#ICYMI - Slam Dunk Science (Part 2)

Our Playing with Science TuneIn party at the SXSW festival concludes with hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly exploring what makes an NBA superstar, with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, NBA All-Star Caron Butler, and actor Michael Rapaport, the co-host of the Two-Man-Weave podcast on TuneIn. Don’t miss an episode of Playing with Science. Subscribe to our channels on: TuneIn: http://tunein.com/radio/Playing-with-Science-p952100/ iTunes Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/playing-with-science/id1198280360?mt=2 Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/startalk/playing-with-science SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/startalk_playing-with-science GooglePlay Music: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Iimke5bwpoh2nb25swchmw6kzjq NOTE: StarTalk All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free. Find out more at https://www.startalkradio.net/startalk-all-access/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Gary O'Reilly?

  I'm Gary O'Reilly. And I'm Chuck Nice. And this is Playing with Science.

• 0:08Gary O'Reilly?

  Welcome back to Playing with Science here at the Easy Tiger in Austin, Texas, at South by Southwest. If you've just tuned in, you are late to the party. But, don't worry. We'll tell you now. Karan Butler, NBA superstar and great, is with us. Michael Rapaport, actor, director, podcast supreme, is here. Chuck Nice and the good doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson is with us. So, you couldn't get any more. Bang for your buck.

• 0:38Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 0:39Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, okay.

• 0:40Chuck Nice?

  Hey, Gary, before we get back into it, I know we're gonna talk about what it takes to be a great player. And so Karan and I had a really fascinating conversation. Because he's wearing a Chicago Bulls, number 23.

• 0:55Speaker 02

  It's not a Chicago Bulls, number 23. It's the GOAT.

• 0:59Chuck Nice?

  It's the GOAT. And you know that means greatest of all time. Hmm, that's right. I'm the greatest, Howard.

• 1:07Gary O'Reilly?

  But you weren't happy. Because you had a little bit of friction with that.

• 1:12Chuck Nice?

  So we got into a little thing, and I gotta tell you, he changed my mind. And the reason is, I said, so, okay, I can understand why you say that Michael is the greatest of all time, but I just wanna ask about LeBron. And Karan said, not even in the conversation. And I was like, yo, man, now that's strong. That is very strong. So Karan, go ahead and give me your reasoning behind why he's not even in the conversation.

• 1:39Speaker 02

  Well, Michael Jordan, obviously changed the game in many different areas.

• 1:46Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 1:47Speaker 02

  I think as a great player, you gotta have a traditional signature shot. He had the traditional fadeaway.

• 1:54Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. And not to mention the traditional shot that's on the side of every sneaker that Nike puts out.

• 1:59Speaker 02

  The Jump Man. You think of Kareem, he had the skyhook.

• 2:04Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 2:05Speaker 02

  You think of Kobe, he had the impeccable skillset. And I'm gonna stop right there.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  You think of Michael Jordan, you think about the final appearances. He been to six, he won six.

• 2:20Chuck Nice?

  Which, this is something I didn't know. Michael Jordan has never been to a finals and lost.

• 2:27Speaker 02

  Never.

• 2:27Chuck Nice?

  Ever. That's amazing.

• 2:29Speaker 03

  But there was one other stat, Karen, that really nailed me.

• 2:32Speaker 02

  He's never been to a game seven in the finals.

• 2:34Chuck Nice?

  Never been to a game seven, never had a finals that went to game seven that he played in. I was like, damn, these are like some serious stats you're dropping right now.

• 2:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, Michael was taking care of business.

• 2:45Chuck Nice?

  Now, but then you gave me something that I never thought about, which I think is just, it really changed my mind. And it was, you said that LeBron manipulated his situation, and I was like, wait a minute.

• 2:59Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 2:59Chuck Nice?

  You're going a little too far.

• 3:00Speaker 03

  I agree.

• 3:01Chuck Nice?

  But, I gotta tell you, what you said made sense. Go ahead.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  Michael never left Chicago.

• 3:06Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  And in order for you to be a champion in the Eastern Conference or in the Western Conference, you had to go through Michael Jordan. So, Michael Jordan basically pulled up to the YMCA, told nine players to get in the car with him, and they said, "Where we headed?" He said, "We're going to the finals, and we're gonna win, because I got y'all."

• 3:27Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 3:27Speaker 02

  And in LeBron's case, in this situation, LeBron joined two Hall of Famers.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 3:34Speaker 02

  You know, and one being Chris Bosh, and the other one being, you know, a good friend of mine. Top three two guards all the time.

• 3:40Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, he's amazing, D Wade.

• 3:41Speaker 02

  Not to discredit his legacy or anything like that, because LeBron isn't great, and he's on that Mount Rushmore. But to be better than Michael Jordan, I just, I don't see it.

• 3:52Chuck Nice?

  Well, you know, you made a good point, and the point was this. He is joining two All-Stars who are ascendant. He stays with them, and then, of course, they're now on the backside, which means that they're, like all players, in their decline.

• 4:06Speaker 02

  And then you go-

• 4:07Chuck Nice?

  And then he leaves them and goes to Cleveland, where he joins a bunch of young players who are also in their prime and ascendant. And so, basically, he's just like the smartest dude ever.

• 4:19Speaker 03

  Or he's the smartest dude ever, or you could call it ring chasing. I mean, there's different things you could call it. Now, he's not ring chasing, but I agree with it, and I like the way you phrased it, manipulate the situation. Okay, okay, look. So, we have Karen's-

• 4:33Gary O'Reilly?

  Doctor. Is it a science of that? No, I mean, yes, yes, is there science in that? And science of being smart, maybe? Or your opinion differ, or is now Karan taking you to a different thought after that explanation?

• 4:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I think being a champion is more than just, are you a good player in the abstract? Or in the analysis of just yourself? It's do other players around you perform better when you are with them? Are you selfless in your play? Where an opportunity arises, you could make the shot, but you share that love? You share the opportunity? Are you a champion in your playing? And I think, I gotta agree that Michael Jordan, all those tributor, tributaries came together to one stream. That stream is the Michael Jordan flow, right there. And so, so I, I gotta go, I gotta go with you on that.

• 5:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And not only the greatest of all time, I'm not so quick to say that LeBron is not in the running, but I have no argument by saying that is, that LeBron wouldn't be in some top 10 list.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Oh, absolutely. He's top 10.

• 5:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, okay, so, so, Michael Jordan, just, and also consider how many winning shots he took, okay?

• 5:56Gary O'Reilly?

  Another factor.

• 5:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Three seconds left. He gets into the open, he does a head fake, makes the shot, oh my gosh. And he just, he's cool about it. It's not even like, oh my gosh, I got, what am I gonna do? You know, it's like, he's there. And that, so, so it's one thing to be great when you're not winning championships, but to be great when you have to be great? That is the highest level champion that's out there. So, that's where I am on that.

• 6:21Gary O'Reilly?

  You with that?

• 6:22Speaker 02

  Yeah. Absolutely. He's chasing ghosts now. LeBron's chasing ghosts right now. So, if he's able to get three more titles, I tip my hat off to him.

• 6:30Chuck Nice?

  Okay, okay. Plus, plus, Michael Jordan has the crying Michael Jordan meme, which everybody knows is the greatest meme of all time.

• 6:39Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, to be discussed. To be discussed.

• 6:42Speaker 02

  We gotta make him, like, lose at something, right? So, just make a crying meme.

• 6:46Chuck Nice?

  Make a crying meme.

• 6:48Gary O'Reilly?

  Born or bred superstar NBA players, players like yourself, players like Michael Jordan. I can read sometimes. I know Tough Juice. Was that part of why you were able to go as far as you did? You went to the top amount of limits and you've looked down on everyone else in the game being a champion. Is it a case of like, you know, guys just have to have it? You've got to have that want it, that gut, that grit, that something that makes you different?

• 7:15Chuck Nice?

  Which by the way, before you answer, that's a good time for you to talk about your book. Your book just came out, right? And what's it called? It's Tough?

• 7:23Speaker 02

  Tough Juice, my journey from the streets to the NBA.

• 7:25Gary O'Reilly?

  But it's not only stopping there. Isn't a certain Mark Wahlberg role into your life? You gonna make a film?

• 7:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, we're gonna go into production in September, October.

• 7:33Chuck Nice?

  Nice!

• 7:34Gary O'Reilly?

  There you go. Yeah. So, give me a little inside track on Tough Juice, if you would, please.

• 7:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, I just, you know, talk about, you know, my adversity coming up, you know, on the south side of Racine, Wisconsin, just north of Chicago. I grew up, you know, ever since I jumped off the porch, I saw, you know, probably what every kid in the inner city saw, you know, the street game. And, you know, I was attracted to it. I started selling drugs at a young age. I was arrested, you know, 14, 15 times. Ended up getting incarcerated, did a little bit under two years in corrections. And, you know, once I got out, I was exposed to basketball. And that was my ticket and, you know, my way out. And, you know, basketball just took me on a journey all around the world. You know, I seen different things,

• 8:22Speaker 02

  you know, I was exposed to so many different things and was able to go to college, you know, ended up going to the NBA. Was a lottery pick by the Miami Heat. Pat Riley, you know, he instilled a lot of great things, a lot of values in me. And, you know, my career just, you know, just took a full swing to the positive.

