In 2017, the sports world was turned upside down in a matter of a what seemed like a blink of an eye when the outspoken father of current Los Angeles Laker Lonzo Ball, LaVar Ball dominated the headlines in an instant. With one bold claim seemingly coming after the other, LaVar was able to go from a nobody, to an immediate overnight sensation.

The plan was put into place long before his statements caught the ears of people with influence. See, the thing is, LaVar has been loud his entire life and has been the Flava Flav to his sons since they proved they were worthy of the hype he’s created for them. From there, he and his wife Tina decided to launch the Big Baller Brand, an apparel company centered around their beloved children.

Now, anyone who understands marketing knows that promotion is one of the main components. While LaVar was unafraid to make bold claims and have the gall to double down on them, he knew that his words — once they caught fire — would be the catalyst for putting his plan in motion of making the triple B’s more than just a fad.

As for the likes of Cris Carter, Shannon Sharpe, Charles Barkley, and other black sports analysts, it is quite disgusting in how they have gone out of their way to tear a man down for trying to build his children up and create a brand that speaks to ownership, when many of them have argued that the systems have been flawed for years with colleges and others exploiting black athletes for financial gain. However, when this black man decided to do this, some of them found every reason to hate on him with little to no basis as to why.

Well, I’ll tell you why.

It stems from an insecure state and unfortunately, even a crabs in the barrel mentality that hates to see others make a come up, when you seemingly had to work hard to get to where you got to in your career. This thought process of, “How dare this other black guy come out of nowhere and steal the shine I once had (or am trying to still have) when all he’s doing is talking about his kids?”

Now, I’m not one of those people that says just because LaVar is black, all black people must support him. That’s not fair, nor is it conceivable. However, to LaVar’s point, the phoniness some of them have exuded is beyond comprehension that it boggles my mind as to why they feel the need to talk about him so much if they only have negative things to say about him.

Take Cris Carter for instance. He has been on the record saying that LaVar “can’t coach” as well as other statements questioning his abilities as a trainer and overall sports acumen. What Carter failed to mention was that his own son, Duron, whom Carter coached as well, was dismissed from both Ohio State and the University of Alabama and failed to make it to the NFL.

Just listening to Carter speak on LaVar and his kids gives the impression that a sense of jealousy exists to how this man was able to get his son to be one of the best players in a sport he never played professionally. How can I (Carter), being a NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver not get my own son — who’s a wide receiver — to not only play at two of the greatest college football programs, but to the NFL altogether?

Shannon Sharpe may just be one of the most disappointing ones of them all. He’s been the biggest cheerleader for Colin Kaepernick for over a year, leading the charge, and basically doing everything else besides running behind him with a marching band — in hopes of bringing awareness as to why he is not in the NFL. He has been adamant on discussing issues of race, and seeing to it black folks are treated fairly — unless it fits his narrative.

The thing with Sharpe is LaVar has been on his show, “Undisputed” several times. Sharpe even publicized that he needed to support Big Baller Brand being how much he has talked about how important it is to support the black community. But once LaVar’s brand and fame started to take off, the tune changed dramatically where Sharpe took unnecessary shots and even got in his feelings multiple times when discussing his displeasure of how LaVar handled certain things.

As for Barkley, I won’t spend too much time on him due to the well-documented issues he has had personally, which speaks to the hypocrisy of his statements he’s made about LaVar. But, I had no problem with LaVar calling him and the others out for the reasons I mentioned above.

Again, support who you want to support. The black community is not responsible for uplifting LaVar Ball and the Big Baller Brand. However, it is disappointing when so many preach to wanting more for black athletes and have praised ownership, yet criticize when a man — albeit unconventional — goes out and does just that.

The insecurity and jealousy is a bad look. I hope it gets fixed soon. Either way, LaVar and Big Baller Brand have cemented their stay in the sports world. They aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon. So those who hate, will have to either jump onboard, or change the station.