Capel should consider Kareem Jabbar as Assistant

[SilliSooner]

Long shot. Risky, of course, but might be worth it: Link (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/553446-jeff-capel-should-hire-kareem-abdul-jabbar-as-coach)

[tommieharris91]

http://www.sticksite.com/spam/spam.jpg

[SilliSooner]

Tommie,

Let's get it out in the open. Why are you calling it "Spam"? Just because I link to an article I wrote?

Lots of people link to outside articles. You don't run the "Spam" word on them.

I live in Norman. I been on SoonerFans for years. I attend the tailgates. I had close to 2000 posts before they revamped the website. Where do you come off hating on me or my articles?

I write a weekly article called "Silliman on Sports." I've done so for eight years. I send it to newspapers around the country including the Dallas Morning News, the Baltimore Sun, Allentown Morning Call. You don't get much feedback from print news readers.

Every so often I have some stories I like to share with friends at SoonerFans. Dean seems to like them but some of you guys have a big problem with it. I'd like to understand better why guys like TommieHarris are hating on me so much.

[tommieharris91]

Tommie,

Let's get it out in the open. Why are you calling it "Spam"? Just because I link to an article I wrote?

Lots of people link to outside articles. You don't run the "Spam" word on them.

I live in Norman. I been on SoonerFans for years. I attend the tailgates. I had close to 2000 posts before they revamped the website. Where do you come off hating on me or my articles?

I write a weekly article called "Silliman on Sports." I've done so for eight years. I send it to newspapers around the country including the Dallas Morning News, the Baltimore Sun, Allentown Morning Call. You don't get much feedback from print news readers.

Every so often I have some stories I like to share with friends at SoonerFans. Dean seems to like them but some of you guys have a big problem with it. I'd like to understand better why guys like TommieHarris are hating on me so much.

I'm calling it spam because it's spam. No one on this board promotes an outside blog or site as much as you do with yours.

Also, it's bleacherreport. It's pretty much guaranteed to be misinformed at best. Sending your articles to large newspapers isn't going to help you.

Lastly, I'm not the only one who has hinted that you putting up your stuff on this site is akin to spamming the board.

[SilliSooner]

I'm calling it spam because it's spam. No one on this board promotes an outside blog or site as much as you do with yours.

Also, it's bleacherreport. It's pretty much guaranteed to be misinformed at best. Sending your articles to large newspapers isn't going to help you.

Lastly, I'm not the only one who has hinted that you putting up your stuff on this site is akin to spamming the board.

So you don't like the articles or is it you just don't bother reading them because I've uploaded them at Bleacher Reports?

If you hate the articles, that's one thing, but if you're just pissed because it's BR, that's another.

I know you're not the only one who might be calling the administrators and claim I'm spamming but you probably started it.

I'm not trying to sell anything, pushing any boner pills, just trying to get response for my articles. I don't consider that spam.

I know you probably feel a lot of amateurs write for BR and that may be cause to distrust the sight. I upload to it because they're owned by CBS Sports and they agreed to link my articles to the biggest online sites on the internet such as USA Today, LA Times, Forbes, NY Daily News, MSG, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times.

Most of the time I write national stories. When I've linked them to this site I haven't heard a whole lot of hatred for it. This time I wrote a story directly dealing with OU sports. And this is one you chose to call out as Spam?

[soonerboomer93]

So you don't like the articles or is it you just don't bother reading them because I've uploaded them at Bleacher Reports?

If you hate the articles, that's one thing, but if you're just pissed because it's BR, that's another.

I know you're not the only one who might be calling the administrators and claim I'm spamming but you probably started it.

I'm not trying to sell anything, pushing any boner pills, just trying to get response for my articles. I don't consider that spam.

I know you probably feel a lot of amateurs write for BR and that may be cause to distrust the sight. I upload to it because they're owned by CBS Sports and they agreed to link my articles to the biggest online sites on the internet such as USA Today, LA Times, Forbes, NY Daily News, MSG, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times.

Most of the time I write national stories. When I've linked them to this site I haven't heard a whole lot of hatred for it. This time I wrote a story directly dealing with OU sports. And this is one you chose to call out as Spam?

They link your articles to big site, however, do your articles go through any sort of editorial or vetting process. Are you paid to write these articles or do they some times just get posted on a news site?

Are they mainly opinion pieces with some rumors behind them, or are they factual based? If they're factual based, how are they based, on legitimate sources within the athletic department?

