Who's Playin' Who?

"What chu talkin' bout Willis?"

Robert Kiyosaki once wrote in the best selling book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, that his rich dad said, “People with leverage have dominance over people with less leverage.” On the streets it’s known as having all of the chips. Whoever sits on the chips makes the decisions bruh. The old school playa’s break it down this way, “Whoever has the most bread at the table dictates the conversation.

So why is everybody upset with Roger Goodell because the NFL is using replacement officials? Just like in both the NBA and NFL lockouts last year the league had all of the power! As long as fans continue to watch the game the NFL will continue to operate as normal. Why do you think Jerry Jones is the owner, president and general manager of the Dallas Cowboys? Why do the Cubs continue to lose every year? Because fans keep showing up and selling the joint out. They is no reason to make changes. 

All the real officials are doing is playing themselves by not working. Sure, being an NFL referee is a part-time job but the bread that these guys were making was ridiculous. They were pulling in $7 to $8K per week calling games. Now I’m not sure what else they wanted but if your making that type of bread on a side hustle that should be more than enough and Goodell knows that.

That’s why he and his boys are sitting in the cut. All the real officials are doing is allowing the replacement refs to gain NFL experience that will eventually give them enough experience to take these boyz jobs. Then they can pay them half the bread they were paying the original cats and keep it movin'. The league isn’t stupid bruh! Yes, the fans are complaining but they’re still watching it. That means absolutely nothing to the league. So what the games are taking longer. All they’ll do is sell more ad space on the additional time-outs. It’s strictly business!

It's dumb to get upset with the cat that was thrown into the fire for burning up. They can only do what they've been trained to do but they're making a boat load of bread for burning and if I were them it wouldn't make me a bit of difference that the fans are mad. These cats are getting $2G's a game for doing what they've been doing on the side for a $100! That's a come up no matter how you slice it homeboy!

The only cats that are suckers are the real officials at this point because they’re blowing a hole in their side hustle. The first rule of hustling found in the "Hustler's Code of Conduct" is to never get greedy with trying to get side money because it eventually gets in the way of the original hustle.

 I always trip off of folks that think that striking is the answer in this day and time. In reality, it hurts everybody involved. Just like the most recent strike in Chicago with the public school teachers. In that situation everybody suffers and especially the kids. Right now the Chi is the most dangerous city in America and these duns decide to go on strike? Now you’ve put thousands of kids on the streets with nothing to do in the middle of an ongoing gang war. They’re killing boyz in Chicago like they’re in full combat and the teachers decide that it makes sense to walk out.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! If the job isn’t paying you what you want to make or the benefits aren’t up to standards then you’ve got two options. You either deal with it or quit. That’s the decision that the rest of us in Corporate America have to make everyday. When you accepted the job they told you what the compensation was going to be. Even if they changed up on you midstream you’ve got those same two choices, you can either keep the job or quit. But to walk out and hold everybody hostage is dull! Because I'm quite sure not every teacher wanted to strike because it costing them money to sit at the crib and everybody isn't prepared to not get a pay check.

Not only are the fans suffering from having to watch longer games. The players to some degree are at risk of guys blowing calls that could get them hurt. At the same time the teachers are jamming everybody up and putting these kids at risk on the streets. Not only are they not getting paid, the kids are missing valuable classroom time and the parents of those kids are missing work especially if they’ve got young kids that they can’t just leave at home. So who’s playing who?

I’ll tell you one thing it’s not Roger Goodell’s fault that the replacement refs are on the field. If the real cats keep sitting in the cut trying to play hard ball, those guys that we’re calling replacements will become REAL NFL officials because they’re gaining valuable experience even while they screw up.  Believe me, if the Chicago School Board could have put replacement teachers in the classroom to teach those kids at half the level they would have. Because learning something is better than nothing and running the streets, especially in the Chi!!

Holla At Ya Boy!

Jay Graves

Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport