Kareem himself says in this article:

> if someone had broken my record within ten years of me setting it.... I might have hobbled out of retirement just to add a few more points on my record

Different approaches serve you well at different times in your life. I bet a big part of the reason Kareem can be at peace at 75 is knowing that he busted his ass to make the best use of his abilities during his competitive lifetime. He played at an elite level in the NBA for an incredibly long time, which testifies to an incredible level of discipline, focus, and competitiveness, and then spent years as an assistant coach. If he had taken his current attitude when he was young, he might not have been as relaxed and happy now.

Also, as fierce of a competitor as Kareem was, even back then he was still (from my perspective) a good family man. I went to elementary school with his son. My memories of him are from birthday parties (mostly two tree trunk legs) and other activities.

I hope his coworkers never asked you if you like movies about gladiators.

Yep, some athletes know how to let it go, if not so much when. But others that is what always defined them and don't know anything else. Adjustment can be hard. This happens to ex-military as well.

Pretty sure Kareem always wanted to win when he played.

Maybe this is just him understanding that the scoring record is a statistical artifact, not a real competition.

I mean, you wanna be a family man, ... that's great?

But yeah, of course, if we're tuning in to watch basketball .... of course we wanna watch the savage competitors like Jordan crush his competition. That's the excitement of watching sports. Not their private lives.

Nobody is tuning in nor paying expensive season tickets to watch a guy be a family man.

So yeah.... that's why people are obsessed with Jordan and every great/promising player henceforth in the NBA until the end of time will be measured against that yardstick.

No it is definitely also appealing to see someone win without sweating it _too much_. There is some elegance to being very good at something while admitting that other things may be more important.

Watching someone as obsessed like Jordan is one kind of fun. Someone who has outside interests, is a family guy, or is otherwise unusual (while still winning) is a different kind of fun.

Unsure why you had to turn this into a dig at Michael Jordan.

And before you say it's not a dig at him, what could possibly be the implication of calling Kareem a true "winner" in comparison to the previous statement about a competitor like Jordan who always wants to win?

Did I miss something where Michael Jordan said he doesn't want to spend time with his kids or grandkids if he has them? Is that what the "fuck them kids" meme is actually about?

I think the point is Kareem seems genuinely happy in life, and Mike still carries animosity towards people he worked/played with decades ago.

I know which way I’d rather be.

It was kind of a weird comment.

Seems to imply that in the world of professional basketball there's something wrong with the being ultra competitive and desiring to win and defeat one's enemies and winning a championship and that, instead, being a family man is more the real measure of success. Which, if true, I think both sports fans and sports organizations have all missed the memo.

My buddy Chuck is a great family man. Not a great ball player. Should he join the NBA?

> Is that what the "fuck them kids" meme is actually about?

I think this meme is about MJ's general disdain for signing autographs or taking pics with people even famous people like rappers. He is the classic example of "never meet your heroes". Which, again, even if he is the biggest prick off court, it hardly detracts from his reputation as being one of the greatest NBA players, and arguably, thee most famous athlete across all sports, of all time.

In other words, even though Gretzky, for example, is greater than MJ in terms of stats, no one had a bigger presence in the '80s and '90s than MJ around the world across all sports fandoms.

Jordan is almost 20 years younger, let's see what he thinks when he's 75 years old.

Fair, but though I was not alive during his career, he seems to have always been portrayed as level headed and wise.

He had a mean streak

https://youtu.be/aN57mvDICXw

Jordan has a mean steak.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan%27s_Steakhous...

Are you referring to Kareem? If so, that's not true at all. If you have HBO Max, watch Kareem: Minority of One.

Also maybe: that scene in Airplane!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSi6iF9kVBs

Yes I was referring to Kareem. Thanks for the recommendation

Jordan? That does not match his post-nba behaviour or info we now know about his playing days.

He was kind of considered very aloof and an asshole during his career. Sometimes people age and become more mellow.

The sports press hate an introvert.

Unfortunately people who like to socialize much less than their colleagues seem to have these labels put on them quite frequently.