Not to be mean, but personally, when someone posts a link to a known blog site, I'm probably skipping it. IMHO the vast majority of all blog posts are just trash. They're originally meant to be just somebody's like online diary, but now bloggers are being considered real journalists by far too many people. Just like wikipedia is not a legitimate source for research on a written paper, I don't conider a blog a legitimate source because there are far too many unknowns. There are too many people saying they are journalists, with obviouly blatantly incorrect information, blatantly biased information. The majority of "news blogs" are far worse then even a super market tabloid.

[the_ouskull]

I don't disagree with you posting it, but the content of the article itself is ridiculous. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is NOT a good, or even great, coach. He had amazing assistants (including one that I've worked with) while he was here in OKC, and I think that, long-term, he'd hurt OU, because 1) nobody knows who he IS anymore, and 2) he's got no personality to speak of - nothing that would suggest to an 18 year-old recruit, "Wow, this is the coach for me." Not when there are much better, younger, and more dynamic coaches out there waiting for their shot as well.

Kids go where the buzz is. Kareem created a buzz here a few years ago 'cause he was a professional name is a state without pro sports. Now we have pro sports, and most kids, frankly, don't remember The Captain as fondly as some of us old-timers.

Especially his acting roles... :D

the_ouskull

[Eielson]

http://growsafe.org/Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar1.jpg

[SilliSooner]

I don't disagree with you posting it, but the content of the article itself is ridiculous. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is NOT a good, or even great, coach. He had amazing assistants (including one that I've worked with) while he was here in OKC, and I think that, long-term, he'd hurt OU, because 1) nobody knows who he IS anymore, and 2) he's got no personality to speak of - nothing that would suggest to an 18 year-old recruit, "Wow, this is the coach for me." Not when there are much better, younger, and more dynamic coaches out there waiting for their shot as well.

Kids go where the buzz is. Kareem created a buzz here a few years ago 'cause he was a professional name is a state without pro sports. Now we have pro sports, and most kids, frankly, don't remember The Captain as fondly as some of us old-timers.

Especially his acting roles... :D

the_ouskull

Now, at least, we've got a discussion. Nobody knows who he is? Seriously? The greatest scorer in NBA history? The 3rd leading rebounder? I don't believe he's that far gone. I still believe he'd get in the door at Perry Ellis's or Isaac Austin's or any other big man who studied the game. If they don't know him, their parents sure as heck do.

As far as lack of personality, yeah, exactly so. If he had a big Magic Johnson personality, he'd have been coaching long ago and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

This is why I brought it up. I happen to think Capel's and Jabbar's personalities are a little similar, especially in the way they measure their responses. However, Jabbar is much, much, much shyer. But don't mistake Jabbar's reticence as a lack of intelligence. He's extremely intelligent, a student of history and there's a lot of reasons I think Kareem and Capel would be compatible and useful to each other.

Like I layed out in my thesis, Jabbar needs to hook up with someone who'll guide him toward being a head coach, who might be able to draw him out and who might need him as much as Jabbar needs them. Two guys, close to desperate, cohabitating.

Jabbar doesn't need the money. And as far as teaching, he's been doing that - with the Knicks several years and big man coach for the Lakers since 2005.
He's doing his teaching, he's dispensing his wisdom but he still wants a shot as a head coach.

I say, to achieve this, he has to humble himself and be more like his Arabic name - Kareem (generous, friendly) - if he is to ever become a head coach. One way is to intern under an intelligent coach who might be up for some give and take.

I happen to think, if given a chance, people can change... and grow. Some might contend that when you're 7'2, there no growth room left.

[SilliSooner]

They link your articles to big site, however, do your articles go through any sort of editorial or vetting process. Are you paid to write these articles or do they some times just get posted on a news site?

Are they mainly opinion pieces with some rumors behind them, or are they factual based? If they're factual based, how are they based, on legitimate sources within the athletic department?

Not to be mean, but personally, when someone posts a link to a known blog site, I'm probably skipping it. IMHO the vast majority of all blog posts are just trash. They're originally meant to be just somebody's like online diary, but now bloggers are being considered real journalists by far too many people. Just like wikipedia is not a legitimate source for research on a written paper, I don't conider a blog a legitimate source because there are far too many unknowns. There are too many people saying they are journalists, with obviouly blatantly incorrect information, blatantly biased information. The majority of "news blogs" are far worse then even a super market tabloid.

SoonerBoomer,

Thanks for responding. Are you a journalist? Only read things from trusted news sites? Don't trust the internet? Good for you.

Then I almost have to ask what you're doing on an internet chat board. But I won't.

I written newspaper columns for twenty years: Seminole Producer, Dallas Observer, Oklahoma News, Public Medical News, Non-Zine, Loud Magazine, Capitol Hill Beacon. For the last eight years my column "Silliman on Sports" has been placed in papers nationwide.

