Michael Jordan casually throws a football 65 yards behind the scenes while filming an episode of “NBA Inside Stuff with Ahmad Rashad” (1992).
Sometimes I dream, that he is me.
(Pause)
You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be
I want him to be like me
I believe he can fly like me
Have you ever had a dream that you, um, you had, your, you- you could, you’ll do, you- you wants, you, you could do so, you- you’ll do, you could- you, you want, you want him to do you so much you could do anything?
I like turtles.
I just want to be like Chuck – I mean Mike…
And I took this personally
Legend has it, those kids did move next door to Jordan
And people gave T Mac shit when he said he could throw a football 60 yards while on his knee. I believed him lol.
People forget that we all know really athletic people growing up. Athletes are very often multi sport. Hell, I played 2 sports. I was only good at soccer and sucked at baseball. But there were kids who were always the best at everything in PE.
NBA players often played some football growing up. Even if just pickup games, throwing is all mechanics. So no surprise at all because Jordan was a star in football. Same with Wade and others.
These guys are physically gifted beyond just one sport.
Plus, MJ played baseball, he probably had a decent arm
Hand size is a big thing too. I had a cannon from centerfield but could not throw a football for shit because my hands are too small
Same. I have bear paws for hands. I could throw a baseball from the fence to home plate. But, barely throw a football 50+ yards, and even that was inconsistent.
Weird. I’m the opposite. I might be able to throw a football further than a baseball. And baseball was my sport. I think it’s more technique than strength. I definitely have the strength to have a cannon from centerfield but I’d be lucky to hit 2nd base.
I read in a book that when growing up he threw 3 no-hitters
There was just a video on Reddit yesterday that showed Allen Iverson playing high school football . He was insane. Video also showed Michael Vick and I believe Aaron Brooks. All from Hampton Roads, VA. Tried to find the post but for whatever reason it’s not in my history. You can find the video on YouTube.
Allen Iverson led both his football and basketball teams to the state championship in the same year. He was also voted as AP High School Player of the Year in both sports
In an alternate timeline Iverson could have gone on a football scholarship and probably went pro in the NFL if he chose that path
Basketball is always the better option for your long term quality of life.
Plus personal branding. Those helmets…
And just staying in the league. The personnel churn in football is super high and because individuals have less overall impact and more dependency on others and scheme and whatnot, it’s easy for even plenty of good players to not realize their potential and find themselves out.
Especially back then. No one gave a crap about concussions, it was just “getting your bell rung”. Coaches did not care. I remember doing Oklahoma drills where I’d get matched up 1 v 1 against linemen who had 80 lbs on me. Just running full speed into each other head down.
Charlie Ward agrees
less practice
Maybe if he was born like 20 years later. Black QBs still had a massive stigma against them as being glorified RBs and not having the “football IQ” for the NFL (take a guess what that means). Hell, even today you look at the discourse around Lamar this shit still shows up today. He probably been insane in college though.
He woulda played safety
Ah yes, such a massive stigma that three black QBs were taken in the top 11 of the 1999 NFL draft that Iverson would have likely been part of if he’d played football.
Yuppp. I know he isn’t an all-star in the NBA but Jalen Suggs was Mr. Football and Basketball in the same year in his high school. He prob could have made the NFL as a QB.
The best basketball player on Jason Williams’s highschool basketball team was Randy Moss.
I think Vick and Brooks were first cousins.
I didn’t know that. Iverson does say Brooks is his boy. I figured that they were either really close friends or related somehow.
https://youtu.be/z7AO_Qkfjjc?is=iYzyqsneQ4JRK4OW
And crazy enough both Brooks and Vick weren’t even the top recruit in the area, it was Ronald Curry, who couldn’t decide between basketball and football and played both at North Carolina.
Mookie betts can play like every sport at a high level.
My friend in elementary school was just good at everything. He could catch and throw better, jump higher, run faster and longer, kick a ball better, all that stuff. I learned later than his dad was ex NFL and it made a lot of sense.
