Why players don't win championships, organizations do! "The Firm"

"This is really where titles are won bruh!"

Vince Lombardi once said, "The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual." Colin Powell gave it to us like this, "If a leader doesn't convey passion and intensity then there will be no passion and intensity within the organization and they'll start to fall down and get depressed." Then Jack Welch shut the buildin' down when he spit, "An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage." 

Well playas...so many people watch professional sports, the NBA in particular, and never begin to understand how important the front office is to winnin' championships. I'm constantly blown away by how many people give a superstar player the credit for the TEAM winnin' a championship. Not realizin' that as a player he really doesn't control the outcome of that dream. Players don't win titles, organizations do!

Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I don't care how good a player is if he isn't put in the right situation to win by the front office he could realistically spend his ENTIRE career in the twilight zone. As good as Jordan was, he spent his first 7 years in the league breakin' boyz off with 60 point scorin' nights at times; wooin' crowds with unbelievable dunks and crazy baseline moves never to make it to the Finals. Jordan was literally fightin' his teammates at practice bruh! The Bulls were goin' nowhere fast.

It wasn't until the organization recognized that he needed help and that Doug Collins couldn't coach him. He needed players around him that would compliment both his playin' style and especially his ego. So they drafted Scottie Pippen in 1987 and then two years later hired Phil Jackson. Every player that they would eventually add was told what their roles had to be in order to play with Mike and they were fine with it. It wasn't until then that they peeled off 3 straight! They later added Rodman for the second leg of the tour and won 3 more. It wasn't all MJ that made the Bulls click it was the front office that put the puzzle together that made them champions.

Don't think for one minute that Jordan would have won 6 titles playin' in a joint like Atlanta because not everyone understood how to handle his ego. However, Chicago did at that time. There is a reason why more than 50% of all the NBA titles have been won by either LA (16) or Boston (17). They were organizationally better than the rest of the league more often than not. Do you really think Kobe would have 5 rings if he'd been playin' somewhere like Denver? Not a chance playboy, because Denver is and always will be, Denver! Just like places like Charlotte, Milwaukee, Toronto, Indiana and oh yes New York! I said it, NEW YORK!

Do you really think Patrick Ewing wasn't good enough to win a title? He was one of the all time greats and played for a front office that couldn't seem to unlock the safe. He wasted all of that talent and his career in the “world's greatest city” that hasn't won a title since 1973.

Don’t get it twisted; there is a reason for that bruh. It’s called the front office. Please don’t try to tell me that he didn’t win because Jordan was winning all of the titles because MJ only won 6. Ewing played for 17 years so there was room enough for him to win at least one but not in New York.

It was the organization that recognized that Kobe and Shaq could no longer co-exist and decided to ship the "Big Fella" to Miami and not Kobe. They understood that their future was in the younger of the two even though they had already won 3 titles together. They knew that to force it would be tragic so they rebuilt the car around the new engine and won two more.

Players just play the game that they've been blessed to play with no more or less intensity. It's the front office that has to buy the groceries to make it a 5 star restaurant bruh. Nobody can win a championship without smart people evaluatin' talent and personalities to put them together in the right situation.

Don't fool yourself into thinkin' that Kevin Garnett all of a sudden started playin' with that unbridled passion when he got to Boston! He's been playin' with that same intensity since his days at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago. I know because I watched him play. He finally got with an organization that understood how to put the pieces together to win a title. If he'd stayed in Minnesota he would have wasted away with the same passion that he eventually won a championship with.

Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, two of the best to ever play the game, don't have rings because they spent nearly their entire careers playin' for mediocre organizations in Philly and Utah. Their talents allowed them to win games and make it to the playoffs but without a smart enough front office puttin' the right pieces together at the right time they kept fallin' short. Like I said before, Jordan didn’t keep boyz from winnin' titles because Barkley played 16 years and Malone played for 19. So there was room to get at least one but not with those franchises. While you're at it, throw in Reggie Miller too. He was one of the best EVER but happened to play in Indiana.

So to blame boyz for not winnin' a title when some cats clearly play for organizations that aren't built to win championshis is crazy! That's why players don't win titles, organizations do bruh!

Holla At Ya Boy!
JayGravesReport
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To Check out the Video Commentary on this joint click here: "The Firm"
The caption under the photo isn't real but its REAL talk! 

Clinical Data (Why GREATNESS can't be determined by winnin' championships alone)

"Do your homework playboy and stop just repeatin' foolishness!"

Wernher von Braun, the German aerospace engineer and space architect once said, "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." Zora Neal Hurston, the famous folklorist, anthropologist and author, gave it to us like this, "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." Then Albert Einstein shut the buildin' down when he spit some serious fire at a boy when he said, "If we knew what we were doing it would not be called research, would it?'

Durin' my extensive career in the pharmaceutical industry, I've read countless medical journals and hundreds of clinical studies. What I learned early on was to never read the conclusion or results section before readin' the study protocol, participants and analysis sections. The conclusion doesn't tell the complete story. It only tells the "what" and never explains the "why!" Results can be deceivin' playboy if you don't know how they actually came up with them.

Well playas...it's the same way when lookin' at sports especially when we're talkin' about a boy's greatness as it relates to championships. For example, boyz get caught up comparin' duns like Kobe vs. Lebron or Jordan vs. LeBron and get it twisted soley based on titles. The first thing people pull out are the results section of the clinical is Kobe's got 5 rings, Jordan's got 6 rings and LeBron has 2. First of all playa, the first two cat's careers are over and the other dun is still playin' with at least 6 more years to play. But by throwin' those numbers out we're simply lookin' at the results of the study and not the entire process by which the study was performed.

Let's keep it real or all the way 100, which ever comes 1st! For the sake of this argument let’s compare Kobe vs. LeBron. LeBron was drafted #1 overall and Kobe was drafted 13th overall. That's significant because that tells us that LeBron was drafted by the worst team in the league whereas Kobe wasn't. Also the fact that LeBron initially played seven years for an organization that pretty much left him on an island without any help. Kobe on the other hand, was drafted by Charlotte and immediately trade to the 2nd best franchise in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers, that have won 16 titles overall. The best bein' the Boston Celtics, in terms of titles, because they've won a league high 17 titles. Keep in mind that those two franchises have won more than 50% of all of the titles in the history of the league.

Surely, you couldn't have expected LeBron to show up in Cleveland and win a title when they've never had a history of winnin' jack squat. It's literally been one of the worst franchises in the league for decades. Well...until Jordan took over the Bobcats a few years ago and ran those duns into the ground before he made them more respectable. Now you've got the dull 76ers runnin' game on the league.

However, LeBron did take the worst team in the league to the finals within 4 years at the mere age of 22. Kobe on the other hand, was blessed to have had the opportunity to play for the best coach to EVER walk the sideline in the history of the NBA and he played with Shaq in his PRIME! And in my opinion, he's probably the best center to ever play the game. I'm just sayin'!

