ducks,
My dad has diabetes. It ain't a cheap thing to deal with.
As do I. I have type 2, I think Mikan had type 1 which is more severe. Even with type 2 and insurance, it can get expensive. I saw that and my heart almost stopped. It has given me major incentive to finally get my health straight.My dad has diabetes. It ain't a cheap thing to deal with.
Exactly. And somehow I doubt the NBA provides insurance for retired players.
You guys can Monday Morning Quarterback all you want, but the Mikan family needs the help, and The Big Philantrophist offered it.
There's no need to read into this matter further. We should be applauding Shaq for stepping up rather than questioning his motives.
I know it is not cheap
I just asked how much did he make?
I know he did not make what the nba players make now
I have heard of some rich people having to gone broke
they did not spend their money wisely.
the guy should have had life insurance also. WHO KNOWS IF HE DID. Yes it was nice that Shaq did. But I do not think other nba players should expect something like that.
would you guys want shaq helping rodman out with his money problems?
You're right, we should stop being so cynical of people maybe he does have some grand scheme to help guys like Mikan. Since I'm sure Shaq is reading this I apologize for thinking wrong of him.Shaq should be given the benefit of the doubt.
You keep creating hypothetical scenarios that DON'T PROVE !!! THE POINT IS YOU DON'T KNOW IF SHAQ DID HELP MIKAN IN THE PAST, AND YET YOU'RE WILLING TO ASSUME HE DID. ME, I'M SKEPTICAL ABOUT SHAQ'S INTENTIONS JUST AS I WOULD BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT TIMS IF HE DID THE SAME THING THE SAME WAY. I think Shaq is a crafty SOB and I wouldn't put it past him to do this for press, you on the other hand seem to think he's a saint.
somehow I imagine alot of other people other then nba players have to buy insurance
if shaq is such a saint why after game 4 did he not talk to the press?
well according to the espn she said that shaq told her he did not want to say something that he would be sorry for?
otherwise he could not talk to the press because he could not control himself
I never said he was a saint. Just that he did a great thing here to help out the Mikan family and all the skeptics on this thread need to just shut up and appreciate the gesture.
There's a difference between a guy (Mikan) and his family going broke due to dealing with kidney and diabetes related health problems and a guy blowing it all on hookers and drugs (Rodman).would you guys want shaq helping rodman out with his money problems?
I've come full circle on this one. I think the point is the greater good far outweighs anything else. We should encourage people to donate, no matter what their motives are, so criticizing people when they do donate doesn't encourage future donations. Even if the s of the earth (which shaq is not) wanted to do something good, we should just except the jesture without judgement.
I'm not judgemental so please forgive my previous post guys.
If ANY basketball player responded the way Shaq did I would say they lacked class. Jim Gray asked him a question about the game and Shaq responded by saying, "Blah, blah, blah I'm letting the world know I'm paying for Makin's funeral."
I sat there for a second and thought....WTF???? WHAT does that have to do with the question Gray asked and why announce it to the world unless you are a media hound and want attention. Had he done it in a personal interview and said he wanted to bring attention to the plight of the families that would have been a different story. It was the way it was done and IT LACKED CLASS!
i don't see how people can criticize shaq for this. public or private, it was a nice gesture that took some of the financial burden off of mikan's family.
like aggie, i'm not calling him a saint, but i am glad that he did something charitable to help the mikan family.
I think class is irrelevant. Shaq could be doing this for a tax writeoff for all I know and it's still a uva kindness that he's under no obligation to be doing.
I already said what I think about the issue, but in response to ducks...the money George Mikan made when he played as the top player in the 1940s-50s was paltry compared with today's standards, or for even regular, everyday people like you and me. His contract for $60,000 over 5 years, 1947-52, was during the heart of his career and was the top contract in that small league at the time. Divide 60,000 by 5 and see what you come up with.
That's about $123,000 per year adjusted for inflation. Compare that to the league minimum of $1.2mm or so and that aint squat especially for such a short period of time.
Emotional time for Mikan's family obviously. I wonder if Shaq asked Mikan's family if they wanted him to make a public announcement that he'd pay for their father/husband's funeral whether they accepted or not.
agree
If I remember correctly, Rodman didn't go announce it. If he would've done it and it leaked out, I would be thinking tons differently.You guys will look for any reason to hate on Shaq. So it was done with the knowledge of the press. So what? He's still taking on the financial burden of the family, who is struggling from what I understand. Whether or not it's in the news, he's still helping out a family in need. The press can, and will, get a hold of any news. There's absolutely no way that would've been kept under wraps.
Dennis Rodman offered to (and did pay, I believe) for the funeral of James Byrd, the handicapped guy who was dragged to his death somewhere in Texas. That was all over the news, but it was still a damn nice thing to do.
