Lebron, Kareem, Wilt, and those Before

    I watched with my son as Lebron passed up the needed points to achieve the all-time scoring record of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The latter passed up Wilt Chamberlain back in 1984, when I was 13 years-old. Back then my dad would watch the Lakers once they made it to the NBA Finals, probably not watching many regular season games. But I saw the Lakers a lot by the end of the season, as they were perennially prominent back in the 1980s. I grew tired of them by the late 80s, for sure.

    Kareem surpassed Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt the Stilt filled up all the statistical ledgers. Rebounds. Assists. Blocked shots, even though they did not bother to count block shots back then as they do now. Or maybe not steals, either. Wilt probably had a few quadruple-doubles. Blocks, steals, possibly adding up to a quintiple-doube. Yeah.

    Wilt became great because those before him played hard and competitively, and he grew in stature to dominate the sport as it grew in popularity and money generated. The first generations of players did not make much money, but it grew in marketing and status, contracts and the business end.

    Now we have the multi-millionaires of the modern day.

    Chamberlain made a lot for his day, I am sure, and Abdul-Jabbar made even more. Even though he stupidly, foolishly squandered most of it. As smart as he seems and purports to be, sometimes I wonder. HOW do you lose that much money?

    Lebron is loaded, beyond most anyone's dreams.

    I hope that these successful men and now women are helping many others with their generated wealth, their prestige and fame, their supposed wisdom and largesse.

    Has Kareem taught us enough about what not to do?

    Does Lebron teach us enough about life and dos and don'ts? 

    Perhaps that is not their ultimate role. Perhaps Charles Barkeley is right about athletes not being role models. But they are.

    We need to learn from all of them, all the successful, great players and personalities.

    And keep moving forward.