In my family I think I’m the first generation to do a pullup
sounds about right, I had a friend in my town who was the best at everything in elementary school. I moved away and came back for college, turns out he became all district in track, soccer, football and baseball. Twas a cruel joke that he was made to be 5’5”.
same with my dad’s bff, was all distrct in everything, played college hoops but was just 5’9”. Best basketball player I’ve played with in person.
We all knew really athletic people, and these guys are the freaks among them.
I’ll never forget the story of my buddy, who played in the CFL for like 5 years up to that point, getting an invite to Colts camp one year.
He went down and he said within 20 minutes of the first tryout he knew he was in over his head. He distinctly remembers being in a full sprint down the sidelines when Marvin Harrison casually pulls up to him in a jog and tries to make conversation with him 😂
My friend is easily one of the most athletic dudes I’ve ever met and he said the NFL was a whole other level that he didn’t even know existed, and he played pro here in Canada for almost a decade when all was said and done.
The levels to this are insane. Us common folk simply cannot comprehend what these athletes can do, even in a casual setting.
as the joke goes, there’s levels to this shit. I remember playing in a Christmas Tournament my sophmore year. Other team put in a kid at the end of the 1st who was like 6’4. Took a deflection and dunked from the FT line. I started laughing and my coach was mad. A few years later I saw him on ESPN winning city slams as Skywalker. Dude had insane hops but talking to his coach at a basketball camp, he never really worked on his game sadly.
Man it’s insane how many insane athletes don’t apply themselves. I knew a dude who had a scholarship at a D2 for baseball, got kicked off, walked onto the basketball team, and then also walked onto the golf team, and ended up going pro for a minute in golf. He’s now a heroin addict. Crazy stuff
Friend of mine went to high school with Colin Kaepernick. We were talking about it and he was like “I remember him playing baseball for some reason.” I looked it up an he was all-state in football, baseball, AND basketball. Just a freak athlete all around
I played soccer my entire life. I knew how to properly kick a ball. One day in PE, me and the catcher for the baseball team were messing around trying to kick field goals. This guy nailed a 50 yard field goal with zero kicking form just booting it with his big toe. He went on to play for the best college baseball team in the country, win a national championship, and had a cup of coffee in the MLB.
Similarly, I also played soccer with a guy who became a RB for the Eagles. He had absolutely zero touch on the ball, but he was playing in the highest level of premier soccer in my area because he was such an athletic freak that you could just kick the ball really far, and he’d usually beat everyone to it. If he had worked on soccer even a little bit, then he could have been a star.
Some people are just freaks, and with zero practice they can still beat regular people who train their entire life.
I don’t think he could have been a star in soccer if he worked even a little bit on it. Technique in soccer is so much more important than physicality once you go pro. Look at the players that just won the World Cup, all small Spanish guys who are not strong or fast, but because they are so good technically they easily won the World Cup.
I didn’t mean pro. I just meant that he could have dominated our high school and premier ranks if his touch was decent.
while you are mostly correct, the builds of those spanish guys are deceiving. theyre supremely fit and conditioned while also being exceptionally quick
Ofcourse they’re conditioning is top notch, that’s a requirement in football, but just meant that speed and strength are less important.
This is true in track and field as well - some freak athletes can just waltz into really impressive sprint / mile / throw / jump numbers at the high school level. They obviously have to train to win championships. But as an example, my teammate missed three months of training with mono and injuries, and then came back to qualify for states and run like a 4:25 mile.
Bo knows sports.
PTSD flashbacks bro.
“Gad damn that Ryan! He may be good at basketball and football, but baseball is all mine. Here we…god damn it!!! How can that fucker be good at that too?! Tomorrow’s dodge ball session is going to suck. Those cement balls are going to hurt even more than I thought.”
I knew a guy who was a ballroom dance champion and he was so good at everything else too. Golf, climbing, multiple sports. He was even really good a video games.
True but there are certain athletic traits which are less correlated with general athleticism. Throwing hard is one of things.
