This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Actually quite proud of the sltrib.com Commentariat today.

I posted The Washington Post op-ed column by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on The Salt Lake Tribune Opinion webpage Wednesday. It was a well done piece by an accomplished writer (even though he's mostly famous for his continued, and basically unthreatened, status as the leading scorer in NBA history) comparing the campaign styles of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, and finding the former lacking in humanity and compassion.

Trump's reply was, as if to prove Abdul-Jabbar's point, ugly.

I was a little worried about what comments might be posted on our version. I shouldn't have been.

None of them went for any cheap racist, anti-Muslim shots or other nasty criticism. Instead, they went right for the classics.

• "My dad says he didn't work hard enough on defense." — Weston Jurney

• "Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!" — flibbidydibbidydob

• "Nice to see that somebody got it. Roger, Over! — Weston Jurney

• "Yes, we got it. And don't call me Shirley." — ...in a handbasket

• "Sorry, I couldn't help it. I have a drinking problem. (Splash!)" — Weston Jurney

• "I picked the wrong day to give up heroin." — SpiroTAgnew

• "What's the vector, Victor?" — Gentler_Reader

The difference between Trump and Sanders — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Special To The Washington Post

"Ernest Hemingway once said that courage was "grace under pressure." Two presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, have recently tested this proposition. And how each man responded revealed the type of person he is and the type of president he would make: Trump authored his own doom, and Sanders opened immense new possibilities as a compassionate person and serious candidate for president. ...

" ... Although each absurd, uninformed or just plain incorrect statement seems to give Trump a bump in the polls, there are only so many times supporters can defend his outrageous assault on decency, truth and civility. Yes, a few will remain no matter what. (One 63-year-old woman told CNN that the Republicans were out to discredit Trump: "They twisted what the words were, because they're trying to destroy him." No one has to twist his words because what he says is twisted enough. He speaks fluent pretzel.) But voters will eventually see the light. ..."

Donald Trump hand-writes scathing note to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — Political Cornflakes | The Salt Lake Tribune

Here's how Donald Trump responded to my essay about him — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | For The Washington Post

"The bully proves my point."