from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
Tupac Shakur
One of Tupac's greatest masterpieces that wasn't accompanied with a beat and released on the radio airwaves. The poem is called "The Rose that Grew from Concrete", part of a collection of poems and other random writings from Tupac released in 2000. To interpret the poem, Pac' is using a rose, which usually grows in dirt or ideal soil, as a man or young boy developing into one. The concrete symbolizes the hood or ghetto, where the sidewalks and streets are cracked and laden with gang graffiti. Common sense tells you that there is no way a rose can grow in concrete, no nutrients, no way for water or sunshine to reach its roots. Pac is really saying that is it extremely hard to survive and make it out of the ghetto, considering all the death and destruction that takes place in it. "Nature's Law" is the expectations that were placed on the rose (man) to grow (survive) which were none. Therefore, the rose (man) defied all the odds of it becoming something and proved itself to everyone. Pac is telling us to never give up and keep focus of our dreams because no odds are strong enough to keep us from them. Just about what we are willing to do.
Speaking of Roses, how about that Derrick Rose fella? Well he's still hurt and down in the dumps about him still not being on the court. It seems like everyday there is a report about the status of Derrick Rose, how he's feeling, playing, thinking, what he's eating, etc. The report that millions of people are waiting for, whether he is going to actually step on the court and end speculation of his long awaited return. I mean, Adidas did do a mini series on Derrick Rose's recovery from his ACL injury. After watching DRose workout and speak on how much he wants to step on the court, the anticipation became more real everyday.
Unfortunately, the more anticipation that builds as his return looms in our minds, disappointment rises along with it as we still see no #1 on the hardwood. To some people it's heartbreaking. To others, it's skeptical and expected. Let's look into some facts and details.
Derrick Rose was hurt in Game 1 of the 1st round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers in the closing moments of a clear win. The injury was a freak incident, with Rose making no contact with anyone while driving to the basket and seeing his knee twist awkwardly. Derrick is taken to Rush were it was determined he tore his ACL. That same day later on, Iman Shumpert of the New York Knicks, tore his ACL on a similar freak incident type play. That day was April 28, 2012. That was 11 months ago. While Shumpert has been back on the court for about 3-4 months, although not completely playing at the level he was at before the injury, he is doing all he can to help the Knicks sustain the 2nd spot in the East. Derrick Rose is still on the bench, and about a month ago was allowed to take full contact, 5-on-5, practice with the squad. He also started traveling with the team again, which he once didn't do because he didn't want to be a distraction to his team.
A few weeks ago, DRose was cleared by doctors to play. People were extremely excited and anxious for his return. However, that was soon scratched as Derrick claimed that he isn't ready psychologically and doesn't want to come back until he was 100% confident in his body. Many people were asking themselves "What is psychologically ready and what does that have to do with dribbling a damn basketball?" The man did just get through tough rehab of an injury that very well could have ended his career. It's normal to be hesitant in a situation like that. I got pasar fasciitis in my right foot in the summer during camp for football. It was extremely painful and inconvenient. I couldn't stand for long period of time, walk long distances or run. I was in a slump. I had to miss time that was supposed to be spent getting better and vying for a starting position on the team, showing the coach I belonged on the field this year after disappointment last year. Even worse, I couldn't be around my team, my brothers. When my foot specialists Ok'd me to come back, I felt hesitant because I didn't know if I could perform well enough. I was quite behind everyone else. Those two and a half weeks felt like forever in my mind. I can definitely relate to how Derrick is feeling now, with way less pressure and expectations however.
