Hakeem The Dream - An Official Hall of Famer

I wrote my long Olajuwon makes the Hall of Fame post back in April and didn't want to rehash the same thing. However, it's still a special time when the greatest Houston Rocket all time, the arguable best center of all time, and the inarguable top 3 center of all time, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon is inducted into the Springfield Hall.
Here is the induction ceremony the Rockets held for him in April:




Here is a link to his acceptance speech (Note: If anyone has an embed link for it, send it my way and I'll post it here)

And as much as I don't think Ewing is really a full fledged Hall of Famer, Hakeem was extremely complimentary of him, so that's good enough for me. Also, every picture I've seen of Hakeem and Patrick seems to show that The Dream is taller. Now I know for an absolute fact that Olajuwon is not really 7 feet tall and that he's probably closer to 6'10 than 7', so what does that mean about Ewing? Has he shrunk 3 inches? I always thought he was a true 7 footer? I will get one jab at Ewing in here though, as eloquent as Hakeem was, and remember, English is like his 8th language, Ewing could barely put together a sentence.

JA Adande wrote a great article about Hakeem, and sums up a lot of what I feel about the Olajuwon era. I know that Clutchfans got all overreact-y about it, but there is nothing wrong with that article. Adande wasn't trying to hype Jordan in any way, and it's kind of weak to suggest he was. All he was doing was trying to talk to the casual NBA fan, the guy that only knows Jordan was phenomenal and show that Olajuwon was phenomenal as well. No, he wasn't American, he was one of the first International players to dominate, and everyone should know it, not just Rockets fans.

A great article on the Namesake

There will never be another Hakeem Olajuwon.

I love Yao Ming's game... but he's not on Hakeem's level (yet).

Check out this excellent article in the Chronicle on Hakeem and how it was he made it to Houston to begin his path to the Hall of Fame.

Oh, and suck it, David Robinson -- I never get tired of this clip:

From the "that's obvious" department: Hakeem Olajuwon elected to Basketball HOF

Hakeem is a Hall-of-Famer. Officially.

This is not exactly "news" or "surprising" or even the slightest bit informative. We've known Hakeem was a Hall of Fame basketball player since 1994. (Okay, *I* knew before that, but the world couldn't debate me after 1994.)

Why 1994? Because Olajuwon destroyed some chump named Patrick Ewing. While Ewing's coach sat idly by and did next to nothing except try to ugly up the game and foul everyone.

What's that? Ewing got elected to the HOF, too? And Riley? Bullshit!

The namesake for the Theory that a team gets better when he leaves is a hall of famer?

Riley tried to ugly up the game for nearly a decade (New York, Miami) - to the extent the audience had enough and forced significant rule changes by the league to increase scoring. But he gets rewarded, too? Weak. So very, very weak.

Now Hakeem has to share the stage with these two lesser individuals? Shenanigans!!

(and Dick Vitale? Ugh.)

Congrats on making the Hall of Fame, Dream! We'll be sure to edit out these other guys from the induction ceremony as best we can...

Getting back on topic - Go Rockets!

I have an urgent and horrifying news story.

I need everyone to stop what they are doing... and listen.

It's a ROCKETS CANNONBALL!!!!!

No - really, I have big news. The Rockets are going for TWENTY (20) wins in a row. Tonight. Yes, tonight. The good guys have traveled out to Atlanta to take on the Atlanta Hawks. An under .500 Eastern Conference team. Which means if we somehow were to lose, I am going to cry. All night.

Flashback: In the fall of 1993, the Houston Rockets started the season 15-0. Yes, the 1993 Houston Rockets kicked a ton of ass, but that's another story for another time. Anyway, the 16th game on the schedule saw Hakeem, Otis, Horry and Sam I Am have to travel to Atlanta to take on the Hawks. Granted, those Hawks had Dominique Wilkins, but we still should have won.

Instead, the Rockets had plane trouble and didn't get into Atlanta until late from New York (yes, they had to play a back-to-back after facing the Knicks. Such b.s.). They were so late that Veronica Corningstone almost had to play in Hakeem's place. Hakeem should have punched someone right in the ovaries for that insult, but it was too late and the damage was done.

What was the result? An ugly, ugly, ugly 133-111 loss. It was horrible.

[edit: Lee is mad and says I stole his story idea relating to the '93 Hawks game. This is semi-true.]

Let's hope the gang learns from that history lesson and takes care of business tonight.

No Yao (and no Hakeem)... but there shouldn't be any problems. Unless Carl Landry can't play. We need him back!!

Go Rockets!