№11: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Player Spotlight | Rebranding The 10 Minutes or Less Podcast with Dr. Tedi Villasor | + More!
March 27, 2021
Welcome to the tedi.substack.com weekly newsletter! At the beginning of each week*, this newsletter will touch on any number of entertaining, informative, or (possibly) useful topics.
The need to rebrand and consolidate: Looking back at the past five episodes of The 10 Minutes or Less Podcast with Dr. Tedi Villasor, I realized that only one episode—the first—was able to (barely) stay under 10 minute cap. Clearly, there was a lot to share and it would be pointless to continue on calling it The 10 Minutes or Less Podcast if I were to always go over the allotted time.
With this in mind, I’ve decided to just consolidate these five podcasts into my old podcast platform (The Tedi31 Podcast with Dr. Tedi Villasor). Originally conceived as an in-depth, long-form interview platform, the scheduling challenges brought about the pandemic left me no choice but to shelve this project indefinitely.
Maybe though this consolidation, it breathe new life into my podcast endeavor.
As we move further into 2021, your comments and feedback will also be of immense help in shaping the direction of the newsletter. Till then, I will be utilizing a free flowing format that will incorporate the aforementioned rebranded podcast, player spotlight, as well as a combination of book, movie, documentary, or television series recommendations.
Thank you in advance for your time and constructive feedback. Read away!
* - No apologies for dropping the newsletter late this week because well…it’s turning out to be a good and productive week. Last Wednesday, I had a talk with grade school and high school coaches from a local private school and this coming Sunday evening, I’ll be part of a very important pitch over Zoom.
If you get to read this before then, do send us your good vibes. Thank you!
Just a few more questions!
As part of my efforts to release a self-help eBook by the end of August 2021, I was hoping to get the pulse of the public (so to speak) on the topics that they would like me to touch on. The general question is this: If you had an opportunity to talk to a counseling and/or sport psychologist for an hour, what would the session focus on?
The button below will redirect you to the survey.
My buymecoffee.com page is up and running!
Thank you for your time.
Tedi
Questions?
Are you in need of therapy? As a counseling and sport psychologist, I am here to help! For more information on scheduling a Zoom Teleconsult with me, kindly click on the schedule a session today button below.
Interested in having a speaker talk to your group or team? Click on the book me button below.
My new weekly segment! Player Spotlight! Inspired by the writings of the late Zander Hollander (Sportswriter, archivist, and author of the ever informative The Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball), I decided to put my 30 years of basketball knowledge to some use and come up with a short, free flowing, and non-linear/viewpoint narrative on the featured player.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. (April 16, 1947). Alcindor converted to Islam in the summer of 1968 but only began using his Islamic name—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Roughly translated from Arabic as “noble one, servant of the Almighty”)—publicly in 1971. During his time in the NCAA, Abdul-Jabbar was so skilled and physically dominant that a ban was placed on dunking the basketball for the foreseeable future (1967-1976). Despite the efforts of the NCAA to mitigate Abdul-Jabbar’s dominance, Kareem refined a hook shot that he had been using since fifth grade. It became his signature finesse move—The Skyhook.
Kareem was selected at the first overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969. In his second season (70’-71’), he teamed up with “The Big O” Oscar Robertson and brought the coveted NBA Championship to the city of Milwaukee. By 1975, he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in what some sports scribes have deemed as one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history.
Whenever I think of Kareem, one of the first things that almost always comes to mind is this scene from the movie Game of Death (1978) wherein the late Bruce Lee (Hai Tien) squares off against the massive 5th Floor Guardian named Mantis (I discovered later on that that Lee had invited Abdul-Jabbar—his friend and Jeet Kune Do student—to film this scene sometime after winning the 71’ NBA Finals).
Ultimately, Abdul-Jabbar would play 20 seasons and retire as a six-time NBA Champion, six-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and the league’s all-time leading scorer (38,387 points). He was inducted into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and recognized as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players during halftime of the 1997 NBA All-Star Game.
Post Career
In 2015, Abdul-Jabbar released a mystery novel (with Anna Waterhouse) entitled, Mycroft Holmes that centers on an early adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ older brother. The following year, Kareem collaborated with co-writer Raymond Obstfeld and artist Joshua Cassara on the graphic novel, Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook (2016).
Personal Notes
The first time I heard of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was while playing a 1989 Electronic Arts basketball game called Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs (MS-DOS version). In the game, the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers were anchored by the Skyhook hoisting Abdul-Jabbar. His only weakness was that he would tire immediately—yet surprisingly not lose any of his offensive prowess—as long as PC players were willing to wait for Kareem to slowly make his way up and down the court (Years later, I discovered that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was only available in the MS-DOS version of the game).
By 1990, I had started playing the game of basketball and picked up whatever related literature or videos that I could get my hands on (believe me, there wasn’t a lot during that time). Other than Michael Jordan: Come Fly With Me (1989), my family and basketball friends would watch Back to Back: Los Angeles Lakers 1987-88 Season (1988) over-and over on Betamax/VHS. Religiously. (My most memorable part is the 58:30 to 58:34 mark of the video below).
This was yet another introduction to the man known to many as “The Captain.”
Looking back, I did get to see Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin “Magic” Johnson in-person here in the Philippines. It was October 27, 1995 and I was invited to watch the team warm-up and basketball clinic that Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Kareem was strictly watching from the bench for this one) ran for a group of young children at the ULTRA (University of Life Theater and Recreational Arena).
The following evening, Magic and his traveling team played at the Araneta Coliseum in an event that was dubbed, the Star Magic Tour: Basketball charity game featuring legendary basketball superstars Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
It’s been almost 26 years since this game was played and what I remember most from it was that it was televised live, Magic’s trademark smile, and that Johnson capped off his unforgettable performance with a triple-double.
In closing, here is some archival footage of the aforementioned event.
At the moment…
Can you name all of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players?
Despite my familiarity with these legendary players, I still only managed to score 47/50 (94%). Let me know how you did and leave a comment at the end of this newsletter.
Click here to take your own Sporcle quiz.
That’s it for now.
Keep safe always. ■
About
Tedi Gustilo Villasor, Ph.D. is a former columnist for Baby Magazine (Philippines) as well as a past contributor to NBA.com/Philippines. His other works include the indie comic books Lindol and OBIsessions.
Click here for more information on his work as a psychologist.
Official Website | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook
Click here to order Lindol (with artist and co-creator Randy Valiente) from our online partner Secret HQ.
Click here to order OBIsessions (with artist and co-creator Jann Galino) from our online partner Secret HQ.
Click on the following links to order Issue #1, Issue #2, and Issue #3 of Lindol (with artist and co-creator Randy Valiente) from our online partner Mervstore.com.
If you happen to drop by Comic Odyssey’s Robinson’s Galleria, the branch is stocked with copies of Lindol #1.
tedi.substack.com is a weekly newsletter—published every Monday*—that touches on a variety of events and interests—namely mine. Should you happen to find the newsletter entertaining, informative, or (possibly) useful, kindly consider on supporting my work so that I could invest more into the future of the newsletter. Truly, every little bit helps.
At the moment, the best way to support tedi.substack.com is via buy me a coffee.
* - Unless something exciting comes up that necessitates an additional entry.
Would you happen to know somebody who maybe interested in tedi.substack.com? If so, kindly share away!
Subscribe to tedi.substack.com below!