Yeah I know that boyz will agrue, Kareem, Wilt, Hakeem/Akeem, dependin' upon how old you are and how true to the game you are! But Shaq was the best cat I'VE ever seen in the blocks just over powerin' boyz and dunkin' at will! Therefore, givin' Kobe the opportunity to win his first 3 titles early in his career. Ya'll do realize that Kobe wasn't the first option while Shaq was with the Lakers, right? Just checkin' pimpin'!

Sure, he won two more titles with Phil, I might add, only after they all but stole Pal Gasol from Memphis to help them get back on top. Can you remember Kobe beggin' boyz to be traded the year after Shaq left when they were terrible? Did you ever hear LeBron cryin' to be traded while he was in lowly Cleveland? Naw, he just went to work and played his heart out. So when you open up the clinical data bruh, Kobe had always been in a much better situation to win titles than LeBron or Jordan. 

Jordan had to endure 5 years of foolishness in Chicago before Phil showed up. The Bulls were, in my Charles Barkley voice, "TERRIBLE!" They were so bad before Mike got there that we could take our sneakers to Chicago Stadium with the right box top and get some playin' time with ole dull "gettin' high" Quinton Dailey, ole gunnin' Reggie Theus and duns like Dave Corzine. So when Mike showed up he had to struggle for a minute too. Boyz that don't know the history of the game glaze over that part of Jordan's career. Do you realize that Mike didn't get out of the first round of the playoffs until he got Scottie Pippin' 3 years after he came into the league? Do your research bruh. I'm just sayin'!

The first real opportunity LeBron had in his career to win a championship was his first year in Miami and he made it to the finals and wet the bed.  There's no gettin' around that. Oh he completely soiled the mattress. Then he won the next two. Yeah, I hear these cats hollerin' that he's 2-4 in the Finals but he should only legitimately be 3-3 in the Finals because he lost to much better TEAMS when he got there bruh. Both Spurs teams he lost to were much better than the duns he showed up with and you had to be smokin' crack and shootin' heroin if you thought that he had a shot at beatin' Golden State once Kyrie and Kevin Love went down.

Do you really think Kobe and Mike would have won multiple titles playin' without another superstar and without Phil? Ya'll do know that Phil was the only cat that could have coached and kept both Mike and Kobe in check, right? Y'all do realize that Kobe has played for 8 coaches in LA and he's only been able to win with Phil, right? Look it up bruh if you think that I'm lyin'. As a matter of fact, just pop this link of my Hot Joint entitled, "Lil' Ole Me" that I wrote last week breakin' it down for you.

Nobody has ever won a title playin' by themselves bruh. Oh, I'm talkin' crazy? Open up the data if you think I'm lyin' again pimpin'; Kareem had The Big O in Milwaukee before going to LA and later played with Magic and Worthy, Jordan had Pippen and both Pippen and Rodman, Bird had McHale and Parrish, Duncan had David Robinson, Dr. J had Moses, Shaq had Kobe or vice versa, D. Wade had Shaq and LeBron, Hakeem/Akeem had Clyde, KG had Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and so on and so forth! I could go on for hours but I won't.

So it's completely unfair to just look at the rings and draw conclusions that certain boyz are greater because they have more titles than the next cat. Like I keep tellin' all of these simple minded individuals, a title is a TEAM award! Not "Who's the best player award" because it takes an entire team to win one.

So when folks throw out titles it only tells me that they skipped all of the clinical data and just read the conclusion or results section. If championships are the standard then why do boyz keep talkin' about Jordan and not Bill Russell who has 11 of those joints? How in the world do you just disregard the O.G. with the nappy beard and fall to Mike if championships is all that counts?

How do you not talk about the other 7 duns along with Bill that have more titles than Jordan if we're usin' titles as the standard? You gotta talk about Sam Jones 10, John Havlicek 8, Tom "Satch" Sanders 8, Robert Horry 7, James Loscutoff 7, Frank Ramsey 7 before we even get to Jordan's neighborhood pimpin'! Then you got Kareem, Bob Cousy and Pippen livin' in the same house with Jordan with 6 too!

So you mean to tell me that EVERY one of these cats are better than Larry Bird because he's only got 3? Tim Duncan has 5, Wilt Chamberlain only has 2, Oscar Robertson and the NBA Logo himself Jerry West only have 1? So the championship argument completely goes out of the window bruh!  That's if we're keepin' it real! When you don't go to class it's easy to run with foolish information that some clown that was half payin' attention sittin' in the back of the room sleep gave you!

So you're tellin' me that Elgin Baylor, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Walt Bellamy, Charles Barkley, Pete Maravich, Reggie Miller, Bob Lanier, George Gervin, Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson weren't great players or to be more specific, weren't better than duns like Tom "Satch" Sanders because they didn't win a title? Are you kiddin' me? You wouldn't know that dun if he walked up to you and stole your bike.

Stop readin' the cliff notes and look at the circumstances that allowed cats to win or not. I'm not takin' anything away from some of these cats that have multiple titles but many times they played for better coaches and organizations than cats that don't have titles at all.

Now after you've checked out the complete set of data on boyz and all you can still say is the that the only thing that counts is the amount of championships a boy has, something's wrong with you playa.

Let me put it in real life terms for you playa. Kobe was born into a wealthy suburban family with two parents playin' for the Lakers. His dad (Phil) was like the Steve Jobs of his industry. So he was supposed to win out the gate! Why? Because he doesn't know what struggle looks like.

Whereas, LeBron was raised in the middle of the ghetto in the projects (worse team in the league) with no parents (No coaches at all) playin' in Cleveland and he still doesn't. Then he got adopted by a wealthy family on Star Island and got the opportunity to shine in Miami. Now with the confidence of bein' in a nuturin' environment for 4 years he was able to go back to the projects and lift boyz out of the slums because he understands how to shine. UNLIKE in real life, in the NBA you CAN NOT win without parents (good coaching), strong siblings (another superstar) and a strong organization around you! Championships aren't won alone playboy. Stop me when I start lyin'!

PS: Look here bruh, I'm just stallin' until football season starts because there's ABSOLUTELY nothin' goin' on in sports right now! Hang in there with me! I'm strugglin' too!

Playa-saurus:
1) Spit some serious fire: verb phrase - to say something of extreme importance.
2) Dun: noun - the person or persons in question, dude, guy, girl, etc. It's whoever I'm talkin' about bruh.
3) Jack Squat: adjective - nothin'!
4) Pimpin': noun - the person that I'm passionately tryin' to get my point across to.

Holla At Ya Boy!
JayGravesReport
#thebestdressedmaninmedia
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The caption under the photo is real talk today playboy!

DNA (Why duns like Percy Harvin are worth more than boyz ever realize)

"This is all day playboy! All day!"

Confucius once said, “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential…these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” Vince Lombardi stood up and shouted, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” Then my boy Aristotle spit some fire with this one, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

The Seattle Seahawks told ole Vince that that was hot but they liked the joint Aristotle dropped even better because they couldn't break their habits on Sunday. The Legion of Boom lived up to all of the hype as they beat the brakes off of Peyton Manning and Co. and his freakin’ legacy 43-8.

