By Timmie Kenneh
As 2013 comes to a
close, a few points crossed my mind while working offshore. That is you tend to
meet some down to earth men whose personalities extend on all of plateaus.
Different backgrounds and traits all
coming together for
two weeks at a time.
For instance, this
one particular guy I’ve
been having conversations with is a simple character. From listening To him,
it's very clear he's a devoted family man. 85% of his discussions are about
going home to his family. The simple family
values that are building blocks for strong families, a similar trait I wish my own
father said behind closed doors when younger.
Unfortunately our
family wasn’t blessed with a
father with these strong qualities. It was our mom who developed a strong back
bone to support us. My mom had to work endlessly to provide for us, without
food
stamps or
unemployment. All while being a single mother, holding down the fort like
'Helms Deep' from 'Lord of the Rings'.
The more you get to
know me, you'll begin to know I'm a strong advocate of Jay-Z, but my spider senses tingled when I listened to this verse
from Nas; “No Introduction –
We was kids hungry, mom’s working, I was famished. She getting home late… so I decided now I’m in charge”.
These words are from the endless struggle of fatherless figure we continue to
endure every day. Deadbeat dads distributing more kids than the Old Testament or coward
fathers who stick-it, hit-it and split-it, leaving a single mother with a
strong responsibility to face. Like most did when earlier explained, I
eventually had to take charge in some way or another for my brother and
sisters.
So as I’m behind the scenes talking to my fellow co-worker, which is
someone I barely know about, I can’t
help but wonder how his kids will turn out in the future. Who knows … we might have another modern day
Manning Family on our hands, meaning Peyton and Eli Manning.
As Peyton Manning torches the stat line
towards another MVP season for the
Denver Broncos, Eli Manning is
enduring his struggles again with the New
York Giants. As these two brothers from
New Orleans, LA are
in this Ying Yang season. It's clear they were blessed with strong family
values to display their skills in the NFL.
In the NFL, someone's
kid is gonna be blessed more than the other in some form or fashion. That one
kid could be someone like Tom Brady
from the New England Patriots,
because if it wasn’t
for Tom Brady’s accomplishments in New England, Peyton would be the
undisputed best quarterback of our time. Then again Peyton Manning wasn’t blessed with the same strong family system as Tom Brady
grew up and matured in. Sure …
from the Indianapolis Colts to the Denver Broncos he's been blessed with a
great supporting cast, but it wasn't enough to catch Brady in the Super Bowl
department.
Peyton
and Eli Manning are by far the greatest brother duo in sports today, but when
you compare these two you're comparing two different types of animals. Peyton
Manning with his accomplished stats has easily
become
the all-time regular season champion. He's put together some of the greatest
regular season performances ever compared to his younger sibling.
Peyton
Manning:
·
2003
AP Most Valuable Player
·
2004
AP Most Valuable Player
·
2008
AP Most Valuable Player
·
2009
AP Most Valuable Player
·
2012
AP Comeback Player of the Year
·
12x
Pro Bowl
·
6x
AP All-Team All-Pro
·
7x
AFC Offense Player of the Year
·
Super
Bowl XLI Champion
·
Super
Bowl XLI MVP
Eli
Manning:
·
Super
Bowl XLII Champion
·
Super
Bowl XLVI Champion
·
Super Bowl XLII MVP
·
Super
Bowl XLVI MVP
·
3x
Pro Bowl
These
regular season stats don't come nowhere near brother Peyton, but Eli has one
advantage over his older sibling. He's won two rings while beating the same
team, ironically Tom Brady and the New
England
Patriots, thus making Eli Manning the sneaky quarterback who’ll snuff you out of nowhere while running off with your
Super Bowl.
Eli
Manning is an average quarterback at best, but he's even better when he's
hungry coming out of hibernation funk. Eli's two Super Bowl wins are similar to
a Metal Gear Solid sneak attack.
In
Super Bowl XLII, Eli pulled off one of the most heartless plays in Super Bowl
history, yes ... heartless. Eli wasn't supposed
to win that night. The invincible New England Patriots should've been crowned
into football
history,
but Eli wanted to follow in his own footsteps while also looking up to big
brother Peyton. It was just the previous year that Peyton won his first as
well, setting the bar for the family.
So
if the Manning's' are the greatest brother duo in sports, then it would be no
doubt the Williams' sisters, Venus
and Serena are the greatest in their
respective sport. Then again tennis talk is only required when the
majors
come around, so I’ll
see you next January in Australia. By the way I'm sure the Bryan brothers would
have something to say about the greatest brother duo in sports also.
Family
values is the driving force towards helping build a strong bond with unity and
trust, but without a strong mother or father figure, it can make you even
stronger, mentally stronger if you're prepared.
As
being mentally prepared through another outcome in life, Nas expressed that
even though we can't all enjoy family values, it doesn't stop us from achieving
our goals.
Earlier
this year hip hop artist Nas was honored at Harvard, by the HipHop
Archive and The Hutchins Center for African & African
American Research. Nasir Jones took the long road traveled towards one of
his many accomplishments
without a father figure around. His father still played a major role while
growing up, but it was Nas voice that reached out towards the youth, that makes
him so relatable to the struggling
community.
Jay-Z
on the other hand had to grow up with an abandoned father in his household, now
as of today his net worth is 500 million and counting. When you examine Jay-Z
life, you would've thought this man had graduated
Harvard
himself, but he became a high school dropout. While these two accomplished
artist are prime examples of not having the typical American pie household
living, it serves the facts that single parent households can
still survive.
As
the ladder continues to go down towards local communities, we still have an
epidemic that needs to be addressed. We need more fathers, similar to my
co-worker who keeps his family tattooed on his mind. These
young
kids need their fathers to enjoy martial arts classes, book readings and
playing video games. Various activities that means a lot to the younger
generation.
The
youth is missing out on becoming another great quarterback, musician or scholar
in this world. Regardless of which road is taken: the single parent or family
as a whole, the parent's voice needs to
become
even more vocal. It took one voice to reaffirm which path is best for my kid,
because when that time comes, my child can have the best of both worlds.
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