NBA players probably have the most transferable skill sets amongst all the major american sports, a lot of these guys were multi-sport varsity athletes in high school – state champion level track athletes, star football/baseball players.
Wasn’t Bron being scouted by college football programs while he was in HS as well. He was a wide receiver I think.
I mean, isn’t it true that he was drafted by the NFL the same year he was drafted in the NBA? Granted, it was like in the 10th round or some shit, but his name was still read out
No and the NFL draft is only 7 rounds. There’s a lot of NFL players who get drafted to the mlb though, Tom Brady was drafted in the mlb.
Most of them actually are bummed that they have to choose when they go to college.
Hell, I played 2 sports. I was only good at soccer and sucked at baseball. But there were kids who were always the best at everything in PE.
I played two sports too in primary school… I sucked at soccer (I was quick and had a great shot so I always just barely made the team. But I was ass at everything else). Basketball on the other hand came naturally even though I started playing it like 3 full years after starting soccer. I wanted so bad to be good at soccer, but I eventually had to admit I sucked, and that basketball was the sport for me.
True story… The best athlete in our class (and really the whole school) was this skinny fat dude with a severe case of man boobs. Dude had damn near literal tits and was soft all over. But he was AMAZING at every sport he picked up. Best basketball player in our school by a mile… His touch on the soccer pitch was brilliant and he could play pretty much every position bar the 9. He was high level at volleyball too, etc. Just as effortlessly natural and athlete as it gets.
Oh, and he had the biggest dick I’ve ever seen, even at that age lol… We had these longish urinals at school and he’d whip that thing out and it looked like he was holding a gaboon viper in his hand. You just couldn’t help staring. I recall a boy like 5 classes below us once saw him pissing at break time and he burst into tears 😭 🤣.
Allen Iverson too. He was on track to go to college for football but missed his entire HS senior season due to some legal issue.
Ben Wallace was All State in Football, Basketball, and Baseball
Iirc TMac was a high school pitching prospect before he went nuts at the ABCD camp and jumped onto the NBA draft radar
Those people are dumb.
If you played baseball at a high level and also have big hands, you’re going to be able to launch a football.
In Tmac’s case l, dude was throwing up to 88mph as a pitcher.
I think most 6’6 guys should be able to bomb a football. This is hardly surprising
T Mac pitched in the minors after he retired, so I’m sure he’s got some arm strength
He was pitching in the minor leagues AFTER he retired lol Tmac had a fuckin cannon
sugarland skeets!
TMac was throwing 80mph plus from the mound.
TMac was literally a highly rated pitcher in high school iirc
Tmac: “How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?”
Could he throw it over those mountains though?
People forget T-Mac pitched in the minors briefly after retiring from basketball. IIRC, he was throwing in the low 90s even with minimal training. But either way dude did record a couple strikeouts on low level pros, so throwing 60 yards is definitely in his bag.
I mean Jordan actually played baseball. Seems like it makes some sense here.
I’ve seen DeRozan toss one 60 off his back foot lmao.
People don’t understand “freak athlete” transcends one sport lmao. Sure NBA players aren’t making the NFL, but they’re still ridiculous compared to 90% of people.
There’s videos of David West chucking that think across the field like nothing.
Jordan would have made a good wide receiver with those big ass hands!
Beat me to it. Jordan could palm a basketball like a grapefruit, now look how small that football looks in his hand.
Looks like a fkn little nerf ball to a normal person
I think still the biggest hands for a shooting guard
Yeah, I think you’re right. Another player close to his size with giant hands is Dr. J, even slightly larger than Jordan’s actually.
Rondo had similar size hands which is crazy for a guy 5 inches shorter
I had no idea about that. That would definitely help you facilitate in different ways than your average point guard.
Aspiration’s hands are insane too
Yeah, bro has some mitts!
Obviously not a SG but I think Kawhi is pretty close. His hands are insanely large.
Growing up there were Gatorade bottles with labels showing how big his hands were.
Something that has stuck with me for 30 years
The Shaq Ball was always fun. Every kid would be measuring their hand against it trying to see how far away you were
And the speed, quickness, height, and jumping ability. He would have been Moss 1.0.
John Wall could’ve been Moss 3.0.
I never understood why ALL wide receivers aren’t 6’ 7” and above. Plaxico Burress was 6’ 5” and no 5’ 8” cornerback could stop him.
Alot of them end up playing basketball.
It makes me wonder, generally speaking, would NBA players be more successful transitioning to the NFL compared to NFL players transitioning to the NBA?
The issue with the NFL (much like high level boxing), is that you have to be the kinda guy that gets hit like he stole something, and then comes back for seconds with nary a thought. I’m not sure many NBA players would be up for that.
It’s why I roll my eyes when I see people say Bron would’ve been the heavyweight GOAT if he’d gone the boxing route. He’s got all the physical (and mental) tools for sure… But what about when he receives his first proper right overhand on his chin? How would he respond to it? And does he even have a strong chin for that matter?
This is a good. Not many people, if anyone, truly enjoys being hit and coming back for more…repeatedly. definitely a special mentality.
Most people have never truly been hit once and most athletes can’t throw hands worth a damn hence the multitude of hysterically funny NBA “fight” videos.
I did a decade of combat sports and when someone else at the gym was cleared for sparring I was always the first experience they got because I was controlled. I bring this up to share a relevant story.
A doctor had been training for awhile and was ready to spar for the first time. I hit him with a right cross with a bit of pop on it and he just stopped with a weird expression on his face. I thought at first maybe I had misjudged his tolerance. I asked if he was ok and the reply was, “I’ve never really been punched hard before in my life.”
I asked him did he die? His reply was, “No.” So I said, “Great…let’s get back to it.”
He ended up training for a few years and was a good dude who gave me free X-rays when I hurt my shoulder.
In all honesty I think training in any combat sport for only a year, provided that it is legitimate, whether it be striking or grappling, should be a must have for people to understand both how fragile the human body is, how resilient the human body is and to experience a “fight” so that in the event a physical altercation occurs in your life that you have some degree of mental, emotional and physical experience in order to avoid short circuiting from being overwhelmed.
Lovely comment my man. I gotta save this one.
Also, I couldn’t agree more with everything you said… Especially that bit about training in a combat sport being a must for everyone (or every man at least).
Someone once asked me this… How the hell do you even know whom you are if you’ve never been in a fight? If you’ve never eaten a stiff jab to the nose that made your eyes water, how the hell do you even know what your true mettle is?
Well over a decade ago when Lawless was being filmed, the director made Tom Hardy and the rest of the cast spar. Every single morning before shooting. His explanation was the fastest and greatest way to build real chemistry between men is to have them fight. There’s a clean respect that comes from scrapping with someone and knowing you (and they) gave as good as you got. Just think back to your childhood… The greatest friends we made were those with whom you got in a proper fight with first. And then the respect was established, which then paved way to liking/love.
Thank you for commenting and that is a great story that you shared which I have not heard before. I am not, nor was I, some badass. I simply enjoyed (although some days I questioned my choice of hobby) what I was doing.
I agree 100% man! DC said it best: “At some point in your life, every person should be faced with a moment where it is you against someone else in physical combat.” Or something like that lol.
There is no better competition than that. In a way it’s an embodiment of the human spirit
I agree for sure. The thing that really separates top flight fighters from amateur or even low level pros, is their punch and pain tolerance. How many great fighters have we seen deteriorate over time because they couldn’t take a punch? Amir Khan is a great example of that. Fast as hell, talented as hell, but had sub par defense and couldn’t take a punch as a result of it.
Guys like LeBron would have a head start for sure because of their athletic ability, but athletic ability does not correlate to toughness in any way.
There was a sports illustrated article about this with photoshop, iirc
Jordan probably would have been great at basically any sport hahaha. Runner? Weighlifting? Soccer? Football? Hockey? Yeah I see it. Baseball? I don’t know hahahaha. I mean maybe he would have been the goat at any sport but he would at least get to be a pro in anything he chose
I don’t think people realize how impressive it was that he hit .202 over the course of 127 games in Double A ball after not playing since high school 13 years earlier. Sure that’s not going to get you promoted to The Show, but you could see that if he never took that much time away from the game he could have had a legit shot at making it.
