Installment #49 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
Last night I was watching one of my favorite shows, Jalen and Jacoby, and on comes rapper, actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur Ice Cube. Ice Cube is on the show to promote his Big3 League (which I can’t wait to start watching) and his latest other film and music projects.
But in the course of conversation, Jalen Rose asks Ice Cube what he thinks it will take for his Lakers team (Ice Cube is a huge Lakers fan) to make it back to the NBA Finals next year. Ice Cube pauses for a moment, and then delivers the truth in a way that only Ice Cube can:
“Okay…It’s hard to play [basketball] with rings on your hands. They [the Lakers] gotta take those rings off, and put them away, and not try to play in those.”
I love Ice Cube. Besides being one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard (classic Ice Cube), it’s also one of the most insightful commentaries on what it takes to maintain excellence. It’s a great reminder of how easy it is for any of us—regardless of what profession we’re in—to lose some of our hunger and humility (two things that are essential to success, no matter how talented you are), and to get caught up in the dangerously distracting (and time-consuming) "culture" of success.
He's no doubt alluding to LeBron's various Hollywood ventures. But if there's anyone on this planet that's talented enough to juggle both an NBA career and a Hollywood career at once, it's LeBron James. Whether or not that will leave room for another NBA title remains to be seen.
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