Michael Jordan was a superhuman athlete – but not one who could defy physics.
If an apple thrown up comes down with the same velocity after changing its direction in the air, so do people. If an apple does not stop, neither do humans. Michael Jordan could jump high, but the way he jumped was what made him look like he floated.
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He took Muhammad Ali seriously when he said “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. He looked like he floated, but science says otherwise. Nobody can hold themselves in the air, even for a fraction of a second, but Looney Tunes may make you believe Wil.E.Coyote could pause before he fell off a cliff.
Sports Science ran a full episode on how this could not be possible. They even went to the lengths of hooking up sensitive equipment to Jordan Farmar, to show the belief was not possible. There was no angle at which Farmar could jump, that made him stay in the air in a suspended state.
Michael Jordan or anybody for that matter cannot go against Newton – gravity is king
It looked like Jordan also knew it, but took it personally. He knew what Julius Erving was doing, but he had to do better. And that he did. He jumped from the free-throw line not once, but in two separate dunk contests. The second time he did it, the world could not believe its eyes. To them, Jordan was a god.
What great jumpers like MJ and Ja Morant have in their arsenal, is the ability to make themselves look like they float. Notice how when they travel through the air, they do not have a peak in their parabola, but an extended plateau? That is what makes it look like players have to hang time in the air. Kind of like Mario when he jumps from block to block.
But the real world is no video game, and there are no double jumps or turning off gravity. For what goes up, must come down.
