Shake Them Hata's Off!

"I'm shaking these boyz Jay!"

In 2009 an NCAA investigation revealed that Derrick Rose's SAT scores had been invalidated, making him retroactively ineligible to play for The University of Memphis. The rumor was that someone else had taken the point guards test for him. As a result, the NCAA vacated Memphis's entire 2007–08 season. Now, while I don't condone D. Rose cheating on his SAT I can understand why he may have done it.

He had no intention on going to college in the first place but the NBA has this stupid rule that a kid must either go to college for a year or sit out for a year. The NBA forced this kid into a hole and unfortunately, he did what he had to do.

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 SAT 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. Who looks like an idiot the fan or D. Rose?

On Wednesday the Chicago Bulls' superstar point guard and the league's reigning MVP, agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $94.8 million, a source told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher. I'd like to see that idiot holding the sign now.

Let's keep it real or all the way 100 which ever comes first. The SAT isn't a great indicator of how successful a person will become so why even use it? I can remember back in 1991 when my homeboy Glenn "Big Dawg" Robinson was coming out of high school and he didn't score the 700 points needed to qualify for freshman eligibility at Purdue. People in the media began to call him dumb etc.

I called the local newspaper and blasted the reporter responsible for the negative press on G. Rob because he was from my hood and my school. I explained to him that the SAT was culturally biased and that it doesn't tell us how well a person will do in life. He obviously disagreed so I explained.

The SAT at the time had two sections verbal and math. Now it has a written section. Math is math all day long. However, on the verbal portion there are words that are culturally biased. Meaning that they are only used in certain cultures. Most of the words on the exam that are needed to make comparisons aren’t used in the ghetto. For example, Saucer is to plate as lid is to what? Well...kids in the ghetto never call it a saucer. It's called a little plate.

He still couldn't buy what I was selling. So I turned the game around on him. I came up with my own analogy. F-150 is to Ford as Deuce and a Quarter is to what? Silence! The answer is Buick all day long in every ghetto across America. The Buick Electra 225! However, that's not on the test. Depending upon where you grew up and what you've been exposed to will often determine how well you do on the SAT.

Do kids from the hood do well on it? Some do very well but they are the exceptions to the rule depending upon what they've been exposed to and how gifted they maybe. Now they grade the SAT on a curve. The higher your GPA is the lower you have to score on it. So more kids are passing it now. It wasn’t like that years ago. I’ve you didn’t hit 700 you were just short.

I scored 642 points on the exam and you get 200 for putting your name on the joint. I could barely read when I came out of high school but I went to both Purdue and Indiana Universities. I've got a Bachelors Degree from Indiana in Sports Science and have been a sales executive in Corporate America for more than 21 years. I sell insulin in the pharmaceutical industry in particular. Just like the SAT didn't stop The Big Dawg or D. Rose it didn't mean anything to me either.

The Big Dawg went on to make more than $100 million over his career and he also won an NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs. D. Rose has become the rookie of the year and the youngest player ever to win the league MVP. Put your seat belt on because he is about to do even greater things. As for me, I’ve consistently been a national and global leader in the sales industry including just recently becoming a National Sales Champion in 2010 and finishing in the top 2% in the world. SAT? In my Chad Ochocinco voice, "Child Please!!!"

If you know of a kid that didn't score well on that joint, pick him or her up and dust them off and tell them to keep it movin'! I know a whole lot of boyz that didn't do well on it but have become very successful as a result of the so called failure. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport