Fall Guy (How Cris Carter got bullied into apologizin' for keepin' it real with a boy)

"Man I'm only here so that I don't get fined or fired bruh!"

Walt Disney once said, “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” Soren Kierkegard, the 19^th century Danish philosopher, gave it to us like this, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” Then Nikos Kazantzakis, the Greek writer and philosopher, hit boyz in the dome when he spit, “Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.”

Well playas…since ESPN and the NFL are in the business of coverin’ their butts they’ve decided to throw Cris Carter under the freakin’ bus and backed over him too. So in that case, I guess it’s up to me tell it like Big Momma used to say, “Like it sho nuff T.I. is.”

In the summer of 2014 Hall of Famer, Cris Carter (CC), spoke to boyz at the NFL Rookie Symposium in which he speaks annually. Durin’ his speech he told boyz that they needed a fall guy. Here’s exactly what he said bruh, “In case y’all not going to decide to do the right thing…if y’all got a crew...you’ve got to have a fall guy in the crew.”

He then calls Teddy Bridgewater up on stage and says, “I let my homeboys know, y’all want to keep rolling like this, then I need to know who gonna be the fall guy, who’s gonna be driving. Y’all not going to all do the right stuff now. So I’ve got to teach you how to get around all this stuff, too. If you’re going to a have crew, one of them fools got to know he’s going to jail. We’ll get him out.”

Since the NFL, ESPN and all of these media types out here are frontin’ let me keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! First of all playboy, the NFL taped the freakin’ symposium and it’s been up on their site for the past year and they had no problem with what ole boy said until ESPN The Magazine got a hold to it. That’s off the rip playa. So why all of a sudden is the league trippin’ now? What CC said was as serious and as real as a heart attack. Everybody isn’t goin’ to stay out of trouble simply because their backgrounds won’t allow them to at 20 or 21 years old with brand new money. That’s just the reality of it! Neither Cris nor I live in the world of what should be. We live in the world of what is. 

For all of you people that grew up in the suburbs or rural America with parents and a lovin’ support system; sit down for a minute and let me take you on a journey through the hood with a ghetto superstar real quick.

The first thing most folks that are unfamiliar with the ghetto ask is why does a boy always NEED a crew? Why is that necessary? Well…I’m glad you asked playa! When you grow up in the ghetto it’s normally broken down into territories, gang territories or drug territories to be specific! Now more often than not the school that boyz go to is several blocks from the crib. So guess what playa? You’ve got to walk through multiple territories to get to school and back. So you can’t walk alone! Especially, if you aren’t gang affiliated and even if you are you may have to walk through rival territory to get to where you’re goin’. So you still can’t walk alone.

Therefore, over the course of a childhood you’ve NEVER walked anywhere alone because a crew is protection from gettin’ robbed or jumped on and we’re not even talkin’ about a kid in junior high yet. I was 6 years old the first time a boy put a gun to my head just around the corner from my house. So I’m not tellin’ you what I heard playboy, I’m tellin’ you what I know.

So a crew for a cat growin’ up is as fundamental as puttin’ shoes on in the mornin’. You can’t leave home without them and it just becomes a way of life.

Now 70 percent of cats growin’ up in the hood don’t have both parents and a great support system. So guess who looks out for a boy growin’ up and keeps the gangstas off of the star ball player? The crew and the rest of the O.G.’s in the neighborhood. Who buys him the sneakers or cleats that he needs? The crew or the neighborhood drug dealer which can many times be one in the same. Who makes sure that NOBODY messes with him while he’s settin’ records at the high school and becomin’ one of the best players in the country? The crew!

When he gets to college and needs some clothes because the scholarship doesn’t buy replacement gear when he out grows his clothes after eatin’ at the trainin’ table and liftin’ all of those weights? The same crew that protected him when he was in the ghetto! And unfortunately, the crew didn't always have legitmate jobs either. So it’s impossible to just get rid of the same cats that were responsible for the safety and well-bein’ of a boy when all of the haters and rival gangstas were tryin’ to get at a boy. Naw playa, that’s family even if some of them are criminals.

Now because most of these ball playas come from broken homes and they’ve pretty much raised themselves with the crew. They’re bound to make some mistakes once they go from $0 to millionaire status in a matter of 3 years. And when they get pulled over for doin’ something stupid because they’re young and stupid. Somebody’s gotta go to jail and it can’t be the one that just signed the contract. Or when boys are at the club and some hater runs up talking sieways and takes a swing at a boy. The NFL player can't swing back but the "fall guy" can and will. Don't trip homie, we'll get you out of jail. That’s what Cris was tryin’ to tell them. The "Fall Guy" is no different than Secret Service takin' a bullet for the President bruh! 

Now I know this is foreign to a lot of you duns but try growin’ up in that world. These media types always have an opinion about something that they know nothin’ about. Everybody didn’t grow up with white picket fences and people walkin’ dogs in the neighborhood. Everybody didn’t get a care package monthly while in school bruh. Everybody didn't grow up in the safety of the suburbs. I was a college student before I ever realized that gun play wasn’t white noise.

Fortunately, Cris Carter kept it real with those rookie cats but unfortunately the NFL tried to cover its butt by runnin’ over him. ESPN wanted no part of it so they made him apologize for growin’ up in a different world than they did and seein’ the world differently than they do. Boyz say that they want diversity but they don’t want what comes with it. The real experiences that our socioeconomics brings to the table sheds new light that boyz don't wanna see because they're afraid of what that looks like.

Cris wasn’t tellin’ boyz to break the law. He just told them to find a dun in the crew to take the fall for whatever law gets broken because he understands that you can’t take a boy from the ghetto from $0 to millionaire status over night without somebody screwin’ up. Its levels to this bruh!

My pastor, Jeffery A. Johnson Sr., once told the story of how his wife kept tellin’ his 4 boyz that the bible says that fornication is a sin. And he said that he was goin’ to buy them condoms until they learned how to read. 

Now keep in mind that the world would never have known the talents of the Notorious B.I.G. if he didn't have a fall guy! His boy took the gun charge and then he blew up. I'm just sayin' that it takes time to mature and havin' a fall guy helps durin' the process. Stop me when I start lyin’!

Playas Thesaurus:   1) Spit: verb – to say
2) Off the rip: That’s the first piece of business bruh. Don’t get it twisted.
3) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. Its whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
4) Ghetto Superstar: noun – a dun that is the most popular cat in the hood and that everybody wants a piece of. His power and fame in the hood breeds enemies and groupies.
5) Crib: noun – home, flat, spot
6) Gun play: verb – boyz shootin’ all night in the project two blocks from my house.
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