Runnin' Game!

"Stay down dawg, we need a rest. This no huddle is killing us!"

Growing up in the inner city everybody learns the art of survival at a very young age. You learn early on that if you don't have your head together when you walk out of the house in the morning somebody’s going to hustle you out of something. If your game running senses aren't on when you leave home you're going to lose several times before you get back to the crib.

Sports is no different than hood survival. The guy that is the sharpest mentally during competition is normally going to win the battle. In the world of sports we call it “Gamesmanship” in the hood we called it “Street Sense“! So why is everybody up in arms about the New York Giants players faking injuries on "Monday Night Football" in an attempt to slow down the no huddle offense of the St. Louis Rams that had them on their heels? It's perfectly legal for a guy to be hurt and if you can't prove that he's hurt, then he's hurt! How many people call in sick that aren't sick?

Guys have been practicing the art of gamesmanship to gain an edge on their opponents for years. Soccer players pretend to be hurt to draw a card against their opponents. Hockey players have been known to take a dive to draw a penalty and gain a man advantage. Reggie Miller was the king of flopping in the NBA. So why is everybody acting brand new about this situation?

Muhammad Ali was the master at runnin' game. He’d rhyme to get into his opponents head or even show up at the guys sparring sessions and talk trash to him. That wasn't cheating that was called getting an edge. Now cheating is when a guy uses steroids or uses a camera to spy on the other teams signals during the game like the Patriots did in the whole "Spygate" joint masterminded by Bill Bellichick. That's not runnin' game that's runnin' a foul!

All week I've heard nothing but people talking about penalizing the teams for faking injuries. Really? How can you prove that a guy was faking. The Giants just looked obvious because everybody fell out at the same time. It was kind of funny actually because I saw it as soon as it happened. I didn't need the analysts to bring it to my attention because I'm trained in the art of "game". I can see a con a mile away.

I always find it funny to go to Las Vegas and stand out on the strip after dark. I would say that 98% of the people walking up and down the street in Vegas at night don't see what's really going on. I find it to be hilarious because I can see the pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers and addicts in plain view but everybody else is completely oblivious to the madness that’s right in front of them. That's how sports is to me. If you're trained to look for the “game” within the game it becomes more entertaining.

So if you can't prove that a guy isn't hurt then his actions are legal. I heard a guy say on sports radio that if a guy says that he's hurt then he should have to sit out the rest of the game. You know what, take that guy’s microphone from him because he's officially on punishment! What kind of sense does that make?

The key to playing the game is understanding where the edge of the envelope is and walking very close to it. It's not cheating if you're always within the box. It's not called getting ripped off if you agreed to the price, inspected and bought the merchandise. That's why the locals on these Caribbean Island's love to see tourists because so many of them don't understand how to look for the “game.” So the natives, in turn, make a fortune off of the non suspecting people that are just happy to be on vacation and will buy any piece of crap they offer them.

When Reggie Miller would flop he was using the rule book to his advantage just like the Giants did on "Monday Night Football". There is an old hood proverb that says, “He who doesn’t recognize the game get’s played.”

Holla at Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport