06-30-2002, 06:20 AM
I was thinking to myself while just smokin and reflecting. You ever just start recollecting or even during a convo have a story to tell to prove a point or just cause it's a cool story.
I don't mean family or personal but stories of athletes, actors, musicians, historical figures, etc.
Stories that you heard maybe once in passing yet it struck you so hard you could never forget it.
Stories that are burned into your mind for eternity that you don't even have to try hard to remember.
I remember recently when hearing about an athlete who called a 6 million dollar contract for a single season "slave wages".
The story that sticks out in my mind are not players like Mays making 50,000 a year. But a story I heard one time about Louis Armstrong. In his later years when Armstrong was well established for decades and a living legend. He sat one night with a friend over some smokes and a beer. Armstrong recalled working on the trolley as a child and his poor background. He went over to the refridgerator and opened it up and there were 6 eggs and a carton of milk inside. He smiled and said "look now I can eat whenever I want, I don't have to be hungry no more."
It bought tears to my eyes, this is a man who should have been able to have anything he wanted in life. But he was greatful for milk and eggs.
Another story is one about Mike Tyson. Tyson in his prime in the 80's into the early 90's was a very accesible person for the media. The media loved him cause he was a throwback to ali. When he went to jail and was offered a reduced sentence if he'd admit he was guilty. He wrote a letter to Jim Grey and said "I will never admit my guilt cause I am not guilty. No matter if they release me tommorow, I will not admit wrong when I am not at fault. However over the course of my life, I have done several things much worse than the crime I was convicted of. So in the end I am where I belong, an animal in his cage. I was never no good and maybe I just belong here."
Love him or hate him, you honestly can't judge the man unless you honestly can sit down and listen to his past and understand it. That story always stood out for me as well.
I don't mean family or personal but stories of athletes, actors, musicians, historical figures, etc.
Stories that you heard maybe once in passing yet it struck you so hard you could never forget it.
Stories that are burned into your mind for eternity that you don't even have to try hard to remember.
I remember recently when hearing about an athlete who called a 6 million dollar contract for a single season "slave wages".
The story that sticks out in my mind are not players like Mays making 50,000 a year. But a story I heard one time about Louis Armstrong. In his later years when Armstrong was well established for decades and a living legend. He sat one night with a friend over some smokes and a beer. Armstrong recalled working on the trolley as a child and his poor background. He went over to the refridgerator and opened it up and there were 6 eggs and a carton of milk inside. He smiled and said "look now I can eat whenever I want, I don't have to be hungry no more."
It bought tears to my eyes, this is a man who should have been able to have anything he wanted in life. But he was greatful for milk and eggs.
Another story is one about Mike Tyson. Tyson in his prime in the 80's into the early 90's was a very accesible person for the media. The media loved him cause he was a throwback to ali. When he went to jail and was offered a reduced sentence if he'd admit he was guilty. He wrote a letter to Jim Grey and said "I will never admit my guilt cause I am not guilty. No matter if they release me tommorow, I will not admit wrong when I am not at fault. However over the course of my life, I have done several things much worse than the crime I was convicted of. So in the end I am where I belong, an animal in his cage. I was never no good and maybe I just belong here."
Love him or hate him, you honestly can't judge the man unless you honestly can sit down and listen to his past and understand it. That story always stood out for me as well.