#202: “I Wish I Was A Little Bit Taller”

I’d like to see a re-definition of the term ‘baller’.

‘Baller’ used to mean someone from the streets who made it big as a professional basketball player. It used to mean someone for whom the love of the game was enough. It was Kevin Garnett or Kevin Durant. It was something both inspirational and aspirational. It was something Skee-Lo wanted to be.

But the meaning of ‘baller’ has morphed. In 2000, ‘MTV Cribs’ and other shows depicted the lifestyles of those who had made it big, giving us a glimpse into the lives of the so-called ‘ballers’ of the sports and entertainment industries. Fridges full off champagne, jacuzzi bath tubs, walk-in closets and 4-poster beds gave the viewer a vicarious thrill. What would it be like to have all that money? What would you buy with it?

Thirteen years later and now the term ‘baller’ is synonymous not with the achievements of the individual but with instead how the spoils of those achievements are spent. It was a slippery slope. Rappers (who were also ballers) used to spit about the social ills facing African Americans and police brutality. Now they just brag about how they ‘Ball so Hard’ ‘In Da Club’ ‘Sippin’ on some Sizzerp’. It obviously sells records and that’s great if you’re a music industry mogul but it’s not a lifestyle that warrants admiration.

Poker has its own modern-day ballers – a cluster of wealthy itinerant poker pros who traverse the globe, follow the circuit, eat in nice restaurants and celebrate their ballerness with bottle service at their lavish Great Gatsby parties. Money has, for the most part, lost its value for these people. It just comes so easily. Or at least it has so far. Don’t get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating or treating yourself after some success. But these people are in danger of seeming out of touch.

Last week in Barcelona, my friend Laurynas told me about this other Lithuanian pro who broke through to the big-time a couple of years back and whose table talk these days mainly consists of him telling the other players how completely nonchalant he is about his current $300K downswing. At the break of a tournament, Laurynas asked him if he recognised the really laggy player at his table. His response: ‘Oh yeah, he’s one of the other ballers!’.

On the flip-side, there are a lot of hard-working players who have emerged from working class families to make a good living from the game. They have studied, knuckled down and shown immense courage to survive and flourish in a workplace that is cut-throat. They have proceeded with due diligence and caution, aware of the abyss beneath them should they gamble too much or should they risk too little. Longevity in poker relies on a healthy balance of fear and fearlessness. Many of these hard-working players, some of whom I am fortunate enough to call my friends, have also demonstrated incredible generosity to their families and friends in recent years. They have a healthy amount of guilt about getting to play a game for a living and they feel a responsibility to give back, often to those who viewed their career choice with understandable scepticism.

If a person is to be measured on their achievements, then that is both what they do and what they do with the money they earn doing what they do. So, when a player chooses to look after his family and friends during hard times rather than ordering bottles of Cristal or pimping his ride, they deserve respect, not derision. Not just because what they have done will have a lasting impact but because perpetuating the vulgar notion of ‘if you got it, flaunt it’ is tacky at best and dangerous at worst.

I guess I’m not so much looking for a re-definition of the term ‘baller’ but more for a return to the original meaning. Because there can be no doubt that Kevin Garnett and Kevin Durant are great basketball players. But it is the significant amount of help that they have given their communities that makes them truly great role models. That’s the behaviour that should be lauded. That shit is most definitely ‘baller’.