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Etan Thomas: If you were outraged when Kaepernick took a knee, told him to stay in his place, screamed he should never play in the NFL again etc etc but are praising Nick Bosa for having the courage to use his platform as an athlete to stand up for what he believes in…. YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf says he didn't know Colin Kaepernick well, but did spend time with the quarterback a few years back. "We never talked a lot, but we did meet up in the Bay Area when he was going through what he did," Abdul-Rauf told us. "We had a mutual friend. We met in like a private office. We spoke for about an hour. We just shared information and if it resonated, we took it."
Mahmoud says there was one thing Kaepernick said that stuck with him above everything else. "The biggest takeaway for me during that whole night was when he said this is the most freedom he's ever felt in his life. I said to him, 'well, it's because of this freedom that allows people like yourself and those who came before us and those who'll come after us to take those risks and do what you did.'"
Fans of the NBA may have recently seen a preview for a documentary about Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s life and career, Stand, which is set to air on Showtime in early 2023. And while he doesn’t have a formal relationship with the NBA, Abdul-Rauf does have a relationship, professional and personal, with Colin Kaepernick. In fact, Abdul-Rauf has a new memoir set to release on 18 October through Kaepernick’s publishing company. More than two decades after leaving the NBA, the 53-year-old continues to teach the necessity of protest. The question is, what kind of toll did his work take on the now grey-bearded Abdul-Rauf?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar calls out Kyrie Irving: 'He'd be dismissed as a comical buffoon if it weren't for his influence over young people'
Kyrie Irving would be dismissed as a comical buffoon if it weren’t for his influence over young people who look up to athletes. When I look at some of the athletes who have used their status to actually improve society—Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russel, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, and more—it becomes clear how much Irving has tarnished the reputations of all athletes who strive to be seen as more than dumb jocks.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Irving does not seem to have the capacity to change, but we have the capacity to keep fighting against his brand of destructive behavior. One way to do that, beyond shaking our heads and nasty tweets, is to write to his sponsors and tell them to drop Irving—or you will drop them. Nike has likely decided not to renew his contract past this season. But he is still sponsored by Pepsi and 2K Sports. (Don’t feel bad for Irving: his career earnings at the end of the 2022-’23 season will be $230 million. That buys a lot of Yes-people.)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Kyrie Irving would be dismissed as a comical buffoon if it weren’t for his influence over young people who look up to athletes. When I look at some of the athletes who have used their status to actually improve society—Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russel, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, and more—it becomes clear how much Irving has tarnished the reputations of all athletes who strive to be seen as more than dumb jocks.
Despite sources close to hip-hop artist Ice Cube’s BIG3 league saying Colin Kaepernick is joining as a new investor, a representative for Kaepernick denied the former NFL quarterback’s involvement and said he is not investing. "It's just not true," a representative for Kaepernick said early Thursday.
Sources close to the league claimed that Kaepernick’s investment would allow the league to continue operating. Multiple players with the BIG3 league had been preparing for a potential shutdown, sources told The Athletic. BIG3 is a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz. The league began in 2017 and consists of 12 teams. After the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league restarted in 2021. Team Trilogy — consisting of former NBA players including Jarrett Jack and Amir Johnson, coached by Stephen Jackson — won the league last year.
Shams Charania: Sources: Colin Kaepernick is investing in Ice Cube’s BIG3 league, which was on the verge of potentially shutting down. Kaepernick’s new deal will help the 3-on-3 competition continue operating and growing.
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Adam Silver says NBA has not blackballed Enes Kanter Freedom
Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., said in an interview that the league’s position on China had not changed. He also denied that the league had blackballed Freedom, saying that comparisons to Kaepernick were “completely unfounded and unfair.” “We spoke directly about his activities this season,” Silver said, “and I made it absolutely clear to him that it was completely within his right to speak out on issues that he was passionate about.”
“I’ve always been in it for true love… I thought that was my guy,” Renner said, adding that, at one point, she was thought she would marry Washington. “I’ve been with men with way more money… if I was truly trying to cash out, I would’ve cashed out five-six years ago with men with a lot more,” said Renner, who’s been linked to a number of celebrities and athletes, including James Harden, Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Jamal Murray, Ben Simmons, Trey Songz, Chris Brown and Colin Kaepernick.
David Robinson: It’s one thing just to run your mouth, but a whole other thing to say I’m committed to this change. Seeing somebody like Colin Kaepernick put everything on the line for that, to me, that’s an important statement. That’s something that’s a very strong move. Other athletes have put a lot of their money and energy behind [specific issues] – LeBron James and education. There’s a lot of men and women who are out there putting their lives on the line for other people. I saw Naomi Osaka talk about giving her winnings in her next tournament to Haiti [following August’s devastating earthquake]. So, people are committing themselves to what’s happening in the world, and I think that that’s fantastic to use the platform that way.
Eventually, he landed jobs in more traditional television. Today, he’s working on multiple projects. He’s a writer/producer on Ava Duvernay’s upcoming Colin Kaepernick miniseries as well as “Cherish The Day,” another Duvernay show on OWN, Oprah Winfrey’s TV network. Johnson’s Doncic tweet had Duvernay laughing hard enough to offer a shoutout. One especially surreal moment for Johnson? Hearing Duvernay and Oprah were trading his memes and laughing at his work. “Part of what makes him special is he’s been a one-man band at this thing,” Toledano said. “He’s grabbing numbers that all companies want, but he’s doing it himself. He’s showing one person can do this. And that’s incredible, but I’ve seen companies try it with one person and they can’t recreate the magic he has on his account.”
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