Recent Apex graduate Kristi Marks was recognized in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” section on June 13.

It almost seems like a fever dream now, but 17 years ago Michael Jordan quit the Chicago Bulls after three championships and embarked on a career in baseball.

On Tuesday night at 8 on ESPN, "Bull Durham" director Ron Shelton explores that time in the fine documentary "Jordan Rides the Bus," as part of ESPN's stellar "30 for 30" series. (To celebrate the network's 30th anniversary, well-known filmmakers have made documentaries examining key moments in the last 30 years of sports.)

There's been some mystery around Jordan's decision, mostly of the swarmy kind. What's true is that Jordan made the decision after his father's murder in Robeson County (a crime now caught up in the SBI lab scandal); Jordan said then that playing baseball was a dream he and his father shared.

Uh-oh. North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson — and his jammed right big toe, kicking up near the bottom — grace one of the six regional covers of Sports Illustrated this week. He's expected to play Friday against Gonzaga in the NCAA regional semifinals ... as long as that SI jinx doesn't come into play.

In case you missed it — sense the sarcasm, there? — Lawson jammed the toe March 6 in practice, played 36 minutes against Duke, then missed the next three games before returning Saturday and scoring 23 points against LSU. The Toe, which must be the most-written-about body part of this tournament, still isn't 100 percent.

• If you missed Josh Hamilton's appearance on the debut of "Homecoming," the new ESPN2 series hosted by Rick Reilly, be patient. The show, which featured the Texas Rangers star returning to Apex High School, first aired Friday, but it is not expected to be aired again until April 22, the network says, and no DVDs are available yet.
• Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn, writing in this week's issue about how basketball star James Harden wound up at Arizona State, takes a swipe at N.C. State fans, referring to them as "the ungratefuls." Writing in the present tense, Winn describes the familiar coach's arrival at Arizona State: "Herb Sendek heads west in April 2006, fleeing the ungratefuls as North Carolina State who cared less about his success (five straight NCAA tournament trips) than about his singular failure (not wresting Tobacco Road bragging rights from Duke and North Carolina)."
• ESPN2 will televise the World Cup qualifying soccer match between the U.S. men's team and Mexico live (and in high definition) at 7 p.m. Feb. 11 from Columbus, Ohio.
• MLB Network will televise the Caribbean World Series — 12 games — Feb. 2-6 in Mexicali, Mexico.
• Four of the next six Charlotte Bobcats games on Fox Sports Carolinas and SportSouth will be televised in HD — 2 p.m. Monday vs. San Antonio on FS Carolinas, 7 p.m. Jan. 23 on SportSouth, 10 p.m. Jan. 27 at L.A. Lakers on FS Carolinas and 9 p.m. Jan. 30 at Denver on F.S. Carolinas. Time Warner Cable subscribers can find the HD version of FS Carolinas on channel 272. DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers should check local listings.