I've been covering Ice Cube's Big Three League for Steemsports over the last couple weeks. If you're not familiar with it, it's a league founded by world-renowned rapper and actor Ice Cube and entertainment industry executive Jeff Kwatinetz. There are eight teams in the league, and each game is a 3-on-3 contest played between former NBA stars and role-player type people. All four games between the eight teams take place on Friday night at different NBA arenas throughout the US, and you can catch the action on Fox Sports One if you have that in your cable. They have guys like Baron Davis, Amare Stoudemire, Stephen Jackson, and Rashard Lewis suiting up.
One guy who I wasn't familiar with was a man named Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I first saw him lace up for the Big Three team 3-Headed Monsters and thought WOW....that dude is old! At age 49 he stands at a spritely 6 feet tall(about 1.83 meters) with a healthy head of dark grey hair and a full, silver beard. He's unusually swift and steady on the perimeter though for a guy his age. He's juking and jamming dudes all different types of ways whether it's freeing himself up for a long-ball, or moving his defender just the direction he needs to in an effort to clear up a good look for his teammate.
In Week 3 of the league, he hit clutch basket after clutch basket against the squad "Killer 3's" which employs former stars Stephen Jackson, Metta World Peace, Alan Anderson, and Chauncey Billups. He even sunk the shot that won the game! In the following week, he made a last-second pocket pass to a wide-open Qyntel Woods rolling to the basket who slammed it home for the game-winning dunk against the only other undefeated team in the league, Tri-State. So in both instances, he had his hands all over the game-winning plays of his team's last two games. He's making his presence known to onlookers, whether it's reminding them that he once existed in the league, or introducing himself to new fans through his stellar play. Check out two videos below for highlights. They're truly inspiring! I almost want to buy his Big Three jersey!
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf EPIC (20 pts) Full Highlights vs Killer 3's | Week 3 | BIG 3
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Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (14 pts 4 ast) Full Highlights vs Tri-State | Week 4 | BIG 3
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All this viewing of the Big Three League has led me to discover the struggle and legacy of a player I had no idea about. After that Week 4 display of excellence, I gathered my laptop and pulled up his name in Google. I soon learned that he was quite a talented college and NBA player, who had some incredible victories and stats under his belt. He averaged 30 points per game his freshman year at LSU while turning in 48, 53, and 55 point games against Louisiana Tech, Florida, and Ole Miss respectively. After averaging 27.8 points a game his sophomore year, he declared for the 1990 NBA draft where he was taken by the Denver Nuggets third overall.
He was no slouch in his professional career either! He once scored 51 points against the formidable Utah Jazz in 1995 and put up 32 against Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the season they went 72-10. They gave the Bulls one of the ten losses that they incurred that year! He was a quick, pint-sized, sharpshooter who had excellent vision and feel for the game. He was like a less ridiculous Steph Curry but in the 1990's. He shot a historical and INSANE 90.5% from the free throw line over the course of his NBA career. One of the greatest to ever shoot it from the charity stripe.
He had a rough first few years in the league though. He failed to live up to the expectations of a #3 pick, and many began doubting his ability. His first year he averaged a so-so 14.1 points per game (after being touted as a mini-Michael Jordan on draft night), and then his scoring average dipped to 10.1 his sophomore year. He struggled mightily early on because he felt just a little lost overall in his journey of life. He found his rhythm in 1993 and put up some incredible games for the Denver Nuggets, averaging 19.2 points a game. He finally began living up to expectations and seemed like a player destined for big moments in the league, but one act of defiance derailed his promising career and eventually led to him being blackballed from the league.
Mahmoud Abdul Rauf was originally named Chris Jackson. He changed his name after he converted to Islam in 1993. Kareem Abdul Jabbar (originally named Lew Alcindor) converted to Islam too back in 1971 during his Milwaukee Bucks playing days, which led to some intense backlash from some less open-minded members of the Bucks fanbase.
