A different type of::::
It came and went, with little fanfare. Yet, Episode 112 was a big milestone for me. It was my first born son, Ma$e getting on the mic, not being shook, leaving doubt behind, with his whole life ahead.
I remember one of my mentors, Albert Chaulk of Episode 13 fame gave me life advice. It was serendipitous-and-surreptitious that I met him when I did. It was the day after the Super Bowl that the Baltimore Ravens won (2013), when I walked into a snowy H&R Block looking for an accountant to handle my taxes for that year. I met Al in a cubicle, and quickly I learnt that he couldn’t be put in a box.
Not only was it a day after my favorite team winning the championship of all championships, but my son was born 3 days before, something I knew nothing about. I’m not sure if I’d be able to have a kid at 25, and surely not at 18. Yet, after over 30 years in this life, it was my time.
Albert and I hit it off quickly, and it wasn’t too long that we got into the discussion of my newly born baby. “Treat him like an adult from day 1,” he said. He continued.
“I used to bring that little motherfu*ker (his kid) to all my business meetings – whether I was going to the bank, or getting my taxes done, or going to the groceries. I would speak to him like an adult, and I never babied him.”
I never had any first hand experience myself. I remember previously having experience (nil) of how I would handle babies-that-weren’t-mine. They were a sight to behold, albeit brief. They were always rentals, a conversation starter, something that I would have to give back at some point. Mason was different. He was mine; for all time.
I listened to Al that day. I been bringing that precocious young boy to and fro, hot and cold, whistle or sans. He’s been there, with his Orange tablet, soaking in every adult conversation.
I even remember we went to the doctor. My wife, was so disappointed that I speak to him in informal colloquail speak, something I coin the Baldwin Bonics, a pigeon language of English and Ebonics that I made up with my best friends in the whole wide world from the same place we spent our formative.
She said it was stunting it’s growth, would get him confused, thus altering his ability to discern what is right and wrong. I’m happy to write that I was right, even though I’m writing to tell you I wasn’t trying to be.
The doctor prescribed, “I think that it’s great he’s learning a unique language! My brother did the same thing, and now he can speak 4 languages because he did the same thing when he was younger! Meanwhile, I only know one, because I was so restrictive in my learning.”
And so, my hunch was confirmed. It made me grow emboldened to give him more, even though he may not be ready for it. I think of the time I read To Kill a Mockingbird as an 8th grader, not understanding the impact I would have reading it later in life.
My son is gifted. And sure, Mommy & Daddy did a lot of steering to get him to that point; regardless, he’s behind the wheel.
“She say, ‘you a really special kinda ni**a
But show it, dont’ tell it, yeah
Hit me on my cellular
We can just vibe, just tell me when you’re ready, – 6lack
LUXURY OF TIME
“Who else got the luxury to drop when he want“
Cause nobody else can f*ck with me?
What a showoff”
– Pusha T
This same rationale, applies whole-heartedly to the game of officiating. The best officials, who have ever graced the field, the court, the squared circle, whistle or sans, have always hustled, yet never rushed; was quick-yet patient, the juxtaposition of being fluid with being not too fast, and not too slow. It’s a different type of time.
Type. Of. Time.
Like a Free-throw shooter who is not in a rush, but only has ten seconds to shoot it; (By the way, we never call it) an umpire who is processing a 70 mile per hour breaking ball, that may or not be in the strike zone. It’s fast, but we have all the time in the world. Strike 3. That’s the time we speak of.
“I walk slowly but I never walk backward.” – Abraham Lincoln
That sweet spot, that zone we speak of, time-that-I-can’t-explain-other-than-being-a-type accrues with experience and with repetition. In the beginning, especially when you are acquiring the skill to officiate, you conjure these skills within the conflagration. And this is when time gets warped.
Think of two people that get certified at the same time. They walk out of the door, and they are out into the world of officiating, whatever that may be. They have their own opportunities, or lack thereof, and they convene the next year. One is head and shoulders above the other, in fact, everyone that was in their class, because they put so many reps in that 365 days a year, 8 days a week span. On the other hand, the other official has barely reffed, done less than one game a month, and looks as if he hasn’t officiated since last year. Time has been the same for both officials. They used their times differently, one may be correct, depending on which way you look at it.
Both officials have been doing it for the same length of time, the experience is oh so different. However, you want to look at it, their time is different. The type is atypical from each other, and so hard to compare.
Before I even thought of officiating basketball, I was on the Flag Football field cutting my teeth in sideways rain, negative Fahrenheit’s, one Sunday at a time. Moreover, I thought it was normal, to do adult leagues, to keep vitriol close to the vest. When I saw how prim and proper the play of school games were, I was shocked. I had a different type of come up. Kind of like how it would be different if someone started with school games, and experienced it in reverse. And so we bring you: Type: Of: Time:
YOU CAN’T PUT A TIME STAMP ON GREATNESS.
In countless episodes of #therant, we’ve heard some people with decades of experience and being eluded by the dangling carrot that is their goal. Then we hear someone that stumbled upon the game, and is flying with airplanes. Everyone has their own path, everyone has a unique journey that can’t be discounted or discredited. Greatness for some takes long bouts of in and out, and some, it takes an opportunity and luck. Both are tantamount with a real experience as a referee.
“I have a bad reputation for being temperamental.” – Ted Kotcheff
REPS VS. TIME.
“How long have you been doing reffing,”
How many times have you, as official fielded this questions? As we aforementioned, when an official works 10 games to someone’s 1, does it really matter how long you’ve been reffing? Years in the game, don’t account for experiences and reps on the battle field. With more reps, time gets warped. Conversely it’s a different warp when you ref once a month, or only seasonly.
“I ain’t never scared
I’m everywhere You ain’t never there.” – Jay-Z
THE CONTINUUM OF TIME.
The officiating game has an eccentric sense of time. This is one of the few situations where I’ve seen young adults can be veterans, as well as rookies be retired, set to start a new chapter in their life. Don’t let looks fool you.
Until tomorrow.
