We have all heard something about Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z for most of us it’s that he has 99 problems. None of which are a bitch but also none of which can be fixed by his millions upon millions of dollars, which leads one to wonder what exactly problems he has really has. One problem which we can all agree that Jay has is of course that he has ties to the Nets. What we don’t know is why? Why would a millionaire who has professed his love for New York sports; particularly the Knicks buy a stake in the rival Nets? The most obvious answer comes from Nets superfan Mr. Whammy aka Bruce Reznick who also grew up a long time Knicks fan. According to Mr. Reznick he bought a stake in the Nets as a season ticket holder when he realized “he would never get eighth-row seats at Madison Square Garden”. However that answer really starts to fall apart when one realizes that Mr. Reznick is a delusional old man, running a small time law practice who believes he has the power to “whammy” free throw shooters into missing. Whereas Jay-Z is a bestselling artist who could likely buy the entire Izod Center with the profit he made off of his hit song Empire State of Mind.

A second theory has recently emerged in the sports world upon the release of a new article on high earning high school dropouts. At the top of the list was of course Jay-Z, who according to the article “grew up in one of Brooklyn's roughest housing projects, dealing drugs”. Since that rough start (though not nearly as rough as the start the Nets had this season 0-18) Jay-Z has managed to remain a mainstay in hip-hop. While he may have acquired money, it would seem he did not acquire common sense. It was understandable when Jay invested that $4.5 million in the Nets, they were an OK team. However, the Nets have been on the decline since their 2006 playoff appearance so why hasn’t Jay-Z sold his share? Some would say lack of education, while he may make massive bank with the appearance of the Nets new lord and savior Mikhail Prokhorov and their nearly ensured 2010-2011 playoff appearance, it is doubtful he saw this one coming when he made that initial down payment. So why has Jay-Z kept his share of the Nets all these years despite his obvious indifference to them? Maybe it is all about intelligence, maybe Jay-Z invested after that playoff run expecting them to play well the next year? Maybe after investing he simply forgot he’s a minority owner? Or maybe he has so much money he just doesn’t give a shit. In my mind Jay-Z’s lack luster support of his own team will continue until the move to Brooklyn at which point I suspect we’ll be seeing Jay rotating in a Nets hat in between Yankee games and turf wars. In the end who am I to criticize Jay-Z he makes millions doing what he loves and I co-run an unsuccessful sports blog.
Post your own theories in the comments section.