Tolstoy predicts Bulls' sixth championship - in code of course - Chicago Bulls

As my wife and I were driving through New Mexico, on Sunday, June 14, 1998, we listened to game six of the Chicago Bulls/Utah Jazz National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs. As the game drew to a close, we heard the Utah crowd groan as Michael Jordan sank the winning basket. And then and there, a chill went down my spine. "Oh my God," I thought to myself. "The Tolstoy Code is real."

Fifty days (more than seven weeks) before, on April 27, I had undertaken a search for NBA teams and players using the technique of 'equidistant letter sequences' popularized in the book The Bible Code, by Michael Drosnin (Simon & Schuster, 1997). But I wasn't searching in the Hebrew Torah - instead, I was looking in book one of an English translation of Leo Tolstoy's epic, War and Peace (see my SKEPTICAL INQUIRER articles on the Bible Code, November/December 1997 and March/April 1998).

I had wondered if the NBA playoff winner could actually be predicted in advance. What did my April search reveal? "Chicago" was found encoded just once in War and Peace, at a step of 8891 characters (and therefore 100 percent 'minimal,' i.e. having the shortest step for that word). Ominously, "Jazz" was not encoded at all.

But there was more! "Bulls" was also encoded thirty-two times in Book 1 of War and Peace, and of these, five matches had non-zero domains of minimality. Amazingly, "Chicago" and one of the minimal (shortest-step) "Bulls" appeared close to each other in a classic "Bible-code" crossword puzzle. I also found fourteen hidden occurrences of "Jordan," and one of these (minimal step, of course) made an excellent, small puzzle with one of the minimal "Bulls."

With all these "Bible Code" indicators flashing - matching of long words, proximity of paired matches, and strict use of "minimal" matches - I rushed to send my prediction to several reporters and scientists. I thought about trying to warn Karl "the Mailman" Malone of the Jazz - but I decided to let history run its course. When I made my prediction, there were sixteen teams in the playoffs. And the Bulls, while favored, almost lost it all on more than one occasion. In fact, the Indiana Pacers came very close to defeating them, but Tolstoy's Bulls clung to their destiny.

And on June 14, my prediction came to pass. Not only had Tolstoy predicted the victors would be the Chicago Bulls, but Jordan's key role in the victory had been forecast almost two months in advance.

And now, we are left to ponder the somber truth.

Either the "Bible Code" nonsense is just a general, arcane mathematical technique which can be employed to find any desired messages or predictions, hidden in any book or text. . . .

. . . Or Leo Tolstoy is the Supreme Being who created the universe.

CHICAGO: plot step N = 8891

ncesfixedonhimbythedo ethevilesuCceediknoww ierrethougHtitnecessa iseyesthesIckmanwastu wnoinfluenCeinpolitic apegracethAtisallihav toasmileofGlitteringt sfavoritetOpichelooke ewillsaveandhavemercy

BULLS: plot step = 889

lreallycatichecantyou ntbelievemethenbeliev ificedmySelfbutonlyth utohaveasgoodanopinio outitsooneritsinthein adespeopLeranhurriedl themyesrepliedafootma seroomsannamikhaylovn sheinrepLytohislookan ousnessthatthedecisiv naparticularlyrespect nhiswaybUtallatoncehe tiswellandheturnedtog trangeladytheaidedeca overfromBehindthechai youbehindhimstoodthea

JORDAN: plot step = 1024

hovandabouthisillegitimatesonpierr etheoneeJustfancythosethreegothold ofabearsomewheedinthecOnversatio nevidentlywishingtoshowuntcyrilvla dimiRovichhearinghowillheisbutide spreadhisarmswideanDthrewthemro undthelouldnothelpjoininginnowth engoAwayandtakeyabletosuppressth eirlaughterthetwoyouNgmenreadysh eansweredreturninghissmileborisqui

David E. Thomas is a SKEPTICAL INQUIRER consulting editor.

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