If you say so. I don't pay attention to that sort of thing, except when most of a team is white. Kirk Hinrich. Doug McDermott. Nikola Mirotic. Mike Dunleavy Jr.
Why do they have to be active? Obama never said ACTIVE athletic heroes, nor did Trump. Many of the most famous, most recognizable athletes in the world are no longer active. Seems like a way to intentionally exclude such greats as Ali, Kareem, Hakeem, etc. Ok, we can all play this game. Without using google, please name your top 5 active Baptist athletes, your top 5 active Episcopalian athletes, your top 5 active Presbyterian athletes... BNM
More specific please. Just 5 heroes? 5 Muslim heroes? 5 athletic heroes? 5 athletic Muslim heroes? And, please provide your list, too. You were the one that started this. Time for you to pony up. BNM
5 muslim sports heroes. 5 is an arbitrary number, enough to maybe make you have to think about it. You just defined hero as something better than those Bulls players. Looking forward to see who you name. The point really is who Obama had in mind. Kareem, Ali, Hakeem. Name 5 more.
Obama implied Muslims are significant contributors in the sports world. I have no beef with athletes' religion or muslims or Hispanics or anyone else, but I am curious who he is talking about?
Well there's famous a then there's heroes. I can name famous Muslim athletes like Shaq, Ahmad Rashad. I don't consider these two heroes. Great athletes, but not necessarily heroes. Then there are others who have been far more heroic, but are not household names. I admit I can't recall there names without a search, but there were the female Saudi Arabian female track athletes that had to walk behind their male teammates in the opening and closing ceremonies. There have also been female Muslim athletes that have received death threats for daring to compete and "mix with men". Admittedly, I can't come up with any names off the top of my head, but again, is the criteria famous, or heroic? I can come up with several Muslims that have played (or almost played) for the Blazers. Sheed, of course. Hedo, almost. Asik, who we drafted. Kanter, almost. Aminu, of course. Jamaal Wilkes. Shareef Abdur-Rahim has already been mentioned. Okur, was technically a Blazer, but never played for us. I assume Hasheem Thabeet is Muslim, but I may be wrong. Looks like we've had some pretty decent (and one pretty crappy) Muslim big men, but no guards. NBA basketball is pretty much the only sport I've followed for the last 20 years. So, I'm not the most well qualified to answer your question. I'm sure there have been many Muslim players in the NFL, then there are lots of Muslim soccer players because the sport is popular globally, etc. BNM
I consider Shaq a sports hero. He got a degree. His skills go beyond playing the game to acting and announcing. He won championships on more than one team. I may be wrong, but it looks like he became a muslim in 2010, after his playing career. Something like how Dimaggio was such a big star that at an old age he became Mr. Coffee, still recognized and a star. I doubt Obama was talking about the kind of hero that land crippled airplanes or save lives. More like the kind of men who set good examples for their fans while attaining status as among the best in the sport. Or maybe "hero" is your choice of words. I don't think Obama was talking about athletes from arab states, but american muslims. He was trying to sell the notion that muslims contribute in positive ways in our society. He was just called on overstating it wrt sports.
Kinda got lost in this thread....... but are you guys asking about Muslim basketball players? Anybody remember Chris Jackson out of LSU? When he was with the Nuggets, I remember him converting to Islam and he changed his name Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I remember him getting into a ton of shit, because he would put his hands out and pray during the national anthem. He was a great story actually..... had dealt with turrets as well.
Here's the quote: Naturally, the response from Trump (and Denny) was: "Oh yeah? List those sports heroes." It's a vast understatement to say that he missed the point. barfo