All week boyz like Richard Sherman and Beast Mode were getting a lot a press because of their ability to either talk too much or for not talking enough. However, there is a dun on the team that has a DNA that boyz need to study, bottle and sell. The world either forgot about him or just didn’t know that he existed. His name is Percy freakin’ Harvin!

He only played 19 plays all season long because of preseason hip surgery and when he came back for the NFC divisional playoff against New Orleans he got blasted on like his first reception attempt and suffered a concussion.

There is a reason why boyz want to keep him off of field. It’s called Winning DNA bruh and it can be highly contagious! This cat has won championships at every level of his life and it’s dangerous to have him around.

At 11 years old he was a member of the National Champion 4x100m relay team. At 12 he led his Pop Warner team to the national title. He then led his high school team to a perfect 14-0 Virginia state championship before going on to the University of Florida and winning two BCS National Championships.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1^st! What I’m trying to say playboy is that it’s not good for the opposing team for this dun to be on the field or even on the sideline breathing. That’s why the Broncos tried to just pop the opening kickoff of the second half straight up in the air to keep this stud from getting his filthy hands on it.

Well he found a way to grab it as he took that joint 87 yards to the house to put the Seahawks up 29-0. When you’re fighting against DNA there's nothing that you can do about it. He’s a winner by nature and coaches and players love to have those types of cats around.

Ole boy doesn’t say a word because everybody knows that his DNA is a beast. That’s why other teams target him or try to keep the rock out of his hands. See folks that didn’t understand the value of having someone like that in your locker room questioned why the Seahawks signed him to a six-year, $67 million contract and gave up an additional three draft picks for him.

Remember when you were a kid  and the old timers would always say, “Stop hangin’ out with cats that ain’t goin’ nowhere! Surround yourself with leaders and winners!” There is a reason why they would say that bruh. It’s called wisdom. Having cats like Percy in the locker room is like magic! Something about them rubs off on the rest of the team and amazing things happen.

Here was the problem for the NFL this year. They had a team full of Percy Harvins that believed that losing in life was never an option. When you've got duns that are "Straight out of Compton" out there playing with Stanford degrees it's called winning! When you've got boyz from the gutter of Oakland on "Beast Mode" it's called winning. When you've got cats playing quarterback in the Super Bowl at 5'11" saying, "Why Not US?" it's called winning! When there are boyz on the field that were either drafted in late rounds or undrafted all together. It's called winning!

When you've got duns out there like Derrick Coleman that can't even hear the snap count or the crowd screaming! It's called winning pimpin'!

Winning is more than just scoring more points in the Super Bowl. It's being able to walk out of the joint on top when nobody gave you a freakin' chance from birth. The Legion of Boom is more than a defense playboy. It's a culture of boyz that the world didn't care about but they made it happen anyway! Congrats to the Seahawks for reppin' for every ghetto child, every undersized cat and every disabled kid in America and giving them something to hold on to. If they can make it and ball out in life. So can I! Winning is in the DNA playboy!

Holla At Ya Boy!
JayGravesReport
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The quote under the caption isn’t real but its REAL talk!    


　

For All The Marbles (My Game 7 Pre-Game Speech)

"We started from the bottom now my whole teams here!"

Cut that Drake down and gather around! Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed of your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God is consistent! He will only give us the same twenty four hours today that he gave to us on yesterday. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing for an NBA title since the day you picked up a basketball. Now you've been chosen out of the millions of cats that started on this journey with you in Biddy Basketball. There have been others that have  possessed far more talent, athletic ability, style and charisma. Well maybe not! After all, you are the best players on the planet and you're here for a reason! You shouldn't be surprised by that because boyz have been telling you how great you were since the 6th grade.

You have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show that world that you are the best team in the NBA. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not just enough to show up, bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. You're not here to make memories tonight. You're here to build your legacy one block, steal, assist and bucket at a time! So it's business as usual fella's! What are you prepared to do with this opportunity?

I've always told you that championships are not won of game day; that this is the culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and you guys were putting in work. When you were 12 years old and everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you decided to stay and shoot 100 more times everyday. When you made the commitment to work on your inadequacies when most boyz didn't even know what that meant. It was won when everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 extra miles daily just to make the high school team.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going way back in middle school. The banner was immortalized in the rafters the day that you bought into our mission. When you decided that individual success wasn't good enough for you. That being a part of a team was more important. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you've put in everyday of your life just to get to this moment.

The elite few that can unlock the combination will become Champions! Bo Schembechler always said, “Those that stay will become Champions!” Vince Lombardi expressed it this way, “We will relentlessly pursue perfection. However, it’s impossible to be perfect but in the process we will find excellence!” Aristotle said it better than any of them when he recited, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.”

So as a result fella's, this Game 7 is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to unlock the door to becoming champions.

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to play 48 minutes like it's your last to decide this thing? In so many cases they say, "We don't have to be the best team, we just have to be the best team for 48 minutes." Well, that's not true because the best team always win the NBA championship. There are no flukes at this level, only champions!  

 

 Nothing has changed for tonight's game. The court is the same 50' in width and 88' in length that it was in Game 6. The goal is still 10' off of the ground. The refs are still the same guys from footlocker and you're still the greatest players on earth. If you can remember that when you run out of that tunnel, you'll return as winners and will have the honor of being called a Champion forever!

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably and no one is going to care that you're depressed as a result of it. If you allow the fans to dictate your emotions you'll be humbled like never before. Your legacy is at stake. How do you want to be remembered? Now turn the music back on and let's ride! "We started from the bottom now my whole teams here! Started from the bottom now we here!"

Holla At Ya Boy!
Coach Graves
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The quote under the caption isn't real but its REAL talk!

 

World What?

"World Champions bruh?" Boyz say it and nobody blinks!

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzcshe once said, "The demand to be loved is the greatest of all arrogant presumptions." The Victorian-era English author Samuel Butler broke it down like this, "The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, pride and arrogance." The old playas in the hood kept it real by just saying, "Nobody likes an arrogant punk!"

Now that Super Bowl XLVII is in the books and the Ravens have been crowned king of the National Football League. Let's take a look at this whole championship thing bruh. For year's I've often wondered why our professional sports teams call themselves "World Champions" once they win the LEAGUE championship. All of these duns to do it, the NFL, NBA as well as Major League Baseball. Why?

On some real talk, I think that it's par for the course for Americans to be arrogant and this is just another reason why people from other countries don't like us. How can you fix your mouth to call yourself a "World Champion" when you didn't compete on a world stage? The Heat aren't the world champions bruh! People play basketball all over the world and the NBA is just one of many leagues. Yeah I know that they had many of the best players in the world on that team but they didn't compete against duns from around the world to win that title. That's what the Olympics are for playboy!

