Hood Dwellin'!

"It's normal to see one of these parked in the hood!"

So many times I hear sports radio or television guys criticize professional athletes for having an entourage or for continuing to go back to the hood during the off-season. It trips me out because they act like once a guy makes it to the professional ranks they should completely cut ties with what got them there. Like I always say, "It's hard to leave the hood alone!"

So many times athletes grow up in environments where their family and friends aren't the most honest of people primarily because they‘re in survival mode. Hey, it is what it is. You've heard the old adage "You can't pick your parents, family and where you grew up bruh. However, those same people have protected the athlete from the streets their entire lives because they were anointed "The Chosen One" in the hood. Nearly every ghetto has that one kid that everybody thinks will make it out. So all of the gangsta's and thugs make sure that he has money in his pockets and doesn't want for anything. He'll get a ghetto pass in every section of the hood as long as he's still ballin'.

Even when he goes off to college those same guys will make sure that he's got the new sneakers and clothes. When you're from the hood your parents don't have money to send you a care package once a month bruh. That's why you're from the hood. Big Momma is barely holding it down at home and in her mind with one kid in college that's one less person she has to take care of. However, what most people don't understand is that a scholarship only covers room, board, tuition and books! It doesn't buy toiletries, clothes, or care packages bruh! So guess who supplements all of that for two or three years? The same guys that kept the hood off of his back growing up. Hey, this is real talk right here.

Now when the kid gets drafted to the pros regardless of the sport. The rest of the world expects him to immediately cut off the arms and legs that helped him get to the league. The same arm that gave him a pass to walk to practice as a kid. The same legs that kept the rival gangs from jumping on him when he was walking home from practice every night. The same folks that fed him when his family couldn't. The same guys that paid for him to go to All-Star camp four states over when he was 15! Yes, the same guys that sponsored his AAU team to travel all over the country! Those arms and legs bruh?

See a kid from the suburbs doesn't face the same challenges because everybody that he grew up with went off to college at the same time. They didn't have to worry about money because they had parents that would send them cash while they were on campus. The people that have been loyal to them are family and friends too. Whereas, we're asking the kid from the ghetto to completely cut ties with the same group of people (family and friends) that made sure they ate and had what they needed to get to this point. The only difference between the two supports groups (suburbs vs. ghetto) is that one is legal and the other may not be so legal. It‘s extremely hard to make the separation when they’ve both made the same sacrifices for the kid.

The challenge for the guy that grows up in the ghetto is trying to find a way to still be loyal from a distance. It's impossible to completely cut ties because family doesn’t just include blood. However, they've got to be conscious of the fact that they've got millions of dollars and camera's on them at all times. They don’t have a choice but to frequent the hood during the off-season because grandma refused to move even after they offered to buy her a new house in the suburbs. You know how old folks are? "I've been living here all my life and I ain't going nowhere!"

So when you show up on the block you've got to show love or you'll be labeled as thinking you're better than everybody else. Hey, I didn't right the rules; I'm just laying them out for you bruh! So because grandma is still in the war zone, if you will, you've got to make sure those same gangsta's or the new breed of thugs coming up take care of her while she's still there.

Being a professional athlete from the hood is a very tricky position to be in at a young age. One hiccup can cost you millions. Take a look a Michael Vick. Not saying no to childhood friends cost him his freedom for nearly two years and more than $100 million dollars. Coming out of the hood and making it big isn't as easy as folks think it is because you just can't cut off people that have taken care of you your whole life. It's easy to say he shouldn't have been with those guys in the first place but being with those guys got him to the league in the first place. He just needed to distance himself from them and the foolishness they all were involved in.

So before you judge these guys for having friends and family that aren't the most productive and honest people in the world. Remember, you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. Hopefully as guys mature and become more aware of the world they'll be able to make better decisions. It normally takes guys to turn darn near 30 before they can completely cut the knuckle heads off because cats will start to fall off by attrition anyway. Some will die in the streets, others will go to jail and the rest will just figure it all out and get out of the game completely. However, the athlete will always have to dwell in the hood as long as grandma is still alive and most importantly the hood will always be family!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Bonafide Haters

"Chi-town for life!"

Last year I wrote a joint entitled "The Jordan Effect!" which talked about how Michael Jordan changed the Sports Marketing game forever. That joint has become my most read article of all-time! The reason I wrote it was because so many people were piling on Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls because he's very dull during interviews etc. I quickly reminded folks that Jordan didn't even talk in his first Air Jordan commercials because Spike Lee as Mars Blackman did all of it with his famous, "Do You Know, Do You Know, Do You Know?"

Keep laughing at my guy from the Southside of Chicago and saying that he has no personality. He just signed one of the most lucrative shoe endorsement deals in history, a package that could pay him more than $200 million across the remainder of his career, a source told Yahoo! Sports. The 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player, agreed to a 13-year deal to stay with Adidas that guarantees him $185 million. The deal includes incentives that could push the deal to more than $200 million, a source said.

Keep in mind that ole boy just signed a five-year, $94.8 million maximum contract extension with the Bulls before the start of the season. That means that he just scooped up $279.8 million dollars in guaranteed money with another $15 million hanging out there in incentives bruh! I just want to know where the hater's are that were teasing him a few years ago about not being able to pass the SAT?

During his rookie season I was at a Pacers/Bulls game and saw a guy holding up a sign that read, "Hey Rose, I took my own SAT's!" I immediately thought to myself that he should have gotten someone to take his joint because his seats were terrible. I tripped off of the fact that he bragged about taking his own test but it didn't get him floor seats.

Now I'm not justifying Rose cheating on the SAT. However, he wouldn't have been forced into that situation if the NBA hadn't forced a kid into school that clearly had no intentions of going in the first place bruh! So many narrow minded folks in the world think that the only way you can become successful is by going to college.

Well let me tell you bruh, the only reason that I have a college degree today is because I didn't have an option to make millions of dollars at 18 years old. So I went to college because it was safe. If you've got the ability to make a fortune at 18 then go make it. Not everybody is going to be born with the ability to become rich at something that just comes naturally.

How stupid would it have been to force Whitney Houston, Beyonce', Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder or Justin Beiber to go to college? Before you say it, college wouldn’t have kept Whitney or Michael off of drugs. I know a whole lot of folks with college degree’s that got hooked on drugs bruh! There's only 4 things that a person really NEEDS to have the ability to do; read, write, count and have common sense! Let's keep it real or all the way 100, which ever comes first! If you're born with a special gift and it rears its head early in life. It's meant for you to use it then. Have you ever heard the colloquialism, "Use it or lose it?"

This guy just essentially made $279.8 and he's only 23 years old bruh! I was just graduating from college with a Bachelor's Degree at the same ago and was going into Corporate America for a measly $21K a year. According to Salary.com the average salary range of a person now with a BS is $41,849 - $78,653, for an MBA its $57,286 - $109,553, for a PhD its $62,204 - $115,196! Now keep in mind that these are only averages. There are plenty of people in those categories that exceed those numbers. However, my point here is that folks shouldn't be hatin' on a kid that has the ability to get paid playing a sport, dancing, singing or blowing a horn if given the opportunity.

 Don't trip on D. Rose or people like him if they were smart enough to see that they were blessed with something that very few possess and capitalized on it. Everybody has something to offer the world. Some people figure it out at 18 and others find it later in life. Unfortunately, some people go to their graves never being able to find it because they were too busy worrying about what other folks were doing with their lives.

I'm proud of Derrick Rose and others like him because they didn't just have to play basketball to make it. They had to survive all of the usual pitfalls of the ghetto first. Rose was born and raised in the Englewood area of South Chicago, one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. However, with the help of his older brothers and a praying momma he was able to become the person he is today.

In 1984 Benji Wilson was the best high school basketball player in the nation from the same hood as Derrick Rose. He was murdered on his lunch hour because he bumped into a gang member across the street at the candy store bruh! It's just that easy to die in the hood even you are the best player in the country.


