ra celebrate as United reach the FA Cup fin Carrick admits a club of Manchester Uniteds stature should not be celebrating finishing in the top four, but it is still something he would like

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didnt mention either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton by name, but the presidential election was on his mind when he came to Harvard on Saturday to talk to the players on the Crimson basketball team.Nor did the Basketball Hall of Famer need to cite Colin Kaepernick by name when he said current sports stars were getting their baptism in social movements.Im glad to see that the younger athletes are concerned and saying something about it. Thats how we solve things, Abdul-Jabbar told reporters before meeting with the players.The Founding Fathers gave us a great method. But it requires us to listen, and to inform others of our ideas in a polite and understanding way. They have a ways to go.Wearing a Harvard cap and sweatshirt, Abdul-Jabbar ducked his head to get through the door of the conference room overlooking the schools 113-year-old football stadium. Soon he would be joined by the players -- all of them born long after he scored the last of his NBA record 38,387 points.Settling into a chair in front of a fireplace, his latest book on the table in front of him, Abdul-Jabbar said he felt compelled to speak out about a political climate with an emphasis on anger and division.Theres a certain feeling of alarm among segments of our population because the skin color of the country has gotten a little bit darker over the past 20 or 30 years. And that has caused alarm for some people, he said. People of color are patriotic Americans in the same way that white people are.Abdul-Jabbar said it will be difficult to make progress on the countrys issues when the two sides arent listening to each other. A battle like this is not being waged with facts. That bothers me, he said. We should be able to agree on what the facts are.A student at UCLA in the late 1960s, Abdul-Jabbar lived through the Civil Rights movement and said he tried to follow the example set by Muhammad Ali, who was stripped of his title for refusing induction into the Vietnam War. Abdul-Jabbar refused to play on the 1968 Olympic basketball team, saying the country didnt represent him.Kaepernick made similar comments when he refused to stand for the national anthem before NFL games, a protest that renewed the debate on race.Its not easy, trying to motivate people, especially on something as politically volatile as these issues are. People being shot in the street; its a very emotional and a very intense subject, Abdul-Jabbar said. Im sure hes finding that out. But the fact that hes persisting with it, Ive got to give him credit for it.Abdul-Jabbar also answered questions about his latest book, Writings on the Wall; Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White, a series of political essays from the perspective of an athlete, African-American and Muslim. He spoke about the current NBA, which has moved away from centers who played the position like him in favor of 3-point-shooting big men.The three-point shot isnt the answer to everything, he said. Everybody thought that small ball was going to dominate. You saw what happened to Golden State when they lost Andrew Bogut: They couldnt compete. So big guys still have a prominence in the game, and a place in the game that has not been totally eliminated.Abdul-Jabbar said he never regretted finishing college; nor was he tempted by a reported $1 million offer to join the Harlem Globetrotters. He encouraged college athletes -- not just at Harvard, but even at more traditional basketball powers -- to spend more time in school so they could learn the game.The longer that they stay here, the better that they will play, he said. If they stay in college for four years, thats the best way to achieve all that they want to achieve as basketball players. To try to jump to the NBA is not the way to go.It wasnt Abdul-Jabbars first trip to the Ivy League school on the Charles River: In 1972, already an NBA champion, he attended Harvard summer school to learn Arabic so he could learn more about his Muslim faith.It was a tough semester for me, but I learned it, he said, reporting that he got an A.With former Celtics Satch Sanders and M.L. Carr sitting in the back of the room, Abdul-Jabbar said the highlight of his career was beating the Celtics in Boston in the 1985 NBA Finals. At the time, the Lakers had never beaten the Celtics for the championship.Asked where he would rank his performance in the movie Airplane! among his accomplishments, Abdul-Jabbars competitive spirit emerged.Airplane! has done better than any movie that Shaquille (ONeal) has made, he said. Ill leave it at that. Cheap Football Jerseys Authentic . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. http://www.cheapfootballjerseys.us.org/ . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. 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Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player.Michael Carrick has backed Marcus Rashford to cement his position in the Manchester United first team for an awful long time after his breakthrough season at Old Trafford. The 18-year-old has emerged as a key player for United since bursting onto the scene, scoring seven goals in his first 14 appearances for the club.Rashford was a relatively unknown talent until he deputised for the injured Anthony Martial in Uniteds Europa League last-32 time with Midtjylland in February. Carrick has likened the youngsters rise to a fairytale and believes he has the capabilities to remain an important part of Uniteds side for years to come.Speaking exclusively to Soccer Saturday, Carrick; Its a little bit of a fairytale in a way.If you have asked Marcus, he would have probably wanted to get himself into the U21s on a regular basis and taken it step by step. But he got thrown in after Anthonys injury and he has never looked back since. Marcus Rashford celebrates the first goal in the Manchester derby He seems to getting stronger, better and better, and he doesnt look out of place or as though hes is going to be a quick fix - he looks like hes got all the capabilities of being here for an awful long time.United continue their push for the top four at home to title-chasing Leicester City on Super Sunday, with victory for the Foxes enough to secure them a maiden top-flight crown at the home of the 20-time champions of England. Louis van Gaals side head into the game fresh from sealing their place in a first FA Cup final in nine years, following Saturdays last-gasp semi-final triumph over Everton.We are on a little run of wins which is nice, Carrick added. At the end of the day that is what it comes down to.At times this season we have played well - at Leicester for example - and we didntt win the game although we thought we deserved to win.dddddddddddd Anthony Martial sent Manchester United into their first FA Cup final since 2007 with a late winner at Wembley Its about winning the games, though, there are times throughout the season when results havent always shown the performance but it works both ways, weve won when we havent been very good as well.At this stage its about winning and picking up points and finishing the season as strong as we can.Victory on Sunday, while halting Leicesters title charge, would see United stay in touch with Manchester City and Arsenal in the race for European qualification. Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Daley Blind, Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, Anthony Martial and Ander Herrera celebrate as United reach the FA Cup fin Carrick admits a club of Manchester Uniteds stature should not be celebrating finishing in the top four, but it is still something he would like to achieve.Certainly, if you win the FA Cup then winning the cup in its own right is a success, the midfielder said. We havent won that for a long time.I dont think as a club we can be celebrating finishing fourth but, if we get into fourth, it gives us something to go for next season. That is how I see it.Watch Manchester United v Leicester City on Super Sunday, 2.05pm, Sky Sports 1 HD Also See: LVG involved in United planning Redknapp: Fourth wont save LVG No United agreement with Jose Poch keen to replicate Sir Alex ' ' '