This Spat Very Easily Could Lead to Some Name-Calling

An ego as big as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s is a very ugly thing. Do you really think that anyone could confuse one of basketball’s all-time greats with Karim Abdul-Jabbar, the football player? Does Kareem actually think he has suffered “damages?” Does he really need more money?

Kareem shouldn’t tarnish his wonderful achievements with this kind of pettiness. He needs to focus on his next challenge instead of living in the past.

This is, as Chick Hearn would say, “No harm, no foul.” Maybe if Karim Abdul-Jabbar would have seen this side of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he would have chosen the name of someone with more class.

KEN ROSS

Culver City

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Kareem is “the generous one” and Jabbar is “the compeller.” I am sure those names were chosen for both of you because each has strong inclinations to emulate these attributes. No one can actually claim these names but God. This is why we often preface these names with Abdul, which means “servant of.”

Kareem, if you have, in any way, inspired this name to be chosen by another person, you should be happy and show your generous side.

PAUL JONES

Covina

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Now that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has proven that his ego is as huge as his physique, there’s a simple solution to the problem for Karim Abdul-Jabbar. All he has to do is change his name to Lew Alcindor. Nobody’s using that one anymore.

ALLEN E. KAHN

Playa del Rey