The media doesn't give guys like this credit for making it out of the war and still be sane enough to keep playing ball and conducting themselves accordingly in this world. That's why I ride so hard for cats like this because I know what the war zone looks like and have seen so many dreams perish in the ashes of the ghetto. So when a guy makes it he represents the hood to the fullest and gives some kid still in the war hope that he or she can get out too.

I'm always blown away by folks that are from the hood hatin' on guys like D. Rose or LeBron etc. because they have a complete understanding of what these guys have been though. So to analyze why a guy is doing whatever he's doing or why he did it, is worst than being a member of the media that grew up in the suburbs. At least the guy in the media has an excuse! They simply don't have a clue what it takes to survive the streets! However, the guy from the hood does and that makes him just a bonafide hater!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"The Lew Alcindor Rule!"

Utah's Jeremy Evan's win the "Make Believe Dunk Contest"

The term Slam Dunk was coined by famed Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn. Prior to that it was known as the dunk shot. From 1967 to 1976 it was banned from use by the NCAA because of the dominance of one Lew Alcindor now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You would think that the NBA banned that joint last night as we watched probably the worst Slam Dunk Contest in history. I thought the joint last year was terrible but this was ridiculous bruh!

Just the thought of the Slam Dunk Contest used to excite fans around the world. It was nothing for the best dunkers in the league to step up and compete. Remember how Jordan, Dominique and Clyde Drexler would have you standing up on the couch going crazy. Remember when 5’7” Spud Webb rocked the house and people talked about it for the rest of the year? There are countless players and dunks that come to mind that have made this event so special. It was the event that MADE All-Star Saturday night worth watching or going to.

Now we've been reduced to watching four guys that quite frankly no one except their local markets even knew. I mean C'mon bruh! When Utah's Jeremy Evans can win the dunk contest for jumping over Kevin Hart we've got problems. He's as tall as a piece of paper bruh! Yeah, I saw him put down two but who cares at this point. Then Paul George dunks over 7'2" Roy Hibbert by using his left hand to elevate before taking me to the skating rink with the glow in the dark uniform. Derrick Williams took us to practice as he attempts the same dunk like 48 times! That's like yelling surprise then telling me that the camera didn't work so let's do it again. What was Chase Budinger doing trying to attempt the Ced Ceballos blind fold joint? He darn near killed himself on the first attempt. Then they had to walk him to the basket on the second one like he was Stevie Wonder at the Grammy’s!

Straight up bruh, the NBA owes me money for even watching that on TV. I got a call last night from Sprite saying that they're going to give me a lifetime supply for my troubles. I told them while you're at it throw in All-Star Game tickets for life and we've got a deal. They wrestled with me on that for a while but we finally got the deal done in the wee hours of the morning. It was that bad bruh!

I sound like my pops when I say this but these young boys are made of something different. Nobody wants to compete these days on GP(General Purposes). It’s strictly about the money! How can you be the best dunker on the planet and not be in the dunk contest? Why wasn't Blake Griffin defending his title from last year? It was nothing for guys back in the day to win that joint and start preparing for the following year’s contest. You were the king until somebody knocked you off bruh! It’s like racing down the street barefoot in the hood. You did it until you got knocked off! C’mon I know ya’ll feeling me on that!

How crazy would it have sounded for Jordan to be in his prime and not be in the Slam Dunk Contest? The NBA should be ashamed of itself for that. I say if none of the marquee dunkers aren't going to be in it don't have it! Find something else to do. There is no reason why D. Wade, Lebron and Blake at the minimum shouldn't have been in that joint. If they refuse to show up that's their preference but the NBA should have cancelled the joint or called it the Pretend Slam Dunk Contest. The D-League joint was better than that.

Yeah, I know they made money because people watched it and the ad space sold at a premium. So it really is about the bread, right? With that being said, that's why Jeremy Lin should be in the All-Star Game tonight! He's the most popular guy on the planet and they've already proven to me that being the best during All-Star weekend is of no importance. You don't have to "deserve" to be the best to be in the event as long as people will watch the joint! They should institute fan voting on who get's to be in the dunk contest. You can't just show up off the street because you've got ankles and calf muscles and start dunking. I wish they would have instituted the "Lew Alcindor Rule" last night so I didn't have wast my time bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Ghetto Fabulous!

"Welcome to the Ghetto bruh!"

Anyone that has ever grown up in the hood and is now raising kids in the suburbs feels the pain of Jeremy Lin this morning. We all understood what Lin was going to run into last night even before he arrived in Miami. We've all experienced the same thing with our kids when we wanted to see just how good they really were. Remember the day when you said to yourself, “My kid is the best player in the league and looks like a complete stud but I just don't know bruh!” So you had to put him in the ride and take the inevitable drive. You took him straight to the ghetto where all the real ball players were and he learned that he was good but not as good as advertised.

The rock star known as Linsanity learned a valuable lesson in South Beach on Thursday night. He learned that he still has some work to do before he becomes as good as advertised in the NBA. Don't hate on him though because he's still legit but he's got mad work to do to become one of the elite point guards in the league and New York learned that just by having talent isn't going to get it done.

Winning championships takes more than just talent. It takes team chemistry more than anything else. Not only does Miami have the most athletic and talented team in the league but at this point they've got the best team chemistry as well. It's hard to match up against that bruh! I don't care who you are. Even if you're the legend they call Linsanity.

The Heat were simply too much for the Knicks blasting them 102-88 in route to their eighth straight win all by at least 12 points. Miami now has the best record in the league at 27-7. The Big Three were however, as good as advertised on South Beach by putting up big numbers; Chris Bosh scored 25 points, Dwyane Wade added 22 and LeBron James finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for Miami.

Simply put bruh, there was nothing Jeremy Lin could do to stop the on slot. Not only did Miami show up on offense but their defense was ridiculous all night long. Lin has been averaging 6 turnovers a night but against the Heat he turned it over 6 times in the first half. It's not a knock on him he just played against the absolute best team in the league that happens to play defense.

He was 1-11 from the field, eight points, three assists when he's been averaging 23.9 points and 9.2 assists over his first 11 games. Hey, it is what it is! Remember after your kid played his first game in the ghetto and he sat in the back seat crying because he'd never been handled like that before? You felt bad for putting him through that but it was necessary for his growth and development not only as a basketball player but as a person. He learned that the level of competition determines how good you are not the just the numbers you put up.

He had to play against the very best in order to understand what it takes to become one of the best. That's what Jeremy Lin experienced last night. Everyone keeps talking about the 38 points he put up against the Lakers but they were a middle of the road team. Most importantly, he wasn’t matched up against Kobe all night either. I know ya'll saw Mario Chalmers in his ear every time he ripped him. If Mario grew up anywhere near where I grew up he was saying something like, "Bruh, I went to Kansas and you went to Harvard! I was born to take the rock from you!" That can be devastating when they were taking it as effortlessly as Chalmers and Co. were.

Now that Lin has been baptized by the best team in the league and he's got a few days off to think about it he'll be alright. New York fans don't trip! You've got a good team but chemistry isn't on your side right now. Once that catches up to your talent just like it did for the Heat this year you'll be ready to roll. Just be satisfied with beating the mediocre teams in the league and surprising one or two of the better ones at this point. Just don't expect to show up in the ghetto and ball out just yet bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.

"Fake It Til You Make It!"

Blake:"Ya'll want some of this bruh?" Fans: "Most definitely!"

Back in the day the old school players and hustlers would always say, "You gotta fake it til you make it young blood." What they meant by that was look the part until you get to where you're trying to go. Always act like you were who you wanted to be and you'll eventually get there. Once I got to Corporate America I learned from more experienced folks that the easiest way to get promoted to a particular position is to already be doing the  job description. Hence, faking it 'til you make it.