You don't know, so who are you to say if we do or don't.Even if it is relative to you give 50 cents to a homeless person, or an occassional dollar to charity, how many of you do that? I'm sure you'll all step up and say "well, I give this, and I do that" but I'd also venture a guess that so many of you are full of .
I truly doubt that Tim would announce it as he is being intreviewed, same for David R. They're not that type of people.If Tim Duncan funded Iceman's funeral, it would be all over the news here, and you guys would be calling Tim Duncan a saint, and you know that.
Please explain to me the difference in the Spurs donating that huge check to the Carver Academy, and this. News was all over the story about that check, and everyone talked about it. Or how is it different than David taking his own money to open up that school? That's been locally and nationally covered ad nauseum.
If the Spurs were really a bunch of good guys, they would've sent that check anonymously, right?
If David were really such a good guy, he would've opened that school anonymously, right?
There is a difference, David doesn't really announce it in the press unless he's asked about it. He doesn't harp about it, he's doing it because he truly believes in what he does. How do you open a school anonymously?????????? He needed help with funding, besides putting up $11+ million of his own money. Tell me of another player putting that kind of dough up.
If he truly wanted to help out, he would of just sent a check, or found out where they planned to do the funneral and payed. Not by this, this speaks volumes to me.
Do you really think they're going to call, come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!O'Neal said Thursday that he wants the Mikan family to contact the Miami Heat offices, so arrangements can be made for him to handle funeral expenses for the league's first dominant big man.
What times are we living in when 123,000 a year is not enough to secure a living. My parents made close to 95,000 a year for most of my dad's career, and they managed to save up enough to live confortably for the rest of their lives.
Bottomline is neither Tim nor David would mention it in an interview unless asked if they were doing it. You of all people should know this.
thanks solid d
I did not have the time to see what he got paid
He wants the family to contact the Miami Heat offices???? I thought he was a good friend of the family!!!!??? Give me a break!O'Neal said Thursday that he wants the Mikan family to contact the Miami Heat offices, so arrangements can be made for him to handle funeral expenses for the league's first dominant big man.
Sorry totally inappropriate on Shaq's part. Funerals are emotional and private times not times to be generating a media circus unless the deceased family choses so for whatever reasons. Shaq should have had Heat officials make the offer to Mikan's family and the family decide if they wanted to accept the offer and if they wanted to, themselves, Shaq or the Heat organizaation make it public. Take your pick, Shaq is stupid, inappropriate, a publicity hound or all of the aforementioned.O'Neal said Thursday that he wants the Mikan family to contact the Miami Heat offices, so arrangements can be made for him to handle funeral expenses for the league's first dominant big man.
We don't know anything, guys. He also was undergoing kidney dialysis. Who knows if he had insurances, or could get it with his health problems.
$123,000 is eaten up pretty quick if you don't have insurance.
He did receive monthly pensions by the NBA: $1,700, and actually pressed the NBA to increase the tiny pensions of players who played before 1965.
He was also a lawyer, however, so I don't know how much he made doing that.
However, as I said, I think all these players who are making millions of dollars a year could afford to help the first basketball "superstar."
He really helped make the game popular: in 1949, Madison Square Garden marquee read: "Mikan vs. the Knicks"
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
NBA great George Mikan dies at 80
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) -- George Mikan, the "gentle giant" who a half-century ago brought fame and stability to the fledgling world of professional basketball and literally transformed the game, has died 18 days shy of his 81st birthday.
Mikan died Wednesday night at a Scottsdale rehabilitation center following a long fight with diabetes and kidney ailments. His right leg was amputated below the knee in 2000, and he had undergone kidney dialysis treatment three times a week for five years, son Terry said.
A superstar decades before the term existed, Mikan was the first big man to dominate the sport. No one before had seen a 6-foot-10 player with his agility, compe iveness and skill.
When the Minneapolis Lakers came to New York in December 1949, the marquee at Madison Square Garden read "Geo. Mikan vs. the Knicks."
"He literally carried the league," Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy said. "He gave us recognition and acceptance when we were at the bottom of the totem pole in professional sports. He transcended the game. People came to see him as much as they came to see the game."
College basketball ins uted the goaltending rule because of him, and the NBA doubled the width of the free throw lane. Slowdown tactics used against him - his 1950 Lakers lost 19-18 to the Fort Wayne Pistons in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history - eventually led to the 24-second shot clock.
"George Mikan truly revolutionized the game and was the NBA's first true superstar," NBA commissioner David Stern said. "He had the ability to be a fierce compe or on the court and a gentle giant off the court. We may never see one man impact the game of basketball as he did, and represent it with such warmth and grace."
