The Impatience of VIEWS FROM THE 6

If you ask who is the hottest rapper out right now theres about an 80% chance that they will say Drake. Drake is the king of Toronto, Canada which he refers to as the "6". He refers to it as the 6 because Toronto's area code is 416. Drake pretty much does it all. He can sing good lyrics, rap good lyrics, and now he is showing that he can also be a good reggae artist. Since the summer of 2015 he has been beefing with the famous Philadelphia rapper who goes by the name of Meek Mill. Drake has put out multiple diss track records trying to destroy Meek Mill's career and so far he has done just that. Meek mill has retaliated with some diss tracks to go back at Drake but Drake's were too good.

Die hard Drake fans such as myself have been waiting for him to drop his new album called "Views From the 6" since last October! At first Drake was going to put it out in October of 2015 because the name of his group is called Octobers Very Own (OVO). I guess the album needed a little work so he pushed it all the way back to January of 2016 which felt like 1000 years from October. But, I thought to myself that this wait could be a great thing because then the album would come out right in the middle of my season and I can use is music to hype me up for my games. I was obviously very impatient and just could not wait until January 16, 2016. So, a week before his album is supposed to drop Drake announces that he now isn' releasing his album until April 16, 2016. I literally threw a fit and didn't listen to his music for a good week because I felt as if he was teasing his fans and I didn't like that. This wait from January to April was even worse than the first wait. It's like I was constantly getting stood up by my hot date to the movies. As April of 2016 is slowly approaching Drake then announces he is pushing it back to April 29th instead of April 16th! What is this guy's deal? I could be listening to his album right at this moment if it wasn't pushed back again! However the 29th is two days from now and I am more than excited for it to be released and I am praying that he does not push it back again but as of now it seems like it is pretty locked in and official.

Adidas Elite camp

5 days after I completed summer workouts in Rhode Island and was enjoying the month off I have with my family in my hometown Staten Island, New York I get an unexpected phone call at 11 am. "Hass! wake up wake up you have a fight to catch" still half sleep I responded "huh, whats going on who is this" I haven't even checked my phone to see who had called yet. "It's your head coach asshole now wake up" I immediately snapped back into reality and replied "ohhh hey coach whats up. He told me I got invited to play at an elite college basketball camp called Adidas nations located in San
Diego California. This camp is consisted of 50 of the top college basketball players in the nation. As I am still in shock about the news I quickly called my parents and reveal the good news. My parents were extremely proud and even left work early just so they can drop me off at the airport. I didn't even know what to pack, I just put two pairs of basketball sneakers, slippers, and a bunch of shorts, tank tops, boxer briefs, and shirts. I have never been on a plane alone so made my mom help me check in and make sure I was going to the right place. I first landed in Arizona then took off to California. Traveling alone actually isn't bad after all, I was more aware of what was going on around me and conversed with a few people who asked where I was going. Due to flight delays I didn't get into Cali until 11pm and I was the last player to arrive. As I walked to my luggage I see a man in a tux holding a sign up with my name on it. I walked up to him and said "hey that's me" he responded "great lets get your things and let's go". as he is carrying my luggage to the car I am thinking to myself "man I feel like a king". He even opened the car door for me as if I was some celebrity. When I got to the hotel I checked in and to the left of me was the adidas nations check in. They knew exactly who I was and handed me a HUGE adidas duffle bad with gear in it. When I got to my room I knocked on the door because I had too many bags to reach my key. As the door opened I automatically recognized who it was. It was Isaiah whitehead who I played against multiple times in high school because he is from Brooklyn New York who now has declared for the 2016 NBA draft. I didn't know him to well which is why it was awkward at first. As a few hours go by we started to make  conversation and he is great person who I am still friends with today. The next day we get woken up at 7 am for breakfast the head to the gym to play games. I'm putting uniform and shoes on then I take a second to look around and see who is here. First of all, there are hundreds of NBA scouts present and secondly, I was literally surrounded by elite players who are in the NBA now or sure will be. I felt so blessed to be in the same gym as them for the same reason they are, because we are considered college basketball's top players and I never thought I would be in such position. My coach for the camp is the assistant for the Los angeles clippers and once I figured out he was I immediately knew I had to bring my A game. As the game is about to begin I noticed that Buddy Hield is on my team who won national player of the year this year. I notice he is very humble and he respects me just as much as I respect him. I was put in  the starting lineup and as the game is about to tip off I was so nervous. My  match up was Brice Johnson who is the best power forward in the country and I accepted the challenge. He was bigger and taller but in my eyes he wasn't better than me he just had more publicity. I had a really great game, I finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. I realized that I am one of the better players and I belong on the same court as any elite player and that's what got me through that game. I did things that I didn't know I was capable of doing. All of the coaches saw major potential in me and gave me great advice. This camp was a great experience for me and I hope to go back this august when I am fully recovered from my knee injury.

The Forgotten Borough

If you are from Staten Island, New York you know how annoying and irritating it is when someone from New York says "Staten Island isn't a borough" or "Theres nothing in Staten Island, it's so lame". There are barely any big names that come out of Staten Island. Just a few professional athletes that no one really knows and one of the legendary rap groups that goes by the name of Wu-Tang clan who gave Staten Island its nick name "Shaolin"and which many people are familiar with world wide. People like to say that they are the only reason Staten Island is a little bit relevant today. The only other popular person that was born in Staten Island is Christina Aguilera but she wasn't there for very long. 

Growing up I was always a great athlete which was why I would always go to different boroughs for more and better competition than Staten Island does. So I was on many different teams and played with many different people for New York city. I was obviously the only kid from Staten Island and the people who I played with would always make fun of me for being from there. Since they have never been they would always think that Staten Island is a completely sub urban place with beautiful big houses and a bunch of old rich people. When I tried to explain to them that I actually live in the projects in an area in Staten Island where there is violence everyday they would look at me like I am crazy. It was so highly annoying because they would think that I was spoiled and rich just because I was from Staten Island and I would always say to them "come home with me for a day and you'll see what it's like. As I got older in high school the athletes in Staten Island where evolving and becoming better at sports. Me and about 10 other kids from Staten Island then started to go to play in basketball tournaments in different boroughs. Once the team and crowd we would play against heard we were from Staten Island they automatically thought we were going to lose by a lot. We literally were beating teams by 20 points or more in these tournaments then people would say "wow you're from Staten Island". The stereotypes of Staten Island still go on currently and I feel it will go on forever.

Cancun Challege

Once a year most Division 1 basketball programs get invited to play in a 4 day tournament in another country or in a popular state. My freshmen year we went to Italy and Arizona, sophomore year it was just florida, then my Junior year it was Cancun, Mexico. I have never been to Mexico and I always wanted to take a visit to Cancun during spring break but even better, I got to go to lay the sport I love. The moment we landed in Mexico I was expecting to feel an unusual vibe that indicates I am in another country. Instead, I just felt as if I was in San francisco California, or Orlando Florida. Only difference was there were all Mexican people. As we walked from the luggage to the bus it was pretty cool to have the Mexicans think we were an NBA team and so excited to take pictures with my team and I. A small Mexican lady walked up to me extremely happy and just started rambling on in the Spanish language. I literally just stared at her with a smile on my face pretending I knew exactly what she was talking about until she just stopped and it seemed as if she had just asked a question waiting for my response. I was very confused so I just replied "si" the she went right back to rambling on in Spanish again. Luckily my assistant coach played overseas professional basketball for 10 years in Spain and was able to get what she was saying. He walked over and said something in Spanish then the lady turned to him and had a full conversation with him as I slowly walked away.

When we finally got to the hotel I immediately threw my bags down and went to the balcony to lay on the Hammock and look at the beautiful view of the pools, ocean, and people having a good time at the bars. It was an all inclusive resort which was pretty cool. After about an hour my roommate and I took a walk to just explore the resort and walk on the beach. It was very relaxing and it almost felt as if I were there for an actual vacation not basketball games. As we walk we see other programs such as Iowa state, University of Maryland, TCU, Duke etc. I made friends with some of them and they turned out to be some really cool people.

Our first game was against the TCU horned frogs and it was a very intense game. During the warm-ups and stretch I quickly realized how hot the gym was and thought to myself "I might pass out on this court". It was wicked hot and the gym was small and of course the 90 degree weather outside did not help. About 10 minutes into the warm-up I was sweating as if I just came out of a sauna which is really bad if the game hasn't even started. When the game finally starts, for the first four minutes I was doing really well and had already scored 8 points. we were on a 12-2 run and that forced them to call a time out. When I get back on the court after the time out I ran up and down twice and became extremely exhausted out of no where. Unfortunately I could not get substituted out because most of  my team was already in foul trouble. I could not wait until half time. Eventually we ended up winning in a very close game by two points and advanced to the second round. We finished second place in the tournament and I must say my experience in Mexico was definitely a success.