Most people who were around when Abdul-Rauf played remember his name because he was one of the first guys to protest the United States National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", in a major sporting event. During the 1995-96 NBA season, he started staying in the locker room or stretching on the sidelines when they played the anthem. When it kept happening, some reporter asked why he wasn't engaged during the anthem. His answer turned his life, playing career, and the sports world upside-down.
His words on the matter were that he viewed the flag as a symbol of oppression and racism. He cited his religious convictions saying, "“You can’t be for God and for oppression. It’s clear in the Quran, Islam is the only way. I don’t criticize those who stand, so don’t criticize me for sitting.” He ended up being suspended indefinitely without pay, which ended up lasting only one game and costing him $32,000 of his $2.6 million dollar salary. The league, media, and public hammered him hard. He ended up at an eventual resolution with the league where he was to stand in a praying position during the anthem, which he obliged to.
Even though they came to a compromise, some people lashed out hard at his gesture. People bombarded him with death threats via mail and phone, "KKK" was sprayed nearby the construction site of his soon-to-be home, some local Denver DJs barged into a mosque during a service and blasted the National Anthem to people who were just trying to pray, and some radical people burned his house down in 2001.
He was eventually phased out from the Nuggets by trade at the end of the 1996 season. The Nuggets traded away a guy who was their leading scorer (19.2 points per game) and main distributor (6.2 assists per game). He toiled endlessly on the Sacramento Kings for two years while they doled out inconsistent minutes to him, and after his contract expired no team would grant him the time of day for a tryout. All this while he was smack dab in his prime at the age of 29. Teams didn't want to deal with the controversy, kind of like we are seeing in the NFL today.
My dad was the first one to tell me that Mahmoud was known as the first guy to protest the anthem. It was immediately interesting to me because as we gear up for the 2018 NFL season, it's still a hot button topic in the American national discourse. The Miami Dolphins just released a a statement saying any of their players who don't stand and salute during the anthem will be penalized by the team. Colin Kaepernick seems to have been blackballed from the NFL in a way that Mahmoud was in 1996, but to me, it seems like people were even less open to the idea of a peaceful protest to the anthem in Mahmoud's time than they are right now.
Once I heard about Mahmoud's protest I immediately understood why that I, and a lot of others in my generation, have never heard of him. He probably would've gone on to be an excellent player on a contender in the late 90's and early 2000's. If you stuck him on the right team he could've swung a playoff series, and thus NBA history. Instead, his potential and legacy were brushed under the rug because of his convictions. It happened to Abdul-Rauf, now it's happening to Kaepernick and others who are standing up.
When Mahmoud looked back on his actions, he remarked
"I want to live and die with a free conscience and a free soul when it’s all said and done. That’s the journey I’m on,” Abdul-Rauf said. “I had to make that decision for myself and I found that after I did that, it took off a huge weight. Do you get ridiculed? Do you hear the nonsense? Do people try to assassinate your character? Yes, but when it’s all said and done, you’re like, man, I feel good because I know that I’m standing on something that I believe in." Source: The Undefeated
I think the best thing that people can do on both sides of the debate is just to try and listen to one another. I can empathize with the people who choose to non-violently protest the anthem over issues such as systematic oppression and police brutality. I was also never in the armed services, and I know the national flag and anthem mean a lot in particular to those who served. Still, I respect the heck out of those people for their willingness to sacrifice their chance to live for the people they love and protect back home. I believe the differing sides aren't mutually exclusive: people are capable of understanding the hangups from both sides. But when we discuss this sensitive issue, we should do so with civility and an intent to understand one another. We shouldn't result to threatening people with racial slurs and burning their houses down.
At this point, racial issues and protests in sports will not go away despite the league's efforts to silence its players. When Abdul-Rauf was ousted, Kaepernick stepped up years later. Now that Kap probably won't play in the league again, new people will come along in the future to continue the discussion. We better start trying to understanding where one another is coming from now. Thoughts and feelings need to be communicated, not silenced, or else it'll just lead to festering wounds.
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