 The same goes for Major League Baseball. How can we call it the "World Series" when the only teams playing in the freaking tournament are from America? That's like saying that we won the national hood championship and the only cats that we played were from our hood. Sure, my block had better G's but we didn't compete against every hood in America to win the title. That's like some chick winning a beauty contest in New York and then telling boyz that she's Miss America because New York has some of the baddest chicks out.

 Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Ultimately, it's like ole Jeromie Rome winning the Pimp of the Year Contest in Detroit because he rocked the hottest gators. Only to turn around and say that he's the World Champion Pimp without going up against boyz like Bishop Majic Don Juan, Rudy Ray Moore A.K.A Dolemite, Shaft or Huggy Bear!

The only true "World Champions" are the cats that participate in the World Cup in soccer or the tennis players, golfers or duns that run track that compete at the World Championships. Why? Because the entire world participated in those tournaments. So whoever wins it, is the true "World Champion".

Now that the Ravens have won the Super Bowl everybody will be introducing them as the "World Champions" and no one is gonna blink playboy. They only play this type of football in America! So therefore, it's ignorant to call them "World Champions" if we're the only duns playing it! They're the champions of the freakin' NFL for crying out loud! Sure, they play football in Canada but the field is 120 yards long and it's pretty much a developmental league for the NFL. So OK, if only 2 duns are playing. How can you claim THAT as a WORLD title when they didn't even play each other? It's misleading or like Big Momma used to say, "You a lie & the truth ain't in you!"

In my Ice Cube and Das EFX voice, "You need to check yo self before yo wreck yo self!" because our attitudes about who and what we are can sometimes be terrible. Sure, we probably have some of the best athletes in the world. However, that doesn't mean that we've always got the best TEAMS in the world. I can remember back to 2004 when the U.S. Olympic basketball team picked up a bronze medal. We probably had the best set of athletes in the tournament but we didn't have the best TEAM. So to say that we've got the best athletes and therefore we should call our league champions "World Champions" is arrogant and ignorant homeboy.

If there were a world tournament played every year for all of the baseball, basketball and football league champions around the world and our teams won those joints then I'd agree.  If we win those "world series", if you will, then you can wear the tag "World Champion", but until then stop lyin' to folks and making it bigger than what it is.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @  me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Champipple

"We're Super Bowl Champs Ray, and you ain't cryin?!"

Muhammad Ali said, “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’” Floyd Mayweather Jr. said it this way, “A true champion will fight through anything.” Bo Schembechler always said, “Those that stay will become champions.”

What he should have said was those that don’t fall asleep will become champions. After the longest Super Bowl in history as it lasted 4 hours and 14 minutes. The Baltimore Ravens walked out of the joint with the Lombardi Trophy after squeezing out a 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

It was turning into a one sided gang fight in the projects where the Ravens had gone old school on boyz showing up with bats, chains and brass knuckles and the 49ers showed up thinking that it was gonna be a fair fight with just hands. While the Ravens were in the process of dog walking these boyz 28-6 early in the 3rd quarter something unexpected happened. The lights went out!

The NFL won’t tell you the truth so I will. One of the maintenance workers who had been working around the clock for the past two weeks getting the joint ready for the big game hooked up with a little hunny in the control room. She’s been known around New Orleans as not  being too bright but she’s fine as frog hair pimpin‘!

He figured he’d  get it in during the game and no one would be the wiser before he and his co-workers would have to get all of the confetti up afterwards. He put that Teddy Pendergrass, “Turn Off the Lights”, on to set the mood. All of a sudden when Teddy screams in the song, “TURN OM OFF!” Ole girl got up and hit the switch!

Now was she really that dumb or was she working for the NFL or Vegas? I'm just sayin'!

Let's keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! If it really was a power grid situation why wasn't the neighbors lights out too? More than 100 million watching the joint and the power goes out? C'mon bruh! More bread is made if it's a 3 point game than a 22 point game. That's real talk!

The game was delayed for more than 30 minutes and that gave the 49ers new life. They were able to go to the crib and get their bats, chains and brass knuckles! By the time the lights came back on they were swinging for the fences bruh! San Fran made a game out of it and if you look only at the stats they won the game homeboy! They had more first downs 23 vs. 21, more total yards 468 vs. 367, more total yards per play 7.8 vs. 5.2, doubled them up in rushing yards 182 vs. 93 but just couldn’t over come the first half beat down.

Surprisingly enough ole Baby Ray wasn’t boo hooing all night. His tear ducks must have just quit on him after he worked them overtime for the past three weeks. I just knew for sure that dun would be dehydrated by the end of the 3rd quarter from crying all night but he never did.

Memo to Ray Lewis, I’m a believer in the word of God too but I’m quite sure when he wrote, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.” in Isaiah 54-17. He wasn’t talking about the other team that has boyz that pray to him too playa. I can guarantee you that the man up there in the great press box of life ain't trippin' on who wins the freakin' Super Bowl homie! I got love for you but I’m just sayin’!

Meanwhile the maintenance worker is still trying to explain to his bosses why he came sprinting out of the control room with one shoe on, smelling like some old school knock off Lagerfeld and carrying a bottle of Champipple! That’s that old school Fred G. Sanford drank, cheap drugstore champagne and ripple mixed in an old 2 liter pop bottle.  “See what had happen was….! Just think about how much trouble he would have been in if San Fran would have pulled it out! OMG!!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

My Super Bowl XLVII Pre-Game Speech

"Let's Ride Fellas!"

"Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed about your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God will only give us the same twenty four hours that he gave us on yesterday to enjoy it. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl since the first day you picked up a football. Now God has chosen you out of the millions of kids that started on this journey with you. There have been others with more talent than you possess, more athletic ability, more style and charisma; but you are the ones that have made it to New Orleans on this day.

Gentleman, you have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show the world that you belong in America's Game. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not enough to just show up, to bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. God didn't bring you here to have a vacation. So fellas, I ask you, what are you prepared to do this evening?

I've always told you that championships are not won on game day; that the game is only a culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and you were putting in work. When everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you stayed and put in 100 extra reps everyday. When everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 miles daily in addition to your regular workouts.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you could or couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going. Your name and picture was immortalized in the book of champions the day that you bought into our mission. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you put in to get to this very moment.

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

So as a result fellas, this game is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to show the world what we've already become. CHAMPIONS!

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to last the sixty minutes we've been given to decide this thing? We don't have to be the best team; we just have to be the best team during that allotted time. It's just that simple because nothing has changed. The field is the same 100 yards in length and 65 yards in width that it was when the season started. The goal posts are still 10 feet high and 18 feet 6 inches wide like they were two weeks ago. The refs are still the same guys from Footlocker. If you can remember that when you run out of this locker room, you'll return as champions and become immortals in the football book of greatness forever.

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably and 24 hours from now you'll be irrelevant to the rest of the world. You'll have what the ole timers would say, "A face that only a mother could love." So how do you want to handle this? I say we go out there and put ourselves in a position to be relevant tomorrow!" LET'S RIDE!!!!!"

Coach Jay Graves (today) but still Holla At Ya Boy!
Hit me up on Twitter: @jayygravesreport
Champions are made not born! -Jay Graves-

Champions Place

"Who's All In Bruh?"

As we gear up for the Super Bowl tomorrow, so many people are excited about the possibility of their team winning it all. Fans put in a lot of time hoping for a Championship but the only problem is they aren’t on the team. Very few people take the lessons that sports give us and relate them to their own lives.

Winning is something that everyone can do on a daily basis whether you're playing sports or not. The goal should be for us all to get to Champions Place!

Championships are not won on game day! Your level of success is contingent upon your commitment to it. In other words, how bad do you want it and what are you willing to do to get it. I constantly hear people talking about being great! The problem is, so few ever understand what that takes. There is only so much room at the top. Therefore, if you're going to hold a position in that zip code, someone either has to move out or be thrown out.

The word of God says, "A man reaps what he sows" Galatians 6:7. You're only going to get out of it what you put into it! How can a man withdraw what he has not put in? Life can only be as good as the effort by which you live it. Therefore, stop looking for someone else to give you permission to be great!

It's not somewhere that others can just open the door and let you in. You have to earn the right to be there by your determination and will to succeed. Everybody has a dream but not everyone is willing to wake up and pursue it.

Only the great ones understand that it's the little things that breathe life into winning titles in life. Waking up early to put in work when everyone else is asleep. Being on time when it's fashionable to be late. Having integrity which is simply doing the right thing when no one else is looking! Understanding that sacrifice is necessary in order to sharpen your skills.

Champions push past the point where most people tend to give up. It's a place where only the most diligent can finally rest and the most talented can only dream of being. Talent doesn't get you into this place it only allows you to imagine what it would be like to be there. It’s only one-third of the combination that unlocks the doors to greatness.

"Only the best get the hardware!"

Skill can be the most deceitful gift that a person can have because it tells you that you've got everything that it takes to win. It lies and tells you that all you've got to do is show up. Unfortunately, so many people miss out on the opportunity to be great because of their lack of effort.

The elite few that can unlock the combination will become Champions! Bo Schembechler always said, “Those that stay will become Champions!” Vince Lombardi expressed it this way, “We will relentlessly pursue perfection. However, it’s impossible to be perfect but in the process we will find excellence!” Aristotle said it better than any of them when he recited, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.”

So as we watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. Pay close attention to what it takes to be great! Follow the story lines of the teams and be curious to know what they’ve done to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and incorporate those things into your own life. Sports is entertainment but most importantly it should be a motivator for us to get to Champions Place in our own lives!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Hit me up on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Facebook Gangsta

Welker: Dude, my wife is trippin'! Brady: "Yeah bruh, she's worse than mine!"

Robert A. Heinlein known as the dean of science fiction hit boyz off with this, “A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.” In the hood they just call that being a plain old hater. Whenever you’re on your grind and folks can’t stop you from gettin’ it in they’re gonna hate! It’s just that simple! I’ve always said, “If 50% of the people in the room aren’t hatin’ on you then you need to step your game up.”

Well Wes Welker’s wife Ann let that jealousy bug climb into her heart on Sunday after she witnessed her husband and his homeboy’s get carjacked and beaten up in Foxboro by Ray Lewis and a street gang called the Ravens. After the Patriots got mugged in front of nearly 70,000 people ole girl took to her Facebook page and acted a complete fool and I quote:

"Proud of my husband and the Pats. By the way, if anyone is bored, please go to Ray Lewis' Wikipedia page. 6 kids 4 wives. Acquitted for murder. Paid a family off. Yay. What a hall of fame player! A true role model!"

Now if that ain’t some down right hatin’ I don’t know what is bruh! Your husband and his boyz just got the brakes beat off of them in front of the whole world and all you have to do with your time is put some cat's personal life on blast online? How childish is that? What does Ray Lewis’ family have to do with him terrorizing your little itty bitty husband and his boyz on national TV? He was like the boogie man out there on those boyz.

At least when Tom Brady's wife went off after the Super Bowl last year she was just backing some boyz up off of her. I had no problem with the way she handled it. That was a G move on her part because the fans were completely disrespectful to her. However, Wes' wife better watch out because Ray Ray's baby mommas ain't from the suburbs. They may have some bread now but ghetto tendencies are permanent pimpin'! They're probably puttin' the vaseline on their faces and kickin' off their heels just reading this joint. "Where that $#&%* at!" I can hear 'em comin' don't street now with some old school Pro Keds on just for the occasion. They put the Bentley up and are ridin' deep in the before Ray Lewis joint, a '92 Skylark with 3 hub caps just to give them an edge!

Ole girl completely violated every rule in the Hood Handbook of Family Protocol playa! She mentioned a boyz wife or potential wife, baby momma or mommas, jump offs and his kids! You can't back out of the door with an apology on that one homeboy! There's only one way to solve a problem like this and only those that grew up with a hood address know what I'm talking about! So if you don't know I can't help you!

So if Baby Ray had one kid and had only been married once or didn't have any kids out of wedlock would that have changed the beaten that the Patriots would have gotten? If he’d never been involved in the murder situation would that have changed the score or kept him from imposing his will on your husband's team? Absolutely not playa! Therefore, you sound like a 16 year old that just got beat up on the bus and you're looking for some sympathy but everybody’s laughing at you and shaking their heads.

 Let’s keep it real of all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Why didn’t ole girl bring up the fact that New England hasn’t been able to win a Super Bowl since being caught in the whole spygate joint? I’m just sayin’! They were dominating the league as long as they were cheating. Why wasn’t that put on Facebook homegirl? Why not blast Bill Belichik for not coming up with a new plan to cheat boyz out of Super Bowls? That would have been more appropriate than going at Ray Lewis for taking your husband's sneakers and giving him a wedgy.

It’s easy to win 3 out of 4 Super Bowls when you’re a peeping Tom! That's like ole Manti saying he's a ladies man now! If you know what boyz are about to do on every freaking play it’s a lot easier to be Tom Brady, right? These duns were climbing through the window in the middle of the night on boyz but she doesn’t remember that. However, she can pull up Ray Ray’s Wikipedia page though. What I’m most upset about on his page is the fact that they NEVER once mention his inability to stop crying! I’m fired up about that homeboy and somebody’s got to pay!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

The REAL DON DADA'S

"How bout y'all put 14 people on the field next time bruh!"

Hood protocol says, “If you gone ride around calling yourself the Don then always be prepared to get shot.” The old playa’s from around the way just keep it real by saying, “Don’t ever talk too much trash homeboy because there’s always somebody out there willing to give you what you’re lookin’ for.”

Well #1 Notre Dame pulled up in Miami in a convertible 64 Impala with the gold candy paint shinning! They had all 7 Heisman’s and 11 national titles in the trunk. Touchdown Jesus was standing up across the bench seat talking 100 worth of noise while Lou Holtz was spitting on boyz talking trash out of the window til Alabama started shooting! It was like the scene from Boyz N the Hood when Ice Cube floored it to get away.