Just think what could have been!
The guy could have made a pretty good name for himself.
I’ve always thought this. 6’6 with a 40+ inch vert, giant hands, and ran like a 4.3 in college
This is the 2nd Jordan post in a row I saw this morning. You scared the shit out of me that something happened to him.
Bills coach Marv Levy was posted in the Bills sub twice this morning and I thought it was the time. Turns out two people were excited to wish him a 101ST birthday. My heart sunk then I breathed a sigh of relief.
TIL Mark Levy is still alive.
Reminds me of a post in the sub last year. A guy was unironically pissed at the disrespect by Terry Pegula that Marv wasn’t invited to the stadium finale last season.
Guy didn’t think about how detrimental 10 degrees and windy and snowy could be for a 100 year old man just to see him wave on the turf one last time. Got absolutely roasted by everyone about it.
TIL Marv Levy and Mark Levy are still alive.
Marv Levy looked like he was barely alive 40 years ago. I would’ve assumed he died in the early 2000s.
What, you missing the “LeBron was the first ever to do x if you count regular season and playoffs, after 20008” or “we will never see another LeBron, he’s the only ever to x while his teammates were doing x” already?
love seeing more candid footage of MJ than I did in the 90s cause his tv/yt voice is so different from his normal southern accent
There’s more candid footage of jordan than of LeBron. Lebrons whole media persona is one of the most curated of all time
You’re right but I think that’s largely due to the era Bron grew up in and the fact he has been a national celebrity since high school. He was on the cover of SLAM magazine before he was junior, had ESPN at a high school game as a senior and got told in a televised interview at 18 years-old that he was would be a disappointment if he wasn’t a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer.
You got to remember. LBJ at 16 got a Range Rover from some one. It was on ESPN a little after the SI cover. Mfs all knew it was some sketchy shit. But after that, Bron kept everything close. You never heard about much. Shit I
Got rich, started hanging out with a different crowd.
people’s accents change over time though
i’m from a town very similar to Rand, West Virginia and i used to sound like early Randy Moss
but just like Randy Moss and MJ, i moved to a city and everybody kept on telling me i have a weird accent, so i changed it
MJ in the mid 90s hadn’t lived in the South for 10-15 years at that point
I could see ant man doing something like this 😂
Like father, like son
I was thinking of Ant while watching this. Lol it’s crazy how alike they seem.
I don’t think ant throws it nearly as far but the receiver was “defended”
https://youtube.com/shorts/9omIc-lHx5M?is=Uyh7HNUZp2nGNEsK
I wonder how many different sports MJ could have feasibly gone pro in if he had played them competitively from a young age and made them his sole focus.
Why not all of them? Sports is about athleticism and coordination and in the 1984 Olympics he was already considered the greatest athlete on the planet.
Can’t imagine him becoming a pro table tennis player, but ya never know.
I don’t think he would’ve faired well in football because of the repeated contact but never know. He might’ve been too lean to be a football player and if he gained weight he’d be slow, maybe a TE?
Baseball, basketball, golf… oh wait he is.
Probably all of them.
Danny Ainge has been beating him in every sport so far :)
He was a minor league level pitcher so not surprising he could throw a long ball
Barely fucking stepped into it too holy fuck.
This is one of the many reasons I hate the internet.
He clearly steps into. I’m not sure if he could have stepped into it anymore without negatively affecting the throw. QBs aren’t throwing from a mound like pitchers, afterall.
Are you referring to the fact that didn’t shuffle forward before stepping into it like you see QBs do from time to time?
G.O.A.T.
It’s crazy to me those kids talking to Jordan are in their 40s now
MJ had a lot of charisma
“That’s why Jordan is the GOAT! He just did things LeBron couldn’t even comprehend doing” ☝️🤓 — said my father
I won’t say anything bad about your pops but ….
Eh. Mr. Perfect did better.
One of the most athletic people to ever live good at sports. More at 11.
Could hit .195 in AA ball too
.202!
And he was actually improving at baseball. Most of his managers and coaches agreed that if he’d had a little more development time he would have potentially been a major league player.
The problems on Jordan’s end were he was pretty old for a rookie prospect, he was the most famous man on the planet so everyone was watching him learn, and he was accustomed to simply being better than everyone else so it was hard for him to be mediocre.
Damn. Not a knock on Jordan but kinda crazy Tebow hit better. Not by much tho. Both ops is kinda ass but Tebow was better at that too. Never would have thought. Jordan might have thrown the football better though
Tebow built for baseball imo.
Tebow was built to be a fullback or rb for short yardage.
but kinda crazy Tebow hit better
Did he? Most of his seasons were in rookie ball or single A leagues.
Yeah height doesn’t work in your favor while batting. That he was even remotely competitive as a baseball player is an testament to how great of an athlete he was.
Peep the tongue coming out as he threw the ball.
I just love that those are white kids just following him around. He was such a huge star for us growing up. It transcended all other things.
And they want to move next door when he moves. #WannaBeLikeMike
“Sometimes I dream…”
Didn’t know that a football is that small or is MJ’s hands just that big?
MJ hands are big, he was able to palm a basketball very easily
MJ’s hands was bigger than the majority of centers in the NBA not named Shaq.
I think you’re onto something. That looks like a child’s football, size & weight.
He didn’t even attempt to throw it over a mountain.. Impressive, but not Unc impressive.
Of course he casually uncorks 65 yards in jeans. Somewhere Seahawks scouts in ‘92 just missed their voicemail.
MJ is also standing on a deck. I can throw a lot further if I’m 10-15 above the ground too. Not saying MJ isn’t an elite athlete.
One of those kids grew up to be Tom Brady.
The cut out the part where he asked them to bet $10k on it.
Looks like a nerf football in his hands
We’re just believing that is 65yd then? No doubt that it’s at least 50, but how certain are we that was 200ft away?
He’s also throwing it off of an elevated porch… not that I’m saying I could come anywhere close
Technically it only has to be 195 feet 🤓
He’s on a deck. There’s no way of knowing how far he threw it.
Yes, science has famously never figured out how to account for measurements between uneven levels. Damn you, geometry!
And not even on the laces 😳
You don’t need laces when your hands are that big.
“How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?”
Yeah that’s ANTs father alright.
Man hes so much better than lebron
He was a baseball guy, so makes sense he had an arm.
All the lucky kids that got to hang out at Michael’s house
I am pretty sure that whatever sport Jordan picked he would have been great at it. Physical specimen + insane will/focus/drive.
freak of nature
I had a friend who was volleyball player, he could throw so long w/o any effort. Some people were just better than others at anything.
Y5 p I
Should of tired QB instead of baseball
Elevated position
True, not taking anything away from the awesome throw but all other things being equal that probably is worth an extra 3-5 yards.
Mr perfect
Thats why he’s the 🐐
Notice how happy he was pre internet?
not surprised a professional baseball player can throw a football far
You’re telling me the Bears could have had a generational QB if the Bulls just shared Jordan?
He’s 6’6 with like a top 15 hand size in NBA history. Not surprised he can sling it. He and LeBron were both made in a lab or something.
He was good with those kids
I’m absolutely blown away
Honestly given his decently fluid throwing mechanics + how ludicrously large his hands are, I bet he could’ve outhrown some NFL qbs at the time. Hand size is a very significant factor in how far you can throw.
He’s a 6 foot 6 hyper athlete. I feel like only people who have never played sports in their lives would find this shocking or impressive.
That wasn’t casually
Athlete gon’ athlete. If LeBron stuck with football, he’d be a hall of famer tightend
Top tear athlete doing his thing.
He ain’t no Kelsey Plum
Great athlete does athletic thing well, shocker…