A Quote by Shane Smith

If you go to Jamaica, you're going to these all-inclusive resorts where they're playing calypso and a bit of reggae or whatever. But if you go to Kingston, it's run-and-gun battles in the streets, it's abject poverty, it's incredible violence - and then also the best parties in the world. But if you're white, you can't really go. I'd rather know the real deal than be playing in the sand.
[Kingston, Jamaica] is the city, it's not a beautiful beach. But at the same time when I go to Jamaica, that's the only place I want to go. It's where the culture is its richest. Or if you have the opportunity, you can go to the North Coast and go to Montego Bay. That's where you get the beauty of the miles of beaches and beautiful resorts.
Going to a powerhouse high school, playing on ESPN a couple times a year, playing a nationally ranked schedule and also playing in the best conference in the world in high school, I was lucky. We'd have no less than nine guys go Division 1 every year.
Once you get out there and start playing basketball, whether the NBA or college or whatever arena you are playing in or who you are playing in front of, the juices start going, and you want to just go out there and play to the best of your abilities.
I go back five generations in Jamaica. My dad grew up in Port Royal, and my mom grew up in Kingston. My family is from the country like West Moreland and also in Manchester. I've been there countless times. As far as cuisine, there's not really much that comes out of Jamaica that's on a plate that I don't like.
Reggae was always playing at home in East Ham when I was growing up. Loud music would be coming from the bedroom, and downstairs all you'd hear was the bass. My uncles had sound systems and we used to go to Jamaica a lot as a family.
I was always thankful for the YMCA. Of course, growing up, you don't really think about it, because when you're a kid, you're in your own world. But back then, it was just so much. I'm going to go the Y, hanging out, playing games all day, playing basketball.
I don't go to celebrity parties a lot. I don't really enjoy them because I really like going for it in parties. And sometimes at celebrity parties, there is no dancing on tables because people... it can be a little judgmental at times. So I tend not to go unless it is Taylor Swift's birthday party; then it's amazing.
Sometimes I'm in Boston or Washington or Chicago and think I'm in Jamaica because I hear more reggae on the radio in these places than in Kingston!
It's important that I'm always playing fresh and that I'm ready to go rather than just playing because I feel like I have to.
Our tears are not enough. Our words and our prayers are not enough. If we really want to honor these twelve men and women, if we really want to be a country where we can go to work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence, without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, then we're gonna have to change. We're gonna have to change.
Obviously when you grow up in the area you love playing on the street, and to go from playing on the street with my mates to playing at Upton Park is a bit surreal, and 15 years on to still be in the heart of the West Ham midfield is quite good going!
Sometimes it was easier to swim with the current rather than fight against it. There was always a shallow pool somewhere ahead. Memories are like battles, and battles can go one way or the other. You can stand and fight, no matter what pains run from you wounds; or you can turn tail and run, knowing then that the enemy will follow and without mercy hunt you down. We had so many dreams as children. Where do they all go when we grow? Are they swallowed up by the mundane things of everyday life? Or do we lose them, leave them behind us in the dust, for new children to find and take up?
We're [the USA] not going to go attack anyone. We're going to be really cool. We're not going to be exceptional anymore. Everyone's on an equal playing field. I mean that's dangerous. That's more dangerous than making this deal with Iran.
Do you know that people fall in love in war and go to school and go to factories and hospitals and get divorced and go dancing and go playing and live life?
When you are playing great, it's wonderful. Because you and your partner just want to go out and go (rubbing hands together) 'Who we got?' and off you go. But when you're playing badly, or your trust is dented, or your self-belief is gone, it's the worst (freaking) week in the world!
You can't really get the full joy out of life unless you really go for it. You just have to go into it and stay under some kind of hope or illusion that it's going to work. But as you get older, or the more experiences you have, or whatever it is that tells you how this stuff works, you also know that if you go all the way into it, there's the risk of losing everything but you don't have a choice.
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