I never dreamed that that concept applied to watching the 2012 Sprite Slam Dunk Contest too. Let's keep it real or all the way 100, which ever comes first bruh! None of the best dunkers in the NBA are even in the contest.  This years participants include the Houston Rockets' Chase Budinger, the Indiana Pacers' Paul George, the Minnesota Timberwolves' Derrick Williams and Utah Jazz' forward Jeremy Evans will replace injured New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert (Left patella tendinitis). Who? C'mon man.

They need to just take the dunk contest out of the weekend's events if that's all they can give us bruh! Who are the best dunkers in the league? When you think about cats getting it in and entertaining you who immediately comes to mind? Guys like Blake Griffin, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James at the minimum. They're the guys that when they get the ball in transition the whole building stands up. Well, Blake makes you stand up if he's in the paint with the rock. I'm quite sure you can ask OKC's Kendrick Perkin's about that. I bet he's still waking up in cold sweats about that joint.

These cats in the league now blow my mind. It was nothing back in the '80's or '90's for the best in the game to compete in the dunk contest for league bragging rights. Guys like Jordan, Dominique and Clyde the Glide would go at it. Now once a cat wins the contest they bail out the following year. That's weak bruh! If you win the joint you're automatically in the following year to defend the title until somebody knocks you off.

I'm tired of watching shows that keep selling me just the opposite of what they're advertising. The dunk contest this year will be like watching Basketball Wives. You're pushing a dunk contest with no dunkers just like they push wives when there aren't any on the show. Now I'm quite sure they know how to dunk but they aren't the best dunkers in the league bruh. Now the basketball chicks obviously don't know how to be wives or they would be at this point. They keep hooking up with guys that play ball but can't seem to keep them. They should call it "Basketball Baby Momma Drama!" or "The Get Money Girls" but not wives because it's insulting to all the real wives out here.

Don't sell me Bologna and tell me it's Filet Mignon. I've been around the block a few times and can tell the difference bruh! Fake it til you make it doesn't apply to the NBA once you're in the league. You're in the freaking league. Don't throw some cats on the floor for the sake of throwing some cats on the floor. That's garbage! I mean, the dunk contest used to be the highlight of the entire All-Star weekend. Now it's become an after thought.

The old school players both from the league and the hood will be highly disappointed this weekend when they show up to see "Joe Blow the Jumper" in the dunk contest. It will feature a series of firsts, including four first-time participants or like they say in the hood "No Names" at least from a dunkers perspective, a new single-round format in which the winner will be chosen solely by fan vote, and the introduction of fan voting via Twitter.

The fans should boycott that joint until they get some real live dunkers on the floor. I'm just sayin' bruh! Don't sell me the hooptie by just polishing it up when I'm really looking for the real deal proven joints that Car and Driver recommends.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport                        

Winning IS Everything!

These are the only reasons the games are played! 

Now that the NBA and college basketball seasons are in full tilt everyone is excited to see their particular team play. If we didn’t expect our teams to win or if we didn’t have faith that they would attempt to win we wouldn’t watch them play, right? At the games highest levels the goal hasn’t changed. Herman Edwards, former professional football player and former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs once said, “We play to win the game”.

I hear so many people trying to down play the concept of winning like it’s something that people should be ashamed of. We often hear the old colloquialism, “It’s not whether you win or lose but it’s how you play the game. We’ll… that was written by a person that became comfortable with losing. It was his or her way of justifying that losing wasn’t such a bad thing. I’m going to say it for the rest of us, losing isn’t fun and should never be acceptable.

Years ago when my son started playing organized football I coached his first team. Our team won the championship that year. He was only in second grade at the time. We won the title because our goal from the first day of practice was to win the championship. We told our players and their parents that our intent was to win the championship and nothing less would be acceptable. Therefore, there was a certain level of commitment that we needed from everyone involved. In order to become champions there were certain things that had to happen.

We needed everyone to be at practice on time and ready to give 100% everyday. Our effort would dictate our results. I told them everyday that if you give 100% all of the time, you’ll always win far more than you’ll lose. We never promised the kids that we would win every game but we did tell them that we’d win more than we’d lose. Our team went 8-1 and we won the championship trophy at the end of the season.

On the other side of that equation the other teams in the league told their players and parents that all they wanted to do was have fun. They promised the parents and the children that they would learn how to play the game of football and that they’d have fun. Everyone bought into that. However, they only accomplished one of their goals. They did teach them the game of football but they didn’t have fun. You can’t have fun losing. By teaching the kids that it’s only about having fun, they taught them that what they were doing wasn’t important. I’ve always been taught that you will play like you practice. If it wasn’t important during the week then it wasn’t important on game day.

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything”. Winning is a by-product of your efforts and it’s a culmination of events. The things that we taught our team will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their lives. We taught them that once you commit to the team you’re in and there’s no backing out. Always do your best because others are depending on your effort. Give 100% every time you come to play because you can get hurt just standing around. Does any of that sound like life to you? This has nothing to do with football or sports. That’s the simple formula for successful living.

Winning IS everything! Understanding that concept will become the difference between success and failure. People that become accustomed to losing become those that can’t find fulfillment because of a lack of their effort. They never commit to the team and often get hurt because they get blindsided from standing around. They are the ones that never maximize their potential because losing never bothered them.

Jimmy Connors, the famous tennis player, once said, “I hate losing more than I like winning”. We have to experience loss in order to understand what it is. However, by the mere experience of it we should never to be willingly to accept it. That doesn’t mean that it won’t ever happen. Often times we’re presented with two options to choose from and there’s no in-between. You can choose to pass or fail, go to Heaven or hell or you can win or lose!

Holla At Ya Boy! 

Jay Graves

Hit me up on on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Cuz It's All Business!

Lin should be an All-Star this weekend cuz it's all business!

The NBA All-Star Weekend is the league's premier showcase of the year. It's when all of the games biggest talents are on stage for the world to see. The weekend is filled with other exciting events that include the Dunk Contest, the Rookie/Sophomore Game, the 3 Point Shoot Out and the Alumni Game. Not to mention all of the celebrity parties that will be held just for added measure. Orlando will truly be where dreams come true for real this weekend.

I'm as hyped as the next person to see it all play out. However, why isn't the most popular guy in the NBA not on the Eastern Conference All-Star team? The guy that has taken the world by storm and I mean that literally. Jeremy Lin is like the Beatles right now bruh! He should have been added to the starting line up in light of what he's done over the past three weeks. Throw the rules out of the window bruh!

Yeah, I know that he wasn't on the All-Star ballot at the beginning of the season which included sixty players from each conference: 24 guards, 24 forwards and 12 centers for the East and West. They had only played 20 games by the time the East and West All-Stars were named. Lin should however be an exception to the rule because of his worldwide popularity. He's taken the Asian market by storm with his Taiwanese decent and that's worth millions of dollars to the league. It is called professional basketball for a reason bruh!

Let's keep it real the "Linsanity" phenomenon is the hottest ticket in sports right now and quite honestly he deserves to be a starter on the Eastern Conference team for that reason. The All-Star Game is merely a popularity contest and who’s more popular than Lin right now. Since the starters are selected by the fans he could easily be a starter because everybody wants to see Jeremy Lin play. If Magic Johnson could be added to the West All-Star team and win the MVP in 1992 without even being in the league. Then surely Jeremy Lin could be added to the roster after going on an 8 game rock star shooting spree because the NBA can make ridiculous paper off of him. There are millions of dollars to be made in the Asian television market by putting him on the floor. This has nothing to do with who's better or who deserves to play. It's about who's worth more money to the league.

According to Elias Sports Bureau only four players since the NBA-ABA merger have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200. Those players are Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and the greatest of player ever to lace them up, Michael Jordan. Also Lin has more points 200 and assists 76 during that period of time than some of the best point guards in history. He has more than Isiah Thomas 184-51, Magic Johnson 147-57 and John Stockton 80-82. I only give you the stats to give you an understanding of why he's so popular to this point. Look, I'm not trying to put him in the Hall of Fame. I'm just saying that for the first half of this season he's clearly a fan favorite and should be an All-Star.

