The movie “Basketball Diaries” is based on a series of journal entries written by Jim Carroll during the early years of his life, these entries would later on be published as a novel. Growing up in the slums of New York City, Carroll was exposed to many instances of drugs abuse and as a result of his life being filled with stress such as him living in an unstable household without a father, and losing his best friend he began to engage in substance abuse. As a teenager, Carroll was willing to go to extreme lengths just to fit in with his peers. He was an avid basketball player who seemed to be devoted to the sport and was knowledgeable when it came to teaching others what he knew about the sport. Based on the opening scenes of the movie, one can tell that Carroll was a very impressionable teenager. Like many teenagers, Carroll was left open to the influences of his environment and so he was misguided because instead of trying to steer him on the right path, the older folks led him to what would inevitably become his destruction. This paper will provide background information of the ...
Remember that boy in high school that was the star of the basketball team? He still holds most of the records for the team. He scored more points than anyone else in the school’s history. He never studied much because he was an athlete. His basketball skills were going to take him places. But high school ended and there are no more games to be played. Where is that former all-star now? In his poem “Ex-Basketball Player,” John Updike examines the life of a former high school basketball star. Flick Webb was a local hero, and he loved basketball. He never studied much in school or learned a trade because he was a talented athlete. Now years later, the only job Flick can find is working at the local gas station. He used to be a star, but now he just “sells gas, checks oil, and changes flats” (19-20). The purpose of Updike’s poem is to convince the reader that athletes should also focus on getting a good education.
Your dreams of being someone may not turn out the way you think they will. The documentary Hoop Dreams is a story about two boys from the ghetto that want to play in the NBA. Arthur ¨Man”Agee goes to Marshalls and William Gates goes to St. Joseph’s which are both situated in Illinois, where their dreams of becoming a pro basketball player vanished. Both of the boys face obstacles that are outside of themselves. Arthur´s family struggled with money, education, and pressure from others hurts him. Also, William struggled with balancing his family with basketball, the pressure from others, and education.
There can be no question that sport and athletes seem to be considered less than worthy subjects for writers of serious fiction, an odd fact considering how deeply ingrained in North American culture sport is, and how obviously and passionately North Americans care about it as participants and spectators. In this society of diverse peoples of greatly varying interests, tastes, and beliefs, no experience is as universal as playing or watching sports, and so it is simply perplexing how little adult fiction is written on the subject, not to mention how lightly regarded that little which is written seems to be. It should all be quite to the contrary; that our fascination and familiarity with sport makes it a most advantageous subject for the skilled writer of fiction is amply demonstrated by Mark Harris.
Wes Moore, the author, had many important role models in his life that would eventually enable him to live up to his full capability. Uncle Howard, Wes’ mother’s brother, filled the hole that was left when Moore’s father died and when“[he] was eleven… and having difficulty in and out of the classroom [he could lean] on Uncle Howard’s shoulder”. Moore’s uncle was the man who convinced Moore that he could achieve more than just basketball at school, that education would allow him to reach his full potential. The persuasion to drop basketball as a career, enabled
Joes High School’s total enrollment consisted of sixteen girls, and twenty boys. Ten of the boys that had enrolled there played basketball. All of the boys were over six feet tall. Lane Sullivan, the new coach of the basketball team, had never even touched a basketball before he started coaching. Sullivan had never coached anything at all before he started coaching the Joes basketball team. In order to gain knowledge about the sport, he got a book about it. He started coaching in 1927, but before the 1928 basketball season, Joes High School didn’t even have a gym. Instead, they’d practice outside on a dirt court, and two times a week they’d take a bus to the nearest gym, which was ten miles away. In order to play home games, the boys had to play in the local dance hall. The “court” was nowhere near regulation size, and the ceiling was so short that the boys couldn’t shoot an arched shot. The people who attended these basketball games had no place to sit and watch the game, the all stood around the edges of the court and on the small stage. Joes High School finally got their own gym around Christmas time because the people of Joes donated their time and material in order to make it happen.
Therefore, in “The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation No Longer Flashes Red,” Alexie uses the epitome of the burnt-out sports hero that appears frequently in twentieth-century American literature as a commonality between reservation life and the rest of America. Thus, the reader can relate to the sports hero, and he/she can understand the anguish felt when the dream of stardom falls short. Every generation has a basketball hero, whom the other reservation natives believe is going to be great enough to get a scholarship to play basketball at the college- and maybe even pro-level. If so, he/she would be breaking the trend of living a life in poverty and resorting to alcoholism as a past time. However, each time someone comes close to breaking the trend and escaping the continuous cycle of a life on the reservation, he comes under the influence of alcohol. Victor, the nar...
