The front door of the house swings open even before the car is in park, and there he is, bald-headed, black-socked, droopy-shorted, bad-ass Jalen Rose. So what's with the greeting straight off a Hallmark card? Who since the Waltons throws his front door open and stands smiling on the porch to welcome a first-time visitor, just to save him the pang of uncertainty about being in the right place? Turns out bald-headed, black-socked, droopy-shorted, bad-ass Jalen Rose does. Only he's wearing jeans and a black sweater at the moment, another peaceful citizen of Midwestern suburbia on a quiet Sunday afternoon. And there's a miniature Doberman dancing around his feet, quivering with canine love, minutes away from licking the visitor's face. C'mon, where's the growling rott? The Outkast jams rattling the neighbors' windows? The posse chillin' in the living room? The target-practice bullet holes in the mailbox? There must be a mistake. How could this be the castle of bald-headed, black-socked, droopy-shorted, bad-ass Jalen Rose, the Motor City thug who, Pacers teammate Al Harrington says admiringly, "ruined college basketball"?
Well, maybe Rose is frontin' ... except in your pocket are directions to this elegant but unobtrusive six-bedroom house, directions meticulously written by Rose in long, slender pen strokes. And inside are his fiancee, Mauri, her 8-year-old son, Dee -- who calls Jalen "Dad" -- and an unsolicited meal made to order just for you by Jalen's cousin Roy, a bona fide master chef. The Rose clan has just returned from a school play, Be All That You Can Be, in which Dee played three roles, including narrator.
To continue reading this article you must be an Insider
