Comments on: Media Day Thoughts

By: lakergirl

lakergirl — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:20:20 +0000

http://dimemag.com/2009/09/hakeem-olajuwon-works-out-kobe-bryant-hasheem-thabeet/

Kobe at the 1.40 mark working with Hakeem

By: Darius

Darius — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:30:29 +0000

New post up.

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:56:27 +0000

Kurt, Hakeem, as I recall, put the “H” in is name because it was there to begin with. It’s a silent “H” and I remember him saying that because people had grown accustomed to pronouncing his name correctly (“Akeem”), that he can simply put the “H” back in as it was.

The correct pronunciation has and has always been “Akeem,” but it seems that everyone under the age of 30 pronounces the H.

As far as the lively debates of Shaq v. Hakeem, it’s fun to debate — that’s part of the reason we love sports — but you’re really splitting hairs. In re. pure basketball talent, I’d take Hakeem. If I were starting a franchise, I would take a 20-yr. old Shaq over Hakeem. Shaq, along with being the most dominant player I have ever seen in 30 years, had the persona to sell merchandise, fill the seats and add value outside of basketball to a team.

By: Craig W.

Craig W. — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:48:06 +0000

Shaq was a terrific talent. He had more potential than perhaps any other basketball player. The problem was, he was satisfied with being good enough to win much of the time, instead of trying to perfect his craft. That is just his personality and drive. He certainly isn’t the only player like that in the NBA, but ooooh the potential – sigh!

There was one area Shaq was better than Hakeem in – other than strength – and that was in working the media. Hakeem is a really nice guy and everyone liked and respected him, but he wasn’t a bull and he couldn’t match either Shaq or Phil in manipulating the media. Shaq loves the limelight and uses every trick to stay in it. More power to him, but it doesn’t mean that he has done more on the court – just that the talking heads say more about him.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:06:27 +0000

47 Snoopy, greasemonkey is a firefox extension that uses user-generated scripts (HTML/AJAX based) to change the way websites behave – great for e.g. single page view on nytimes, direct links to images or articles instead of ads, automatically grabbing real time stats instead of having to pay for yahoo’s on fantasy basketball, and changing appearance of gmail etc.
google it to get the extension, and then try userscripts.org or just google for greasemonkey scripts to install

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:23:08 +0000

Monkeydump,
You are right,I should have spelled Hakeem’s name Hakeem. I simply went into a mental lock as I was thinking of a young Olajuwon and just used the old pre-1991 spelling of his name.
My bad.

By: Warren Wee Lim

Warren Wee Lim — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:50:43 +0000

Let me guess, Kobe’s next 2 summers would include:

a. A trip to Utah to learn the one-hand bounce pass from Stockton…

b. A trip to San Antonio to learn Ice Man’s free-throw-line finger roll…

c. A trip to south Florida to learn Timmy Hardaway’s Killer crossover.

My god this guy doesn’t stop. This is why we love Kobe because he doesn’t seem to be content with what he already is. He is simply chasing perfection.

By: wondahbap

wondahbap — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:18:52 +0000

Snoopy2006,

You make a great argument. Even the biggest Lakers homer would have to see the light.

Kaveh,

No need for me to add to what Snoopy and others have said about Shaq, but I can say this:

League Pass doesn’t suck. I don’t know who told you it does, because getting EVERY NBA game (not on national TV) in perfect quality certainly does not suck. Plus, you cannot *always* find every game on the internet, and sometimes the feed sucks.

By: m0nkeydump

m0nkeydump — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:14:47 +0000

What I should’ve said was, “You should’ve used the name he wanted to go by.”

Stephen, no offense. I was just imagining how I would feel if someone referred to Kareem as Ferdinand or Lew (or Mohammed as Casius), since they’re both historical players and they changed their names for a reason. That’s just my personal pet peeve.

Again, meant no disrespect. It didn’t feel so rude when I was typing it. =)

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:57:07 +0000

Akeem was how he spelled his name through college and the first years of his pro career. He changed it to Hakeem, which I believe was tied to a reawakening of his Muslim faith (although I may remember that part wrong).