Shaquille O'Neal, speaking after Miami's playoff victory over Detroit on Thursday night, said he wanted the Mikan family to contact the Heat so he could pay for the funeral.
"Without No. 99, there is no me," O'Neal said.
Terry Mikan said he appreciated O'Neal's offer but said it would be up to his mother whether to accept it.
"It just speaks to what Shaquille is all about," Terry Mikan said. "He had a bond with my dad. They were close friends."
A private memorial service is planned in Scottsdale on Monday night. At some unspecified date, a public ceremony will be held in Minneapolis, where Mikan's ashes will be interred, Terry Mikan said.
Ray Meyer, who was in his first year as DePaul coach when he began transforming Mikan into a basketball star, said that despite Mikan's longtime illnesses, he was shocked and saddened at the death of his lifelong friend.
"He had the most positive at ude you ever heard," the 91-year-old Meyer said. "Never once did he feel sorry for himself. He was a great basketball player, but I think he was a better human being. I loved the guy. I thought he was one of my family."
Mikan was moved last weekend from a Scottsdale hospital, where he had been for six weeks for treatment of a diabetic wound in his leg.
"He had a fierce determination to excel, which he exhibited in his athletic career and business career," Terry Mikan told The Associated Press on Thursday, "and that probably extended his life five years."
Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five league les in the first six years of the franchise's history. Nearsighted with thick glasses, he was as rough on the court as he was mild-mannered off it. Mikan led the league in personal fouls three times and had 10 broken bones during his playing career. He averaged 23.1 points in seven seasons with Minneapolis before retiring because of injuries in 1956. Mikan was the league's MVP in the 1948-49 season, when he averaged 28.3 points in leading the Lakers to the le.
"Ed McCauley was our center. Eddie was 6-9, but weighed about 185 pounds where George was probably 250," Cousy recalled. "When we'd walk down the street in a group, Eddie would brush against a pole or big tree and say `Excuse me George.' Even to someone close to his height, George seemed humongous."
A statue of Mikan taking his trademark hook shot was dedicated at the Target Center in Minneapolis in April 2001 at halftime of a Timberwolves-Lakers game.
"We were in hiatus a long time, the old-timers," Mikan said at the time. "They forgot about us. They don't go back to our NBA days."
Timberwolves star and 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett knew of Mikan, though.
"When I think about George Mikan, I skip all the Wilt Chamberlains and Kareem Abdul-Jabbars and I call him the 'The Original Big Man,'" Garnett said. "Without George Mikan, there would be no up-and-unders, no jump hooks, and there would be no label of the big man."
The Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and became one of the most successful franchises in professional sports.
"Frankly, without George Mikan, the Los Angeles Lakers would not be the organization we are today," Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss said.
Born June 18, 1924, in Joliet, Ill., Mikan didn't play high school basketball, but when he entered DePaul, Meyer, the young new coach, recognized the potential.
Meyer said he worked with Mikan for six weeks alone, making him shoot left-handed and right-handed, a procedure still known as the "George Mikan drill."
He had him punch a speed bag, take some dancing lessons to improve his grace and also jump rope.
Mikan was two-time college player of the year and led DePaul to the 1945 National Invitation Tournament le. He scored 53 points in the semifinals against Rhode Island, a phenomenal number in that era, and was named the tourney's MVP.
Mikan played one season with the Chicago Gears before moving to the new Lakers franchise.
"George was a giant among men in the early days of the NBA," said Celtics president Arnold "Red" Auerbach, who coached against him. "He was one of the greatest players of all time. He was the first player to really be an imposing and intimidating figure on the court."
Mikan coached the Lakers for part of the 1957-58 season, and was commissioner of the American Basketball Association in 1967, introducing the 3-point line and the distinctive red, white and blue ball.
He practiced law and, in his later years, began pressing the NBA and the players' union to boost the tiny pensions given to those who played in the league before 1965. Terry Mikan said most of his father's awards and memorabilia has been sold. Mikan received a monthly pension check of $1,700, his son said. Under current rules, his widow will get half that much.
Terry Mikan said one of his father's reasons for fighting so hard against his illnesses "was his hope that he would be alive when the collective bargaining agreement was reached and the decision had been finalized on the pre-65ers and their surviving families. He gave his heart and soul to that effort."
Mikan is survived by his wife of 58 years, Patricia; sons Larry, Terry, Patrick and Michael; daughters Trisha and Maureen, and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"I've got one word that describes my dad, and that's kindness," Terry Mikan said. "Whenever he would make a toast at a family function, dad would ask us to raise our glass to kindness, and that's the type of man he was."
I agree shaq's agent should have called them and see if they would accept then make it public
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