• 8:43Gary O'Reilly?

  But it was Eddie Jordan that dubbed you Tough Juice, right?

• 8:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, he gave me that name, you know, just for playing through injuries and, you know, adversity and tough situations.

• 8:51Gary O'Reilly?

  But we spoke about that in the break, didn't we?

• 8:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:54Gary O'Reilly?

  I asked you, did you ever play 100% fit? And the answer was no.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  I haven't played 100% since the eighth grade. You know what I'm saying? Like, it was always, it was always something wrong, you know, like, guys, like, guys got to understand, like, when you're at the collegiate level... And when you go into this, this business of basketball, you have to understand that you're never gonna be a hundred percent again.

• 9:17Chuck Nice?

  Wow.

• 9:17Gary O'Reilly?

  See, a lot of these people won't understand that. If you're out there in your uniform, you're a hundred percent fit.

• 9:23Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, people gonna, they, they think you're robots. They, they think because they play you in a video game, it's like. Like, run, why, why aren't you running and jumping like I, like I programmed you to?

• 9:35Chuck Nice?

  Right, right.

• 9:36Gary O'Reilly?

  How amazing is that? How does that make you feel on court, knowing that some kid or some guy is screaming at the screen, thinking exactly that?

• 9:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it's crazy because you don't know what collision I had on the court. You don't know that, you know, because the ground is undefeated. The hardwood is undefeated.

• 9:51Chuck Nice?

  There you go.

• 9:52Speaker 02

  It, it, it, man, you can't fight it.

• 9:54Chuck Nice?

  It always wins.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  It always wins.

• 9:55Chuck Nice?

  Wow. Man, well, that's a great, that is a great story. And look, look for the book, book Tough Juice, My Journey From The Streets To The NBA.

• 10:03Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, please, that's a great, you gotta go find that book, please.

• 10:06Chuck Nice?

  That's a great.

• 10:06Gary O'Reilly?

  What are we talking about in terms of this movie being made?

• 10:10Chuck Nice?

  And the movie. Mark Wahlberg production.

• 10:12Gary O'Reilly?

  Do you, do you get to pick who plays you?

• 10:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, we working on that now, man. I'm, I'm excited about that.

• 10:17Chuck Nice?

  That's pretty cool. Michael B. Jordan. No, you know it's gonna be Michael B. Jordan. You know, you, you know you want Michael B. Jordan to play you, you know it.

• 10:24Gary O'Reilly?

  Yes.

• 10:25Chuck Nice?

  You know it. Uh, by the way, my book coming out, uh, i- is called Naturally Occurring Low Sugar Juice.

• 10:33Chuck Nice?

  Uh, My Journey From The Suburbs To The Upper Suburbs.

• 10:38Gary O'Reilly?

  All right, okay.

• 10:41Gary O'Reilly?

  Book club is still in effect. Doctor, you not have a book yourself? Coming out?

• 10:47Speaker 02

  It's not getting related to, I, yeah, but it's.

• 10:49Gary O'Reilly?

  When did you become shy?

• 10:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, no.

• 10:52Gary O'Reilly?

  Yes, yes.

• 10:53Speaker 02

  All right, all right, I'll, I'll mention it, but we don't have to go there. It's called Astrophysics For People In A Hurry.

• 11:00Chuck Nice?

  What?

• 11:01Gary O'Reilly?

  Anyone here in a hurry? Alright, we got book for you, just for you.

• 11:06Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, that's pretty cool, man, I like that.

• 11:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You can order it like, really cheap on Amazon, but it was not out for another six weeks.

• 11:12Gary O'Reilly?

  One never does cheap, one does less expensive.

• 11:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And it's not a Mark Wahlberg production, nobody's making a movie out of it, that's all.

• 11:19Gary O'Reilly?

  Not yet, not yet.

• 11:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I'm gonna support you anyway.

• 11:21Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, so... There you go.

• 11:23Chuck Nice?

  Hey, hey Neil, do you mind, we have some people here, I think, that wanna ask you some questions? So, do you mind answering some astrophysics questions from all of you?

• 11:31Gary O'Reilly?

  That lady over there in the green t-shirt, who was unbelievably excited when she heard the good doctor was on the show.

• 11:36Chuck Nice?

  Alright, come here, come on over here, young lady.

• 11:38Gary O'Reilly?

  She like Tigger, she's bouncing up and down.

• 11:40Chuck Nice?

  So, Neil, what I'm gonna do is give, since we don't have a handheld mic, I'm just gonna give her my microphone so she can ask you the question, okay? And what's your name, young lady?

• 11:48Speaker 05

  Alicia.

