Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/basket...184100621.html

A robot practice session? Hope he brings his safety glasses!

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

When I think of KAJ I think of his signature goggles. Can't imagine him without them (except for when he's flying an airplane or fighting Bruce Lee)

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Reading further, I think he's going to be driving 330's robot. Seems like an appropriate robot for him.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Now I wish I had gotten a #33 jersey quite a while ago...

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Hah, I was just about to post that 330 must have known that Kareem would show up this year :)

It's awesome to see that he'll be attending. Great role model to help spread the values and enthusiasm for FIRST.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Well that will make it alot easier to find Dean in the crowd.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Wow, this is pretty exciting!! Each year just comes with more surprises. Can't wait until championships :D

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Is that a Dolphins or Colts jersey? I didn't know Adbul-Jabbar had such a following. ;)

One of our students wanted to name our robot "Kareem Abdul-Jaguar" but "McGuire" won the team vote.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

I just can't wait to tell him, "I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense."

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

This is when CD needs a like button.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

He was a staunch supporter of "a good defense is a great offense"?

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

There are actually a lot of retired #33s in basketball.
Larry Bird, KAJ, Patrick Ewing, Scottie Pipen...

I wonder if KAJ would be willing to sign one of our #33 jerseys?

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

we almost named our robot for this year after him

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

So did any of the team sin Milwaukee name their robot Lew Alcindor?

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

I remember searching for this to see if we could fit in our naming scheme. We ended up going with Uptius Erving :(

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Tell your old man to drag Lanier and Walton up and down the court for 48 minutes!!


Surely you can't be serious!!

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Cool! For all the youngsters who haven't ever heard of Kareem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM6xCirDOKs

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

WOW!

Wish we were going to be there. We named our robot Lew Skyhooker as a tribute to him and his sky hook.

http://web.dps.k12.va.us/schools/gwh...%20pt.%202.pdf

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Yes indeed!

And thanks Hjelstrom, that video brought back some pleasant memories of childhood.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

The battles with Walton were epic!

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Joke
------->
Your head.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

This is getting better and better. I love FIRST SO MUCH! Last year was the Black Eyed Peas, this year Kareen Abdul Jabbar!!!!!!! Oh My Goodness!!!!!!! Whats next? A shooting showdown between Kareen and a robot??

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

From reading the press release, it seems so.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Honestly I think it would be much cooler if someone like Neil deGrasse Tyson, or Bill Nye came. Better yet, let's get some engineers who are working on big fascinating projects come and talk. It seems to me like those people would fit much better into the FIRST goals and do much more to inspire people than a basketball player no matter how good they were.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

World champs v Kareem. Blindfold him during hybrid mode

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

What are FIRST's goals?

Are they to encourage scientists and engineers to do their thing? If that's the goal, then there are the TED talks. The SAE competitions. Research papers.

But if FIRST's primary goals are to get science and technology recognized (and what is the R in FIRST?), and to change the culture, then who better than an athlete? Who better than arguably one of if not the best to ever play basketball, taking on a robot designed to play a derivative of basketball? These guys are heroes to many a young kid (though some of those young kids may be grown up now, some of them engineers). If they're taking an interest in science and engineering, the kids are going to wonder what that's all about. Get inspired.

I think that fits into FIRST's goals quite nicely, don't you think?

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

I am serious, and don't call me Surely.

I can't wait to meet Roger Murdock!

Andy

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

I look at this from an inspiration stand point, what has KAJ done that means people should look up to him and aspire to be him? He was an outstanding basketball player, an actor, and a all around good guy and good face for basketball. That's all good but I don't see where that fits into inspiring kids to pursue STEM paths.

I can see how him attending the competition can help from a recognition standpoint, yes he is a big name, yes he will draw additional media. I'm sure some kids will continue to move towards STEM paths because KAJ says it's a good thing. I'm just not sure this is the best recognition possible, FIRST should be recognized for what it does, not by what celebrities it can attract to pat the kids on their back.