I resent the term "blog" as in "weblog." I don't have a blog site. I don't ask for comments on my site. I have no ads on my "Silliman on Sports" site. I write a weekly column for weekly or daily newspapers. My columns would have won or placed highly in the Oklahoma Press Association contests except for the fact they appear in other states, which makes them ineligible.

When I was in journalism school at OCU, the word "blog" didn't exist. The internet didn't exist. I wish it had. Ten of my first fifteen stories were interviews with Abe Lemons. They'd probably be worth something today and if there were an internet back then, probably retrievable.

My columns are opinion pieces, many times with original interviews and substantial research and other times they are pure satire, parody and various attempts at comedy. But even then, I put a fair amount of research into the pieces.

Why do I upload some of my articles to Bleacher Reports? For one, as I explained, more exposure. But secondly, it's easy to download and link and that saves me enormous typing time, which is a premium to me now days as I've got a paralyzed right hand (for the last 19 months) and it takes me an ungodly amount to type the original piece.

Sorry for the long response. You probably quit reading long ago since you consider me a blogger, a word I happen to hate.

[birddog]

" hey dad, i can't see too good is that bill shakespeare over there?"
not hating. don't care if you have a column or not.

kareem would be sweet, in a saddistic, torment the program kinda way.

[the_ouskull]

You probably quit reading long ago since you consider me a blogger, a word I happen to hate.

I'm sure that rapists don't like the word "rapist" either, but it's what they do. You don't have to like the word blogger for that to be what you're doing. Now, whether or not you "blogged before it was cool," or "blogged before the internet" is not relevant. You're blogging now. You don't have to like it, but if you want to get more run around here, you'd better at least own it.

Anyway...

Do people in their 30's and 40's know who he is? Sure. They still remember him; assuming that they're more than casual basketball fans. I am well, well (welllll) beyond a "casual" fan of roundball, and I can scarcely remember seeing The Captain play ball anymore. No casual fan in their 20's is going to remember him, for sure, and most serious fans won't either since they never saw him play live.

He's a name, yes, and a memorable one. And, yes, people DO know who he is. But he's not a name in the way that Bob Stoops is a name. He's not going to sell tickets when there are other alternatives. Nobody is going to be sitting around their place on a Tuesday night, going, "Man, I wonder if Kareem's coaching in town tonight. Let's go see him work." Sorry.

Was he a great player? Yes. Is he a "name" coach? No. Is he a good coach? No, not really. I'd put his coach roughly on par with his acting, although he rocked in "Airplane."

I'd like to think that Sooner basketball is above gimmicks. Hiring Kareem to coach - which, frankly, seems ridiculous to even write - would be a gimmick akin to hiring Kareem to be in your movie. But, unlike his "acting career," this isn't the 1970's. Nostalgia does not win games, and it does not win over recruits. Kareem retired in 1989. This year's college seniors were, in large part, born in 1987-88. In other words: No current players, much less younger players, ever saw Kareem play live. Also, the game has changed considerably. There are no "pure posts" being developed anymore because even at an early age, "big men" are being taught guard skills development. Why? Well, 'cause most of them aren't going to grow to be 7'2". Kids watch Kobe, and LeBron, and D-Wade - who I'm convinced is only called "D-Wade" 'cause nobody can remember the f*cked-up way he spells his first name. They don't watch Kareem on YouTube. While a pure post could learn a lot about Kareem's offensive game, I guess, was he really an "offensive guru," or did he just have an unstoppable shot? I mean, much like Jack Black taught us, one is all you need. Kareem had one.

But that doesn't make him a good coach either. Many, many players (including one who played WITH Kareem, in Magic) have tried their hand at coaching, only to see it end in disaster. As I've already stated, while Kareem has won a championship, he did it largely on the strength of his assistant coaches. Also, the very next season, he was looked-over for another college head coaching job in Columbia. If he's not a good enough coach for Columbia, then f*ck man, what? Ya know?

Kids don't care about Kareem other than to "collect" an "I met a famous guy" story. We shouldn't either. Not as a serious coaching candidate, anyway, and the fact that you spoke to the contrary makes me lean towards not taking the rest of your sports knowledge as seriously as well.

I do not write sports columns. I did not help Al Gore invent the blog. But, I DO write, and I DO know sports... especially basketball, and, while everybody is entitled to their opinion, yours is painfully wrong and, perhaps, is one you should reconsider. OU does NOT need Kareem as its head coach, or as a coach in ANY capacity unless we magically sign three 6'10"+, offensive-minded posts in the next few months.

And that's not just an opinion.

the_ouskull