 Magic retired in November of '91 just as the season was about to start due to his diagnosis of HIV. So he wasn't even in the league when David Stern stepped in and allowed him to play in the All-Star Game and that had to have upset a lot of players. Not because he was HIV positive but because he wasn't even in the league and somebody missed an opportunity to play because of it. Yeah boyz said they were cool with it but the cat that got left off of the team wasn't I'll bet you that. If you're retired then you're retired bruh! You can't show up and bum rush some body's spot and act like it was OK just because the commissioner and your superstar homeboys in the league were cool with it.

At least Jeremy Lin is in the league and bustin' heads for the world to see right now. Magic wasn't in the league when the rules were bent for him to play. By no means am I comparing Lin to Magic other than why the rules can be ignored. Quit trippin’ Stern and put this kid on the Eastern Conference All-Star team as a starter and make this money. Not only do the faithful NBA fans want to see it but the Asian market will put major money behind the decision to put him of the floor. Do you realize how much the Asian markets would pay for Ad space overseas?

After all, the Dunk Contest is going to be garbage again this year because the best dunkers in the game refuse to participate unlike they did when guys like Jordan, Dominique and Clyde would get down. Save the drama bruh because the contest last year had one dunk and Blake Griffin jumped over the hood of a KIA. Not the top of it but the hood. How difficult was that? It was like jumping over 5 four year olds. Like my man Patrick Henry once said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Well give me Linsanity or give me nothing on All-Star Weekend.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Finally Hungry Enough!

"So this is what it feels like to be hungry, huh?"

Cinderella represents one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. She finally got the opportunity to roll with the big dawgs and showed up in all of the latest gear, riding in a carriage with 26 inch rims and a sound system that could be heard throughout the kingdom. However, at midnight the joint suddenly turned into a pumpkin as she was trying to get back to the crib. The only thing that remained from that night was her little glass slipper.

The story of Jeremy Lin has been phenomenal and I hope that it continues for him. However, if I was his agent right now I'd buy him a little glass slipper to put in his locker and to carry with him in his bag on road trips so that he understands the sense of urgency that is at hand. He's got to stay focused on the task and not buy into the hype whatsoever. So far he's done that!

According to Forbes, Lin is estimated to be worth $15 million dollars because of the sudden interest in him. However, that money hasn't made its way to him yet. That's why if his agent is worth his weight in his license he'd be out there hustling for every endorsement deal he can find. Lin should only be doing 4 things right now; eating, playing ball, sleeping and shooting commercials!

On days that he's not playing he should still be shooting; not basketballs but photos and commercials. He's in New York for crying out loud. It ain't hard to get in front of people bruh! That's why they call it Madison Ave. When you ride down the street all you here is that Junior Mafia "Get Money" bumpin' from the skyline. Lin's gotta get in on some of that action.

His salary is $762,195, all of which is now guaranteed. Since this season is shortened, Lin is really only making about 80% of that, which is $609,756. His contract was just recently guaranteed by the Knicks on February 10, 2012 (the date set by the collective bargaining agreement as the deadline that teams had to make the decision to cut a player or guarantee his contract). Now that's unbelievable money if he was working on some job in the real world but this is the NBA and that’s peanuts.

Obviously, you can't expect the Knicks to pay him several million dollars right now because they had all of the leverage three weeks ago. He was sleeping on his brother’s couch for crying out loud. If they could have they would have offered him $300K but the Collective Bargaining Agreement wouldn't allow it.

So the plan needs to be for his agent to put on that Wu-Tang Clan "C.R.E.A.M." and ride all day. Don't come back until you've got Jeremy's bread. Then do the same thing again the following day but I want to hear you bumpin' that Puff Daddy & the Family "It's All about the Benjamin’s!" If it starts to skip put on that The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Ma$e & Puff Daddy "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems!" But whatever you gotta do, get Jeremy Lin his paper because he’s allergic to pumpkin pie bruh!

I hear you saying that Lin's jersey was one of the top selling joints of the past couple of weeks so he's getting money for that right? Wrong! In the NBA, the total receipt from jersey sales are lumped into one big pool and then all the players are paid equally from that pool. So for example, Detroit’s Vernon Macklin gets the same amount as LeBron and will give LeBron mad love for putting some additional bread in his pocket when he runs into him. So therefore, Lin's money isn’t going to change just because his jersey is being sold.

Now I know some clown Knicks fan is reading this and saying, "Lin just needs to concentrate on basketball and not worry about the money!" Worrying about the money is what got 90% of the guys in the league their major contracts in the first place bruh. Don't think for one minute kids in the hood want to play in the NBA because of basketball. They wanted to get out of the hood, eat and take care of Big Momma and nem first and foremost and then play basketball. Don’t get it twisted.

The only reason Jeremy Lin was at Harvard in the first place with ALL of that talent was because he wasn't worrying about the money when he went off to college. His parents were probably loaded because they don't give athletic scholarships to play in the Ivy League bruh and it costs a fortune to go there. What does all of that mean? He wasn't as hungry as the guys that he was competing with when he first came into the league. That’s why he was in the D-league bruh! He has an economics degree from Harvard. He wasn't approaching playing basketball with the same intensity as everybody else on the floor. He was going to eat regardless.

Do you think that he woke up one morning a few weeks ago and all of a sudden learned how to play basketball? No, he just woke up hungry and tired of sleeping on his brother’s couch! Now he's able to compete with other hungry cats! Most kids from the suburbs never make it because they aren't as hungry as the guy standing in front of them!

As long as Lin can keeps showing up with his stomach growling bumpin' that Bone Thugs & Harmony "For The Love of Money" everyday and looking at that glass slipper he'll be all right! You better believe that guys like Mello, LeBron and others that grew up poor can remember the social worker by first name bruh. They remember not being able to eat some nights or sleeping on the floor every night for safety reasons because of the gun play in the streets. If you've never experienced that and you show up to compete against guys that have, it's like trying to take raw meat from a lion. It’s nearly impossible to do! Once Lin balls out of control and get's his money. Then he can bump that Jermaine Dupree featuring JayZ "Money Ain't A Thang!" Now money may not ever be the motivator for him but he better find something to keep his stomach growling!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

A Chronic Disease!

"Yep, just what I thought!  Classic case of Haterism!"

People go to jail everyday for hustling and running game on innocent victims. It’s illegal to be deceptive in the process of charging folks money for anything. You can't lie to customers about a product only to turn around and sell it to them in no other business but in the news media. It is the only place on the planet that can take information, twist it and sell it to the general public that willingly buy it hook, line and sinker knowing it's all a lie!

A few days ago LeBron James was in Cleveland preparing to play his old team and a reporter asked him a simple question, "Would you ever consider coming back to Cleveland to play?" Instead of saying what he really thought about Cleveland, their fans and their ignorant owner he tried to be nice and in my opinion too nice by saying;

"I think it would be great, it would be fun to play in front of these fans again," James said after the Heat's practice Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena. I had a lot of fun times here. You can't predict the future. Hopefully you continue to stay healthy. I'm here as a Miami player and I'm happy where I am now but I don't rule that out in any sense. If I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me."

All of a sudden boyz went back to high school on us by running out and telling parts of the story. Cats jumped on TV saying, "Did you hear that LeBron wants to go back to Cleveland today? Hey Miami fans how you do feel about that? He's been in South Beach for one year and now he wants to go back to Cleveland."

Stand on your head if you heard anything like that bruh? I felt like I was in the streets listening to the hustlers trying to sell an empty TV shell to some naive sucker. I mean, I thought I was in Harlem somewhere getting worked by a kid playing 3 Card Marley. Clearly the guy that asked the question was trying to get some mess started and Lebron wasn't quick enough on his feet to blow it off.

