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"It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars. How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the ne

"It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars. How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the next person also won. His winning in no way affects my winning." What a great quote and general outlook on life.

avelis 4y ago
Kareem understands that life is a collaborative game, not a zero-sum game. This is extra special coming from an athlete whose career was in excelling in a zero-sum game.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- awb 4y ago
  To be fair, it’s much easier to have a collaborative view on life once you’re financially independent or have exceeded your goals. The unpaid college star that couldn’t make the NBA and is now struggling to make ends meet might not see life as a collaborative game.
  - dasil003 4y ago
    This has some truth to it, but it’s also a cynical middle-brow dismissal. Plenty of rich are ultra competitive and plenty of poor people are collaborative. Also, older are generally a bit mellower and reflective, but even teenagers can demonstrate good team work and community thinking. A viewpoint like Kareem’s should be celebrated, not doused with cynicism.
  - za3faran 4y ago
    He's a Muslim, and Islam gives you that collaborative and content outlook.
  - lib-dev 4y ago
    Nah I think you have it backwards. The ones who make it have that mindset throughout.
    - awb 4y ago
      I don’t think your theory explains angry rich people or cutthroat billionaires or self-indulgent winners or any successful person who’s ever evolved from being mean to being nice. We’re celebrating Kareem for how unique he is in his outlook because it’s so rare.
      - JumpinJack_Cash 4y ago
        > > We’re celebrating Kareem for how unique he is in his outlook because it’s so rare. How is he unique? No human could possibly still milking an achievement 35 years into past. Financially maybe, but brain juice wise not so much. Led Zeppelin hate to play Stairway to Heaven and Eagles have come to hate Hotel California and Tom Brady is for sure tired to explain for the 1000th time the game winning drive against the St.Louis Rams in SuperBowl 2001. There is a reason why all the people above ask to get paid a whole lot in order to once again 'perform the classics'. The exception is the other way around.
        TeMPOraL 4y ago
        > There is a reason why all the people above ask to get paid a whole lot in order to once again 'perform the classics'. The exception is the other way around. Didn't know about that, but it explains a certain dynamic I've been wondering about. You go to a concert of a group that's been around for some years, maybe decades. You come there for the classics - the songs you've heard many years ago and grew to appreciate, the texts that you found some meaning in at some point in life. But the band plays new pieces, one after other, all inferior, all being not the thing you came for. You look around, you notice the facial expressions and body language of others in the audience. You know they came in for the classics too. The performers surely know that too. Yet they keep playing the new stuff, throwing in an older piece every now and then, seemingly oblivious to the meaning of applause and standing ovation they get each time. I've assumed it's mostly that the group really wants to try new things. But it may just be that they're tired playing the old ones. Still, it's a conflict of expectation, and why I personally don't go to concerts much.
duringmath 4y ago
I think he's saying that he still holds the record if we adjust for inflation
- padobson 4y ago
  Not sure how deep you intended this joke to go, but the NBA had 23 franchises in 1980 [0] that scored 108 points per game[1]. Now there are 30 franchises scoring 114 points per game. If you look at the points per game stats, scoring dipped as the number of teams expanded, but rule changes, officiating changes and increases in talent over time led to more points being scored. So a 1980 point was almost certainly worth more than a 2022 point. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980%E2%80%9381_NBA_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980%E2%80%9381_NBA_season [1]https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_g... edits: typos
  - duringmath 4y ago
    Stuff like the hand checking rule and better floor spacing as a result of the rise in prominence of the 3 point shot come to mind
    - ydnaclementine 4y ago
      Nevermind that the 3pointer was introduced 10 years after Kareem's rookie season. He has a single 3 pointer made in his career
      - wintogreen74 4y ago
        pretty crazy when you compare it to many similar sized players who have come after him, making a living beyond the three point line!
  - mywittyname 4y ago
    I think most people accept that sports change over time and it's difficult to compare historical players with current ones. Ignoring rule changes, there's the fact that athletes can collect so much data about their performance and use that information to improve in ways that just weren't available 30-50 years ago. Not to mention all of the scientific breakthroughs society has achieved in our understanding of the human body, nutrition, pharmacology, etc. An athlete born in 2020 has a huge advantage over one born in 1920.
MuffinFlavored 4y ago
