What’s good NRF gang? Since the season comes to a close tonight, and we’re crowning a new champion, I wanted to thank y’all for letting me into the secret society that is NRF. This time last year, like most people, I had no clue what NRF was. The big homie Bobbito Garcia mentioned it to me once and I met up with him after a game.

When I walked into the gym I saw the familiarly bearded face of AP but that only raised one question: What’s Bobbito doing in a league with AP? (Haha)

“You live in the Lowa and you never heard of NRF?” Bobbito asked. “It’s like a networking league. It’s fun.”

I left the gym and never thought much about it again. Until late in October when I got an email from the Commish, explaining what the NRF was and asking if I’d be down to be involved. I thought for about two seconds and figured, ‘I can’t say no to Justin! He’s too powerful!’ On top of that I figured it’d be fun since I love hoops and I can’t front-I wasn’t wrong.

I got a chance to watch the players behind the scenes at their realest. A lot of the people in the sports and entertainment industry have what I like to call a front face. The fake handshake, the hidden agenda smile or the business card they forget they even gave you at the Catalina Wine Mixer, but no one can front when you get them on the court. And that’s what makes the NRF so ill. The players play with the same raw emotion that got them to the positions they’re at in their professions and the gym is filled with guys who always want to win.

The bonds are formed because real recognize real. If homeboy will give me a hard foul when I go to the hole, I know he’ll go hard when it’s time to handle business off the court. President Obama wasn’t the first to say it but it was still true when he said he played hoops because of how much it reveals about the type of person you’re dealing with (Maybe we can get him suit up next year? If not, Justin, can I get a draft invite?).

The season ends at MSG tonight but before that happens I wanna say thanks to everybody that welcomed me into brotherhood. My man Raf for poppin’ the most sh*t in the bleachers and telling me “Yo, put this in the blog,” for the first couple weeks; Raymundo for being my IT guy and alarm clock whenever the posts weren’t up by 10 a.m.; Ka$h-Money and the crew for keeping stats and telling me who to look out for before I knew who was who; Ben Detrick for throwing in “swag” after most of my posts; Coffey, Burke, Scott and Broadwater for always giving me good quotes; the big homie, the Commish for bringing me into the clique and all the other players who made the season a good time.

It’s been a fun season.

And if any team needs a pass-first point guard next season, I’m trying to get down.

Peace!

Scribe