If you’ve ever watched any Michael Jordan highlight reel, you might’ve noticed how often he can be spotted sticking his tongue out.
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It’s human nature – many of us and our friends have some mannerisms that we involuntarily adapt. Most people we interact with won’t find rhyme or reason for why we’d do it – it just happens to happen. I, for example, flinch before I take the tea off the stove!
In Michael’s case, this was a mannerism that millions, possibly billions of people have seen. Few basketball fans – or indeed anyone – who’s watched his famous dunk-switch-layup against the Lakers in 1991 is likely to forget his tongue out as he pulled the otherworldly move off.
The tongue out is one of the most common tactics kids use to tease each other. It’s also something that can happen when you’re panting or thinking while using your hands. The latter was the case with MJ’s father while he worked on some carpentry at home.
Michael Jordan explained why he did his iconic tongue wag during his best highlights and dunks
Young Michael Jordan grew up near the Atlantic coast of North Carolina in Wilmington. This is a town a fair distance from the famed University campuses as well as Charlotte.
James Jordan was himself a mechanic who would love getting his hands dirty while working on handmade stuff he’d build for his home. He’d often ask Michael to help him out. It was during these long hours that Jordan would pick up the tongue mannerism from James.
He revealed this during an appearance on the Arsenio Hall show before his father James Jordan passed away:
“It’s an unconscious habit that I’ve picked up from my father. Being a little kid and you watch your father work, yeah he used to take his tongue out. I took it up and made it a habit of mine. And now I can’t stop!”
“I’ve tried to stop, I’ve tried playing with the mouthpiece in my mouth. And yeah, it didn’t work. It just didn’t feel natural and I just don’t know.”
