It's in Michael Jordan's nature to seek conflict. It's how he gets himself fired up, famously throughout his NBA career.
This might be MJ's most complex conflict yet. Not necessarily his most difficult – it's quite hard to make yourself the best basketball player in history – but his most complex and layered.
When he arrived at the courthouse on Monday, His Airness said he couldn't believe the case has gone to trial. It was hard to look at that and think...really?
From the outside, this trial has felt inevitable since very early in the case. If a judge had thrown it out, we could've avoided it. But if there was ever a documentary of this whole sorry saga made, you can just imagine Jordan sat down with a cigar, admitting: "It became personal for me."
NASCAR trial begins
This man is a relentless competitor. This man is used to power, and getting his way. This man never lets a slight – real or imaginary – go unanswered. Of course he wasn't going to let his team fold without getting everything they wanted from NASCAR.
NASCAR, equally, is a behemoth. The basis of the whole case, after all, is that NASCAR has the monopoly on top level stock car racing in the US. They're not used to being challenged and, when they are, they respond ruthlessly.
If 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lose this case, they'll probably have to dissolve as teams within the next year. If they run, they'll run as open entries. For a lifelong NASCAR fan like Jordan, who has invested so much into this team, that would be a disaster.
And spare a thought for Denny Hamlin, too. It was just last month that he was completely broken at Phoenix, after being robbed of his best chance to win a Cup Series title at the age of 44. To lose that on the track and the team he co-owns in the courtroom would be just cruel.
Nobody knows just how this multi-week trial is going to play out – but whatever happens, the sport will never be the same again.