He’s the type of guy that wants folks to like him and that's his problem! Dude, you can't be great at anything and care about what people think about you. Getting hated on is part of the job description bruh. Like I always say, “If more than 50% of the people in the room aren't hatin' on you. You need to step your game up!”

You have to understand that LeBron is from Akron and he wanted to be nice and thaw off some of the hate going into the game the following day. However, when you have haters there's nothing you can do to appease them but fail. So I would have told the reporter that there is no way I would ever come back to Cleveland to play. I think that it's a poorly run organization and it will always lose because of it. That would have upset the home crowd even more and then I would have went out and burst their heads for 30+ and went to the crib!

While you're playing, they better stop worrying about Lebron and start worrying about Kyrie Irving bouncing in 2 years. Do you really think he's going to stay in Cleveland bruh? When his rookie contract is over you better believe that he'll be out of there too. Chris Rock once said, “A man is only as loyal as his options!” He's going to put up crazy numbers and be very efficient so that when it's time to get out of that joint he'll have crazy options and they won‘t include northern Ohio bruh.

Cleveland fans are like the girl that gets a new boy friend but is still upset with her old one for leaving. So she never gives the new guy the attention that he deserves and he ends up bouncing too. Then she swears off of men completely.

If you saw the interview and you ran out of the house spreading the same lies that the media did. You don't have to take the test bruh! You're positive for hater! There is no cure for it. They've listed it as a chronic disease and it's manageable. That means you can live with it but you've got to take your medicine daily or it can be fatal. Just take a dose of “understanding that you're not very good at whatever it is that you do” every morning and you'll be fine.

Folks that are extremely good at what they do understand what it's like to be hated on so they never indulge in the practice. It's only the insecure folks that aren't very talented at doing anything that have the time to hate on other folks. So if that's you, just take your medicine bruh and let folks that are out here making moves continue to make them!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

The Firm!

"This is really where titles are won bruh!"

So many people watch professional sports, the NBA in particular and never begin to understand how important the front office is to winning championships. I'm constantly blown away by how many people make the comment that LeBron James isn't a great player because he's never won an NBA title. Not realizing that as a player he really doesn't control the outcome of that dream. Players don't win titles, organizations do!

I don't care how good a player is if he isn't put in the right situation to win by the front office he could realistically spend his career in the twilight zone. As good as Jordan was, he spent his first 7 years in the league breaking boyz off with 60 point scoring nights at times; wooing crowds with unbelievable dunks and crazy baseline moves never to make it to the Finals. Jordan was literally fighting his teammates at practice bruh!

It wasn't until the organization recognized that he needed help and that Doug Collins couldn't coach him. He needed players around him that would compliment both his playing style and especially his ego. So they drafted Scottie Pippen in 1987 and then two years later hired Phil Jackson. Every player that they would eventually add was told what their roles had to be in order to play with Mike and they were fine with it. It wasn't until then that they peeled off 3 straight! They later added Rodman for the second leg of the tour and won 3 more. It wasn't all MJ that made the Bulls click it was the front office that put the puzzle together that made them champions.

Don't think for one minute that Jordan would have won 6 titles playing in a joint like Atlanta because not everyone understood how to handle him. However, Chicago did at that time. There is a reason why more than 50% of all the NBA titles have been won by either LA (16) or Boston (17). They are organizationally better than the rest of the league more often than not. Do you really think Kobe would have 5 rings if he'd been playing somewhere like Denver? Not a chance because Denver is and always will be Denver! Just like places like Charlotte, Milwaukee, Toronto and oh yes New York! I said it, NEW YORK!

Do you really think Pat Ewing wasn't good enough to win a title? He was one of the all time greats and played for a front office that couldn't seem to unlock the safe. He wasted all of that talent and his career in the “world's greatest city” that hasn't won a title since 1973. Don’t get it twisted; there is a reason for that bruh. It’s called the front office. Please don’t try to tell me that he didn’t win because Jordan was winning all of the titles because MJ only won 6. Ewing played for 17 years so there was room enough for him to win at least one but not in New York.

It was the organization that recognized that Kobe and Shaq could no longer co-exist and decided to ship the "Big Fella" to Miami and not Kobe. They understood that their future was in the younger of the two even though they had already won 3 titles together. They knew that to force it would be tragic so they rebuilt the car around the new engine and won two more.

Players just play the game that they've been blessed to play with no more or less intensity. It's the front office that has to buy the groceries to make it a 5 star restaurant bruh. Nobody can win a championship without smart people evaluating talent and personalities to put them together in the right situation.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that Kevin Garnett all of a sudden started playing with that unbridled passion when he got to Boston! He's been playing with that same intensity since his days at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago. I know because I watched him play. He finally got with an organization that understood how to put the pieces together to win a title. If he'd stayed in Minnesota he would have wasted away with the same passion that he eventually won a championship with.

Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, two of the best to ever play the game, don't have rings because they spent nearly their entire careers playing for mediocre organizations in Philly and Utah. Their talents allowed them to win games and make it to the playoffs but without a smart enough front office putting the right pieces together at the right time they kept falling short. Like I said before, Jordan didn’t win it all of the time because Barkley played 16 years and Malone played for 19. So there was room to get at least one but not with those franchises. While you're at it, throw in Reggie Miller too. He was one of the best ever but happened to play in Indiana.

So to blame LeBron for not winning a title to this point in his career when he's played every year but the past two of them for probably the worst organization historically in the league is asinine! His talent allowed him to take the worse team in the league within a span of five years to the Finals(2007). Don’t hate on him for being smart enough at 26 years old to understand what most people never figure out, including LeBron hatin’ fans!

However, in year one with the Heat they've gone to the Finals and are destroying boyz in route to another one this year and more than likely the title! Why, because the Heat front office understands what it takes to win. After all, they are the same guys that brought in Shaq to play with D. Wade at the right time! Right? That's why players don't win titles, organizations do bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
To Check out the Video Commentary on this joint click here: "The Firm"

Sneakers?

"Even Jordan is willing to give you a pass on this one bruh!"

Believe it or not bruh, there was a time when men actually took pride in what they would put on to go out in public. I remember when they would give out the best dressed award in school. Boyz would put in work all year to win that joint! If you didn’t win it this year there was always next year. In that day you couldn't get any women if your gear wasn't tight. It didn't matter whether you were a ball player or just a regular student your gear had to be on point!

Now the ball players typically rocked the hottest jogging suits made by Adidas, Puma and Nike at the time. However, it really didn't matter who's name was on it as long as you knew how to rock that joint. Your sneakers had to be clean and you learned how to use a tooth brush to keep them joints looking brand new.
The preps, as they were so affectionately called, wore their cardigan sweaters, polo's and loafers with their designer jeans always pressed or straight from the dry cleaners. Now I was one of the few ball players that could float between the two groups effortlessly. It didn't matter what your program was back then but most importantly you had to look presentable at all times. It was just an unwritten code bruh!

Now you can look like a straight up fool and get a woman. I'm not talking about teenagers either bruh! I'm talking about fully grown men (25 plus) walking around with no pride whatsoever. My wife and I just recently hung out during the Super Bowl festivities here in Indy and even a couple of days ago went to the Case/Avant/Jagged Edge concert. It was like being at show time at the Apollo but where was the sand man when you needed him? I’m tired of giving these cats a pass out here.

Listen to me bruh! You can't dress up a sag! You can't put on a brand new pair of jeans that are still half way down your leg, a 5X sweat shirt, a new flat bib and think you’re ready to go out! Really? Or better yet, put on a jogging suit that's dragging the ground that’s filthy and pick up your date! We'll, I guess you can! Cuz boyz were showing up with women that obviously understood how to dress for a date but had no self-esteem at all. Let me take that back bruh because I saw several women in the joint with sneakers on too. A woman in sneakers is unacceptable on a date at any age (20+).