> What a great quote and general outlook on life. I kind of almost don't believe it/it's too good to be true. You don't think any part of him is sour? He put a 20 year career in the league, was #1, and now he got passed and will forever be at least #2. I feel like if I was in a similar situation (I'll never know what it's like whatsoever to be all time NBA leading anything), I'd want to come off as happy for the next guy but in reality, if it's a prestigious title I held for years and it finally got stolen from me... I don't know how internally happy I'd be.
- deafpolygon 4y ago
  > You don't think any part of him is sour? Did you not read the article? I wouldn't be sour about it either, if I were 75. Someone was bound to surpass you; that is life.
- bena 4y ago
  He says he is not. He said he might have been in the past, but today there is no sourness. And we have to believe him. He is the ultimate authority on what he feels. He also has the unique perspective of being in the position of someone who has had the record of all-time leading scorer in the NBA taken from him. You do not. I do not. We do not even possess any records to be taken. So no, we don't know how we'd feel in that situation. It's purely hypothetical on our end. We have to trust his words. Not to mention, neither of us are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And I don't mean that neither of us are legendary NBA players. I mean neither of us are that man. We have not lived his life. We have not experienced his struggles, achievements, highs, lows, etc. We do not have his parents, etc. So even if you or I would feel like something was stolen from us that still doesn't tell us that he would feel the same.
- squokko 4y ago
  I think when you're 25 it's good to have the competitive fire and not want your record to be broken, when you're 75 it's good to have a little more equanimity.
- wintogreen74 4y ago
  He was also 3 for 3 at the college national championship level; Lebron can't take that from him.
TheCondor 4y ago
Cap is special, always has been, just seems like a real, true, gem of a person. I grew watching the Showtime Lakers. I remember when he got the record and then I remember the farewell tour when he said he was going to retire. The game is so incredibly different now. I think you first have to recognize that Kareem was "The Guy," teams were built around him and then I'm sure there were bumps and stuff but he was pretty gracious when Magic came in and clearly became the super star. In that first championship Magic won, Cap sat out with an injury and Magic, the greatest playmaker of all time, shifted over and played center and played like Kareem; albeit with a "baby" skyhook... That's hard for a lot of guys to be gracious when a "young buck" starts coming up. That's another thing, the dude was synonymous with a particular shot, you think "sky hook," you think Kareem. There are a few guys, Reggie Mullen in 3point land, maybe. Steph Curry from way out, Jordan in the lane, if they get the ball, there is a feeling that it's predestined and they will score points. Kareem would get the ball out on the baseline, slowly back in and he had an undefendable shot in the sky hook and when it was on he could do that over and over and over and his team would win. As a short white dude watching it all, I can remember a few times in the early to mid-1980s when the local sports reporter on TV referred to "brother ball" being played. There were definitely racial aspects to the Lakers vs the Celtics. I remember some people in the media kind of down playing it, "he's just a big guy with one move... he can't shoot like Bird can." And to see that record last as long as it has, it's amazing.
throw4847264 4y ago
He's an amazing writer. I really liked his article on his friend, Bruce Lee. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-bruce-lee-was-my-friend-tarantinos-movie-disrespects-him-1232544/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/kareem-abdul-ja...
pdonis 4y ago
I also like this one: "If I had a choice of having my scoring record remain intact for another hundred years or spend one afternoon with my grandchildren, I’d be on the floor in seconds stacking Legos and eating Uncrustables."
- bruceb 4y ago
  Man says something so people will like him when he doesn't have the option to actually make that decision. I bet he would skip the 3 hours to remain #1.
  - jwozn 4y ago
    If it was Jordan, that would be true. With Kareem, I'm not so sure that's the case - "But that ain't me today. I'm 75. The only time I ever think of the record is when someone brings it up."
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
schemescape 4y ago
Sadly, I suspect most actual billionaires don’t share this outlook.
lab14 4y ago
I get the message he's trying to convey, but I think it's just a bad analogy. Reaching the NBA scoring record would presumably require lots of discipline, good habits, hours of hard effort, practice, etc....winning the lottery seems like mostly luck to me. I get it that you need luck in order to be able to produce that effort, but I don't really see how those two events can be equivalent at all.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  Being 7 foot whatever can't hurt either. That's gotta be a little bit like winning the basketball genetic lottery.
aidenn0 4y ago
I think he's the greatest, but my dad says he doesn't work hard enough on defense. And he says that lots of times he doesn't even run down court. And that he doesn't really try except during the playoffs.
- joshu 4y ago
  The hell he doesn’t! LISTEN, KID! We've been hearing that crap ever since he was at UCLA. He’s out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!
  - ihatepython 4y ago
    Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

avelis 4y ago

Kareem understands that life is a collaborative game, not a zero-sum game. This is extra special coming from an athlete whose career was in excelling in a zero-sum game.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
awb 4y ago
To be fair, it’s much easier to have a collaborative view on life once you’re financially independent or have exceeded your goals. The unpaid college star that couldn’t make the NBA and is now struggling to make ends meet might not see life as a collaborative game.
- dasil003 4y ago
  This has some truth to it, but it’s also a cynical middle-brow dismissal. Plenty of rich are ultra competitive and plenty of poor people are collaborative. Also, older are generally a bit mellower and reflective, but even teenagers can demonstrate good team work and community thinking. A viewpoint like Kareem’s should be celebrated, not doused with cynicism.
- za3faran 4y ago
  He's a Muslim, and Islam gives you that collaborative and content outlook.
- lib-dev 4y ago
  Nah I think you have it backwards. The ones who make it have that mindset throughout.
  - awb 4y ago
    I don’t think your theory explains angry rich people or cutthroat billionaires or self-indulgent winners or any successful person who’s ever evolved from being mean to being nice. We’re celebrating Kareem for how unique he is in his outlook because it’s so rare.
    - JumpinJack_Cash 4y ago
      > > We’re celebrating Kareem for how unique he is in his outlook because it’s so rare. How is he unique? No human could possibly still milking an achievement 35 years into past. Financially maybe, but brain juice wise not so much. Led Zeppelin hate to play Stairway to Heaven and Eagles have come to hate Hotel California and Tom Brady is for sure tired to explain for the 1000th time the game winning drive against the St.Louis Rams in SuperBowl 2001. There is a reason why all the people above ask to get paid a whole lot in order to once again 'perform the classics'. The exception is the other way around.
      - TeMPOraL 4y ago
        > There is a reason why all the people above ask to get paid a whole lot in order to once again 'perform the classics'. The exception is the other way around. Didn't know about that, but it explains a certain dynamic I've been wondering about. You go to a concert of a group that's been around for some years, maybe decades. You come there for the classics - the songs you've heard many years ago and grew to appreciate, the texts that you found some meaning in at some point in life. But the band plays new pieces, one after other, all inferior, all being not the thing you came for. You look around, you notice the facial expressions and body language of others in the audience. You know they came in for the classics too. The performers surely know that too. Yet they keep playing the new stuff, throwing in an older piece every now and then, seemingly oblivious to the meaning of applause and standing ovation they get each time. I've assumed it's mostly that the group really wants to try new things. But it may just be that they're tired playing the old ones. Still, it's a conflict of expectation, and why I personally don't go to concerts much.

duringmath 4y ago

I think he's saying that he still holds the record if we adjust for inflation

padobson 4y ago
Not sure how deep you intended this joke to go, but the NBA had 23 franchises in 1980 [0] that scored 108 points per game[1]. Now there are 30 franchises scoring 114 points per game. If you look at the points per game stats, scoring dipped as the number of teams expanded, but rule changes, officiating changes and increases in talent over time led to more points being scored. So a 1980 point was almost certainly worth more than a 2022 point. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980%E2%80%9381_NBA_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980%E2%80%9381_NBA_season [1]https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_game.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats_per_g... edits: typos
- duringmath 4y ago
  Stuff like the hand checking rule and better floor spacing as a result of the rise in prominence of the 3 point shot come to mind
  - ydnaclementine 4y ago
    Nevermind that the 3pointer was introduced 10 years after Kareem's rookie season. He has a single 3 pointer made in his career
    - wintogreen74 4y ago
      pretty crazy when you compare it to many similar sized players who have come after him, making a living beyond the three point line!
- mywittyname 4y ago
  I think most people accept that sports change over time and it's difficult to compare historical players with current ones. Ignoring rule changes, there's the fact that athletes can collect so much data about their performance and use that information to improve in ways that just weren't available 30-50 years ago. Not to mention all of the scientific breakthroughs society has achieved in our understanding of the human body, nutrition, pharmacology, etc. An athlete born in 2020 has a huge advantage over one born in 1920.