After watching Adidas' The Return series, Rose looked like he sweated motivation and determination in that weight room, pool and court as he rehabbed. That motivation seems to not have resulted in him being back in uniform. Some believe it isn't an intrinsic issue, but an extrinsic one. Rose signed a 5 year/$95million contract extension last year with the Bulls, keeping him on the squad until 2018. Two months later, after having success with his signature shoe with Adidas, the adiZero Rose, the company gave him a 14year/$260million contract to keep him sporting their sneakers and attire. In a matter of 3 months, Rose got about $40+million richer. Rose also took another step in his life by welcoming his newborn son PJ. These are all big changes in his life that may all be on his mind along with trying to get back on the court. I mean, you got a little man with some spending money nursing a hurt knee, it can be easy to get a little too relaxed. There's also some worry about the people Derrick is listening to in his corner. Of course there are his brothers, most notably Reggie who is also his manager. Recently, Reggie criticized the Bulls for not making any moves during the trade deadline to help his brother. There you see Reggie looking out for his little brother, but in my opinion, Reggie is in no position to say anything like that. This is also the same guy who sits courtside next to Scottie Pippen at home Bulls games, not just somewhere close in the crowd, while his brother tosses his body around to get the Bulls Ws. Rose also lives with 8-9 of his closest friends from high school, who we can imagine are also his inner circle. I understand letting your team eat at the table with you, but damnnn that's a lot of niggas eating with you. What are they doing with themselves? Most likely waiting for Rose to throw them bones.
Now I'm not saying Rose is milking his injury at all. My family and I are very familiar with Rose and his family. We lived close to him and on occasion hooped with/against him at parks and at Westcott court across the street from Simeon. He is everything that we think he is, humble, geniune, kind, (not much intellect), and skilled. I have admirable respect for Rose, seeing as though we are both Englewood bred and that it is extremely hard to survive in this neighborhood AND make something out of yourself. Just a note, West Englewood and Englewood is yearly responsible for 30% of homicides within the city and has the highest poverty (at 44%, which is higher than Chicago's avg at 20% for the entire city), lowest graduation rate for high schoolers in a particular, highest unemployment (35%) and easily most crime ridden within the city (40% crime rate and while Chicago's murder rate has been down Englewood's has stayed stable, high). Look at a few of these links http://spotcrime.com/il/chicago/englewood http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Englewood-Chicago-IL.html http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/community/englewood Yeah, it's real. Now the know the magnitude of DRose's greatness. And while it seems that maybe a lot of people are using DRose, much sacrifice was made to get him to where he is now. Introducing him to basketball, giving him a stable support system to keep him level, taking his ACT (it's true for those of you skeptical or in denial, the guy who took it for him went to WY) and helping him keep focus because as we know he can do foolish things (picture below). Yeah, you know why Derrick says he was always in the gym and nowhere else.
Instead of judging Rose and being overanxious for his return, we should just chill. Derrick Rose owes Chicago SHIT. Let me say that again. CHICAGO, DERRICK ROSE OWES YOU NOT A MOTHERFUCKING THING! There. While a lot of people associate hometowns with loyalty, that isn't so. Derrick owes loyalty to the people who helped get him to the status he is now, who is his family, friends, and former coaches, who are the exact people who is generous with to this day. Chicago, just like anyone else's hometown, is simply the place you were born. Whether you make something symbolic of that is up to you, but there is no rule, in writing or street, that says you owe your hometown anything. Rose is allowed to do whatever he wants, without judgement from others. We weren't with Derrick shooting in the gym (Derrick was a horrific shooter from Beasley to Simeon to Memphis, so he was probably dunking or laying up) or making those trips from practice to home surrounded by danger. He put in the work to become a superstar, so he owes it to himself to do what's best for him. We should be grateful Derrick was chosen by the Bulls because we could definitely be in the nightmare of Michael Beasely (in his defense, Beasley put up better numbers, more athletic and would have allowed the Bulls to ship out an under-performing Luol Deng for a PF, but Beasley is a lifetime knucklehead and junkie who went to three high schools in four years and got a bad NBA endorsement from Bob Huggins as being selfish, lazy and hard to get through to). We just better pray Derrick doesn't leave us in 2018 for the Lakers (Derrick spends most of his off-season training and relaxing in Los Angeles) How would you feel if the LakeShow sported a primed Rose and although 30yrs old still in his prime Dwight Howard? Shitty right?
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