Don't get me wrong, I think this does help and is a good thing, the recognition will help spread FIRST's message. I just wish FIRST would bring in more engineers and the likes. Speakers from TED talks would be great, after all these are the people would inspire people to follow their paths, the same paths FIRST is trying to promote.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is much more than a former basketball player. He's a Cultural Ambassador for the United States, appointed by Hillary Clinton. He's written a children's book highlighting the accomplishments of African American inventors. He's also an advocate for STEM education. So before anyone assumes that he's just someone who specialized in putting a ball in a net, please do some research and you'll learn that Kareem is a great role model who has a lot to teach us. Just because someone's an athlete, doesn't mean they're automatically a bad fit for FIRST.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

To be fair, you could ask the exact same question about will.i.am (musician), George H.W. Bush (former president), Jon Dudas (patent office) or _____(one of the Google founders who spoke at Championship; the name escapes me right now). Every one of them has been at the Championship, speaking. But other than patents (which can be very dry, boring, and otherwise "who cares" to the outside public), what does any of them have to do with inspiring kids to STEM? What have they done that people in general should look up to them?

I think that's 90% of it. It is additional recognition of FIRST, and not for what celebrities it can attract. You see, to be a decent journalist, you do need to get some background. So you go to cover KAJ at this robotics competition, and you start asking questions, maybe not to KAJ, but to the organizers. To the teams. To onlookers. Then you find out what FIRST does and write at least somewhat about that.

Here's the biggest problem with that sort of line. Speakers at the TED talks--"Who's that? Oh, some dude who came up with X technology that isn't practical right now. Meh. I'm going to the mall." That isn't necessarily my response--but I'd be willing to bet that other than a few people, it'd cover a lot of today's youth and/or adults--FIRST's target audience. Interesting topics? Yes. Interesting speakers? Maybe. Interested audience? Probably not. Some of the other options, like Bill Nye--I don't even know if he's on the air anymore--might work, for people that are already out of school and saw this cool show as a kid. (And I don't have a clue who Neil deGrasse Tyson is.) In other words, still not getting to the target audience.

But, if you want to go that way, I'd go for Adam, Jamie, Kari, Tori, and Grant, AKA the Mythbusters. That's a group that both sides--the engineers and the general populace--could relate to.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

As a high school student, i wholeheartedly agree.

This discussion is very relevant to me because i watch TED Talks, i watch mythbusters, i love basketball, i love Bill Nye, and I know who Neil deGrasse Tyson is.

Out of all these people I would hands down choose KAJ to come to championships. The man is a legend. The game is about basketball. He has scored more points than anyone ever in the NBA. (Also see Karthik's posts on all the other amazing things he's done)

TED Talks are great, but there are so many different speakers and none of them are too famous so that wouldn't be as great.

Bill Nye is amazing. He does not do TV shows now, however he was just recently at a science teacher conference that my teacher went to. She said everyone followed him around like he was a celebrity. I would just barely choose KAJ over Bill Nye, mainly due to my love for basketball. From a political/business/FIRST standpoint, if this game was from 2000, I'd choose Bill Nye, because he was still an iconic celebrity in culture. Not that he isn't famous now, but I think KAJ could pull more media coverage then Bill Nye can in 2012. Mythbusters is hard for me to gauge on a business standpoint. Kari, i believe, was at VEX world last year. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

An important factor we're missing here is that the people still have to agree to go to Champs. For all we know Bill Nye was asked, but he's busy this weekend. We can't assume that KAJ was #1 on their list, and maybe KAJ asked FIRST if he could come.

A nice solution would be to get all of these people, but I think KAJ is the right move if you have to pick one.

-Duke

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Karthik again.

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

I run into this problem way too frequently with Karthik.

Karthik: stop making excellent, well thought-out and relevant posts! Sheesh! ;)

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

Andy, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?


See you in St. Louis!!

Re: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to attend Championship!
 

This is going to be great.
-JV(2073)