From Garrahy to the Ryan Center

Having home games are one of my favorite things about college basketball. Which is why I am going to talk about my walk from my dorm room to the arena on game day. I just love everything about game day when it's a home game. Every morning I wake up on a regular day I am always still sleepy but on a game day, I feel alive and energized and even wake up before my alarm for some strange reason. We have a light shooting practice in the morning on game days and my walk from my dorm to the gym is usually just normal. I walk with a few of my teammates and we talk about our opponent and what is key to win the game. It's usually freezing outside so sometimes I just get a ride because I just want to get to practice. After practice I go back to my dorm and take a nap or watch youtube videos of some of my favorite players. Our home games are usually at 7pm and I like to get to the gym early so I leave my dorm at around 5pm. Before I leave my dorm I put my phone on "do not disturb" mode so no one can bother me then I make sure I have everything in my bag, grab my head phones and head out. I like to walk alone the second time I go to the gym because I get in this zone where I just blast the music through my beats head phones and bob my head to the lyrics. While I'm doing that I visualize what I would like to do during the game, I visualize the crowd roaring, I visualize perfect scenarios in my head to remain confident and positive going into the game. As I sometimes stomp through the snow and watch my step for ice, my socks usually get wet and I have to change my socks. As I get closer to the gym I usually already see students waiting on line and I always acknowledge them because it shows their true rhode pride the fact that they get to the arena before me and I appreciate that. It takes me approximately seven minutes to get to the arena from my dorm, but those seven minutes are one of a kind. I feel as though I am literally in my own world for an hour. No one can bother me, it's just me, my music, and my thoughts and imagination.

Travis Scott

Earlier this month, a few of my teammates and I attended a concert here at URI that was hosted by one of my favorite music artists who goes by the name of Travis Scott. I listen to His music very often and I know much of his lyrics. I've been looking forward to this concert for months because I've heard that he is a really good performer who really gets involved with the crowd. On the day of the concert, a snow storm came out of no where which completely ruined my desire to go because I didn't think he would show up and I figured many other people cancelled on it as well. On top of that it was on a Monday and who goes to concerts on a Monday during the school year? Not I. I finally made up my mind to go because I realized I may never get this opportunity to get to see one of my favorite artists live and at my own school. When I got to the entrance of the concert there was no line and I immediately thought the concert was not worth going to. I walked into the Ryan Center and there was a decent amount of people there, nothing crazy just music playing and people rapping lyrics to the songs because he had not come out on stage yet. People are slowly starting to show up and fill into the crowd. I didn't think it would get to almost capacity on the floor. Approximately 30 minutes later this place was packed! Everyone was jumping and screaming waiting for his grand entry to the stage. When he finally came out the crowd went obnoxious and out of control, everyone was getting pushed and shoved side to side. I wanted to get a better view of his performance so I made my way to the front which was a bad idea. As I made my way to the front of the concert the entire crowd is just moving side to side almost like a wave and some people started to get aggravated which caused a couple of fights. I seen multiple females getting clobbered and stomped on the floor with out anyone noticing because it was dark, people were drunk, and there were just too many people. Despite the chaos in the crowd, it was a great concert which made me even more of a fan of him.

In-N-Out Burger

   

       Everyone has their favorite restaurant that he or she loves to eat at. I'm pretty sure that the restaurant that he or she loves to eat at is probably no further than about 10 miles from where they live. My favorite restaurant that I wish I can travel to at least 3 times a week is In-N- Out burger which happens to be only located in the west coast. I believe only six states have this restaurant. Those states are Texas, Utah, California, Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada. This restaurant should be expanded to almost every state in the country. I love it so much that I actually almost wrote a letter to the head quarters In-N-Out burger to beg them to bring it to the east coast. I honestly believe that it could be some high quality competition for restaurants such as Mcdonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's in the east coast. My first meal from In-N-out burger consisted of chili cheese fries with two bacon double cheese burgers topped off with lettuce and tomatoes. Hands down the best burger I have ever introduced to my taste buds. I quickly realized why you can only get it in certain states.. its because it's so fresh! I stayed in Cali for about 4 days and I Probably ate there at least twice a day and did not get tired of it. Even the employees were super nice and were polite enough to tell me whats highly recommended on the menu, unlike in New York where all of the Mcdonald's workers are rude and stuck up. Sadly the west coast is far from my home and i'll probably only get a chance to eat it once every two years but I make sure I cherish every moment of it when I am able to get  bite of one of those burgers!

          I was first introduced to this delicious restaurant back in 2012 when my family and I flew out to California to watch my older brother play his last home collegiate basketball game at UC Riverside. It was first time in California and it was a delightful experience. The beautiful weather was just right and I felt this vibe that just had me in a good mood for the duration of my visit. This trip to California taught me that it is a great place to live but can be even better if your bank is big enough. I had a feeling this trip was going to be somewhat one to remember and I'm not sure why. It was my first time traveling on a plane for more than two hours and I will never forget the thrill and exhilaration as the plane prepared for take off. I learned that California has a beautiful climate, geography, and most importantly some wonderful people.