• 11:49Chuck Nice?

  Alicia, what's your question?

• 11:51Speaker 05

  Dr. Tyson, can you hear me okay? I just wanna say that this is my starry-eyed moment of self by self west.

• 11:57Gary O'Reilly?

  Good.

• 11:57Speaker 05

  You're a modern hero.

• 11:58Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, glad we could help.

• 12:03Speaker 05

  We live in a really contentious time right now, and I truly appreciate your emphasis on not only science, but common sense, and how important that is, and making science and mathematics approachable to young people, to the general public, through things like movies and sports and stuff like that. This is what our world is made of, and it's so important, and thank you for having an impact on our society for that.

• 12:26Chuck Nice?

  I thought you had a question?

• 12:28Gary O'Reilly?

  No, no, you know what, that's as good as, that's as good as any question you'll ever ask, thank you.

• 12:33Chuck Nice?

  Give it up for Alicia.

• 12:34Gary O'Reilly?

  Thank you, my darling.

• 12:35Chuck Nice?

  That was lovely.

• 12:39Chuck Nice?

  Alicia, you're adorable. Uh, hey, this is Ben, Ben, how you doing, buddy? Okay, do you have a question for Dr. Tyson? Go ahead.

• 12:46Speaker 06

  Alright, hey, Dr. Tyson, actually, speaking of books, I just finished reading your other book, The Astrophysical Tour of the Universe, the other day. So, thanks for that.

• 12:52Gary O'Reilly?

  Alright, two book plugs.

• 12:54Chuck Nice?

  That is not, that is not playing around. I just finished your book.

• 12:58Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 12:59Gary O'Reilly?

  Get the next one out.

• 13:00Chuck Nice?

  Go ahead.

• 13:01Speaker 06

  So, my question's actually more on the StarTalk side than the Playing with Science side. Can you make any heads or tails about the theory of the universe being a hologram?

• 13:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I mean, it's, it's, evidence shows that we may be a hologram. And the problem is, like, okay, if that's true, what are we gonna do about it? Right? I mean, it's one of these things where it's just kind of information that could be true. But whether or not it's true, it doesn't change anything about anything.

• 13:34Chuck Nice?

  There you go.

• 13:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So I'm not gonna sleep over it.

• 13:37Chuck Nice?

  So the idea is, even if we are a hologram, I still owe, I still owe Wells Fargo $6,800, and I gotta, I gotta make that payment no matter what.

• 13:50Gary O'Reilly?

  Pay them in hologram money.

• 13:51Chuck Nice?

  I need to do, right, Mike? I gotta pay them in hologram money.

• 13:53Gary O'Reilly?

  Get your bitcoins, get your bitcoins out.

• 13:56Chuck Nice?

  All right, we have another.

• 13:57Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, anybody else?

• 13:59Chuck Nice?

  Raymond, here you go.

• 14:00Gary O'Reilly?

  Oh, Raymond.

• 14:01Speaker 07

  Hey, so beautiful is not a word you describe sports a lot with, but I mean, science is beautiful. What's the most beautiful athletic play that, you know, from a science perspective? Like, is it like an outfield catcher, whatever you think it might be?

• 14:16Chuck Nice?

  Wow, that's a, so from a scientific, from a physics standpoint, what do you find is the most beautiful play?

• 14:25Gary O'Reilly?

  Can we all chime in on that?

• 14:26Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, that'd be great.

• 14:27Gary O'Reilly?

  Doctor first, the doctor first.

• 14:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Um, what I like at its best is when someone goes in to take a shot in basketball. Someone goes in to take a shot, they leave the ground. Other people then leave the ground with him. And now you have multiple people that are now ballistic trajectories, yet their limbs can still maneuver. Right? Your center of mass is gonna go up and down, and I can calculate that. But your limbs are controlled by your mind, and you still wanna make the shot. And hands are coming in, and you maneuver up and around, and everybody is in motion. And you release the ball at a point where no one can smack it away.

• 15:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And it's, has the motion of you releasing it pause your body. And it still makes the basket.

• 15:21Chuck Nice?

  Oh, that's... So you like Dr. J, is what you're saying?

• 15:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It is an airborne chess game.

• 15:27Chuck Nice?

  Airborne chess.

• 15:28Speaker 02

  Airborne chess, air chess. He gave me a visual.

• 15:31Chuck Nice?

  Yes, that was airborne chess.

• 15:33Speaker 02

  There you go.

• 15:35Chuck Nice?

  I like it. Karan, what's your most beautiful play?

• 15:37Speaker 02

  You're up next. I would have to say a dunk. I can't break it down like he just did. But I would have to say- That's okay. A DeAndre Jordan dunk in Live City with the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris Paul going downhill off a pick and roll.

