Talk:Dikembe Mutombo

Finger Wag
Can we add something about his patented finger wag? It is too cool to be overlooked.

POV
I like Dikembe, but I find this a little point of view, dont you guys agree??? "Antonio Poisonous Cherry Martin"
 * Agreed. And perhaps sexist too. --Dpr 05:04, 6 November 2005 (UTC) (Georgetown grad)

Full name?
I thought his full name was longer than that. KSchutte 01:09, 13 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Talking about Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacques wa Mutombo Akamatonasa Kowialata Tatabokinoltamosa Mutabola si Koshkatamogo Tagakirioksomotolak Makaslkkm Otoomanokorumbo Sinotaocosama Chiwatonakaloso Jamalitpundi Sajalu Mutabaofaka Nihow Chichaw? The bincent (talk) 01:38, 14 February 2019 (UTC)

Photo author rights
Is it correct to add a picture if you made it yourself at the arena? Or are the 'copy'richts still with the team / arena / NBA?

Does anyone know what causes his hoarse voice?--Gusiman 02:08, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Why past tense?
He's still playing as of 3/1/06...just watched him.

It's amazing, i assumed he must be retired by now (not being a devote NBA follower) but sure enough he's still active. He is truly the LAST of the old-school 90s superstars - Jordan, Pippen, Ewing, Olajuwon, Wilkins, Robinson - the ones that kids in the 90s, like me, would wear singlets of.

"unprecedented"
Note that an event is considered to be "unprecedented" if it is the first and only time that it has occured. i.e., it is the only example of such a feat. Mutombo's four Defensive Player awards was unprecedented, until Ben Wallace also accomplished the feat recently. --Madchester 05:45, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Nope, unprecendented simply means that it had no precedent, ie that it was the first time. So even after Wallace accomplished the feat, Mutumbo's was unprecedented. 68.50.151.171 23:42, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

wa Mutombo
Isn’t it redundant to say Mutombo is a wa Mutombo (of Mutombo)? --moyogo 20:55, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
 * *shrugs* That's the way he's been listed in the NBA official register. In any case, does Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje really need two Boumtje's? My understanding is that many African names have apparent redundancies, but I'm not an expert by any standard.  Zagalejo 05:43, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

whatever
i doubt anyone cares, but there are two different weights posted.

Languages/Dialects
What does "and five African dialects" mean? Does it means he speaks five different dialects of a single African language, five dialects of disparate African languages, or that he speaks five African languages? This might be a bit thick-headed of me, but there's a controversial history of calling Languages of Africa "dialects." There's some who feel doing so is degrading as it's sometimes done with languages that are no more similar than Spanish is to Romanian. Others just argue it's confusing.--T. Anthony 03:28, 24 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, these need to be specified; it looks like the listing is taken from the NBA bio in the link, where they are referred to as dialects. It says languages now, but the question I have is "which languages?" I have been able to determine 2 of the five: Tshiluba and Lingala. (There are a lot of Languages_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo, but perhaps Swahili and Kikongo are in the list as well.)


 * Well, his foundation lists 6 languages as being spoken in D.R. Congo, but one of those is French, and it lists Swahili twice (as Swahili and Kiswahili). Can we reasonably assume the other three are Kingwana, Swahili, and Kongo? This seems quite likely if you look at the languages of Kinshasa. Actually they may really mean “five dialects” since Kingwana is just a variety of Swahili.
 * It says he recorded a PSA in Swahili, so I’m going ahead and adding that.
 * And there aren’t “a lot” of languages in Congo-Kinshasa (not compared to, say, India, or South Africa)—the page lists exactly 4 non-French official languages—I think one can infer these are the languages he speaks. —Wiki Wikardo 17:11, 5 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I think it means “four African languages and two dialects of one of those.” Luba, Ngala, Kongo, and Swahili—both Standard Swahili and Copperbelt Swahili. —Wiki Wikardo 17:11, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
 * You can just assume that he speaks the four languages with a "national language status" out of the 214 (or more) languages of the country (according to Ethnologue.com) just because it makes sense to you. I'd say reference needed. --Mᴏʏᴏɢᴏ/ ⁽ᵗᵃˡᵏ⁾ 04:00, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

controversy
I thought that fan at the Magic game was suspended for one year from all NBA arenas

here's the story http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nba&id=2644074

 ROASTY TOAST  04:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm unsure about calling this section "controversy." Although to my knowledge this isn't a policy or written down anywhere, a controversy section usually details controversial / potentially negative activity by the subject. In this case, Mutombo did nothing actually controversial, apart from saying he would go into the stands the next time, which is perfectly reasonable considering what was said to him. Also, he never broke any NBA rules or societal laws, he only said he would. All negative light should be shed on the fan who made the racist remarks, not Mutombo. I'm for renaming the section to something like "2006 Incident in Orlando." That's not that great of a title, but what does everyone think? Please reply on my talk page. -- Tractor kings  fan  04:35, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to do it, not to ignore any opinions, please still let me know if you disagree. -- Tractor kings  fan  05:37, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Humanitarian work
I don't know if any of you saw the recent Washington Post article by Uzodinma Iweala Stop trying to 'Save' Africa, but in it, its asked, "Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned?" I thought this was a good question for WP:CSB, and as I don't know Kanu so well, I thought I'd come over here and add some stuff about Mutombo's humanitarianism.

Anyway, I have a question. The article says he personally donated $3.5 million to the hospital, and $15 millin to its construction. The USA Today article I read talks about the $15 million, but it could be that the $15 million was donated by the foundation through funds raised by Mutombo (possibly including the $3.5 million). Does anybody know for sure about this? Best, Smmurphy(Talk) 16:15, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Age
IS he really 41, how do we know for sure. I thought he was older. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.6.37.146 (talk) 05:59, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

College Stats & Career Earnings Sections
In this article, I found, stuck in without a section of its own in the middle of the article, a quasi-table (lots of information without an actual table) for Mutombo's career earnings and for his college statistics. I have split each off into its own section, but I do not know how to create tables on Wikipedia, so now I'm calling upon a Wikipedia user who knows how to format the information properly. I should also note that none of the information was sourced, so you might want to check and see if it is, indeed, correct. Thanks... 71.127.195.64 (talk) 15:05, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Repetition
I erased the second mention of Mutumbo's B.A. in linguistics and diplomacy, which was in "Personal life". This fact is more relevant under the "Georgetown University" section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by StanHater (talk • contribs) 03:26, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Career ending injury
I think it is a bit early to label this a career ending injury. As of now Houston doctors haven't even checked on his knee and during the game Houston officials listed his injury as a 'knee sprain' which honestly can mean anything from a torn ACL to just a minor injury. Obviously he said that he believes the injury to be career ending, however IMO this can't be said for sure until there is an official diagnosis. As a result I don't think this should be listed as a fact here on Wikipedia. Hadoriel (talk) 10:51, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * If no sources come out confirming the current wording, could we change it to 'what he believes could be a career-ending injury' thus leaving it open?Joncheetham88 (talk) 16:40, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
 * It has to be career ending. According to ESPN  and many other sources he needs surgery for a torn patellar tendon.  Obviously that is season-ending and this is his last season.  Now we wait for the team to make an official announcement to start changing the tense of the article and such.  Sabar Cont 00:31, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Mutombo in U.S. Senate
Since nobody has put this here yet: ;-) 75.62.109.146 (talk) 02:56, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

I meet him during a Rocket's Game
I was working for a company in Houston,TX and was given tickets to go to the floor during pre-game of a Rockets game with my 5 year old son. As all the Rocket players came out on floor, not one stopped to say "Hi" or even a high five to my son, except one. Mutombo, stopped bend down to my son's eye level (about 4ft) and actually said a few words to him. It really meant a lot to my son to have such a super star player take time to talk to him. This guy cares about his fans, the game of basketball, and people. He is the type of man that kids should see as their role model, not players like Kobe.

Birth
Since he was born while Zaire still existed with that name, shouldn't the place of birth say Zaire and not the RD Congo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.246.44.138 (talk) 20:16, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

What about marriage which didn't happen?
I have looked up "personal life" section in this wikipedia entry, but I have discovered this in

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1153364/6/index.htm

>In 1994, when NBA center Dikembe Mutombo was engaged to Michelle Roberts, a med student, Roberts refused to sign a premarital contract the day before the wedding. Five hundred guests—including a large party from Mutombo's native Democratic Republic of Congo—had begun flying in to Washington. "[Roberts] never signed," Falk says, "and Mutombo never married the girl." Calling off the nuptials reportedly cost him $250,000.

It's about the financial problems faced by many present and former athletes. Please reconcile it with what is in this wikipedia entry.
 * Please review WP:BLPNAME. We do not need to list every failed relationship. Morbidthoughts (talk) 19:58, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

Hall of Fame
He was elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (http://www.si.com/nba/2015/04/06/john-calipari-dikembe-mutombo-basketball-hall-fame). This should be added.

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