Full-Court Quest is not only the story of ten remarkable American Indian girls who would go on to win the 1904 women’s basketball World Championship, but also profiles the development of basketball, the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, and the impact of off-reservation boarding school education efforts by the U.S. government. Even though this book shows many different aspects of the ways of Native American living, the main feature the Fort Shaw basketball girls were trying to present to their peers was that basketball wasn’t just a game to play for fun. Basketball was a competitive game that they believed was a huge part of their lives and wanted the public to be a part of it as well; may it be playing the game with them or on the sidelines watching and supporting them.
The book Slam, a Coretta Scott King Award winner5, was a very interesting book. Derrick Shore, Slam6, was the main character in this book. Being one of the best hoopsters1, Slam was very cocky in basketball. Losing his dad when he was little1, he tried really hard to help out his family. Slam was very aggressive, trying his hardest to do well on the court2. In school he wasn't the greatest, confused by all of the different things he had to remember4. Stunned that he failed some classes3, he realized he might not be eligible to play basketball. He studied hard to be eligible, worried that he might not be able to play the sport he loved4. Hoping to pass the test7, he studied really hard. His mom, Carolyn6, was very excited that her boy passed the test. Slam, a wistful young man5, had finally done well in something other than basketball, but that was the least of his challenges. Knowing he would have a hard time making college7, he studied hard his last couple years of high school. Slam made it threw high school, maturing enough to realize that college was important2. Slam ends up getting a good job and helping his family out, he always remembers the rough times he had when he was in high school, and uses that to push him every day.
Theresa is a motivated young woman, if nothing else. Basketball seems to be her only shot at a decent life for herself and her family. As of now, her future does not look too bright, given her lack of education or marketable skills. Not to mention the fact that she is the oldest of five and one of eight people overflowing a two bedroom apartment in the projects. She works the nightshift at a convenience store, protected by a two-inch layer of bulletproof glass and watched by security cameras trained on the register. Her boss does not trust her because she is African-American and poor. She spends the days sleeping, watching TV and keeping an eye on her siblings and seventy seven year old grandmother.
To conclude, the poem “Ex-Basketball play,” is a poem that shows the reality of life. It reflects the nature of life in the real world and it helps people who have a dream and want to pursue their goals to go for it. The poem was formally organized and provides a number of figurative languages that helps to bring out tone of the poem.
In sports, there is no shortage of black success stories. Meanwhile, two black men of prominence in Odessa (who are not athletes) fell from grace. Willie Hammond Jr. (the first black city councilor and county commissioner) and Laurence Hurd (a minister and desegregation supporter) were glimmers of hope for the black community that were both snuffed out. Hammond was arrested on charges of arson conspiracy and perjury and Hurd is in prison for burglary and robbery, leaving a hole in the morale of the black community that was not repaired. These losses, combined the with negative news of black people circulated via media, made the possibility of succeeding in a white man’s world inconceivable. Yet, there is no shortage of black success stories in sports, like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson; in every area that is not a “rich man’s sport”, black athletes dominate. To the poor children on the Southside, there is something very alluring about the “Cinderella stories” of men from poor black neighborhoods rising to prominence through sports. Based on these examples, there seem to only be two paths for a black teen to take: criminal or athlete. Many of these teens aspire to be sports stars and depend on nothing else because there is nothing else. Some may become the superstars they hope to be or they fall into ruin as Boobie Miles, Derric Evans, and Gary Edwards
Sports specialization among young people is when a child or teenager trains for and competes in only one sport. They work extremely hard year-round in order to become well-rounded in every aspect of the game. They make sacrifices and put their health in jeopardy in order to become the ultimate participant in their sport. One of the many young athletes who is only participating in and focusing on one sport is fifteen-year-old OJ Mayo from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the young talented athlete who is predicted to be the next LeBron James in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This young athlete provides evidence of striving for perfection in this single sport when reviewing his daily schedule versus that of his siblings. He says, “The other kids go home and sleep. I come back to the gym” (Thompson, 2004). He is obviously putting forth a lot of effort in his sport to become successful at an early age.
When he was a child his father “left for the gas station to get cigarettes” and has yet to return, before his father left he had abused him. His mother was a stay at home mom, she was barely able to provide for them. But when he entered college that all changed because of his dominance in the sport of basketball and he was such a big guy people were scared to bully him. In high school his report card grades dropped because he was bullied so much but even after they plummeted he was still a straight D student. But in college he was a straight A student with honors, all three times he went to college he got honors.
The history of sports goes back since ancient times. It has been a useful way for people to explore nature and their environment. Sports include different activities and games such as football, soccer, basketball, and etc. to express their skills and talents. Also, sports are a way to relax and have fun; but are sports all our African Americans rely on? The dream to become future sports stars. The reason why Gates begins his essay with an anecdote is to show and compare how many african-american athletes were at work today and how little the chances of African-Americans becoming athletes are compared to being a lawyer, dentist, or even a doctor. African-Americans assume that they are born athletes and it’s because the school system doesn’t teach them reality and educate them to undertake more realistic goals for careers.
"Michael Jordan." UXL Biographies. Detroit: U*X*L, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 26 May 2014.