A Look Into Brandon Jennings’ Life
You could spend an entire day on YouTube trying to find a guy not in the NBA right now who is more exciting than Brandon Jennings. But you won’t find anyone. Not Stephen Curry, not Ricky Rubio, not Blake Griffin. No one.
However, you won’t see Jennings’ face plastered on national television this winter. While Curry, Griffin and all other top prospects will all spend time on your tube, Jennings is largely off the radar, thousands of miles away in Rome, Italy where he is getting paid to play for a team in the top Italian division, Virtus Roma. Even if that means less mainstream publicity among average basketball fans, Jennings won’t be left out of the public eye. He’s signed on as the face of Under Armour’s brand-new basketball division, which fits him perfectly.
As the first ballplayer to make the jump overseas after high school, it makes sense that Jennings is the first to sign with Under Armour. Brandon defines himself by doing what others don’t. That’s how he plays on the court, and that’s how he lives his life off of it too. In fact, UA has launched a “When In Rome” blog, focused on Jennings’ journey to this point in his life, and what makes him who he is.
The blog is split into four different “chapters,” titled “The Game Changer,” “The Underdog,” “The Trendsetter,” and “The Family Man,” each of which explores a different aspect of Jennings’ personality. First, you’ll see why he built a reputation as a flashy, flamboyant point guard in the States. Second, we check out how that rep has contributed to him being slept on overseas. Third, we get a look at how he’s affecting the next generation of elite prospects. And last, Jennings shows what matters to him most – his mom and brother.
We’re also pretty excited to say that we’ve got something big in the pipeline to give you a glimpse of Brandon’s life in Rome. Ultimately you’ll come away seeing the impact that this move is having on his life, and thereby seeing how he’s changing the game.
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November 21st, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Big Shot BOB says:
I’m unable to view this at work because I don’t have the latest falsh player and don’t have the administrative rights to install it…anybody else having this problem?
November 21st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
hadoken says:
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3695454
scoop jax follows young money around for a bit
November 21st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Dime Magazine says:
buffaloballer,
Why should he be in college? What good is it going to do for him to play 35 games at Arizona when he could play 65 against better competition?
- AK
November 21st, 2008 at 8:21 pm
bballcourt@wh says:
BJ could play 165 games against better competition on the playgrounds of NYC than in the arenas of Italy and you know he can get PAID for those 35 games in Arizona-there is no excuse….
November 21st, 2008 at 8:24 pm
buffaloballer says:
oh yeah, and maybe get an education too….which to dime magazine obviously is not important….
November 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Fleks says:
Dont dream he could never get better competition than in the Euroleague except for the NBA.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
quest??? says:
If me being a lawyer doesn’t work umma pull a brandon jennings train and go play ball in Europe
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 am
HBooyah says:
It almost seems like he’s got less hype over there – hangin’ with his mom and his brother, than he would if he was at Arizona. It might be a good situation for him – keep it kinda low key while he works on his game.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Dime Magazine says:
@ buffaloballer –
come on now, stop with education business. guys on Jennings’ level are one-and-done in college. for most elite players school takes a backseat to the business at hand, which is getting to the League. you know that…
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
buffaloballer says:
stop blocking my ip address because I don’t agree with what you editorialize that’s a Vince Carter bitch move fo’ real….
I’ll tell everyone how to get around that bitch/DIME “bad behavior” mode…
November 25th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Brooklynite says:
I for one am happy for BJ. First off, the NCAA and the entire institution of college athletics is riduculous. For people like myself who actually value higher education, it breaks my heart to think of all of those kids out there struggling to finance their education while schools throw money at athletes who don’t want to be there in the first place. Most of these elite athletes look at college as a pit-stop anyway. They take easy bullshit classes and pass just enough to stay eligible. Schools go hard to take care of them while hardworking students struggle to stay in school. So if Jennings doesn’t want to participate in the charade then I congratulate and thank him. Fuck the NCAA, fuck UA, and every other school that places priorities on making money off of athletes rather than on the kids who WANT the eucation.