Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about this Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fella. Folks keep talkin’ about him, so I figured I’d piece together what I heard. They say he’s a big shot, real big, in that basketball game. You know, the one with the tall fellers runnin’ and jumpin’ and throwin’ that orange ball around.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Basketball Star, that’s what they call him. Heard he played for a long, long time. Won a bunch of those MVP things, whatever that means. Must be somethin’ important ’cause everyone keeps jabberin’ on about it. Six of ’em, they say. Six! That’s more than most folks got fingers on one hand, I tell ya. And all-star this and all-star that. Nineteen times! Sounds like he was pretty good at throwin’ that ball.
- He won a whole bunch of MVPs.
- They say he was an all-star a whole lot of times.
- He even won some championships, more than once!
Now, they got this new fella, LeBron James, people are makin’ a fuss about. Broke some record of Kareem’s, they say. Scorin’ points or somethin’. Kareem, he went on TV and talked about it. Said somethin’ about how LeBron is good, real good, but maybe not as good as that Michael Jordan fella. See, folks always callin’ Michael Jordan the “goat,” whatever that is. Sounds like a farm animal to me. But Kareem, he seems to think Michael’s still the best, even with LeBron breakin’ his record. He says somethin’ about Jordan being more dominant, whatever that means. Dominant like a rooster in a henhouse, I guess.
Kareem, he ain’t just about basketball, though. He’s got this thing called a “Skyhook Foundation.” Sounds fancy, don’t it? Seems like he’s tryin’ to help kids learn stuff, especially them science and math things. Givin’ them a “shot that can’t be blocked,” that’s what he says. Kinda like teachin’ ’em to be smart and strong, so nobody can hold ’em back. He takes ’em outside, lets ’em learn about nature and stuff. Good for them kids, I say. Too much time inside these days, starin’ at them screens. Need to get some fresh air and learn somethin’ useful.
And wouldn’t you know it, even the President, that Obama fella, gave Kareem some kind of medal. A “Medal of Freedom,” they called it. Must be a big deal, ’cause they made a whole to-do about it on the TV. Seems like Kareem’s done a lot more than just bounce a ball. He’s tryin’ to make the world a better place, I reckon.
They even named some kind of award after him in that basketball league. The “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award,” or somethin’ like that. Given it to another basketball player, Carmelo Anthony. Seems like it’s for fellas who do good things off the court too, not just on it. So Kareem, he’s settin’ an example, showin’ folks how to be good people, not just good at throwin’ a ball through a hoop.
Folks are always talkin’ about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar News. You can find it everywhere, they say. On the internet, on the TV, in the newspapers. They write about his basketball days, about his foundation, about what he thinks about this and that. He even went to college, UCLA, they call it. Learned how to be a good basketball player AND a smart fella. That Drake fella, he said UCLA helped Kareem become the best in the world at basketball, but also got a good education. Seems like that UCLA place is somethin’ special.
So that’s the gist of it, what I’ve heard about this Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fella. A basketball star, a helper of kids, a man who gets medals from Presidents, and a fella who has his name on an award. Seems like he’s done alright for himself, and he’s tryin’ to help others do alright too. And that, in my book, is a good thing.
