Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the outspoken type when it comes to issues near and dear to him.
So when he gets to talking about basketball, the game he loves and played professionally for so many years of his life, Abdul-Jabbar will ride and die for the game no matter what.
He proves this notion in an op-ed he wrote for The Guardian, in which he argues that basketball is the sport of the future over all the other sports one can play.
But when it comes to professional sports, some are more inspirational, more exciting and more entertaining to the general public than others and those sports take on a symbolic meaning for Americans. They come to represent our core values. They represent not just who we are, but who we want be.
His argument is multi-faceted. In the piece, he speaks to the fact that basketball players are more empowered to speak out against social issues. He also mentions that basketball is more popular among younger people, and the CTE issue is bringing people away from football.
The former Lakers center's arguments are sound, but they're also subjective. He is a former NBA player, so naturally, there will be some bias when he talks about the state of the game in the collective consciousness as compared to other sports.
At the same time, however, it's difficult to argue against anything he says. His main point is correct: Basketball has become a sport that represents us as people for various reasons.
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