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| "I should have listened to the more experienced cats when I had a chance!" |
The game's outcome is only a bi-product of what is accomplished during practice. Whatever we spend most of our time doing, we become experts at it. I went to see Les Brown, the motivational speaker, some years ago and he said something that I'll never forget. He said, "Where ever you end up twenty years from now, you've made an appointment to be there twenty years ago". So practice is of paramount importance. The question is, what are you practicing?
For years Allen Iverson practiced acting and looking like a thug. He was the first guy in the league to rock tattoos in heavy rotation especially on his hands and neck. He was the one that led David Stern to institute the dress code policy in the NBA. He was the cat that would show up to the game dressed like he was straight off of the block during a time when guys like Jordan and Magic were all business and would be "suited and booted." Nobody could wear a suit better than Air Jordan! Straight up!
All the young cats just loved the fact that A.I. was reppin' the hood and the ladies got into to it too. All you heard was that Iverson was so fine and how they loved that look. I would constantly remind folks that at some point you've got to grow up and whatever you practice would become the norm. Psychologists believe that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Once the habit is formed it's even more difficult to change it. When you rep the hood for so long you can't escape it regardless of where you live.
Now ole boy is broke after making more than $153 million during his playing career. The sad part about it is that he's represented the hood for so long acting and looking the part that he can't get a job if he wanted to. If Barkley can talk basketball on TV anybody can bruh. Now he's very entertaining and he's won all types of awards as a result of it. However, he was the bad guy of basketball for years but he was able to work after retiring because he didn't come across as a street thug. Your reputation precedes you!
Boyz go broke everyday but are able to find lucrative jobs after the game. I mean Chris Weber is even doing color commentary bruh! Surely with his charisma, Iverson could find a job in the game? Unfortunately, his rep is like having a felony! Nobody wants to be associated with what looks or smells like a thug. Tupac had all of these cats fooled as I explained in the Hot Joint entitled "The Tupac Influence".
Like I always say, "At some point you gotta grow up! All of those tattoos on your neck and hands ain't gonna be sexy when you're pushing 40 and beyond bruh! At some point you gotta look and act like a grown man. Not some young cat on the block." Father Time is hard but he's fair!
Remember, "We're sitting here talking about practice, not a game, not a game, not a game, but we're talking about practice". I hope these young boyz in the league take a look at what's happening with Iverson and pull a Fifty Cents and remove them joints and clean up their image while they still have time. I was watching the Clipper/Grizzlies game yesterday and Kenyon Martin looks like he just stepped out of the projects and he's been in the league for years. For his sake, I hope that he's saved his bread. If so, he can look any kind of way he wants.
I've always said that the hood is the best place in the world to be FROM because if you can survive there you can make it anywhere. If you use the survival skills learned in the hood and adapt to the world you're in you can become great. Otherwise, you'll become a fish out of water and never fulfill your potential. Believe me young blood as cool and fine as the ladies tell you that you are when you're money disappears you're just another street thug to them. So if you're cool reverting back to the ghetto an being hood rich have at it.
Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
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