Alabama cleared the joint real quick by beating the brakes, the doors, the transmission and stripping the joint of all of it’s chrome 42-14. It was 28-0 by the half and there was an Amber alert out for the fake Heisman finalist Manti Te’o by the middle of the 2nd quarter bruh! We saw that dun lead the team out of the tunnel before the game and I swear I saw him try to run back up in that joint after Eddie Lacy’s first touchdown run within the first 3 minutes of the game.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I went out on a limb and picked Notre Dame because I figured they would show up and take advantage of Bama’s secondary.  Not a chance homeboy, they were scared to death during the coin toss! You could see it in their eyes when the ref flipped the coin in the air that boyz wanted to get back on the bus.

You knew it was over when ole boy asked Brain Kelly at the half, "What can you do to get back in this game?" And he said, "Hope Alabama doesn't come back out in the second half!" You could have put the dirt on them right then and there and saved us the trouble!

Bama was bigger, stronger, faster and had better looking girls in the stands cheering for them! What blew me away was how amazed people were on Twitter that A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend was a dime! He’s the freaking starting quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the best team in the Country two years in a row bruh! He'd better have a fine woman or somethings wrong with him! You don't even need game to pull if you're the quarterback at Bama! A.J. had so much time to throw the ball that he was back there wearing a smoking jacket and slippers like Fred G. Sanford! And the "G" stands for "Got these boyz!"

 Where are all of the delusional Notre Dame fans that were hyping Manti Te’o up for the Heisman?  I kept telling you all year that he wasn’t that good bruh! He had an inspiring story because he played through the death of both his grandmother and girlfriend. That’s where the story should have ended homeboy. He was way out of his league last night. He was always a step slower and considerably weaker than Lacy and Yeldon as they kept running through him. I thought that he would get exposed during the NFL Combine but Bama beat the scouts to the punch. He's Brian Bozworth all over again playboy.

At halftime the Alabama trainers and team doctors were in the Notre Dame locker room robbing these private school chumps of all of their valuables! They had boyz duck tapped and blind folded as they went through their pockets. Taking all of their BCS National Championship Game gifts that teams get when they arrive. They ran out of there with all of their Adidas gear and their girlfriend's phone numbers. After a beat down like that their own women won’t even claim them when they get back to South Bend. That’s only a face that a mother could love.

Will somebody please tell me why I saw the Leprechaun and Manti getting beat up in Overtown while the game was still going on? They were so scared that they took a wrong turn running out of the stadium trying to get to the airport when they went down 42-7 and ended up in the projects at Sheniqua's house. Last I saw the Leprechaun he was gettin' dragged down the street by two of her baby daddy's! The third Joe was trying on Manti's helmet and shoulder pads in the back room!

The Tide rolled so hard that Big Al got arrested for streaking and fighting in front of Wet Willy’s on South Beach in the middle of the 3rd quarter! During the scrap he tore his ACL and will have to have surgery in Tuscaloosa after the pep rally on Tuesday!

Major props to Nick Saban and Co. He’s built a dynasty that will terrorize college football until some cat is bold enough to challenge him but I don’t see that happening anytime soon homie!

Let me say this before I get out of here. If I hear another clown screaming SEC, SEC that isn’t an Alabama, LSU or Florida fan I’m gonna ride up on you with some real gangsta's from the "G" and teach you a lesson for false flaggin'! Stop riding the coat tails of some cat that you just happen to see once a year and trying to get props off of what he's accomplished! Y'all ain't even cool like that! As a matter of fact, you hate his guts because he keeps beating YOU!

The 7 straight titles read like this: Alabama 3, Florida 2, LSU 1 and Cam Newton 1 not Auburn pimpin'! On some real talk, freaking Purdue could have won a title with Cam Newton! So stop trying to eat off the SEC’s plate when you haven’t paid to eat at the Buffett. You’re like the dun that shows up for the Fraternity meeting and always wants to vote but hasn’t paid dues in 20 years! Better yet, you're the cat that always wants to drink but never brings the liquor or never adds to the kitty for the liquor run and when you do, you need gas money.

Congrats Alabama and Roll Tide!! On some real talk, thanks for shutting up the most obnoxious fan base in the country! Bama is the REAL DON DADA!! I can't hate!!!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

"Champions Place"

"The Miami Heat won the title but have you found that special place in life yet?"

With the NBA season just wrapping up and the Miami Heat hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy I thought that it would be a great time talk about what winning it all really means. So many people get excited about the possibility of their team winning a championship that they never stop to think about what it means to be a champion in their own life. Fans put in a lot of time hoping for a title but the only problem is they aren’t on the team. Very few people take the lessons that sports teach us and relate them to their own lives.

Winning is something that everyone can do on a daily basis whether you're playing sports or not. The goal should be for us all to get to Champions Place and hoist the trophy!

Championships are not won on game day! Your level of success is contingent upon your commitment to it. In other words, how bad do you want it and what are you willing to do to get it. I constantly hear people talking about being great! The problem is, so few ever understand what that takes. There is only so much room at the top. Therefore, if you're going to hold a position in that zip code, someone either has to move out or be thrown out.

The word of God says, "A man reaps what he sows" Galatians 6:7. You're only going to get out of it what you put in it! How can a man withdraw what he has not put in? Life can only be as good as the effort by which you live it. Therefore, stop looking for someone else to give you permission to be great!

It's not some place that others can just open the door and let you in. You have to earn the right to be there by your determination and will to succeed. Everybody has a dream but not everyone is willing to wake up and pursue it.

Only the great ones understand that it's the little things that breathe life into winning titles in life. Waking up early to put in work when everyone else is asleep. Being on time when it's fashionable to be late. Having integrity which is simply doing the right thing when no one else is looking! Understanding that sacrifice is necessary in order to sharpen your skills.

Champions push past the point where most people tend to give up. It's a place where only the most diligent can finally rest and the most talented can only dream of being. Talent doesn't get you into this place it only allows you to imagine what it would be like to be there. It’s only one-third of the combination that unlocks the doors to greatness.

Skill can be the most deceitful gift that a person can possess because it tells you that you've got everything that it takes to win. It lies and tells you that all you've got to do is show up. Unfortunately, so many people miss out on the opportunity to be great because of their lack of effort.

The elite few that can unlock the combination will become Champions! Bo Schembechler always said, “Those that stay will become Champions!” Vince Lombardi expressed it this way, “We will relentlessly pursue perfection. However, it’s impossible to be perfect but in the process we will find excellence!” Aristotle said it better than any of them when he recited, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.”

So as we continue to watch our favorite teams this year. Pay close attention to what it takes for them to be great! Follow the story lines of the best teams and be curious to know what they’ve done to separate themselves from the rest of the pack and incorporate those things into your own life. Sports is entertainment but most importantly it should be a motivator for us to get to Champions Place in our own lives!

 Congratulations to LeBron James and the Miami Heat on being a great example of perseverance. I hope that the fans at the parade today stop and think about what it would take to win in their own lives and then pursue it. Like my wife always says, "Those people are already rich and doing what they've always wanted to do. I can't spend too much time on them cuz I gotta get mine too!"

