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Demetrius Jones Unintentionally Mocks Your Newspaper

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By Matt Hinton
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You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

Actually, Mr. Jones is the one pulling the cultural wool over the eyes of a no doubt white-ish beat reporter, Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune, who wonders in stereotypically clueless fashion this morning what backup Notre Dame quarterback Demetrius Jones could possibly mean when the redshirt freshman talks about dealing with Charlie Weis' New Jersey tough guy routine:

...Jones brings his own brand of toughness.

"It's called the G-code," he said. "In Chicago, we don't back down from anything."

G-code? And that stands for?

"If I told you, I'd be breaking the code," he said smiling.

It's possible Jones was referring here to the common name for the programming language that controls NC and CNC machine tools originally developed by the Electronic Industries Alliance in the early 1960s. More likely, though, he was thinking of the "G Code" as expounded by New Orleans rapper Juvenile in the 1999 Cash Money album Tha G-Code and multitudes of OGs nationwide. SMQ frankly had heard of neither before a couple minutes ago, but what, Eric Hansen doesn't have Google? Or the Urban Dictionary? Had he consulted the latter, Hansen could have easily deciphered young Mr. Jones' meaning via the site's entry for G Code

The G Code stands for Ghetto Code. It is generally used to describe the old gangsters, the street veterans, who are from the ghetto or the hood as some like to call it. To be born in the G Code is something to be proud of, it means you are a hard-ass gangster and no one can fuck with you.

We don't talk to police, we don't make a peace bond, we don't trust in the judicial system, we shoot guns. We rely on the streets, we do battle in the hood, I was born in the G Code, embedded in my blood.

A slightly alternate definition by more succinct UD user Charles Martin:

A code of conduct and honor that is expected from a gangster or honorable male.

I ain't tellin those pigs shit! I'm stickin to tha g code.


The G Code: Embedded in Johnny Lujack's blood?
- - -
First, big ups or mad props or whatever is momentarily appropriate to Jones for stickin to tha G Code and not tellin that reporter shit. Second, if he's going to quote a reference to "the G Code," doesn't the reporter have an obligation to explain what the hell that is to his readers? Especially Notre Dame fans, who SMQ guesses were at minimum twice as confused as Hansen on the whole? Additionally, what ingrained cultural biases are demonstrated in this exchange as published? Discuss. Papers due before 5 p.m. Monday.

Jones, as evidenced by his switch this Spring to the storied No. 3 jersey, says he's "a big guy on history and tradition," which must also lead to the inevitable inspection of other Notre Dame quarterbacks -Brady Quinn: Born into the G Code? Casey Jimmeh Clausen: Born into the G Code?(That will happen a million times in the next four years - ed.) Ex-player and new quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus: born into the G Code? Joe Montana...okay, okay...

Actually, more interesting than getting street talk past the sports editor is this brief nugget just before it:

And bracing for higher doses of ND third-year head coach Charlie Weis' sometimes-abrasive, always-direct New Jersey rhetoric.

"Remember now, I wasn't coaching Demetrius or Zach very often (last year) or even Evan," said Weis, who spent 19 of his 20 NCAA-allotted hours per week with Quinn. "So I think it would be premature at this point other than the fact that you like what you see athletically. You like the athleticism.

"Now it's different when (Jones) is in the classroom and I'm running the class."

(Emphasis SMQ's)

O RLY? Ninety-five percent of the head coach's precious hands-on hours were spent with one player? Certainly this includes some group time with all the quarterbacks, but SMQ still imagines most of this time spent in seclusion, only the flicker of the obsolete old film reel illuminating Quinn's rippling visage, and at some point the presence of a leash. Jimmy Clausen might take to that just fine - Jimmy will do what it takes to win, Jimmy will pay any price - but Jones, if his outlook in this story is indication, will probably not. Not until Weis actually learns a little more about him than "the athleticism," anyway.

Update [2007-3-23 18:4:51 by SMQ]: Spoke to Eric Hansen about this this afternoon, and he says Weis spends all of his "personal time" with the number one quarterback – not the entire offense, the backs or receivers, or even the backup quarterbacks, but strictly the starting quarterback – and interacts with the rest of the team at practice only when the quarterback is involved with the rest of the team. Weis studies film of everyone at practice when it's over, Hansen said, but individually, he focuses on the starting quarterback and lets his position coaches handle the rest. As position coach, Ron Powlus' role is to handle the backup quarterbacks. Corwin Brown, of course, is completely in charge of the defense.

Anyone have any idea how this compares with other head coaches who function as coordinators – Steve Spurrier, for example, or Pete Carroll – around the country? As far as SMQ is aware, they work with at least the entire unit, whereas Weis' focus on the quarterback seems like an excessive, or at least unusual, amount of specialization for a head coach.

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