of his disagreement with team management over Jordan’s introduction. “When you put two and two together, that’s all it could be. I can’t think of anything else I ever did wrong,” he told Mariotti.
In April 2003, Clay accepted an invitation to introduce Jordan at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, where Jordan played his last game in the NBA.
Read more about this topic: Ray Clay