 

Emotionally Exhausting

 Being a student athlete, I'm pretty much physically exhausted every single day from September all they way through March. I have practice every single day including game days and our only day off is Sunday. Practice isn't the only thing that causes me to be exhausted. It's also the amount of study hall hours, class, traveling all over the country etc. Anyway, enough talk about being an athlete, there has been some emotional exhaustion throughout my life as well.
My junior year of high school is certainly a year to remember for me. My aunt passed away in a brutal car accident in which she died instantly due to how hard the impact was. She was literally like my best friend and losing her caused me to be stressed and just emotionally weak for a while. She was my dad's youngest sister and they were also very close. When this tragic incident happened it was the first and only time I have EVER seen my dad break down crying and when I witnessed that, I have never been more heart broken in my life. When my mom cries it's a different feeling because she's a woman and she is always very emotional but I still hate seeing her cry but when I seen my dad just burst out crying, that truly hit me hard. It took my dad a while to recover from this which is why he had to see a therapist because he was way too stressed out and his mental was all over the place. I hated every moment of watching my dad look depressed when I came home from school, he was a completely different person and this made me extremely emotionally exhausted because I was always so worried about him. It took my dad about 3 long months to move on from this and I was just so happy and relieved to see him smiling again. It doesn't end here though, about a week after my dad was feeling better I suffered from an injury that caused me to miss my entire junior year season. When this happened I just felt as if my hoop dreams were over, I thought I wouldn't come back the same and I wouldn't get a chance to be a division 1 athlete. Every single coach that was recruiting just completely stopped when they heard I was injured. Watching my team practice and play in exciting games was torture for me I just could not deal with not being able to play. We were ranked top 5 team in New York and was expected to win the states until I got injured. My team still made it pretty far but if I was out there on the court we would have went much further and that's why this still haunts me today because I always wanted a high school state championship ring. 2012 was just a long and brutal year for me, definitely the most emotionally exhausting experience I have been through. But, after all that I am still where I was expecting i'd be today and that entire year has
made me grateful and appreciative of life as well as what I have in life and to never take anything for granted because what you love, someone you love, or even you can be gone in a heart beat

Cultures

  Throughout my life I have been involved in a bunch of different cultures, but theres a few that really stick out to me. I have been playing basketball for about 10 years now, so I have been around many  different coaches and players throughout my career. The culture difference between my high school basketball team and my collegiate basketball is entirely different and it was something I was not quite used to during my freshmen year when I was just getting my feet wet in college basketball. In high school I basically did whatever I wanted, I can show up late to practice or not come at all and still play the entire game on game day. I didn't go to class if I didn't feel like it but I did get my work done. I thought I was the king of the school, well me and my teammates all did. We were beating teams by 30 points or better which is why we thought we were so cool. Nothing was mandatory in high school, it was more like if I felt like doing, I did it. The coaches had great basketball minds, but did not discipline the team nor were they ever strict and make rules to keep the team in check. I was surrounded by great players but they were all lazy and had bad attitudes and never wanted to do things together as a team.

When I got to college it was a completely different beast I was dealing with, almost like a rude awakening message from god telling me that this will not be easy. Everything was so organized and constructed which clearly I was not used to. To me it felt like I was literally in the basketball military and having a high intensity coach made it even worse. The culture of the URI basketball team is one that I will never forget because it has built and still is building the man I am today. The first day I got to campus my teammates already knew who I was and they made me feel very comfortable as if I was there for a year already. I saw that this team was a true family which I certainly was not used to in high school. All the things I got away with in high school I would get suspended for now. If I was late I would have to get up at 5am and run 5 miles every day for a week and if it happened again I would be suspended for 2 weeks. They even checked classes to make sure we are getting our education so skipping class can never be an option. After practice we had mandatory study hall for 2 hours including class after. If any of my teammates from high school came to this program they would have been sent home in the first two weeks. The culture in my collegiate career is preparing me for the real world whereas the culture in high school prepared me for failure.

From Home to College

I had never traveled alone or had any type of independent traveling experience until my senior year of high school graduation ended. Since I play basketball here at URI I was required to attend both summer sessions to take classes as well as complete preseason workouts during the summer sessions. This was not my first time away from home, but it was my first time interacting with new people while I was totally independent. I had butterflies in my stomach the entire ride from New York to Rhode Island. I had all types of nervous and panicking thoughts in my head such as "what if I don't fit in with my new team?", "did I make the right decision to come here?", "what if my coaches don't like me?". I honestly didn't think I was ready to live without my mom around but at the same time I was excited to finally have some freedom and start maturing. Soon as I pulled up to my dorm about five of my teammates came up to me and welcomed me with open arms and were excited to see me. They immediately helped me with my bags and introduced themselves to my parents. They made me feel comfortable and as if they knew me before I even got there which really helped me for my first couple of weeks away from home. I guess once I got to campus I wasn't completely independent because I had a whole roster of teammates to show me around and tell me what I should and shouldn't do or who and what to stay away from.