Michael Jordan Video Surfaces from Famous 'Nervous' FT Story and It's Epic

After Michael Jordan recounted earlier this week a story about his "nervous" free-throw attempt in front of a group of kids when he hadn't picked up a basketball in years, it didn't take the internet long to uncover video of the incident.

The video shows Jordan walking onto a pickup court surrounded by several people, briefly giving a history lesson on Wilt Chamberlain's impact on the free-throw line, then he steps up to the charity stripe with a ball, telling himself to "please make it" before sinking the shot and breathing a sigh of relief.

Jordan told the story to Mike Tirico during the "MJ: Insights to Excellence" segment that aired during halftime of Tuesday's game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder on NBC.

Jordan explained to Tirico he hadn't "picked up a ball in years" and he was at the Ryder Cup, staying in a rental house when the owner of the property stopped by:

"He came over to do pictures and had grandkids. I was meeting and greeting, thanked him for allowing me to stay at the house. He had a basketball court. He says, 'I want you to shoot one free throw.' … When I stepped up to shoot the free throw, that was the most nervous I've been in years. The reason being is, those kids heard the stories from their parents about what I did 30 years ago. So their expectation is 30 years prior, and I haven't touched a basketball."

This is part of the dilemma that one faces when they are turned into a mythic figure as time passes.

To fans of a certain age, it's impossible to imagine a situation in which Jordan would be nervous doing anything on a basketball court. He was the player who made a free throw with his eyes closed during an NBA game just to taunt Dikembe Mutombo for making him mad.

Those are the types of stories that older fans are sharing about Jordan, but the younger generation of NBA fans who didn't see it in person will be expecting that if they are lucky enough to witness him in a setting when he's hooping again.

Jordan seems very much aware of that based on his reaction to the free throw, but of course he made it. That's what he does, whether he's playing Magic Johnson in the NBA Finals as a 27-year-old or just randomly picking up a ball around a group of strangers as a 62-year-old.