• 15:50Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 15:51Speaker 02

  Throwing it up, no look, but just having the belief that he's gonna outjump everyone in the arena.

• 15:56Chuck Nice?

  And then he picks it up out of the air.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  And he takes off, and the guy who's supposed to tag see DeAndre Jordan takes flight. And he's like, "There's no way I'm gonna be in that poster." So he moves out, 'cause you always see that rotation guy that's supposed to come over.

• 16:12Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  And he's like, he act like he didn't see DeAndre Jordan.

• 16:17Speaker 02

  And then now you see DeAndre going to get the ball and dunking it. And then you see the owner, Mr. Baldwin, jumping up, doing his thing. And then they go down to possession, and the crowd go crazy. I love that in slow motion.

• 16:28Chuck Nice?

  Very nice.

• 16:29Speaker 02

  All right, Michael. Is it Knicks-oriented?

• 16:32Speaker 03

  No, it's not Knicks-oriented. I mean, you know, in sports, you could talk about Muhammad Ali in his prime, moving around the ring in six foot three, 220 pounds.

• 16:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 16:40Speaker 03

  You could talk about Lynn Swans ballet catches with the Steelers, or, you know, Odell. Or you could talk about Steph Curry's beauty, or Allen Iverson going to the basket. But for me, right now, this moment, I think the most beautiful, scientific, 'cause I think there's speed, power, and the unknown. Dominique going to the basket with the ball, touching the numbers, and the ferocity. And the speed and the strength that Dominique Wilkins used to dunk has been unmatched. People have done what Doc and Jordan did and taken it to a new level, but there's still nobody that dunks with the power.

• 17:24Gary O'Reilly?

  That Dominique Wilkins did through his whole career. So I'll go with Dominique.

• 17:29Chuck Nice?

  Dominique Wilkins, alright. Human highlight reel. That's what they call them.

• 17:33Gary O'Reilly?

  There is no wrong answer to this.

• 17:35Chuck Nice?

  No, there isn't.

• 17:35Gary O'Reilly?

  So Chuck, you're up next.

• 17:36Chuck Nice?

  Well, I'm gonna switch gears. I'm gonna go Michelle Kwan during the triple salchow. Quite frankly, I don't see anything more beautiful than a woman in a pirouette that seems never-ending as she pulls her arms in and increases her rotation and keeps going and then puts her skate down and stops and goes, "Yes, world, I'm here."

• 18:01Gary O'Reilly?

  I agree.

• 18:02Chuck Nice?

  Anybody who likes that, he likes the tutu.

• 18:06Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, so I can't admit to watching female gymnastics because it ends up getting in trouble. But because of my background in soccer, I'll just look at Lionel Messi play and I'll sit there with my mouth open and think, "I could train 5 million hours in my life, I wouldn't get past 3 steps, and the guy's running half the length of the field. I am on my knees, I am in awe, and that, for me, is just the ballet." And for my friend, soccer is known as the beautiful game, and thank you for your question. Who's up next?

• 18:41Chuck Nice?

  Alright, we have, this is Javier. How are you Javier? Say what you have to say to Dr. Tyson.

• 18:47Speaker 08

  Hi, Dr. Tyson. So my question is about playing basketball in the future. So in the future, once we make it out to Mars and we're gonna play basketball on Mars, should we change the rules of the game so it counts for the different gravity? I mean, are we gonna have to have the basketball remat 15 feet rather than 10?

• 19:04Chuck Nice?

  Interesting question. So Javier says, "What is basketball on Mars gonna be like? If we were able to play the game of basketball on Mars, how would we have to alter the game so that we could play it?"

• 19:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, so the first human colony, if you're gonna have some sort of sports activities just to keep people healthy, it's pretty easy to put up a rim, right? It's easier to put up a basketball rim than lay out a whole baseball diamond, alright? Right, right. And you, you couldn't have a swimming pool, really, because there are parts of Mars that are at the triple point of water, where the water boils and freezes at the same time. Do you know about this condition? It's a fascinating condition in the chemistry of, of, of materials. So you might, you might remember when you go to mountaintops, you have to adjust cooking times, because the boiling temperature is lower in the low-pressure air of a mountaintop. It could be like 180 degrees instead of 212. Right.

• 20:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So it's not as hot, you gotta cook food longer. Alright. If you go to lower and lower pressure, air pressure, the boiling point collapses closer to the freezing point of water. So it's from 180 degrees, 150, 100, 70, 50, 40, 34. He could go all the way. No, go ahead. And so you have boiling water in the same cauldron as freezing water. So there you are, trying to swim, and there'll be chunks of ice and boiling water at the same time. And so swimming, you need like a pressurized environment for that. So you put up a basketball court. Or a milk crate, same thing. Go ahead. So, the question is, do you make the rim higher?

