Lorenzo Charles 1963-2011

Lorenzo Charles, who died Monday while driving a chartered bus in North Carolina, scored perhaps the famous dunk that allowed North Carolina State to upset the heavily favored Houston Cougars in the 1983 NCAA championship game.

A Song for Fathers

This is Leon Thomas's vocal version of Horace Silver's Song for My Father.

Happy Father's Day.

A Pathetic Response

In the wake of losing the 2011 NBA Finals, LeBron James tweeted philosophically: "The Greater Man upstairs knows when it's my time. Right now isn't the time." This is a pathetic response by the self-described Chosen One, King James. Few excuses for poor performance are more irksome than professional athletes invoking God in the discussion as a way of rationalizing personal failings and shortcomings. One would assume that the Almighty has better, more pressing concerns than to inject himself in the outcome of the NBA Finals. Indeed, it would seem that it has been a few centuries since he demonstrated any stake or rooting interest in athletic contests, David versus Goliath being the notable exception.

Tasteless

After morning shoot around, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James found the time to mock Dirk Nowitzki who reportedly ran a temperature of 101 degrees before game 4. Of course, Nowitzki despite the illness led his team to victory. The expression, "He who laughs last, laughs best" comes immediately to mind, especially so for James who has pulled a disappearing act in the 4th quarter of games 4 and 5.

Weiner, More or Less

As Washington sex scandals go, Rep. Anthony Weiner's situation is blandly familiar: an otherwise intelligent politician recklessly succumbing to the temptations of the flesh. What distinguishes it from the other instances of politicians behaving badly is the central role played by social networking. In this high tech world, the word and/or images circulate quickly and are irretrievable.

In Defense of LeBron James

I am no fan of LeBron James mainly because I believe that despite his prodigious talent he hasn't accomplish anything remotely commensurate with the all the hype heaped upon him and his delusions about becoming a global icon. While I don't quibble with his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to "take his talents to South Beach," I thought the infomercial in concert with ESPN was tactless, classless, and essentially an exercise in self-absorption. That said, the criticism that James has disappeared in the fourth quarter of Heat's games against the Dallas Mavericks is misguided and ridiculous. While his teammate Dwyane Wade has exploded offensively, James has emerged as a shutdown defender on Jason Terry and a devastating passer, allowing Wade, Chris Bosh, and others to score at critical times. 

Ray Bryant 1931 - 2011

Ray Bryant, who died last Thursday after a long illness, was a noted jazz pianist and composer.

The Uncertain Weiner

As Washington political scandals go, the latest one involving Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York) and the photograph of a crotch that might or might not be his establishes a new low in absurdity. The congressman claims that hacker got into his Twitter account and transmitted a below the waist picture of a man in his underwear to an unsuspecting female college student in Washington state. Weiner explains that he cannot say with certitude whether aforesaid crotch is his.

Clarice Taylor 1917 - 2011

Actress Clarice Taylor, who died yesterday of heart failure, was noted for playing the mother of Cliff Huxtable in The Cosby Show. She was 93 years old.

Kareem Chimes In

It is difficult to understand just what has come over Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of late: first, he lashes out at the Los Angeles Lakers organization for its failure to erect a statue outside the Staple Center in his honor; now, he is taking Scottie Pippen to task in an open letter for limiting the greatest basketball player conversation to Michael Jordan and LeBron James, thereby leaving Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain out of the equation. This is Abdul-Jabbar's letter:

Dear Scottie,

I have nothing but respect for you my friend as an athlete and knowledgeable basketball mind. But you are way off in your assessment of who is the greatest player of all time and the greatest scorer of all time. Your comments are off because of your limited perspective. You obviously never saw Wilt Chamberlain play who undoubtedly was the greatest scorer this game has ever known. When did MJ ever average 50.4 points per game plus 25.7 rebounds? (Wilt in the 1962 season when blocked shot statistics were not kept). We will never accurately know how many shots Wilt blocked. Oh by the way in 1967 and 68. Wilt was a league leader in assists. Did MJ ever score 100 points in a game? How many times did MJ score more than 60 points in a game? MJ led the league in scoring in consecutive seasons for 10 years but he did this in an NBA that eventually expanded into 30 teams vs. when Wilt played and there were only 8 teams. Every team had the opportunity to amass a solid nucleus. Only the cream of the basketball world got to play then. So MJ has to be appraised in perspective. His incredible athletic ability, charisma and leadership on the court helped to make basketball popular around the world — no question about that. But in terms of greatness MJ has to take a backseat to The Stilt.

In terms of winning, Michael excelled as both an emotional and scoring leader but Bill Russell’s Celtics won 8 consecutive NBA Championships. Bills rebounding average per game is over 22.5 lifetime, MJs best rebounding years was 8 per game (1989). But we will never know exactly how many shots Bill Russell blocked because again, they never kept that statistic while he played. However, if you ask anybody that played against Russell they will just roll their eyes and say he blocked all the shots he wanted to block in the crucial moments of a game.

Bill played on a total of 11 Championship teams and as you very well know, Scottie, the ring is the thing, and everything else is just statistics. So I would advise you to do a little homework before crowning Michael or Lebron with the title of best ever. As dominant as he is, Lebron has yet to win a championship. I must say that it looks like Miami has finally put the team together that will change that circumstance. Its my hope that today’s players get a better perspective on exactly what has been done in this league in the days of yore.

The change in style to the game is not any indication as to how many really talented players there are in the game. So the fact that skilled players come from all over the world does not change the quantity of outstanding talent. Simply put the number of players that could have stopped Wilt Chamberlain in his prime has not increased.

Affectionately, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer