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My Grandfather And My Uncle Both Died From Colorectal Cancer, My Dad Almost Died From It And I Have The Gene For It.

-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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My Grandfather And My

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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My Grandfather And My Uncle Both Died From Colorectal Cancer, My Dad Almost Died From It And I Have The Gene For It.

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More From Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

In A Typical History Book, Black Americans Are Mentioned In The Context Of Slavery Or Civil Rights. There's So Much More To The Story.

I Think Someone Should Explain To The Child That It's Ok To Make Mistakes. That's How We Learn. When We Compete, We Make Mistakes.

When A Rap Song Glorifies Violence, Death And Sadness And Loss Is Inflicted Because Of The Violence.

The First Time I Shot The Hook, I Was In Fourth Grade, And I Was About Five Feet Eight Inches Tall. I Put The Ball Up And Felt Totally At Ease With The Shot. I Was Completely Confident It Would Go In. I've Been Shooting It Ever Since.

Ken Heitz Got Drafted By The Bucks The Same Year I Did. He Went To Their Camp Just For The Experience, Then Dropped Out To Attend Harvard Law School. I Always Admired His Combination Of Athleticism And Brains.

If Not Shown Appreciation, It Gets To You.

I Try To Do The Right Thing At The Right Time. They May Just Be Little Things, But Usually They Make The Difference Between Winning And Losing.

The Extra Pass And The Extra Effort On Defense Always Get The Job Done.

What I Learned In My Time Isn't Necessarily Being Taught Now, And I'd Like To Help Impart That Knowledge To A New Generation Of Players.

I Totally Alienated Some Reporters As I Retreated.

When The Line Started To Blur Between The Fans And The Players, Sometimes Things Can Get Ugly.

Ucla Acknowledged This Shift By Bringing In Alex Haley (the Co-author Of The Autobiography Of Malcolm X) And Eldridge Cleaver (soul On Ice) As Speakers.

You Got Guys Now Declaring They're Ready To Play Pro Ball In Their Second Or Third Year Of High School. It's Crazy! They're Missing So Much.

I'm Not Going To Emphasize The Sky-hook As Much As Work With The Specific Skills Of The Guys.

I Wanted To Play Baseball!

I Listen To Jazz Mainly. Mainstream Jazz.

I Would Suggest That Teachers Show Their Students Concrete Examples Of The Negative Effects Of The Actions That Gangsta Rappers Glorify.

I Am Highly Offended By The Total Lack Of Acknowledgement Of My Contribution To Laker Success.

Acknowledgement

I'm Not Exaggerating When I Say That The 761st Was Patton's Best Tank Unit And Nobody Knew About It.

I Feel Like I've Always Been A Full-time Historian, But Nobody Knows It.

I Don't Get A Big Charge Out Of Being The Leading Scorer. The Object Of Competing Is Winning. I Just Try To Do What Has To Be Done For Us To Win. That Might Be Anything At The Time - Defense, Rebounding, Passing. I Get Great Satisfaction Out Of Being A Team Player.

When I Was At Ucla, The Harlem Globetrotters Offered Me A Million Dollars To Come Play For Them. I Turned It Down Because My Education Was Just As Important As Playing Ball.

Kobe's An Incredibly Talented Athlete, And There Are Many More Like Him Among Today's Players.

Yoga Is Just Good For You.

I Had A Moment Like That With Wilt (chamberlain). He Knocked Me Out Of Bounds, I Came Back And Faked Him, Came Across The Middle And Dunked On Him.

I Expect More People From China And Asia To End Up In The Nba.

The Constant Expansion Has Diluted The Talent. Other Than That, It's Still The Same Game.

My Grandfather And My Uncle Both Died From Colorectal Cancer, My Dad Almost Died From It And I Have The Gene For It.

I've Had Enough Success For Two Lifetimes, My Success Is Talent Put Together With Hard Work And Luck.

A Lot Of Young Players Don't Really Know Much About The History Of The Game And A Lot Of Them Are Missing Out On What The Game Is All About, Especially The Whole Concept Of Sportsmanship And Teamwork.

Actor Mike Warren [was My Former Teammate], Who Was In Hill Street Blues. There Are More, But It's Starting To Sound Like A Team Reunion At Red Lobster. They Were A Great Bunch Of Guys And We Accomplished A Lot Together. That's Something You Don't Forget.

Jackie Robinson, As An Athlete And As Someone Who Was Trying To Make A Stand For Equality, He Was Exemplary.

Culture And Politics Were Inseparable [in The Sixties], Which Gave A Soundtrack To Political Awareness And Activism.

I Needed To Go To Class; I Needed To Go To Practice; I Needed To Have A Life Away From Basketball.

The 3-point Shot Has Created A Situation In The Game Akin To 'lotto' Fever.

Great Players Are Willing To Give Up Their Own Personal Achievement For The Achievement Of The Group. It Enhances Everybody.

A Lot Of Players Think The Game Is All About Individual Performances When It's Really All About A Team Game.

One Man Can Be A Crucial Ingredient On A Team, But One Man Cannot Make A Team.

Lakers Were Able To Maintain A Certain Level Of Talent And Success And So Were The Celtics. So After Awhile It Became Part Of People's Sports Lore...

This Is What I Would Have Done If I Had To Have A Real Job: I Would Have Been A History Teacher.

I Always Thought I Could Do A Good Job Coaching, But The Opportunities Have Not Presented Themselves.

The Only Reason Is That I Hadn't Seen The Modern Jazz Quartet Perform Live And A Live Performance Is Often Where The Real Experience Of Jazz Takes Place. I'm Not Familiar With The Boswell Sisters.

Ok, I'll Put It Like This: I Doubt If We Will See Another All-american Basketball Athlete Who Is A Rhodes Scholar.

I Was Latching On To Something That Was Part Of My Heritage, Because Many Of The Slaves Who Were Brought Here Were Moslems.

I Could Have Skated By As An Athlete, But The World Is So Much Bigger And More Interesting Than Any One Thing. I Didn't Want To Be Pigeonholed As Just A Jock. I'm Also An Author, A Student Of History, And I Collect Memorabilia From The Wild West. I'm Also A Son, A Father, And A Friend.

Well, I'm A Professional.

My English Teacher, Dr. John Lindstrom, Taught Me An Appreciation For The Written Word. Until His Class, I'd Dabbled In Journalism And Essay Writing. But When He Selected One Of My Essays As The Best In The Class, It Gave Me The Confidence To See Myself As A Writer.

I'm Still My Parent's Child, I'm Still Me, But I Made A Choice. I Evolved Into Kareem Abdul-jabbar. I Think It Has To Do With Evolution.

When The Doctor Told Me I Had Cancer, I Was Scared.

Basketball Is An Endurance Sport, And You Have To Learn To Control Your Breath; That's The Essence Of Yoga, Too. So, I Consciously Began Using Yoga Techniques In My Practice And Playing. I Think Yoga Helped Reduce The Number And Severity Of Injuries I Suffered. As Preventative Medicine, It's Unequaled.

There Are Rap Groups That Have A Positive Outlook In Their Art. These Groups Should Be Shown As An Alternative To Gangsta Rap.

I Think That The Good And The Great Are Only Separated By The Willingness To Sacrifice.

You Can't Win Unless You Learn How To Lose.

But People Don't Know If I Can Teach The Game. I Know I Can. My Experience In Oklahoma Was Positive. It Opened My Eyes To How The Game Is Played - The Interaction Among Players, Fans And Media, How All That Works. You Have To Know About The Business Of The Game And How The Actions Of Players And Coaches Affect The Business. I Think I Have It Down Now.

The Transition Was Difficult. It's Hard To Stop Something That You've Enjoyed And That Has Been Very Rewarding.

Alexander Hamilton Realized That Warfare Was Part And Parcel Of Human Nature, And It's Something We Had To Prepare For.

Pride Was His Life Force; For Us It Was A Live Nerve That He Could Teach Us To Brush. One Stroke, A Good Practice, And We Could Tingle For Days ... First, He Found The Pride In Each Of Us, Then He Taught Us How Good It Could Feel. What He Was Ultimately After Was For Every One Of Us To Learn To Light Our Own Fires And Glow Our Brightest.

I'm Not Comfortable Being Preachy, But More People Need To Start Spending As Much Time In The Library As They Do On The Basketball Court.

I Hope To Be Involved In A Successful Movie Script.

We All Had A Lot Of Fun Making The Film ["airplane" ], But There Weren't A Lot Of Outtakes Or Cracking Up Because We All Were Focused On Doing Our Jobs In A Professional Manner.

I Was Getting Hot Flashes And Sweats On A Regular Basis. That's Not Normal, Even For My Age.

All The Courage And Competitiveness Of Jackie Robinson Affects Me To This Day. If I Patterned My Life After Anyone It Was Him, Not Because He Was The First Black Baseball Player In The Majors But Because He Was A Hero.

For Me, The Bold Jazz Of John Coltrane And Miles Davis Reflected The Bold Attitude In African-americans Finding Their Political Identity And Voice.

If I Hadn't Become A Professional Basketball Player, I Would Have Become A History Teacher. There's So Much To Learn From History.

I Love Basketball, But Playing Basketball Doesn't Fully Define Who I Am. I Was Always A Good Student, Too.

[albert] Hoxie, My Western Civilization Professor. I Had Him In My Freshman Year And He Opened Up An Extraordinary World To Me That I've Never Forgotten. He Used His Extensive Knowledge Of Art History To Illustrate The Development Of Western Culture And Politics.

I Need About Three Seats Lengthwise To Sleep On A Plane. It's Not Easy For Me To Curl Up.

I Don't Really Care Who's Doing Drugs In The Nba As Long As The Scene Isn't Adversely Affecting My Team And Teammates. I've Known Enough Drug Users-going As Far Back As Grade School And The Streets Of New York-not To View Them As Pariahs Or Lost Souls. I've Certainly Smoked More Than My Quota Of Weed.

The Lifespan Of Most Professional Athletes Is Relatively Short, And Most Have No Preparation For Doing Anything After Their Career Ends, Which It Could In An Instant.

It's Hard For Young Players To See The Big Picture. They Just See Three Or Four Years Down The Road.

I Felt That A Number Of People Might Have Questioned My Loyalty, But I Continue To Be A Patriotic American.

The Disconnect Lasted Too Long. I Think People Got The Idea I Was Sullen And Couldn't Communicate, Which Wasn't True.

I Think Kwame Will Be An Asset To The Lakers.

I Think The Nba Will Certainly Survive Without Michael Jordan.

I've Had A Desire To Coach For Years. This Was Something I Felt I Should Do.

We Want To Show How Hip-hop, Which Kind Of Fuels Today's Basketball Stars, Is Directly Related To Jazz.

If They Took The Idea That They Could Escape Poverty Through Education, I Think It Would Make A More Basic And Long-lasting Change In The Way Things Happen. What We Need Are Positive, Realistic Goals And The Willingness To Work. Hard Work And Practical Goals.

I've Never Been A Person To Share My Private Life, But I Can Help Save Lives.

You're Never Really Cancer-free And I Should Have Known That.

The Type Of Leukemia That I Am Dealing With Is Treatable. So If I Do What My Doctors Tell Me To Do - Get My Blood Checked Regularly, Take My Meds And Consult With My Doctor And Follow Any Additional Instructions He Might Make - I Will Be Able To Maintain My Good Health And Live My Life With A Minimum Of Disruptions To My Lifestyle.

The Word 'leukemia' Is A Very Frightening Word. In Many Instances, It's A Killer And It's Something That You Have To Deal With In A Very Serious And Determined Way If You're Going To Beat It.

I Don't Know If I Was The Baddest. People Kind Of Saw Me In That Light.

I Was Especially Impressed With Pauley Pavilion [at Ucla Campus ]. The Floors Hadn't Been Laid Down Yet, When They Gave Me The Tour, Each New Room Got My Heart Thumping. They Even Had A Surgical Operating Room In Case An Athlete Was Severely Injured.

The '80s Made Up For All The Abuse I Took During The '70s. I Outlived All My Critics. By The Time I Retired, Everybody Saw Me As A Venerable Institution. Things Do Change.

People Still Cheat On Their Wives, That Hasn't Fallen Out Of Fashion. We All Speak Of It Badly, But It Has Not Fallen Out Of Fashion.

Center Is A Very Tough Position To Play.

Islam Is About Finding Your Own Space.

What We Need Are Positive, Realistic Goals And The Willingness To Work. Hard Work And Practical Goals.

I'm The Baddest Among The Bad Guys.

My Choosing Islam Was Not A Political Statement; It Was A Spiritual Statement.

Video Games Just Can't Compare With The Variety And Intensity Of Reading.

With 300 Million People In America, You Can Fail To Impress 299 Million Of Them And Still Go Platinum.

In January Of 1969, After A Meeting To Discuss The Leadership Of Ucla's New Afro-american Program, [alprentice "bunchy" Carter And John Huggins, Jr.] Were Murdered On Campus By A Rival Black Nationalist Group, The United Slaves Organization. This Shook Up All The Students, Black And White, And Made Us All Realize That What We Were Doing Wasn't Just An Academic Exercise, But Had Repercussions In The Real World.

Black And White

Michael Jordan And Magic And Myself, All Learned How To Play The Game In College Programs That Emphasized The Team.

When I Was 17, I Worked In A Mentoring Program In Harlem Designed To Improve The Community. That's When I First Gained An Appreciation Of The Harlem Renaissance, A Time When African-americans Rose To Prominence In American Culture. For The First Time, They Were Taken Seriously As Artists, Musicians, Writers, Athletes, And As Political Thinkers.

When I Was A Kid, No One Would Believe Anything Positive That You Could Say About Black People. That's A Terrible Burden.

In The Western Standards Of Modesty, There Are Different Guidelines.

I Was Just Starting Out Acting [doing "airplane"] And Wanted To Be Taken As A Professional, Not As An Athlete Doing A Cameo.

I've Always Tried To Stay Out Of The Fray And Not Be An Object Of Controversy.

I Think The Nba Players Have To Be Held Accountable In A Reasonable Way, Just Like Any Other Professionals.

Elgin's Game Was An Incredible Performance, Also. I Don't Think There's Any Comparison. Elgin Did It Without Three-point Lines. His Game Was Attacking The Hoop And Hitting Jumpers Inside 20 Feet. Kobe's Range Is Unreal, And He Does It His Way.

You Can't Win If You Don't Play As A Unit.

Common Decency Demands That [ncaa Athletes] Should Be Paid, But The Only Way It Will Happen Is The Same Way Workers Got Paid Throughout American History, Through A Strong Union.

After Practice, I Would Have To Go Back To The Dorm And Take A Nap.

I Can Do Something Else Besides Stuff A Ball Through A Hoop. My Biggest Resource Is My Mind.

The Sixties Was A Perfect Storm Of Disaffection With Political Leaders Trying To Pass Off The Same Old Platitudes To Maintain The Status Quo And An Unexpected Courageousness In The Masses Of Youth. Nothing On This Scale Had Ever Happened Before In U.s. History And It Hasn't Happened Since.

Yoga Is Somewhat Hard To Quantify In Terms Of Benefits Because You See Them In All The Injuries You Don't Get.

High School Dropouts Are Forfeiting Their Opportunity To Pursue The American Dream.

There Are A Lot Of Authors In The World, So It's Difficult To Find A Unique Niche To Present Your Take On Things. That Is Always A Challenge For Any Author.

I Rooted For The Dodgers When They Were In Brooklyn.

You Play With Your Soul As Well As Your Body.

Reporters Used To Ask Me The Same Inane Questions Year-in And Year-out, City-to-city, And It Would Drive Me Crazy.

One Man Cannot Make A Team.

I Think People That Are, You Know, Voting In The Blind Are Doing A Disservice To America By Not Being Better Informed.

I Read That Hollywood Wanted To Film Fences Years Ago With A White Director, But [august] Wilson Refused. He Thought That The Director Needed To Have Lived The Culture Of Black Americans.

In Athletics There's Always Been A Willingness To Cheat If It Looks Like You're Not Cheating. I Think That's Just A Quirk Of Human Nature.

A Team Will Always Appreciate A Great Individual If He's Willing To Sacrifice For The Group.

I Have Been Coaching Recently. I Coached High School Basketball In Arizona, And I Hope That More Opportunities Become Available.

I Want To Do As Little As Possible When I Finish Playing Ball - Just Spend A Lot More Time With My Family.

Each Story, Novel, Poem And Play Presents A Vision Of The World That Illuminates The Dark Cave Of Life We Stumble Through. We Can See Better Where We're Going, What Sudden Drop To Avoid, Where The Cool Water Is Running.

I Have Always Thought That Writers Come With Any Variety Of Attributes. Some Are Capable And Some Aren't.

During 1866 And 1922, Native Americans And Black Soldiers Often Intermingled In The American West, On The Frontier.

Native American

You Have To Be Able To Center Yourself, To Let All Of Your Emotions Go... Don't Ever Forget That You Play With Your Soul As Well As Your Body.

Motivational Sports

I Think I Did Very Well Against Everyone Who Tried To Defend Me.

Some Stuff Can Be Fixed, Some Stuff Can’t Be. Deciding Which Is Which Is Part Of Maturing.

The Game Has Basically Not Changed Since I Ended My Career.

I Saw Islam As The Correct Way To Live, And I Chose To Try To Live That Way.

[coaching] Is A Difficult Job Which Everyone Who Owns A Tv Thinks They Can Do Better At.

Ignorance Is Not Something That Lends Itself To A Meaningful Discussion.

I Tell Kids To Pursue Their Basketball Dreams, But I Tell Them To Not Let That Be Their Only Dream.

Few Players Have Cast A Spell Across The Game Like Yao Ming, Before Or Since.

I Did A Book In 1996, An Overview Of Black History. In That Process I Became More Aware Of A Lot Of The Black Inventors Of The 19th Century.

Good Thoughts Are No Better Than Good Dreams, Unless They Are Executed.

When You're A Coach You've Got To Go Up The Ladder, You've Got To Be Ready To Travel. That's The Nature Of Coaching

Your Best Athletes Might Give Basketball A Try Just When They Think, Geez, This Might Be Something That Pays Off For Me In The End.

We Can Learn From Mistakes Of Others, Whether They're Kings Or Our Parents. When We Do Learn Those Lessons, We're Better Equipped To Make Our Own Dreams Come True.

Your Mind Is What Makes Everything Else Work.

I Feel That There Has Been Progress Made Since I Was A Boy On Matters Of Race, But We Have A Long Way To Go.

I Feel That Dennis Rodman Has Become A Problem. He Will Be More Of A Problem Than An Asset. Of Course, He Can Prove Me Wrong.

The Rivalry Between The Lakers And Celtics Endured For About Eight Years, And The Interest Grew Each Year.

I Got All A's And Was Hated For It; I Spoke Correctly And Was Called A Punk.

I Was A Baseball Fan Myself, I Wanted To Play Baseball.

What I Have Is P.h. Positive Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, Which Is An Aberration In Your White Blood Cells.

The Lakers Fans Have Been Great, Even Folks In The Supermarket Are Welcoming Me Back.

The Saying, "those That Don't Learn From History Are Condemned To Repeat It" Doesn't Just Apply To Politicians And World Leaders, It Applies To All Of Us On A Daily Basis.

As Brilliant An Individual That Michael Jordan Was, He Was Not Successful Until He Got With A Good Team Unit.

Black People Don't Have An Accurate Idea Of Their History, Which Has Been Either Suppressed Or Distorted.

