“Last but not least, I want to thank my mom,” Rose said, stopping, trying to draw a breath, his eyes welling. “Brenda Rose.. My heart, the reason why I play the way I play.. just everything. Just knowing that days that I don’t feel like going to practice, when i’m having a hard time, I think about her when she had to wake me up, go to work, and just making sure that I’m alright and making sure the family is alright. Those are hard days. My days shouldn’t be hard because I love doing what I’m doing and that’s playing basketball. So you keep me going every day and I love you and I appreciate you better than my life.” - Derrick Rose.