We Are Too Impatient

 Mwaramutse?

Yesterday, Patriots Basketball Club had a game. Huge win for a team representing Rwanda as the host nation. All good. I did not watch the game but I looked up the results and saw some highlights on YouTube. dare I say, they aren't bad. Patriots are good.

Then comes one particular person (J. Cole) who's game wasn't all sunshine, at least in the eyes of so many Rwandans that were expecting a spectacular performance. I mean it's J freakin Cole. A world renowned rapper that is so much adored by so many people all over the world for his music. Prior to his involvement in theBAL (Basketball Africa League) and news breaking everywhere in the world that J. Cole would be part of the theBAL, not to perform there with his music, but playing for one of the teams, Patriots Basketball Club. I don't think I would've given it much attention as anyone else across the globe (especially in the USA who have the word's greatest basketball league). I mean. Time zones don't make it convenient for them to even try watching these games either but that's another story. We can all agree that J. Coles involvement was a huge W for Africa and most of all Rwanda.

The hype, the media coverage across the world literally shone a light us because of him. And because of that and how big he is as a music artist, I think we expected a little too much from the man playing a sport for the first time on a professional level.

It's a very Rwandan thing though, we always have our expectations sky rocketing then go on to bombard people with negativity when things don't go as we thought they would. Especially with Rwanda on Twitter, commonly known as #RwOT. Great lot really. I enjoy being part of that community and give my fair share of opinions whether I think they will be welcomed in a positive way or not and I am about to share another opinion that I personally think was wrong of us to do as a community. J Cole slander really didn’t sit right with me. I am not even being biased, I don't listen to his music much because I actually don't listen to rap much as a genre and that's a personal preference which is why I don't even have the right to say anything about him as a rapper.

But the way my timeline was full of slandering, it's like everyone was expecting an NBA type of performance.

Some are comparing him to Hawkey, insinuating that he is the weakest of the team

Other saying that, they could easily do what he did. and more

That's just a few of many tweets that many tweeps were posting during and after the game.

Believe it or not, whether you’d call Patriots a pro basketball club or not, they are playing in an all Africa tournament and that’s a big deal for Patriots, for the other team members, every basketball club participating and for J Cole most of all. These games are as pro as it gets on the African stage. It's the UEFA Champions league of African basketball so that's a huge stage to be on.

Whoever slandering Cole for a bad performance probably never been to a job interview or visited their girlfriend and find her parents home. Simply put, it couldn’t get any worse when it comes to how nervous you get in that kind of situation. Put yourself in J Cole's shoes for a sec

Mans not played a competitive game in a decade or close to that and I have to give him credit for having passion for the game. We both know he’s not in it for other reasons. He's already much bigger on his own. To have your first game with your new team at that stage, one got to be just as nervous as it is for a rookie to play his first NBA game. At least for most rookies, they did play tough games in college leagues and understand and expect the pressure so they take it well. despite his age, Cole is nothing but a rookie on that stage.

In my opinion, we are just too impatient. Cole did well for a rookie. dropped 3 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. For a first game, that's not bad and if you watch basketball a lot, you'd know that most rookies don't even drop a single point in their first game. So for a whole bunch of people to disregard that and storm the internet for his bad performance in a game that his team won. I think it's wrong, I think it doesn't give the team morale and I think it just doesn't make us enjoy the games at all.

We’ve all seen him ball and we know he's good and he can do it. Guess that also justifies why all of you were disappointed. But just like any new comer, give the man some time to understand his new environment, his team, and he’ll get better. hopefully, he won't be as nervous in the next game. That was just an introduction for him.

I would’ve loved to see everyone cheer on him and being supportive. We’ve heard and seen testimonies of how pro players have greatly been affected mentally by negative fan reactions. This is not encouraging to him. This can only hurt his progress. And if we want to see him ball comfortably, we have to stop making him feel like he shouldn't have done this in the first place. Him being here has been nothing but a W for VisitRwanda, for Patriots as a team so if we can't be happy for the positive things that have impacted Rwanda because of him, we have only ourselves to blame.

I mean no disrespect to Patriots as a whole team but after these games, if I don't see #ThankyouJCOLE trending from all of you. I will be pissed. Enjoy the games, GO PATRIOTS !!!