left to right, charlie "5 dimes makes a dollar" moore, jabari "nba but not a yoga prospect" bird, roman "the fast & furious" davis, sam "the baddest raider of them all" singer, roger "where's home?" moute a bidias, stephen "knock you on your azz" domingo & ivan "diamonds are forever" rabb
there's beauty in the struggle
jabari's journey has been a story of heartbreaking lows & high flying pinnacles of success
jb arrived at cal as a heralded mcdonalds high school all american but i remember sitting behind the team bench during his freshman year at the absymal road loss at the freezing azz santa barbara thunderdome & hearing coach montomgery quietely tell a disconsolate jabari that he couldn't play him because of his defensive lapses, in those days the skinny bird man stood straight up like a suit trying to get a cab in downtown san francisco & then would try to tomahawk swipe/block the shot from behind after repeatedly getting burned off the dribble...the bird man put a towel over his head & was crying
then bird played lights out during cal's nit last second loss in dallas to the smu mustangs, draining shots from all over the court...he might've thought about turning pro then but his moms tonya was having none of that ****, her son was gonna earn a degree from the #1 ranked university in the world under her watch
his sophmore year started with the magical victory on the biggest stage on earth madison square garden as jabari was unstoppable during cal's program changing victory over the hometown nyc crowd supporting their syracuse orangemen...but then the injuries came on & off during the rest of that season & continued during a disappointing junior year which ended with the no go back spasms at the ncca tournament in spokane
but here's the deal, jabari never complained, he didn't become bitter & view himself as a victim because his career was not going as expected, he just humbly worked harder...the bird man has always had a certain wisdom about him, he knows that life is not linear & that's there beauty in the struggle
so this past offseason he worked out every ******* day without exception with young ivee & together they made great strides until ivan got mono (did i mention that life is not linear?)
and now jabari got a chieseled nba body thx to his relentless work with coach nic...nba scouts have told me during the early pregame warmups that their biggest question re: jb is his motor, does he have the non stop motor to succeed in the brutally predatory league that abuses & discards the weak?...his powerful & aerodynamic crashing of the boards from the weakside tonite reflects his self awakening as a bird of prey as does his physical lockdown chasing of shooters on d & competing/fighting for 50/50 loose balls/rebounds
jabari's most complete game as a california golden bear tonite with 25 points on an efficient 10 of 16 field goals & 4 of 7 3 pointers along with 5 boards, 2 assists, a block & only 1 turnover is the culmination of that perseverance & it's only the begining of the bird man's flight to the starz with his loving parents & sister, curvy brunette yoga girlfriend kelli, supportive teammates & coaching staff with him on this journey
bird knows there's no such thing as a life better than yourz, you gotta love yourz...let's do this, jabari
let it fly#
