The Team Roster

I know y'all have had the pleasure of being entertained by Kat Williams on one occasion or the other, but I was watching some of his comedy about the Franchise player and it got me thinking about the caliber of players I had drafted. We all have the repertoire of individuals on our roster that play different positions in our lives. Some good, some just make you scratch your head  and say "Y Lloyd?" As owners of our teams, we pride ourselves on the diversity of our bench and the strategies that we used to obtain our players. Let's look at the Line Up.

Megastar: Extremely rare in the game. They are the ‘one of a kind’ player; completely above the competition.  This person prides themselves in being the absolute best in any way, shape or form.  This is the person who exceeds all expectations; a record breaker.  They get snatched up damn near from birth.  They are the perfect complement to your life and you can almost find nothing wrong with them.  If you do find something, it’s damn near a quirk and somehow it’s cute. They have the knack for bringing out your best qualities. 

Franchise Players: Players in this category can be considered megastars in some aspects. She/he is the go-to on the team if there are no megastars. They excel in almost every situation. This breed is a little more common as this is what the All-Stars hope to become.  Most realize that they will never be Megastars because they have one to many kinks, but 85-95% of the time they’re on point.  These are the well-rounded compliments.  Yes it’s possible to do better, but it’s easier to fuck up a great relationship trying to move up the latter.  These are the “life timers,” the people that you hope to find to spend the remainder of your life with.  They are uncommon naturally as they are generally groomed over time, but are more readily available than the Megastar. It takes dedication, heart, and tenacity from a great All-Star to become a successful Franchise player.

All-Stars: The main difference between All-Stars and franchise players (and I stress this a lot), is that an All-Star does not succeed in relationships as much as franchise players. Now all franchise players could be considered All-Stars, but not All-Stars are franchise players. These are the people who have great potential, but they require some labor of love. An All-Star-caliber player can be in a relationship out of complacency. Because of this they need some final tweaking before they advance to Franchise status. Now the All-Star Player is generally where the Average Joe starts.  This is the next frontier for the Starter with ambition.  These are the “I can work with that” relationships. It might take a couple years but it’s worth the effort.

Starters: A solid all-around player, a player needed for more specifics than a role player, whether it be for solice, leadership, defense or other intangibles. Starters are just good players, and will always have a future but as far as making the All-Star cut, they probably will never make it. This is the person in your life that is just good people.  He/she may be good a few things, but can’t seem to get the packaging together.  They come up short in some vital areas, but overall they mean well. They can get the relationship started but don’t quite have the fundamentals to retain what they've started. These are the people who often present well, but it’s mostly external. This is generally where we start picking up new “relatives” and “friends.”

Role Players: Some role players are starters, but most are not. Some are used for their specific strengths in tight situations. This is the person you can call when the car breaks down, you need to vent, or hell you just need a good fuck.  This mofo is only good for one specific thing. This is “fuck buddy” territory.

Bench Warmers: These are the people in your life that you are just meeting, ones without placement or ones you fail to see.

Now the problem is when you have the players in the wrong positions.  It makes no sense to have your franchise player on the bench, but have the role players in the game. See we have a tendency to fuck up our own spirits because we do not want the responsibility of carrying the appropriate player in our line up.  Most of us have that 1 person who we could have on our team and know everything will flow.  But sometimes, we as owners, fake our own selves out of a championship because aren’t paying attention to the time clock, try to create “plays” that are inappropriate for the player(s) you have, or just can’t see the potential of the players on your roster. 

You cannot expect a Megastar and a Franchise player to ride the bench for indefinitely.  Eventually they will relinquish their contract because other teams with better communication, intellect, resources, and attentiveness have been making great offers. See you have to understand, just because they are playing for you doesn’t mean that the negotiations have stopped.  You might have won the draft pick, but trading happens all season long. Shit an aspiring Franchise player who knows their value will fucking walk off the court.  Every game has contingency issues.  “I will as long as...” Players get tired of being mistreated, abused, and neglected. Appreciation has action attached to it. There is a problem when other team owners understand the functionality and drive of your player(s). There are certain moments when man to man defense is required.  Offense is good but you win more games with great defense.

Don't fuck around and miss out on your Championship being Sidney Lowe when you should have been Phil Jackson.

~The Goddess~