Hoop Dreams Page #6

We'll have to talk to Mrs. Wier.

Okay?

Sometimes you have had the right answer

and you changed it to the wrong answer.

Through Patricia Wier,

William's St. Joe's sponsor...

the cost of the six-week class is waived.

If you're just outright guessing -

If a monkey took this test

and you trained him to

do just B's and C's...

he probably would get more right

than if he picked A's and D's.

You just don't know the feeling...

not knowing

if you gonna be able to play...

just because of a test.

I mean, as soon as you

don't tighten one screw,

everything falls apart.

- El caballo.

- El caballo.

- La vaca.

- La vaca.

Arthur, Tienes tu el libro?

Tienes tu el libro?

Mmm.

- What do I say?

- Okay, how do you say "yes"?

"Yoy. '"

- how do you say "yes" in Spanish?

- S.

S. Look up on the board.

He's a pretty smart kid,

but he does just enough to pass.

Hey, Shannon!

Most of them

that have come through here...

and had that type of attitude...

usually end up in the streets

talkin' about they used

to play for Marshall...

and if they'd gone to class they could've

gone to any school they wanted to.

This is just somebody

standing on the street corner talking...

trying to find a job, then can't

find a job, that kind of thing.

This is where he's headed, really.

- how's your knee?

- It's pretty good.

Easiest thing right now would be for you

not to play and wait till next year.

What do you wanna do?

- Wait till next year?

- Right.

- No.

- You think you're ready?

My next year is now.

I've seen athletes

who have come back from surgery...

where they worried about the injury.

When this happens,

they may never be the player they were.

William's first start

is the final home game

of the regular season.

William should have shot it.

He gotta do that the whole game.

He only do it when they leadin'.

It was like my injury

was making him look bad.

Run it out.!

I always felt that Curtis...

should not be living his dream

through me.

If he don't do somethin'

out here on this court -

Man, he ain't showed me nothin' yet.

You gotta come out

and start playing hard all the time.

Otherwise

you're just another player.

You follow me?

Just remember the way we talked.

Okay? As long as you're physically able.

If you're not, you

shouldn't be playing at all.

So nervous about the start tonight.

But I'm glad it's over with.

Now I can just...

get onto the floor more better.

Spread the floor to four corners!

St. Joe's has made it to the sectionals.

And in the final minutes...

William goes to the free throw line

with the Chargers leading by six.

Always a clutch free-throw shooter...

he sinks four straight

to help seal the victory.

In the sectional finals...

St. Joe's looks for revenge

against Gordon Tech...

the team that knocked them out

last year.

With his whole family watching...

William seems out of sync

and bothered by his knee.

You are not working hard enough!

You understand me?

They want it harder than you!

At the beginning of the fourth quarter...

St. Joe's leads by a point.

Got any pain with that?

While the doctor examines William's knee...

Gordon Tech surges ahead.

The Chargers steal the ball,

trailing by one.

William calls time-out.

I want it down floor so we can get

it to one of our good jumpers.

With only seconds on the clock...

the Chargers find William

in the corner.

The shot doesn't fall,

but William is fouled.

With six seconds to go...

William steps to the line

with two free throws...

and a chance to win.

He shouldn't have been out there.

He shouldn't have been playing.

- The knee?

- I'm very disappointed.

Y'all get that on tape 18 times.

Disappointed in the system.

He shouldn't have been out there playing.

His knee came out of place

a couple of times, it looked like.

I mean, if winning's that important,

we need to reevaluate the program.

That ain't no excuse. he got out there,

said there wasn't nothin' wrong with him.

That's an excuse.

If he was hurt,

he shouldn't have got out there.

There's two possible problems

you could have.

You might have healed,

say, 80% of that cartilage...

and still have

a small residual tear.

William's brother-in-law, Alvin...

takes him to see Dr. Hefferon,

the Chicago Bulls team doctor.

What you need to do is have

your knee arthroscoped again.

- What side we gonna do?

- Right side.

Right.

A lot of people say I shouldn't

have played, shouldn't

have came back at all.

Coach kept sayin'

it's really up to me...

and if you leave it up to me

I'm goin' back out there on the court.

We're gonna remove

this portion of the cartilage here.

He'll have a higher incidence of arthritis

as he gets older than you or I would.

But in terms of his basketball career,

he has a good chance of performing fine.

- There's the medial meniscus.

- Wow.

It's the only thing on my mind,

is gettin' downstate...

is makin' it down there.

I want to be able to go all out

the whole year.

No setbacks, no nothin'.

At least Coach won't have to say, "William,

you didn't play hard this game"...

'cause when I step on that floor

I'm goin' be all business, and that's it.

One year after he left...

Arthur's dad Bo rejoins the family.

He spent seven months in jail

for burglary...

and overcame an addiction

to crack cocaine.

Man might fail ya, but Jesus never fails.!

Praise God.! Whoo.!

If you haven't tried him, try him.!

Sometimes you look for friends

and they're not there.

- But Jesus is always there.

- Amen.!

- Even in the midnight hour, he's there.

- Amen.

Glory to God.! Whoo.!

- hallelujah!

- Hallelujah!

Glory to God.

Lord, we know

you always bless the family.

Glory to God. Even in the beginning, Lord,

you blessed that first family.

Glory to God. We pray right now,

don't let nothin' come between 'em.

Send strength, Lord, glory to God,

wherever there is weakness.

Please, Lord...

let the love prevail.

- Yeah.!

- Thank you, Jesus.! Thank you, Lord.!

That's right.

While I was incarcerated...

I just asked God,

"Show me a different way.

Give me a new life. Take the taste of drugs

and evil way of thinkin' away from me. '"

I asked the Lord

to forgive me for what I did...

the times that I mistreated my wife,

beat her physically, you know.

I just hope this be

a lesson to my children...

to see me turn my life

over to the Lord.

Oh, yeah.!

When I was little...

he had let me down.

People used to come up to me -

"Your father a drug addict" and stuff.

And I'd just be, like, "Yeah, okay."

You know?

And I used to take so much,

you know...

that he has to start realizin'

that, you know -

that what is he doing, you know.

'Cause I remember sometimes

he used to try to go to

church while he still -

he was still on drugs

while he was tryin' to go to church.

Give me a hug before you go.

- Give your granddad a hug.

- Thank you!

The closeness was not there at first,

when I come back home.

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