Greetings, and so another week has passed and I find myself back on my blog having even more experiences than the week before.Where shall I start...hmmmm well lets go with something on last week and the Board of Trustees beef between two women. So the "significant" woman held a conference and said that she would give more money and told the State (a la the Woman in charge) to match it, in my translation she is emphatically saying "nah b%&*$, put up or shut up". Ok ok...on to other news SPORTS why don't we and so the state flagship schools bball program loses 4 players in 12 mos...ok obviously I'm not in a position to express what I want however I wanted to dive into the dynamics of these transactions, now being a former student athlete my interest is always vested into the players and the program. Don't get it misconstrued I completely understand the business of college athletics and the prevalent challenge of education vs athletics (been there done that). I digress I personally don't like the moves because ultimately these type of decisions (attrition) effects both parties, you ask how? Well lets look at it most kids (98%) come to school with ambitions and dreams of playing professionally (school in most cases is secondary) so by making these transitions you ultimately lose a year and a real sense of where your "dream" is headed. Now on the flip side it hurts the institution because the perceived idea is to educate the athletes and W/L are some what subjective. The reality of the matter is transitions happen to every school across the country however this happened all at once (which is like finding a Lebron James that wants to come to school = rare). In the realm of public opinion none of this looks good for the coaches, players, or the program. So in my current capacity I continue to try to educate these kids on the business of sports. See many of them figure no responsibilities (which is a joke your responsibility is to get good grades and WIN!) and they also figure they aren't getting paid so they can't conceptualize (at 17-20 yrs old) that this indeed is a job. So what I tell them is you have to really understand and bring this thing to reality (you essentially get paid 100k/yr - housing, books, per diem, clothes/gear, meal plan). Now once these "kids" understand that college sports like being a regular student is in place to prepare you for the NEXT LEVEL in which being a Pro means you manage your money, your bills, you day to day activities so at this time you must conduct yourself like what you want to eventually be. In other words if you want to be a pro....act like one (study film, extra practice, play the social and media role). So those are my surface feelings because I truly wish I had someone during my experience to take me under their wing and say look "screw all that other stuff" if you want to make it this is how you do it (and I don't mean the general yada yada you get from coaches). I mean someone sitting me down on a regular and saying YOU have unbelievable potential however, in order for you to make it you will have to A, B, and C. I know you want to party, meet girls, and blah blah all the time you spend doing that instead of honing your craft and learning the "GAME" (on and off court to position oneself) to do what you say you want and that is to make it to NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, or what have you, no one did that so I feel like it is my duty to impart that information (not saying that no one is doing it I'm just saying). For the sake of time I will leave the rest of my thoughts for questions if anyone has any.
Nah to other news...I yes ME went out this past weekend with my best friend, frat brother, and business partner. Now we simply went to a WANG and DRANK establishment (I will not market or anyone else hahaha) and did some catching up and to discuss our future ventures. Of course we have a wonderful blueprint in line that we started 4 years ago however in the capital city "metropolitan" city at that with a mediocre and not to stretch the imagination seemingly pathetic social night life for adults (ages 25+). Now I understand that this "city" is a college town which I whole hardily enjoyed when I was 18-22. Nah at 31 I can't pull myself to go to those same establishments so I'm regulated to WANG and DRANK places (during basketball, football seasons) which is ok. I digress...we have analyzed this market for quite sometime now and have our thoughts on how to boost the social and economic landscape without changing the identity of the place (its the south - I will not elaborate), so we had a novel idea since we rarely get together to really hang out anymore to try to take our talents to a "night spot" (which will remain nameless even after what I will say). So we get to the place and (with it being one of 3 places you can really go in the CAPITAL) and get checked at the door for our attire, mind nah (chas. voice) we are both casually dressed (jeans, button down shirts, and casual sneakers) and the Security guy says y'all shoes look like sneakers (Good observation sir because they are but they aren't bball shoes or willies) and proceeds to tell us we cannot get in. At this moment another guy walks up (long tee shirt, bubble vest, baggy cargo pants, and some prada sneakers) and is let in with no hesitation or questioning. So my outspoken frat brother says "man this guy just walked in and those look like sneakers" and the security refers to the doorman and the door man says "nah those are BOOTS". I said sir those are prada sneakers (which are casual) and I lift up my pant leg and said these are no different (I'm not a materialistic person but I do like nice things I had on my Gucci casual sneaks). Yet we still couldn't get in, so next walks up two guys with baggy jeans, polo style shirts with thermal shirts underneath and ball caps) now mind they had on Lugz or Timberlands boots but if you trying to had a "standard" it should apply equally. So after standing there having discussion about this foolishness we decided to leave which didn't bother me that I was going home it was the PRINCIPALITIES of the matter. Nah I will not name the place because at the end of the day they are in the business of making money and hey who am I to knock the hustle. My lingering point is that there is no standard (and as other places shut down) due to compromising the "standard" for the dollar (many of them hearing consultation from us) learn that when we say the life span is 24-30mos. we mean just that (and it never fails). So as I exit my soapbox I have come to the realization that when my partner and I attempt to do things and continuously get profiled i.e. people we talk to about buildings say "We are not interested in this place being a club" we tell them you haven't even let us speak first and you are already categorizing us. We don't want a club either (too much of a headache and if we did people wont' appreciate what we would give -just my thought) we are trying to be trendsetting entrepreneurs. I digress....so my point is we are slowly but surely becoming more disappointed in the development of the "CAPITAL" and its vision of socio-economic diversity and or willing to try to grow and become the fruitful place it has the potential to be as we have seen other cities go from sub par to BOOMING (ATL - over 20 yrs and Char. - over 10 years) as we still lag behind content with being where we are not willing to take a chance. I do applaud our Mayor for seeing the potential and trying to create a buzz (he has been a great mentor to us). Maybe we are just disgruntled visionaries who have had great success with providing quality events from time to time. I don't know maybe I'm just venting...and not trying hard enough but the obstacles and folks looking thru the peephole and dead bolting doors that we can open is a bit frustrating. ANYWAY....that's enough of my rant yall have a good day (IF YOU EVEN READ THIS FAR hahahahahaha)
Until....
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