How do you let a man pick you up dressed like my 14 year old with sneakers and a sweat shirt minus the sag, I must add, when you've spent the entire day getting prepared for the evening? Who does that? Oh yeah, I just said it already, women with no or low self-esteem. Sneakers are forbidden on a grown folks date bruh! This ain’t high school! I don’t care if they are the new Jordan’s. He even understands that he can’t roll with you on this one.

Sneakers bruh and you're grown (25 plus)? I mean at that age the only thing they should be used for are playing ball, working out, running errands in on Saturday morning or going to the game. You definitely a pass if you've got a job that allows you wear them etc. You definitely can't wear them on a DATE and while we‘re at it bruh; DATE means you‘re paying for it and not your woman! C’mon man! I know these young boyz will say, “Man it’s 2012 this ain’t the old school!” It sure isn’t but some rules don’t change like becoming a grown man, having a job, paying your own way, taking care of your family and looking like it when you go out. A grown man in sneakers on a date tells me just the opposite and if these women out here weren’t so desperate they’d tell you the same thing. Sneakers?

Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate those that have collected sneakers over the years because it’s a great hobby. Even a guy with a sneaker fetish knows when to put them on. The more I see guys looking crazy from the ankles up one thing hasn't changed over the years. They still know how to keep them joints looking brand new!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Raw Emotion!

"Ya'll better back up off of my man!"

Sometimes I like to sit in the cut and watch how things play out in the news before I comment on certain stories. The whole Gisele Bundchen situation trips me out. I'm trippin' because for a week people have been blasting her without keeping it real or all the way 100!

This time last week the New York Giants were celebrating their newly minted Super Bowl XLVI victory over the New England Patriots 21-17 in Indianapolis. As great as the win was for the Giants it was just as emotional for the Patriots on the losing end. These emotions run just as deep for the players as well as for their loved ones.

As Gisele Bundchen, Tom Brady's wife, walked to the elevator, someone, presumably a Giants fan, could be heard screaming, "Eli owns your husband!" In a natural and raw emotional response she fired back, "My husband cannot f------ throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times!"

Now let's keep it real, if you saw the video she was speaking to her friends and never once turned to the camera or did an actual interview to make those comments. I thought that it was completely unfair to her for people to pile on when she was being attacked verbally by some idiot Giants fans.

Let's keep it real or all the way 100! I'll tell you this, if they would have caught one of the brother's wives, girlfriends or God forbid one of their Big Momma's at the elevator they would have gotten more than a women speaking under her breath with her back turned. To catch someone in a very emotional state is dangerous bruh and it's even more dangerous dealing with a sister!

I give Gisele props for keeping it to just one F bomb, not throwing her shoe and beating somebody down off of pure emotion alone because that could easily have happened. If you’re going to follow someone around with a camera and heckle them you've got to be ready to deal with the other side of that bruh. She was pissed off about the game and that was natural. It wasn't like she held a press conference and called Tom's teammates out. C'mon man! Let's be serious!

Then at the beginning of the week New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs piled on by saying, "She should just be cute and shout up!" Later to apologize by saying, "Given the fact that it's a colleague of mine's wife, I do apologize for saying that, because I shouldn't have said that," Jacobs said Wednesday. "It's his wife and I should respect that just as much as anyone else."

C'mon Man! If that would have been his wife or mother he'd still be in Indy trying to get them out of jail for moving the furniture and tearing up Lucas Oil Stadium! Cuz ya'll now how sista's get down about their men. That neck would have started working and it would have been on and poppin', especially if she would have been with her girls! OMG!

So get off of Gisele for being emotional after the freaking Super Bowl! This wasn't some pre-season or regular season game! It was the biggest game of the year for all of the marbles and some idiot came at her sideways about the man that she loves and she let a boy have it. She didn't mean to throw his teammates under the bus because if she did she would have done it in a different setting. Before you pile on think about how your wife, Big Momma/Madea or Granny would have responded given the same set of circumstances. I’m quite sure you would slow your roll once you get a load of that visual! Also, if Tom Brady was a real cat he would have backed boyz up off of his wife too!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Cotton Candy

"Man I'm tellin' my momma on LeBron!"

When I was growing up sports many times was the maker of men. Whether you played basketball, football or ran track. Coaches we're extremely hard on you and would say just about anything to you or about you. In the weight room there was a sign that said, “check your feelings and your attitude at the door.” You had to get broken down in order to get built back up. Your feelings about the situation were irrelevant at all times according to the coaches and the other players.

Of course, during that day everybody had some type connection with their dads or a coach that told them how life was going to be and you either dealt with it or you quit. Now days there are so many kids being raised by single moms without any connection to their fathers, a male role model or a coach at all. Unfortunately, these moms aren't allowing coaches to step in like they did back when I was coming up to kick these young men in the rear end and discipline them. As a result many athletes have become as soft as drugstore cotton candy, even in the professional ranks.

Earlier Wednesday, Kendrick Perkins said he was upset that James had sent out a tweet to his 3.5 million followers about the amazing dunk that Blake Griffin threw down on him. Are you kidding me bruh! He's upset because Lebron and the rest of the world commented on him getting dunked on?  Like the other 20 million people that saw it on Sports Center 400 times kept it a secret. How weak is that bruh?

Here's the tweet that Lebron sent out on Jan 30th: "Dunk of the Year! @blakegriffin just dunked on Kendrick Perkins so hard!!! Wow! I guess I'm No. 2 now. Move over #6."

"Did I call him out? I mean, did you read the tweet? Did I call him out? I can see why he felt embarrassed. I don't think I was the only one to react to the unbelievable play by Blake and that's what it was all about," James said after the Miami Heat's 102-89 loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.

Attention single mothers! Stop coddling these boys and allow a man to teach them how to be a man! I don't care if it's your brother, your child's coach or your freaking neighbor for crying out loud. Just because his dad isn’t around isn’t an excuse to raise him like a soft kitten! When I was coming up your coach was the closest thing you had to a father and he was going to act like it on the field, court or track. I've seen plenty of boyz get hemmed up at practice or even on game day for talking back or for not putting in enough effort.

My dad would curse out every kid on the block if they stepped out of line in front of him. Then call their parents. That’s the way it was and people were better as a result of it. Mothers weren’t upset because somebody said something to their child if it was right!

Former Kansas football coach Mark Mangino was fired in 2008 after many of his players complained that he was disrespecting them. He once told a kid at halftime, "You keep talking about being a 1000 yard rusher but you haven't done $%#!." The kid said that coach called him out in front of the team and disrespected him. Are you kidding me? He also threw a kid out of his chair because he was sleeping during a team meeting prior to the bowl. So the player called his mother from the bowl sight and told her that he wanted to transfer. Are you listening to me people? He called his mother and she rushed to his aid! He shouldn’t have been sleeping in the meeting! I’ve seen coaches do much worse bruh trust me on that.

These are the same young men that we are expecting to go out into the workforce and compete one day. Ain't gonna happen bruh! That's why we see women are taking care of grown men right now because their momma's have coddled them their entire lives and they never learned to assume the roll of a man.

“I got dunked on and now my feeling are hurt because LeBron tweeted!” Really bruh? Back in the day if you didn't want to get embarrassed you kept a boy out of the end zone or stopped him from dunking on you. Otherwise, you knew that you would be the joke on the yard until you redeemed yourself.

I know coaches like Vince Lombardi(Packers), Mike Ditka(Bears) and Chuck Noll(Steelers) would never have been able to coach in this era. They were too demanding and wouldn't have catered to these kids the way coaches have to today. That's why Mike Singletary got fired from the 49'rs last year.  See when those guys were coaching they had players that had been taught to respect authority from birth. Athletes now are loose cannons because momma has taught them that they were the man of the house at age 8. Good luck with that bruh because you still have to get out into the world and compete with people like me and I don’t care about your feelings!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.

"Holdin' It Down"

"The greatest Laker ever!"

So many times we get side tracked by the amount of points a player scores or the amount of championships that they've won. Don't get me wrong they are important to a player’s legacy. However, they don't always tell the entire story and it can lead you to becoming somewhat misguided on the point. I wrote a joint last summer entitled “Rings Don’t Always Measure Greatness” that spoke to that very issue.

A few days ago Kobe Bryant passed Shaquille O'Neil on the all-time leading scoring list with 28,607 points. He's now 5th all-time behind Kareem, Karl Malone, Jordan and Wilt. He's in great company with that group for sure. When Magic was asked about Kobe he went on to say that Kobe was probably the greatest Laker of all-time! In my Ochocinco voice, "Child Please!" Magic was just being Magic and being humble!

HE was the greatest Laker of all-time bruh! Points don't tell the whole story. Besides Shaq, Kobe has never had a legitimate scoring threat to take the pressure off of him. He's had to score like crazy in order for them to win and that he did. But if you aren't at least 40 you really can't appreciate what Magic brought to the table.

I know only one person that is less than 40 that knows the history of the game better than anyone and that's my 35 year old cousin, Lovell Cox. If you ain't him you need to watch film before stepping into this one bruh! Some arguments are way over your head and this is one of them. Don't let Magic's humble comments fool you. He was a beast in every since of the word. This guy played all five positions in game 6 of the NBA Finals in 1980 his rookie year, I might add, when Kareem was hurt. He dominated with 42 points, 15 rebounds and handed out 7 assists to win the title on the road against Philly bruh!

Magic had nights like that throughout his career. He wasn't asked to score like Kobe because he didn't have to. He had Kareem and others to pick up the slack. He ran the point and did whatever else they needed for him to do to win. Yes, he has 5 rings just like Kobe but like I say, in basketball, rings don't always tell the complete story. He was a once in a lifetime talent at 6'9" that we'll probably never see again.

Now I give Kobe crazy props but he isn't capable of doing what Magic did. Plus the competition was better in the '80's than you have now in a watered down league if we‘re keeping it real. I know that whatever is in front of you right now seems to be the best but if you weren't there to see it, don't get into grown folks conversation.

That's like when these young bugs try  to say Lil’ Wayne is hot and could hold his own in the ‘80's and '90's in the rap game. Like my momma used to say, "Children should be seen and not heard!" Back in that day you had to be able to creative with the English language. Now all you need is a gimmick and a beat. Nicki Minaj is a prime example of that! Nick vs. Lil’ Kim is a joke of an argument. Lil’ Kim was nasty but she had crazy skillz lyrically. Nicki is a gimmick and has social media on her side to help sell records. It’s a different game now. That's why Nicki has sold more records. Trust me it's not because of talent bruh!

The only cats that are new in the game since 2000 that would have had a chance lyrically then would be Kanye, Ludacris, and Rick Ross! JayZ doesn't count because he's been in the game since '96 and he'll go down as one of the best ever. Top 2 or 3 if not the best ever to hold a mic bruh!

Kobe will retire in the top 10 no doubt but he'll always be the 2nd best Laker. I don't care what Magic says. This is grown man business right here and if you aren't fully grown sit on the stoop and let us talk this one out. This is when you gotta know that you can't contribute to the conversation. It's like when the ole timers would talk about Otto Graham being the best quarterback ever and I thought Joe Montana was the best because he'd won 4 Super Bowls. We'll I didn't know at the time that Otto had won 7 titles in 10 years bruh and for a quarterback those numbers really do count! The only great quarterback that never won a title was Dan Marino who was probably the most gifted at the position to ever play the game. Sometimes you have to let the ole timers take you to school patna!

Magic was the best Laker ever!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

World Champions Bruh?

"Now that it's over,  I can finally sit down bruh!"

After the New Giants had taken care of business in Indianapolis beating the New England Patriots 21-17 in one of the more exciting Super Bowls we've ever seen. It was time for the Lombardi Trophy presentation and to a man I heard guys referring to them as the World Champions. Really? Let's examine this whole league championship thing. For year's I've often wondered why our professional sports teams call themselves "World Champions" once they win league championship. The NFL, NBA as well as MLB all do it. Why?

I think that it's par for the course for Americans to be arrogant and this is just another reason why people from other countries have such  distaste for us. How can you call yourself a "World Champion" when you didn't compete on a world stage? The Giants aren't the world champions! Now I realize that they only play football at this level in America because the Canadian league is filled with Americans that weren't good enough to play in the NFL. However, they didn't play against the world in the Super Bowl. The same goes for Major League Baseball. How can we call it the "World Series" when the only teams that are playing are from America?

The only true "World Champions" are the guys that participate in the World Cup in soccer or the tennis players, golfers and those competing in track and field. The entire world is involved in those tournaments. So whoever wins is the true "World Champion".

Now that the Giants have won the NFL title everybody will be introducing them as the "World Champions" and no one is going to blink. However, if you pay close attention. Every official hat and shirt from the NFL  says Super Bowl Champions!  So it isn't the NFL that is promoting "World Champions" it's the arrogant folks that want to make it look bigger because it's America. If the NFL calls the winner the Super Bowl Champion then it should be called that!

Sometimes we need to check ourselves and our attitudes about who and what we are. Sure, we probably have some of the best athletes in the world. However, that doesn't mean that we've got the best teams in the world especially when it comes to other sports. I can remember back in 2004 when the U.S. Olympic basketball team, which was comprised of NBA players, had to settle for a bronze medal. We probably had the best set of athletes in the tournament but we didn't have the best team. So to say that we've got the best athletes and therefore we should call our league champions "World Champions" is arrogant. 

If there were a world tournament played every year for all of the baseball, basketball and football league champions that would be great. It's cool that the Giants are Super Bowl Champs bruh! We don't need to call them World Champions just to make us look bigger and better. The rest of the world knows that they don't play football like they do in America. So slow ya roll bruh and be satisfied with calling it what it is.

 Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jayygravesreport

My Super Bowl XLVI Pre-Game Speech!

"It's game time bruh!"

"Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed of your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God will only give us the same twenty four hours that he gave us on yesterday to enjoy it. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl since the first day you picked up a football. Now God has chosen you out of the millions of kids that started on this journey with you. There have been others with more talent than you possess, more athletic ability, more style and charisma; but you are the ones that have made it to Indianapolis on this day.

Gentleman, you have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show that world that you belong in America's Game. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not enough to just show up, to bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. God didn't bring you here to have a vacation. So fella's, I ask you, what are you prepared to do this evening?

I've always told you that championships are not won of game day; that championships are only a culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and we were putting in work. When everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you stayed and put in 100 more reps everyday. When everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 miles daily.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going. Your name and picture was immortalized in the book of champions the day that you bought into our mission. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you put in to get to this very moment.

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
So as a result fella's, this game is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to show the world what we've already become. Champions!

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to last the sixty minutes we've been given to decide this thing? We don't have to be the best team; we just have to be the best team during that allotted time. It's just that simple because nothing has changed. The field is the same 100 yards in length and 65 yards in width that it was when the season started. The goal posts are still 10 feet high and 18 feet, 6 inches wide like they were two weeks ago. The refs are still the same guys from footlocker. If you can remember that when you run out of this locker room, you'll return as champions and become immortals in the football book forever.

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably and 24 hours from now you'll be irrelevant to the rest of the world. You'll have what the ole timers would say, "A face that only a mother could love." So how do you want to handle this? I say we go out there and put ourselves in a position to be relevant tomorrow!" Let's go!"

Coach Jay Graves (today)
Hit me up on Twitter: @jayygravesreport
Champions are made not born! Jay Graves

Why? Cuz It's The Super Bowl! Part II

"Even the Muppets need supervision this week bruh!"

I laid out the ground rules in my first joint so that boyz would know what to expect once they got to Naptown for the Super Bowl! It's been even crazier than expected because the weather has been unbelievable! The malls are packed, the hair and nail shops are full and the car wash just ran out of water and soap! If your whip isn’t shining this week you aren’t driving bruh! Why? Cuz it’s the Super Bowl!