When I Traveled Through Greece In The '90s, Everything [albert Hoxie] Taught Me Came Flooding Back And I Was Able To Appreciate The Art And Culture Much More Because Of Him.

Initially When I Stopped Playing, I Had Accumulated Some Burnout.

Lebron James Can Get A Shot Off Under Any And All Circumstances And He Makes Them.

As A Parent, I Have A Job As A Role Model To My Children, And By Extension, To Other Young People.

I Didn't Really Seek Attention. I Just Wanted To Play The Game Well And Go Home.

My Most Memorable Moment Came In 1985 As We Beat The Boston Celtics.

Sports And Entertainment Are The Only Places Where Inner-city Kids See Themselves Being Able To Succeed. Their Intellectual Development Is Something They Don't Relate To.

Justice Should Be Blind Especially Color-blind And Able To Fairly Deal With The Very Real Need For Honest Law Enforcement.

My High School Had Been A Renovated Old Hospital, So When I First Came To The Ucla Campus In The Spring Of 1965, I Was Immediately Impressed By The Classic Northern Italian Architecture That Was Mixed With Futuristic Ultra-modern Buildings. The Classic Architecture Gave It The Heft Of Old Wisdom While The Modernistic Look Inspired Hope For The Future.

If Isis Represents Islam, Then The Kkk Represents Christianity

I Think Black Americans Expect Too Much From Individual Black Americans In Terms Of Changing The Status Quo.

I Enjoy Seeing New Places.

I've Kept In Touch With Many Of My Former Teammates: Bob Marcucci Was Our Team Manager And We Bonded Over Our Passion For Baseball.

My Biggest Resource Is My Mind.

I Think A Lot Of People, If They Get The Opportunity To Do Some Acting, They Think, 'i Might Be A Star.'

He Doesn't Necessarily Have To Learn The Sky Hook. He Just Has To Learn How To Be An Effective Post Player. I Think I Can Help Him Do That.

Fundamental Preparation Is Always Effective. Work On Those Parts Of Your Game That Are Fundamentally Weak.

I Think Race Has Been A Burden For Black Americans. Being Muslim Has Also Been A Challenge Because So Many People Do Not Understand Islam.

My Mother Had To Send Me To The Movies With My Birth Certificate, So That I Wouldn't Have To Pay The Extra Fifty Cents That The Adults Had To Pay.

Even When There Are Adverse Circumstances, I Try To Do My Job. And I Usually Do.

But All Was Not Sunshine And Marvin Gaye Songs. [ucla] Also Recruited Black Students As Part Of A High Potential Program That Was Meant To Bring Diversity To The Campus. Two Of The Students That Were Part Of That Program Were Alprentice "bunchy" Carter And John Huggins, Jr., Both Members Of The Black Panther Party's Southern California Chapter.

Cancer Is A Scary Thing And You Have To Deal With It Seriously.

Five Guys On The Court Working Together Can Achieve More Than Five Talented Individuals Who Come And Go As Individuals.

We Don't Have Selfish Guys Here, Which Sometimes Leads To Problems.

Either Because I Was An Athlete Or Because I Was Black - Probably Both - There Seemed To Be A Clear Assumption That I Wouldn't Be Up To The Work.

Music Rhythms Are Mathematical Patterns. When You Hear A Song And Your Body Starts Moving With It, Your Body Is Doing Math. The Kids In Their Parents' Garage Practicing To Be A Band May Not Realize It, But They're Also Practicing Math.

If Not For The Success That Medicine Has Made, I Might Be Part Of A Much Different Story Right Now.

Practices Were Tough.

When We Went Up Against Teams That Were Better, I Just Hoped That We Could Steal The Victories.

There's A Ball. There's A Hoop. You Put The Ball Through The Hoop. That's Success.

Inspirational Success

My Biggest Accomplishment Has Been Making A Transition From Athlete To Author.

I Want People To Understand That I Intend To Continue Living And Doing All The Things That I Love To Do Up Until The End. And The End Is By No Means Rushing Up On Me.

I'm Not Going To Disappear.

More Whites Believe In Ghosts Than Believe In Racism.

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