The “Statue” of Limitations!

There is something missing, according to one NBA Legend, outside the Los Angeles Staples Center…. A Statue of Kareem Abdul- Jabbar!

If you read an interview, in The Sporting News, with the six time world champion and the 19 NBA All Star, Jabbar feels slighted that his image has not been immortalized in bigger than life size, outside the center!

There are five statues outside the building, two former Laker players, Ervin “Magic” Johnson, and Jerry West (who by the way, his silhouette is used for the NBA Logo)… the others, Chick Hearn, the voice of the Lakers, Wayne Gretzkey, and Boxer Oscar De La Hoya… how he got a statue I will never figure… however how in the world is Jabbar not there already???? Never mind the Lakers success, how about his time at UCLA where he won THREE National Championships with John Wooden as his coach! (I know it was Westwood not Inglewood!)  Still, the man who holds the all time scoring record and will most likely keep that record for some time, has no monument other than his retired jersey hanging from the rafters of the Staples Center should have something more pronounced.

When you think of “SHOW TIME” the first image is that of Magic, but there were James Worthy, Michael Collins, and others, then there was the big man—the one who developed the Sky Hook, hard to defend and probably deadly from anywhere on the floor from 15 feet in on the basket! Jabbar was the kingpin of those championship teams, and probably deserves his place in the spot light once again, Bigger Than Life!

I was thinking, monuments that are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, we have a statue of Tom Landry outside Cowboys Stadium (former place was outside Texas Stadium) we have statures of both Tom Vandergriff, and Nolan Ryan at Rangers Ball Park in Arlington, Will Rogers, used to stand near Downtown Dallas (don’t know if its still there), Doak Walker stands outside Ford Stadium on the campus of SMU, we have statues saluting the cattle drives that made their ways through the streets of Fort Worth and Dallas, making their way up the Chisolm and Preston Trails to Kansas City—we have monuments at Fair Park for the heroes of Texas Liberty near the Hall of State… but nothing around the AAC for those who laid the ground work for your Dallas Mavericks or Dallas Stars… do you think we might one day see a statue for Brad Davis, Rolando Blackman, maybe Dirk Nowitski once he retires, or maybe to Mike Modano or Brett Hull for bringing a Stanley Cup to North Texas.

I just bring that up, considering that I know about the Ring of Honor inside Cowboys Stadium, and there are some retired numbers for both the Stars and the Mavericks, hell even the Dallas Desperados, (Clint Dozell) there’s not one for TATU of the Dallas Sidekicks if there is, they took that down when they brought down Reunion Arena… statues, expensive yes, but they are great to have your photo taken next to, you can’t climb into the rafters to have your photo taken next to the Jersey of your favorite player.

The Lakers have stated that Jabbar’s statue is in the works… however there is no timetable as to when that will happen, and that it could be in year or two or even much later, but they will acknowledge his accomplishments and contributions to the Lakers team, and when that happens it will be placed in it’s rightful place!

As for other teams that have placed statues near their arenas or stadiums, the likes of Harman Killabrew at Target Stadium in Minnesota, or Ty Cobb at Tigers Stadium outside of Detroit, or what about all those monuments at Yankee Stadium, now they’re not statutes but they are there.

Rangers Ball Park in Arlington has the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame with plaques inside the Hall, and it might be better than placing statues around the stadium, fans can still have their photos taken with the plaque of their heroes, but an actual statue— might be a bit expensive for every person who was special with the team.

Maybe the Mavericks will one day have a Maverick Hall of Fame and do the same thing at the AAC along with the Stars.. and one day—Jerry Jones has said that the property around the stadium will have a Dallas Cowboys Hall of Honor built and that might have bust or plaques of those players that have had their name enshrined in the Ring of Honor.

In the meantime, the LA Lakers will do what they have to do, and like the city of Boston, they gave a statue to Bill Russell, 40 years after he retired—better late than never!

Just a thought!