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport
　

American Arrogance!

"These hats & shirts say  NBA Champions not WORLD CHAMPS bruh!"

On Thursday night the Miami Heat won the NBA Championship by pretty much destroying the Oklahoma City Thunder in 5 Games. They all but spotted OKC a game then swept them. When the team stood on the podium after the game they were rocking their NBA Champion hats and T-shirts. So it's clear that they've just won the NBA Championship, right? However, within minutes of these cats winning the title and wearing NBA Champions gear every radio and TV outlet I turned on was referring to them as the "World Champions." Really? They didn't just play Spain or Germany bruh. They played OKC! This wasn't world playoff it was the NBA Playoffs bruh!

Let's examine this whole league championship thing. For year's I've often wondered why our professional sports teams are referred to as "World Champions" once they win league championship. The NFL as well as MLB all do it and it drives me crazy. Why?

I think that it's par for the course for Americans to be arrogant and this is just another reason why people from other countries have such  distaste for us. How can you call yourself a "World Champion" when you didn't compete on a world stage? The Heat aren't the world champions! They play basketball all over the world and they didn't play anybody but teams in the NBA. The same goes for Major League Baseball. How can we call it the "World Series" when the only teams that are playing are from America?

The only true "World Champions" are the guys that participate in the World Cup in soccer or the tennis players, golfers and those competing in track and field. The entire world is involved in those tournaments. So whoever wins is the true "World Champion".

Now that Miami has won the NBA title everybody will be introducing them as the "World Champions" and no one is going to blink. The organization will have "World Champion" engraved on the ring and everybody will be cool with it. However, if you pay close attention every official hat and T-shirt from the NBA says NBA Champions!  So it isn't the NBA league office that is promoting "World Champions" it's the arrogant organizations & those folks that want to make it look bigger because it's America. Have you ever been to LA and seen the banners hanging from the rafters? They all say "World Champions." It's a complete joke bruh! If the NBA calls the winner the NBA Champion then it should be called that! The crazy thing about it is that nobody blinks when people say it. Why, because Americans are arrogant!

Sometimes we need to check ourselves and our attitudes about who and what we are. Sure, we have some of the best athletes in the world. However, that doesn't mean that we've got the best TEAMS in the world. In my opinion, if they want to be called World Champions then compete on a world stage and win that title. Send the NBA Champion to the Olympics every 4 years and if they win the joint then every 4 years you'll have a World Champion!

 I can remember back in 2004 when the U.S. Olympic basketball team, which was comprised of NBA players, had to settle for a bronze medal. We probably had the best set of athletes in the tournament but we didn't have the best TEAM. So to say that we've got the best athletes and therefore we should call our league champions "World Champions" is arrogant. Now do I believe that the Heat would beat any team in the world that would show up? Sure, but they didn't play them so you just can't own the World Championship if you didn't complete on a world stage. 

If there were a world tournament played every year for all of the baseball, basketball and football league champions that would be great but they don't. It's cool that the Heat are the NBA Champs bruh but we don't need to call them World Champions just to make it look bigger and better because it's America. So slow ya roll and be satisfied with calling it what it is, NBA Champions!!!

 Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jayygravesreport

Finals Pre-Game Speech

"It's put up or shut up bruh! Let's ride!"

"Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed of your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God will only give us the same twenty four hours today that he gave us on yesterday to enjoy it. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing in the Finals since the day you picked up a basketball. Now God has chosen you out of the millions of cats that started on this journey with you. There have been others that have  possessed far more talent, more athletic ability, more style and charisma; Well maybe not! After all, you are the best players on the planet and you're here for a reason! You shouldn't be surprised by that because have been telling you how great you were since 6th grade.

You have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show that world that you are the best players alive. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not just enough to show up, to bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. You're not here to have a vacation. It's business as usual! So fella's, I ask you, what are you prepared to do with this opportunity?

I've always told you that championships are not won of game day; that they are the culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and you were putting in work. When everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you stayed and shot 100 more times everyday and you were dedicated to working on your inadequacies. It was won when everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 miles daily.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going way back in middle school. The banner was immortalized in the rafters the day that you bought into our mission. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you put in to get to this moment.


The elite few that can unlock the combination will become Champions! Bo Schembechler always said, “Those that stay will become Champions!” Vince Lombardi expressed it this way, “We will relentlessly pursue perfection. However, it’s impossible to be perfect but in the process we will find excellence!” Aristotle said it better than any of them when he recited, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.”

So as a result fella's, this best of 7 series is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to unlock the door to becoming a Champion.

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to play every game like it's your last to decide this thing? In so many cases they say, We don't have to be the best team, we just have to be the best team for 48 minutes. Well, that's not true in this case! It's the NBA Playoffs and this is the Finals! The best team always wins it all. There are no surprises here bruh! You can't luck up and become a champion at this level. It's just that simple because nothing has changed. The court is the same 50' in width and 88' in length that it was last week. The goal is still 10' off of the ground. The refs are still the same guys from footlocker and you're still the greatest players on earth. If you can remember that when you run out of this locker room, you'll return four times as winners and will have the honor of being called a Champion!

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably and  no one is going to care that you're depressed as a result of it. If you allow the fans to dictate policy on the road you'll be humbled like never before. So how do you want to handle this? Because until your desire to become a Champion becomes as stronger as your desire to breath. You'll never become a Champion! It's now in your hands playboy. What are you willing to do with it?  Let's ride!"

Holla At Ya Boy!
Coach Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jayygravesreport
Champions are made not born! Jay Graves

To Be Called A Champion!

Kentucky vs Kansas! "Let's get it on bruh!"

Why else would a man dedicate his life to becoming the very best in his respective field? Never forgetting that in order to become the very best you've got to do more than just show up daily.
 To Be Called A Champion!

 Realizing that it's the little things that lead you to the ultimate goal. That extra rep, the additional hour of study, understanding that if I put in the work now, I'll reap the benefits later.
To Be Called Champion!

 Remaining disciplined today will pay off tomorrow. Never losing sight of why we're here in the first place.
To Be Called Champion!

 Why play the game if you don't want it all? Why get up in the morning if your goal is to blend in and not be seen. Leaders are in front because followers can't lead.
To Be Called A Champion!

Life is more rewarding when you set goals and push through to achieve them. We do it for one reason!
To Be Called A Champion!

There is never time to enjoy success because the mere taste of it ignites a fire to simply repeat it. The kind of thirst that can't be quenched.
To Be Called A Champion!

Never give up the pursuit of being called a winner or more importantly the Champion!


 The guilty ones are always caught holding the evidence:

UConn 2011

 The two winningest programs in college basketball history square off tonight for all of the marbles! The University of Kentucky has 7 National Titles and 2089 victories. The University of Kansas  has 3 National Titles and 2070 victories. This is big boy basketball at it's finest! Who'll get caught holding the evidence this year?

My Prediction: Kentucky

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Follow me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

Final Four Pre-Game Speech

"It's Game Time!"

"Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed of your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God will only give us the same twenty four hours today that he gave us on yesterday to enjoy it. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing in the Final Four since the day you picked up a basketball. Now God has chosen you out of the millions of kids that started on this journey with you. There have been others that have  possessed far more talent, more athletic ability, more style and charisma; but you are the ones that have made it to New Orleans on this day.

Gentleman, you have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show that world that you belong in the Final Four. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not just enough to show up, to bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. God didn't bring you here to have a vacation. So fella's, I ask you, what are you prepared to do this evening?

I've always told you that championships are not won of game day; that they are the culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and we were putting in work. When everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you stayed and shot 100 more times everyday. It was won when everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 miles daily.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going. Your name and picture was immortalized in the athletic department the day that you bought into our mission. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you put in to get to this moment.

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."

So as a result fella's, this game is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to get to Monday.

"G.A.T.A."

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to last the forty minutes we've been given to decide this thing? We don't have to be the best team, we just have to be the best team for forty minutes. It's just that simple because nothing has changed. The court is the same 50' in width and 84' in length. The goal is still 10' off of the ground. The refs are still the same guys from footlocker. If you can remember that when you run out of this locker room, you'll return as winners and we move on to the title game on Monday.

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably. So how do you want to handle this? I say we go out there and move one step closer to fulfilling our destiny, let's go!"

Holla At Ya Boy!
Coach Jay Graves (today)
Follow me on Twitter: @jayygravesreport
Champions are made not born! Jay Graves

Winning IS Everything!

These are the only reasons the games are played! 

Now that the NBA and college basketball seasons are in full tilt everyone is excited to see their particular team play. If we didn’t expect our teams to win or if we didn’t have faith that they would attempt to win we wouldn’t watch them play, right? At the games highest levels the goal hasn’t changed. Herman Edwards, former professional football player and former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs once said, “We play to win the game”.

I hear so many people trying to down play the concept of winning like it’s something that people should be ashamed of. We often hear the old colloquialism, “It’s not whether you win or lose but it’s how you play the game. We’ll… that was written by a person that became comfortable with losing. It was his or her way of justifying that losing wasn’t such a bad thing. I’m going to say it for the rest of us, losing isn’t fun and should never be acceptable.

Years ago when my son started playing organized football I coached his first team. Our team won the championship that year. He was only in second grade at the time. We won the title because our goal from the first day of practice was to win the championship. We told our players and their parents that our intent was to win the championship and nothing less would be acceptable. Therefore, there was a certain level of commitment that we needed from everyone involved. In order to become champions there were certain things that had to happen.

We needed everyone to be at practice on time and ready to give 100% everyday. Our effort would dictate our results. I told them everyday that if you give 100% all of the time, you’ll always win far more than you’ll lose. We never promised the kids that we would win every game but we did tell them that we’d win more than we’d lose. Our team went 8-1 and we won the championship trophy at the end of the season.

On the other side of that equation the other teams in the league told their players and parents that all they wanted to do was have fun. They promised the parents and the children that they would learn how to play the game of football and that they’d have fun. Everyone bought into that. However, they only accomplished one of their goals. They did teach them the game of football but they didn’t have fun. You can’t have fun losing. By teaching the kids that it’s only about having fun, they taught them that what they were doing wasn’t important. I’ve always been taught that you will play like you practice. If it wasn’t important during the week then it wasn’t important on game day.

“The way you do anything is the way you do everything”. Winning is a by-product of your efforts and it’s a culmination of events. The things that we taught our team will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their lives. We taught them that once you commit to the team you’re in and there’s no backing out. Always do your best because others are depending on your effort. Give 100% every time you come to play because you can get hurt just standing around. Does any of that sound like life to you? This has nothing to do with football or sports. That’s the simple formula for successful living.

Winning IS everything! Understanding that concept will become the difference between success and failure. People that become accustomed to losing become those that can’t find fulfillment because of a lack of their effort. They never commit to the team and often get hurt because they get blindsided from standing around. They are the ones that never maximize their potential because losing never bothered them.

Jimmy Connors, the famous tennis player, once said, “I hate losing more than I like winning”. We have to experience loss in order to understand what it is. However, by the mere experience of it we should never to be willingly to accept it. That doesn’t mean that it won’t ever happen. Often times we’re presented with two options to choose from and there’s no in-between. You can choose to pass or fail, go to Heaven or hell or you can win or lose!

Holla At Ya Boy! 

Jay Graves

Hit me up on on Twitter: @jaygravesreport

My Super Bowl XLVI Pre-Game Speech!

"It's game time bruh!"

"Gentleman, this is the day that you've dreamed of your entire lives. You can't slow it down because God will only give us the same twenty four hours that he gave us on yesterday to enjoy it. So we must cherish this moment and take full advantage of the opportunity while it's in front of us.

You've dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl since the first day you picked up a football. Now God has chosen you out of the millions of kids that started on this journey with you. There have been others with more talent than you possess, more athletic ability, more style and charisma; but you are the ones that have made it to Indianapolis on this day.

Gentleman, you have been predestined to run out of this locker room to show that world that you belong in America's Game. Now that you're here, what are you going to do with the opportunity? It's not enough to just show up, to bring your camera or recorder and soak it all in. God didn't bring you here to have a vacation. So fella's, I ask you, what are you prepared to do this evening?

I've always told you that championships are not won of game day; that championships are only a culmination of events. This championship was won during the off season when the other teams were having a good time and we were putting in work. When everyone practiced for two hours and went home and you stayed and put in 100 more reps everyday. When everyone was asleep and you got up at 5am to run 5 miles daily.

The trophy was being engraved when you decided that you weren't going to let others tell you what you couldn't accomplish. Your ring was sized the day you cut off friends that weren't going in the same direction that you were going. Your name and picture was immortalized in the book of champions the day that you bought into our mission. Every diamond in the setting of that ring represents the sweat that you put in to get to this very moment.

Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit."
So as a result fella's, this game is just a matter of formality. It's just another part of what we have to do to show the world what we've already become. Champions!

Who's got the intestinal fortitude to last the sixty minutes we've been given to decide this thing? We don't have to be the best team; we just have to be the best team during that allotted time. It's just that simple because nothing has changed. The field is the same 100 yards in length and 65 yards in width that it was when the season started. The goal posts are still 10 feet high and 18 feet, 6 inches wide like they were two weeks ago. The refs are still the same guys from footlocker. If you can remember that when you run out of this locker room, you'll return as champions and become immortals in the football book forever.

However, if you allow the moment to get too big, you'll fail miserably and 24 hours from now you'll be irrelevant to the rest of the world. You'll have what the ole timers would say, "A face that only a mother could love." So how do you want to handle this? I say we go out there and put ourselves in a position to be relevant tomorrow!" Let's go!"

Coach Jay Graves (today)
Hit me up on Twitter: @jayygravesreport
Champions are made not born! Jay Graves