Thursday night kicked it into full gear for my wife and I when our neighbor invited us to his suite at Bankers Life Field House for the Mike Epps/Whiz Khalifa/Snoop Dogg joint! Praise God that we were in a suite because you already know how Khalifa and Snoop get down. It was like the blind leading the blind. Straight up foolishness bruh! Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

Well, round II was Friday night! The Kid Capri joint was in full rotation and being connected to the big boyz makes it even better. My wife's good friend had the VIP locked down so no waiting in line and we were brisked right upstairs! After 5 minutes of looking over the railing I knew that the night was going to be ridiculous! I saw a cat come in the joint on a walker bruh! Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

Hey, when you see boyz that are that persistent in trying to “get it in” it suddenly becomes foolish! Now the great thing is that I don't drink so I get my diet coke, sit back and laugh all night long! When the liquor is free most folks are like kids in the candy store without supervision! Suddenly nobody remembers their limit! Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

After a few hours into the joint and Kid Capri completely destroying the turn tables and oh yes, real DJ's don't use CD's bruh! So if you were at a party and the DJ was rocking with CD’s you weren't at a real party, he's not a real DJ and I‘ve got some beach front property to sell you in the projects! So anyway, after the excited folks drank everything that they could imagine and the alcohol started to settle in. It was Chris Rock funny just watching the casualties go down fighting. Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

As boyz started going down one by one I saw a cat go down face first into the more than the 29 bottles on the table that my guy bought. People were scrambling to save as much of the liquor as possible before they stopped to pick this guy up! Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

One by one as boyz began to literally wobble, stumble and slur at the speech they were escorted down and out of the door to make room for the next person! Now I couldn't tell you what ever happen to the guy in the walker! I lost sight of him 5 minutes after he hit the door but I guarantee that he was stumbling when he left the joint too. Why? Cuz it's the Super Bowl!

We had to take it back to the old school as we ended the night or should I say morning not at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse but in the drive thru of White Castle getting a sack of ten bruh! Why? Cuz it’s the Super Bowl! Tonight my wife and I are throwing our own private set for all of our friends and it should be one for the ages bruh! Why? Cuz it’s the Super Bowl!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"The Super Bowl Black Out"

"Man I knew we should've paid that bill instead of hangin' out!"

Well its official bruh! There will be a lot folks sitting in the dark next week! They'll call it the "Super Bowl Inspired Black Out of 2012!" In hoods all across America the electricity will be on vacation for at least two weeks! Granted, it will be a forced vacation but a vacation none the least! While you're at it add child support payments, car notes and groceries to the list of people that will be sitting in first class during this impromptu hiatus! Why? Because boyz are in Naptown for the Super Bowl this week spending everything they've got trying to run with the big dogs! They didn’t listen to “Ya Boy” earlier but I can say that I tried to warn them.

Rapid Refund has made so much money within the last 48 to 72 hours it's ridiculous! I'm quite sure they've set some type of record because cats that "I KNOW" are broke are out and about flashing more bread than "Wonder!" My wife and I went to the Mike Epps/Whiz Khalifa/ Snoop Dogg joint last night and boyz were out flossin' so bad that it was laughable.

I watched a cat pull out a stack of money to impress a woman to pay for a drink that could have choked an elephant! What made it so bad was I swear that I almost ran him over getting off of the bus just minutes before bruh! I mean all bets are off this week. Folks are walking around with their entire tax refund checks in their pockets.

I guess they figure it's the Super Bowl and how many times will they get to do this again! So they've removed the brakes all together and  just floored it! There were people renting suites that don't even have furniture at home bruh! Talk about getting it in? Bottles were poppin', food was in abundance and somebody told the plus plus size girls that they could wear their stomachs out. They thought the memo read “Stomachs required for this outfit!” What it really said was “Take your stomach OFF before putting this on!” Otherwise you'll be in violation of article 1 section 7 of the "The Big Girls Need Love Too Ordinance."

I felt so sorry for plandex last night that I didn't know what to do! It was not made to be stretched that far bruh. I'm quite sure that its inventor was sick to his/her stomach knowing that it was being abused like that. It's all good in the hood this weekend but next week it will look like a natural disaster hit it.

Folks are going to be sitting in the dark, the repo man will be working overtime and the poor kids will be left to hunt for food on their own. FEMA trucks are parked on the off ramp right now so that they'll be ready when they get call on Monday morning.

I saw cats last night that just hours before were on their way to work but work somehow sent them to the concert instead. I guess they've got a great work life balance benefit that allows them to take a 4 hour break for morale purposes because it increases productivity! I completely understand! Go ahead and add unemployment to the list of folks crammed into first class on that vacation while you’re at it bruh!

The weather has made me eat my words on Indy being the worse idea ever for a Super Bowl because it’s been 50 to 60 degrees all week long. When the norm is like 15 to 25 degrees and snow. It’s made the Super Bowl experience one to remember. I know those that will be sitting in the dark next week will probably blame the weather for taking all of their money. It’s been so nice out that it’s been like Mardi Gras downtown! Enjoy yourself this weekend but don’t call me next week when the repo man is bumpin’ that Snoop Dogg, “What’s My Name?” driving off in your car! Just make sure you clean out the trunk on Sunday morning so that you don’t hold him up.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Playing Yourself!

"Really?"

Last summer I wrote a joint entitled "Fan vs. Groupie" which asked the simple question, which category do you fall into? It’s completely permissible to be a fan of a team or a particular player because you like the way they get down. Some people find motivation in teams or athletes and I just believe that it's why sports have become so popular. The problem arises when people jump off of the fan bridge into the groupie abyss!

I went down to the Super Bowl Media Day just to observe yesterday and I literally wanted to throw up watching grown men throw themselves at players or former players and coaches for 3 hours. It was sickening bruh! For the first time the NFL allowed fans to sit in the stands and watch media day. They even gave everyone that entered the stadium a really nice back pack with all kinds of cool stuff in it. They even gave away small radios to listen to each particular interview as it was being conducted.

The problem was, I felt like I was at a Justin Beiber concert and the little girls were about to bum rush the stage and pull his hair bruh! However, the little girls that were there with their parents weren't the ones that were out of line. It was their fathers. Grown men were literally screaming Tom Brady's name and reaching out for him. Anytime Deion or Mike Irving walked by they would lose their freaking minds.

There was literally a guy walking around with a full Tom Brady uniform on, pads included bruh! I mean he had on knee, thigh, shoulder and hip pads topped off with eye black and the signal caller’s wrist band with plays on it bruh! Where was Chris Carter when I needed him? C'Mon Man!

Kurt Warner comes in to do his job on the NFL Network and as he's walking up some grown man just starts screaming his name like right in front of him. Now C'mon bruh, do you really think he's going to stop and have a conversation with you acting like that?

I went over to the media hotel later to holler at some friends of mine and people were literally chasing guys down in the lobby for autographs. As I sat there talking I began to watch it all play out. Now some guys were hustling to get autographs for memorabilia that they would be selling for their stores. It’s shady because they're getting something for free and then selling it for a huge profit but I get the hustle.

Most people were just annoying groupies though! I saw Eddy George walk in looking for the rest room. It literally took him a half hour to use it because every third step he was mobbed by some grown man or woman for a picture or an autograph while he's telling them that he's trying to go to the washroom. Now if he had just kept walking he would have been labeled as a jerk and that wouldn't have been cool.

It got so bad that NFL security had to escort people off of the property bruh! I'm not talking about kids that were excited to see former players and coaches. I'm talking about adults and 90% of them by the way were wearing jerseys. I should teach a class on "How not to play yourself 101."

Now last night the real groupies were out in full effect at the Pacers game! They were on the hunt for professional athlete and some were successful in reeling a few boyz in. There were some Patriots and Giants in the building that I would bet a few nickels and dimes barely made curfew last night.


Holla At Ya Boy!
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
The information in this article is strictly my opinion.