With the table now set for the NBA Finals, as the Miami Heat will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder starting tomorrow night at 9 PM, I wanted to address a very important topic before we get all analytical on your asses. People have been talking and complaining about the rapidly-spreading fad of NBA players wearing “nerd glasses”, with the most notable attention directed at Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. For some reason, the fact that Wade even wore glasses without lenses has been something that should be talked about.

Fine. Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about how this fad isn’t anything new. NBA players have always been notorious trendsetters, starting with their eyewear. It goes back to the very first days of the NBA, as star players like Joe Dribbleguy and Kevin Bouncepass were generating buzz with their own ridiculous glasses.

After the jump, I’ve put together a gallery of the NBA’s biggest legends all wearing their own unique eyewear, on and off the court. And if these players are guilty of anything, it’s wearing glasses that apparently don’t have arms. I mean, what’s up with that?

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In the most embarrassing moment to happen to him since he tried to teach Jesse Katsopolis how to play basketball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was scolded by ‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek for asking “What is X” when the question we were looking for was “what is G, you old creep”. Apparently Jeopardy is a family show, and “what is the back of Linda Lovelace’s throat” has never been an answer. Who knew?

You can check out video of the moment below, and don’t worry, it wasn’t shot on 8 MM film.

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Former Los Angeles Lakers center and NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday in Washington, DC as she named him a Global Cultural Ambassador. With this new title, Kareem will travel the world promoting education and racial tolerance, which is a very nice way of saying he’ll show up to places and ask kids if they want to see him dunk.

Kareem was selected by Clinton for her “Smart Power” initiative, because she believes that he will “engage young people worldwide” and young people everywhere responded, “Shaq? Oh, it’s not Shaq? Why isn’t it Shaq?”

He will make his first official trip Sunday when he travels to Brazil for a number of events centering on education.

“I look forward to meeting with young people all over the world and discussing ways in which we can strengthen our understanding of one another through education, through sports and through greater cultural tolerance,” he said.

(Via ABC News)

Jokes aside, I think this is fantastic. Most people don’t hear about Kareem’s efforts because he’s not a current, hip name, but he has done so much to promote the history and cultural significance of African-Americans as inventors and educators – specifically with his book, “What Color is My World?” – so this is truly an outstanding selection by Clinton.

Also, any reference of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar means I get to post one of my favorite movie clips of all-time, so here’s to hoping that he’s appointed to many more positions in the future.

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And now, the weirdest thing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has done since pretending to be a stranger to teach Jesse Katsopolis about basketball — a video advertisement (courtesy of our friends at Buzzfeed) that starts off like a student film about slam dunking fruit and ends up being about the new Smashing Pumpkins album. The people at Buzzfeed agree that the video is WTF and LOL as well as FAIL. I think it’s pretty great, outside of how uncomfortable it is to watch a 64-year old man dunk. Now I know how Celtics fans felt last season.

Of course, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins is a huge professional wrestling fan, so you’d think if he wanted an irreverent pop culture reference for his upcoming album he’d just throw a voice over on the end of this old Road Warriors scaffold match promo.

Hey, it’s less obscure than the original joke I wrote about how they filmed themselves walking in and out of houses to promote “Adore”.

Picture unrelated, but it makes me laugh so much.

On this week’s episode of pissed off former professional athletes, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has been a busy man lately, what with promoting his documentary, On the Shoulders of Giants, which is about the Harlem Rens and their trials and tribulations as one of, if not the, first all-black basketball teams. Rumor has it Jason Williams‘ grandfather played for them.

But Kareem has also been a wee bit upset with the Lakers because Magic Johnson has a statue outside of the Staples Center and he doesn’t. Kareem, who won 5 NBA titles with the Lakers, believes that he did as much as, if not more, than Magic in creating the modern Lakers legacy. Unfortunately for Kareem, who is also the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and 6-time MVP, the Lakers have other issues to attend to, such as retiring Shaquille O’Neal’s number before he’s even a Hall-of-Famer.

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Yes, I know.  A famous athlete was photographed with an attractive woman.  I'll let you commence with the motorboat remarks in a moment, but first I'd like to remind everyone that here at With Leather, we're respectful of hot broads.  This is Denise Milani (official site, MySpace), and you may recognize her from scrolling through the SbB galleries for hours on end.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think Kareem may have a better life than I do.  Let's see… NCAA and NBA championships, a movie with Bruce Lee (not to mention Airplane!), a Hall of Fame career, published author, and the kind of fame that draws DDDangerously hot women to want to be photographed with him.  Whereas I won the spelling bee in sixth grade and can fly comfortably on coach.  So it's pretty close.  (Because I care about you, there's more Denise goodness after the jump.)

[The Blowtorch via Deadspin]