• 20:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Because the, the ball is lighter and gravity is less. It's only 40% of Earth gravity there. So if you, if you weigh, what, if you weigh, uh, 200 pounds on Earth? Mm-hmm. If you weigh 200 pounds on Earth, you weigh 80 pounds on Mars. Right. So you can jump higher with your musculature. You can jump higher. So the question is, do you make a higher rim? You could, but it doesn't mean your shooting is more accurate.

• 21:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright, so it might just become a slam dunk fest. And, uh, because whatever was your, if you were forty percent from the field, you'll be five percent from the field if you like double the height of the rim. So, you have to figure out what we still do well with high rims, or we just keep a ten-foot rim. And, you know, just be-

• 21:37Chuck Nice?

  And just let it be a dunk fest. The ga- the game just becomes kind of like a acrobatic dunk fest.

• 21:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes, yes, with a, with a, with a much higher rim.

• 21:46Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 21:46Speaker 02

  I say we just wait for, uh, Space Jam 2 and-

• 21:50Gary O'Reilly?

  No.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  Hey, hey Doc. You're gonna be a great attorney, man.

• 21:59Speaker 02

  You did not do it. He is not guilty. I know you got the-

• 22:03Chuck Nice?

  Alright, this is our last question. We got, we got Jordan here. Jordan, how you doing?

• 22:06Gary O'Reilly?

  We got two more. We got time for two more, yeah.

• 22:08Chuck Nice?

  We got time for two more?

• 22:09Gary O'Reilly?

  See that guy's face when you said the last question?

• 22:13Chuck Nice?

  Jordan, go ahead and ask a question, Jordan.

• 22:15Speaker 09

  I just wanna say it's an honor to be here with the original Stickman. Uh, but your Stickman too. Uh, so yeah, so down that same vein is Space Jam 2, so now that we know there's seven planets nearby, uh, that are all roughly like Earth. Uh, what's the timetable for when Space Jam 2 is like a live-action movie? Because it's really happening, because obviously there are aliens coming. And are you gonna be in it? And are you gonna be the Bill M- Bill Murray?

• 22:40Gary O'Reilly?

  There you go.

• 22:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, wait, so, wait, so the question is, how soon are we going there?

• 22:43Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, uh, so-

• 22:45Speaker 09

  There are aliens coming here for Space Jam.

• 22:46Chuck Nice?

  Right. How, how long would it get? How long from, from, from, uh, our recent discovery, uh, of the, uh, seven planets around the red dwarf star? How long would it take for them to get here?

• 22:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, so, so they're forty light-years away, which is relatively close, because the, the galaxy is a hundred thousand light-years across. So these are very close to us in our, in what we call the solar neighborhood.

• 23:10Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 23:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And if, if I put your ass on our fastest spaceship we ever launched-

• 23:15Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 23:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And aim straight there-

• 23:17Chuck Nice?

  Straight there.

• 23:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It would take about, uh-

• 23:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  About 400,000 years?

• 23:24Chuck Nice?

  400,000, oh that's all, okay. Yeah, well let's, uh, pack your bag dude.

• 23:29Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah.

• 23:30Chuck Nice?

  We got a trip to go.

• 23:31Gary O'Reilly?

  Download your movies, yeah. All right, last question. This is our last question. Oh, look. Future's so bright, gotta wear shades.

• 23:40Speaker 10

  Hey Neil, huge fan. You recently said on an interview that the main thing that drives you in life is the short amount of time that we have here, and that's really been your main motivator. So my question is, in regards to sports, specifically LeBron, is it really fair for us to judge him for moving to play with better players to be successful, given the short amount of time athletes have, body generation and all that sort of thing?

• 24:00Gary O'Reilly?

  All right, the other side of the coin, good question. Good question, thank you sir.

• 24:04Chuck Nice?

  And by the way, for those who can't see, my man's wearing like Snapchat glasses, right?

• 24:08Gary O'Reilly?

  How you doing?

• 24:08Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. Swag.

• 24:10Gary O'Reilly?

  Oh, serious, pair of specs, thank you.

• 24:13Chuck Nice?

  Uh, you know, a little bit more of a philosophical question there, Neil. Uh, can you blame somebody for trying to do as much as they can in as little time as they can do it?

• 24:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Um, so that's a great question, because if we lived 1,000 years and we were, could maintain an athletic prime for longer than the five or 10 or 15 years that is in professional sports, that would completely change, that would completely change the, the, the dynamic of who you play for, how long, uh, all of this. So, you're right, so I think that does absolve LeBron on some level, the longevity factor, I think, clears him, for some of what the concerns were, yes, so I, I agree.

