artie_fufkin wrote:

"I guess being the lynchpin for five world championships is not considered significant enough in terms of being part of Laker history."

I thought the story indicated there already was a statue of Magic Johnson.

Somehow I thought you might pick up on that quote.

I'm not gonna rip you.  it seems more like you rip me for having any compassion at all for Kareem.  There are ways to communicate disappointment, for example, hypnotized on Oprah's couch versus an OpEd in the LA Times entitles, "Why I Feel Slighted by Los Angeles".  I don't know the backstory to this, but he probably has been slighted, and it might be a lingering thing, and it might feed a vicious cycle.  That still won't make me say Kareem is a bad guy.

i defend a lot of people.  there are a few people on this planet undeserving of the respect we all should show for human dignity, all of the rest deserve it.  you seem to know a lot more about him than i do, but I haven't seen anything about the guy that isn't deserving of human dignity, and i've seen many things that are.

it's not how we fall down, but how we get back up.  it's not how we punch a guy in the face in a fit of rage, but in how we atone for it.  every day i'm in this country i fantasize about punching someone in the face.  most times the worst that happens is i lose my patience and act like 2-year who can't control his emotions . . . in which case the jackass who pissed me off wins.  so, tell me the worst that Kareem has done, and there, but for the grace of God, go I.

Last edited by Max (5/19/2011 6:24 am)

alz wrote:

I have no issue with anyone who wants to hold Kareem accountable for that punch. Have you forgiven Bertuzzi? Cueto? I personally haven't. Had I been watching when Kareen laid that guy out, and not someone who caught up with the history after watching the man win titles, I'd probably think far less of him.

I don't follow hockey closely enough or know enough about Todd Bertuzzi to judge him, and my feeling on Cueto is that he's a hopelessly immature jerk who acted in a way an immature jerk would act, not just in a singular moment of panic but subsequently. It's certainly not a coincidence a "family issue" prevented him from traveling to St. Louis with his teammates last year, then mysteriously resolved itself as soon as they left and hasn't been spoken about since. And it's not a coincidence he was one of the first ones out of the dugout taunting the Cardinals once the yelling started last Sunday, and it certainly wasn't an accident he made sure he stationed himself between about 10 teammates when it happened. That's the way cowards have always acted, and will always act. I can be dismissive of Johnny Cueto because I have no expectations otherwise for him. Once his career ends, he will go back to the Dominican Republic and no one will ever hear from him or care about him again.
Abdul-Jabbar is held to a higher standard, because he's an articulate, intelligent guy, when he wants to be. He's not an idiot like Johnny Cueto who's only skill in life is he can throw a baseball 95 mph, a trait that in the realm of things that are important really isn't important at all. My ill will toward Jabbar wasn't sparked by nor is based on one event. If Larry Bird is to be believed, Kent Benson isn't a particularly good guy, either.
I have no idea why Jabbar would whine about not having a statue in front of the Staples Center when a) He never played there; b) the Lakers have already said he's going to get one; c) it makes him look ingratitudinous for a lifetime in which - as much as he doesn't understand it - he's earned adoration, and been afforded a comfortable financial situation for an unparalleled ability to shoot a basketball through a hoop from 12-15 feet.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (5/19/2011 12:29 pm)