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| YouTube.com |
I don't know if there was ever a more controversial superstar than Kareem in my lifetime other than Muhammad Ali. I can honestly say he was undoubtedly the most misunderstood athlete of our lifetime and has been paying the price ever since he first converted to Islam in a time when the religion really wasn't understood. While the ignorance surrounds Islam now because of the tragedies going on in the world today, can you imagine what people thought of Muslims then?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has always felt isolated and uncomfortable with the masses and the attention associated with his height and celebrity. When so many players and entertainers were craving more he was learning, reading, absorbing jazz and becoming a well rounded individual with heavy emphasis on individual. But nonetheless he was often misunderstood for more reasons than one.
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| bloguin.com |
In watching his documentary, one he produced so he could tell his story, I learned more about him than I could have ever imagined. I have been a fan of his for a long time, going back to the days at Power Memorial and I guess you could say before the internet, ESPN and the internet craze, Lew Alcindor was a known commodity and any one who had any affinity to basketball knew who he was and wondered where he was going to college. I could only imagine what it would be like now, and one things for certain and two things for sure it would be more ballyhooed than LeBron James when he came out of high school or Kobe Bryant for that matter.
Kareem was tall, gifted, athletic and smart. His documentary illustrated so much about his life we didn't know that now sheds light on his enigmatic persona, making us feel guilty about judging him so unfairly. Well you guys that is; I always liked him even if he didn't talk a lot or embrace my religion and so on. He was graceful, ballet like on the court and so cool with a soft spoken tone that intimidated many media because they knew he wasn't the duh-uh dumb jock. Education once again proves the power of the mind is head and shoulders above physical prowess.
So why don't more athletes write their own story? In this day and age of iPhones and technology it's so much easier. Twitter has helped players clarify their stance on issues but leaves room for doubt about what drives them; fuels them and yes intimidates them. The great thing about telling your own story is you know it better than anyone else. No conjecture or Hollywood embellishment to cause fan consternation in your story forcing you to deny the comments.
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| eurweb.com |
Write a book like Eric Davis's "Born to Play" or be like Muhammad Ali and ask someone (i.e. Will Smith) to play you on the big screen. The opportunity for people to know who you are is in your hands. Not that you need to prove anything to anyone, but maybe the boxscore of your life could be of value to your kids, your neighborhood and others. You chronicle how you made it; these are the pitfalls and challenges awaiting you and this is how you overcome them. Telling your story may be for you but maybe it's for someone newer, unsuspecting version of yourself in the making. Either way we want to hear it; read it or see it. That way our opinion of you is based on who you say you are, not who the media makes you out to be. We have seen countless numbers of players who say they're misunderstood and in reality all they had to do was tell us the story, the score of their game. Show us the highlights and the low ones too. Show us you in the human form complete with all the frailties of life. We know you're not perfect and our compassion button is ready to be activated because we know you had to go through something to get where you are today and we also want to defend you when the haters appear in droves trying to tear you down. Imagine that; a network of advocates with facts in hand courtesy of your documentary, your story.
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| goodreads.com |
I was an advocate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar way back when; and now I'm an even stronger one having seen Minority of One, Kareem's life in his own words. The good, the bad and the wow...I didn't know that. But I do now and if you have a problem with Kareem maybe I can help you solve it. Thanks to Kareem for telling his own story and if you watch it, which I highly recommend, you'll know the story and why he played the game of life the way he did.
What I knew then was worth defending, what I know is worth repeating. That's the way I see it sitting in The Box Seat. I'm Wayne Box Miller
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