NEW YORK -- When asked what Michael Jordan has meant to the NBA, comedian Dave Chappelle responded in his usual smart-alecky tone.

"I have no idea, man," he said. "I'm not a league shareholder. I don't sit on the board anymore. I'll have to check the books."

He didn't care about that. He was just happy to finally sit courtside.

	Fans flocked to Madison Square Garden to enjoy one last performance by MJ.

"Did you see how close I was?" he asked. "I brought my sneakers just in case they needed me to play."

For his last appearance at Madison Square Garden, MJ brought his sneakers, too. He wore a pair of all-gray retro Air Jordan 11s. A league official remarked to me that the shoes were actually in violation of the league's dress code. He also told me that no other player in the history of the league has shown as much disregard for the rarely enforced "matching shoe rule" as MJ has. (Every player on the team must have the same color sneakers by at least 51 percent.) When asked if MJ would be fined, he just laughed.

During the game, Latrell Sprewell asked Michael if he could have the sneaks when he was done with them. Jordan has made a habit of giving his game shoes to an opposing player on his farewell tour. T-Mac, Kobe, Antoine Walker have been some of the past recipients. A Knicks ballboy carried the size 13s, complete with signature, over to the home team's locker room after the game. One of the ballboys also made off with the sweaty black compression sleeve MJ wore on his right leg.

Reporters have learned that when Michael is in the house he does things a little bit differently than anyone else. For example, he never uses the main locker room and bathroom that the rest of the players use. Never sets foot in there. He's always back with the coaches in a separate room. He uses the side entrance to the locker room while everyone else uses the front.

About 40 members of the media had finally got wise to MJ after all these years and camped out by the side entrance leaving the visiting locker room a ghost town. Inside Juan Dixon, Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood had to share the same nearly empty bottle of lotion because somebody forgot to pack his.

The reporters completely blocked the hallway leading to the team bus causing Patrick Ewing to take the long way around. Sean Elliot and Brent Musberger insisted on squeezing by. They won't make the same mistake again.

After about 20 minutes, a Wizards PR person told everyone that Jordan would be available around the corner in the interview room, which was already jam-packed. MJ finally walked in with a purple pin-striped suit and sincerely whispered, "Oh my goodness," when he saw the crush of reporters.

When Jordan left the press conference, he made his way to a car that waited for him down the hallway where the team bus is usually parked. A gaggle of about 15 reporters and various flacks stuck to him like lint to a sock. He was whisked away to his favorite steakhouse for lunch with Patrick and Ahmad.

His official last words after his leaving what figures to be his last game in the World's Most Famous Arena were "I'll miss this old place."

And then he was gone.

Chris Palmer is a senior writer for ESPN the Magazine.