• 25:00Chuck Nice?

  Okay, but it still doesn't change the fact that Michael Jordan is the greatest of all time.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  It doesn't change that, but I, I would have to say that, you know, that's a great question, and, you know, a, a great NBA career is 10 years, right?

• 25:12Chuck Nice?

  Okay, yeah.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  You know, and then if you look at that, that's 1,400 days of basketball.

• 25:17Chuck Nice?

  Wow.

• 25:18Speaker 02

  That's it. That's 1,400 days of basketball. So if you want to have a player that's in the prime of his career for the 10 to 12 years that he's playing actively, that he can have a huge impact on the team's success, organization's success, and like really seal and cap off his legacy. I don't fault a guy going to chase a great opportunity like that. I don't fault Kevin Durant for going to a situation where he could be a major piece and a component to get over a hump and win a championship. You know, everybody thought that that was a different type of move, but at the end of the day, we know he can what? He can score the ball. One of the best scorers of all time. At the end of the day, we know that he's an all-time great. Right now-

• 26:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And that's what A-Rod did when he came to the Yankees.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  Absolutely.

• 26:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He wasn't getting a championship anywhere. He came to the Yankees, got a championship.

• 26:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, like you will put him in the top 25 all-time right now, Kevin Durant, just off merit, off of his credentials. So the only thing now it is to cap off his legacy is the championship. So what the hell?

• 26:20Speaker 03

  But speaking of A-Rod, because we talk about Karan having tough juice, that was a different kind of juice. That's a whole other podcast episode.

• 26:28Speaker 02

  And this New Yorker right here, he's telling you.

• 26:30Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 26:31Chuck Nice?

  I was gonna say, A-Rod is the only player that came someplace, got a championship, and the people still hate him. How do you do that?

• 26:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, we won.

• 26:40Speaker 03

  Why doesn't A-Rod open up a juice bar? A-Rod's juice bar is where we sell you that good, good.

• 26:48Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay. All right, on that good, good note, we are gonna say-

• 26:53Chuck Nice?

  Roger Clemens can be the investor. Dude, that was funny.

• 26:55Gary O'Reilly?

  Oh, there's a cast list. There is a cast list. Yeah, The Good Doctor is gonna have the final word. Yeah.

• 27:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wait, Gary.

• 27:01Gary O'Reilly?

  Yes.

• 27:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Gary, can I get one last in to the-

• 27:03Gary O'Reilly?

  You get the last word, sir.

• 27:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay. So, let me ask you something. In the Olympics, there are people who compete and then set a world record.

• 27:14Gary O'Reilly?

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Typically in track and field.

• 27:17Gary O'Reilly?

  Right.

• 27:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When you set a world record, you are performing greater than at any other moment in your life.

• 27:25Gary O'Reilly?

  Correct.

• 27:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Are there moments like that in professional sports? Where there's a game or there's a week where you are so in the zone? That you are performing in a way you may never equal in all the days that follow.

• 27:39Gary O'Reilly?

  Sir, you first.

• 27:40Speaker 02

  Absolutely. I've been in those, I've been in those mindsets. Like my body felt extraordinary. My mental state was extraordinary. Uh, I, I don't know what it was or what it. I was just in the moment. You know what I mean? And my, my body was present in the moment. My mind was present in the moment and I excel like all expectations. And all it's like a high that I always try to chase as a, as an athlete. I never can achieve that again. So I try to look for components and situations where I could place myself in. You know, with the, the talent around me to get to that moment again. But I never could get it again, but I felt it and I was in it before.

• 28:23Gary O'Reilly?

  See from my experience.

• 28:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's the next frontier of science applied to sports. How do you hit and even maintain? Peak performance when you need it? And, and, and, and for, uh, and, and how to sustain it?

• 28:38Gary O'Reilly?

  Well, that's where the big data comes in.

• 28:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What is the mental, physical, chemical state of your body? That gets you there and that they're working on that.

• 28:45Gary O'Reilly?

  Well, that's the, at the moment you've got the big data with the GPS and the microchip tracking that feeds back when they red flag you in training that takes you out. That's injury prevention. That allows you to continue with your gameplay in a better place. Going back to the question you asked. Sometimes you'll be having the most incredible game of your career and it'll be a game where basically it's out on court number 25 rather than in the center court and you're not really the focus of the attention. When you see the big games, the really big, the Super Bowls, the, the tennis open, the whatever it is. And the big guys step up and just blow everything out of the water.

• 29:27Gary O'Reilly?

  That's when you look at people and say, that's why, that's why we are looking up at these people. When the big game comes. Along the big talent livers. That's the one thing. Michael, you had a point there.

• 29:38Speaker 03

  No, I just, I just, I agree with what you're saying. I agree with what Koran is saying and, you know, for me being such a basketball fan growing up, literally having hoop dreams growing up. There's a handful of times in my life between 12 and 17 where you're playing in the park. For me, it was in the park where every shot goes in, no matter what you're doing. And then the next day, it's like your worst day and you're like trying to go back to that feeling that you had. And when you're at the level with Koran where skill, um, hard work and everything comes together, you could fall back on it. But, but that sort of chasing that, that feeling like, you know, for me, it was like a handful of times. Koran's had it hundreds of times.

• 30:18Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah.

• 30:19Speaker 03

  You know.

• 30:19Gary O'Reilly?

  It's the difference.

• 30:20Chuck Nice?

  I've had it, I've had it. Madden 2012.

• 30:24Chuck Nice?

  I gotta tell you, best game of my entire life. Um, so, uh, and, uh, um, I'm sorry. For Neil? Oh, by the way, Neil, we just got some breaking news.

• 30:40Gary O'Reilly?

  Here we go, here it comes.

• 30:42Chuck Nice?

  The LHC just discovered a new system of five particles. So, you know, the Large Hadron Collider.

• 30:51Gary O'Reilly?

  Yep.

• 30:51Chuck Nice?

  Uh, which is the latest addition to CERN's accelerator complex is the most powerful particle accelerator ever built. And apparently they have just discovered a new system of five particles. What exactly does that mean for us, Neil?

• 31:10Gary O'Reilly?

  And can we, yeah, and can we use it in sport?

• 31:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, I have to, I have to see that press release, but if it's five particles, it's probably a family of particles. That, and what will be interesting for me to learn when I catch up on the news is whether these were predicted or whether they were a surprise. And each of those will be interesting. It's typically more interesting if you don't expect them to be there and then they show up and you say, who ordered that? And now you gotta fit it into your previous understanding of things. So, so, yeah, by the way, um, the most powerful collider in the world.

• 31:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Was going to be in Texas.

• 31:48Speaker 03

  Going to be.

• 31:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Texas.

• 31:50Speaker 03

  Right, so.

• 31:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's called the Super Conducting Super Collider. Everybody in Texas knows that.

• 31:55Chuck Nice?

  The Super Conducting Super Collider that was going to be here in Texas, what happened?

• 31:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And the Congress. Zeroed the budget, judging that that was not an interesting thing to do. And so, no country owns the frontier of science. The center of mass of particle physics moved to Europe, to Switzerland, and now they are making the discoveries, not America. That's not the way to make America great again.

• 32:20Chuck Nice?

  Damn Switzerland!

• 32:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I like that last plug.

• 32:24Gary O'Reilly?

  Alright, okay, yeah. We got, we got where you went with that one. Let's not hate the Swiss, they gave us toe grown after all. So, that's us. Thank you to the good doctor. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Oh, by the way, yeah, oh, look, look, look, whose paw prints are on there?

• 32:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The 76ers visited me a few months ago, and they left me a signed ball. So I just want to give a shout out to the 76ers.

• 32:46Gary O'Reilly?

  Yes. Alright, consider it done.

• 32:48Speaker 03

  Doctor, that's a fantastic gift, but you, I don't think that's ever gonna be worth any money, the current 76ers.

• 32:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Come on, mine is the worst. That's my team!

• 32:58Speaker 03

  I love you, Doc!

• 32:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's my team, guys!

• 33:01Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay.

• 33:02Speaker 03

  Having the 2017 76ers sign a ball, you might as well give me some toilet tissue.

• 33:08Gary O'Reilly?

  Alright, we're gonna fact check that, as they're the worst team ever. The good doctor Neil deGrasse Tyson, please give it up.

• 33:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Michael, you're just killing me, man.

• 33:18Gary O'Reilly?

  Alright, Michael Rapaport, please.

• 33:20Chuck Nice?

  Give it up for Michael Rapaport, people!

• 33:22Gary O'Reilly?

  The one, the only, Paul Star!

• 33:27Chuck Nice?

  NBA All-Star, Khris Middleton, give it up for him!

• 33:29Gary O'Reilly?

  I'm Gary O'Reilly.

• 33:30Chuck Nice?

  I'm Chuck Knight.

• 33:31Gary O'Reilly?

  And this has been Planet Science, and we love you, thank you for coming out to see our show.

• 33:36Chuck Nice?

  Thank you to tune in, thank you to South by Southwest, and thank you, a round of applause for you!

• 33:40Gary O'Reilly?

  Yes, and to Easy Tiger, thank you all.