MuffinFlavored 4y ago

> What a great quote and general outlook on life. I kind of almost don't believe it/it's too good to be true. You don't think any part of him is sour? He put a 20 year career in the league, was #1, and now he got passed and will forever be at least #2. I feel like if I was in a similar situation (I'll never know what it's like whatsoever to be all time NBA leading anything), I'd want to come off as happy for the next guy but in reality, if it's a prestigious title I held for years and it finally got stolen from me... I don't know how internally happy I'd be.

deafpolygon 4y ago
> You don't think any part of him is sour? Did you not read the article? I wouldn't be sour about it either, if I were 75. Someone was bound to surpass you; that is life.
bena 4y ago
He says he is not. He said he might have been in the past, but today there is no sourness. And we have to believe him. He is the ultimate authority on what he feels. He also has the unique perspective of being in the position of someone who has had the record of all-time leading scorer in the NBA taken from him. You do not. I do not. We do not even possess any records to be taken. So no, we don't know how we'd feel in that situation. It's purely hypothetical on our end. We have to trust his words. Not to mention, neither of us are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. And I don't mean that neither of us are legendary NBA players. I mean neither of us are that man. We have not lived his life. We have not experienced his struggles, achievements, highs, lows, etc. We do not have his parents, etc. So even if you or I would feel like something was stolen from us that still doesn't tell us that he would feel the same.
squokko 4y ago
I think when you're 25 it's good to have the competitive fire and not want your record to be broken, when you're 75 it's good to have a little more equanimity.
wintogreen74 4y ago
He was also 3 for 3 at the college national championship level; Lebron can't take that from him.

TheCondor 4y ago

Cap is special, always has been, just seems like a real, true, gem of a person. I grew watching the Showtime Lakers. I remember when he got the record and then I remember the farewell tour when he said he was going to retire. The game is so incredibly different now. I think you first have to recognize that Kareem was "The Guy," teams were built around him and then I'm sure there were bumps and stuff but he was pretty gracious when Magic came in and clearly became the super star. In that first championship Magic won, Cap sat out with an injury and Magic, the greatest playmaker of all time, shifted over and played center and played like Kareem; albeit with a "baby" skyhook... That's hard for a lot of guys to be gracious when a "young buck" starts coming up. That's another thing, the dude was synonymous with a particular shot, you think "sky hook," you think Kareem. There are a few guys, Reggie Mullen in 3point land, maybe. Steph Curry from way out, Jordan in the lane, if they get the ball, there is a feeling that it's predestined and they will score points. Kareem would get the ball out on the baseline, slowly back in and he had an undefendable shot in the sky hook and when it was on he could do that over and over and over and his team would win. As a short white dude watching it all, I can remember a few times in the early to mid-1980s when the local sports reporter on TV referred to "brother ball" being played. There were definitely racial aspects to the Lakers vs the Celtics. I remember some people in the media kind of down playing it, "he's just a big guy with one move... he can't shoot like Bird can." And to see that record last as long as it has, it's amazing.

throw4847264 4y ago

He's an amazing writer. I really liked his article on his friend, Bruce Lee. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-bruce-lee-was-my-friend-tarantinos-movie-disrespects-him-1232544/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/kareem-abdul-ja...

pdonis 4y ago

I also like this one: "If I had a choice of having my scoring record remain intact for another hundred years or spend one afternoon with my grandchildren, I’d be on the floor in seconds stacking Legos and eating Uncrustables."

bruceb 4y ago
Man says something so people will like him when he doesn't have the option to actually make that decision. I bet he would skip the 3 hours to remain #1.
- jwozn 4y ago
  If it was Jordan, that would be true. With Kareem, I'm not so sure that's the case - "But that ain't me today. I'm 75. The only time I ever think of the record is when someone brings it up."
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

schemescape 4y ago

Sadly, I suspect most actual billionaires don’t share this outlook.

lab14 4y ago

I get the message he's trying to convey, but I think it's just a bad analogy. Reaching the NBA scoring record would presumably require lots of discipline, good habits, hours of hard effort, practice, etc....winning the lottery seems like mostly luck to me. I get it that you need luck in order to be able to produce that effort, but I don't really see how those two events can be equivalent at all.

brokenmachine 4y ago
Being 7 foot whatever can't hurt either. That's gotta be a little bit like winning the basketball genetic lottery.

aidenn0 4y ago

I think he's the greatest, but my dad says he doesn't work hard enough on defense. And he says that lots of times he doesn't even run down court. And that he doesn't really try except during the playoffs.

joshu 4y ago
The hell he doesn’t! LISTEN, KID! We've been hearing that crap ever since he was at UCLA. He’s out there busting my buns every night! Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!
- ihatepython 4y ago
  Have you ever seen a grown man naked?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]