Hoop Dreams Page #9

- The leading black people?

- Yeah.

- Such as?

- Whoever might be in charge...

of all the black students on campus -

what kind of community life

they have for the blacks there.

- Uh -

- Did you talk to anyone about it?

- Did you ask the players

how they're treated?

- Yeah.

- What'd they say?

- Players say they treated fine.

I mean, they get

the best of everything.

- You think that's where you wanna go?

- Yeah.

That's fine.

Obviously, if you wait you'll have

all the other schools

that were on you before...

like Kansas and Indiana

and North Carolina State.

That's all right, uh, but...

I discussed it with -

I think you should take a few days.

Because you just came back.

You understand?

- Poop!

- Yeah!

Yea!

Boo!

Is there any cash with this?

Uh, it's in the mail.

To four years of excellence.

- hear! hear!

- Hear! hear!

- It's alcohol-free.

- It's not that bad.

I am fixing him

a birthday dinner today.

It's his 18th birthday...

and I want to show him

how much we appreciate him and love him...

and care for him.

Everything that you can imagine

was going wrong with this family...

but now everybody's together.

It's his favorite cake.

He's a great kid.

And some kids don't live

to get this age, you know.

That's another thing

to be proud about -

that, you know,

it's his 18th birthday, he lived...

and to get to see 18, that's good.

I wanna tell you that I love you very much.

I'm very proud of you.

It seems like I was 18 just yesterday.

Here. happy birthday. I love you.

- Ohh.!

- Hey-hey.!

- happy birthday!

- I love you too.!

- Come over here.

- Where you goin', homes?

Where you goin', homes?

Blow out the candles.!

Two months after his 18th birthday...

Arthur is cut off public aid.

This is what I brought to their attention.

He's still a full-time student.

He hasn't graduated yet.

So why would you-all cut him off?

- I'll bite you!

- I'll bite you back.

They feel like when they get 18...

most the black kids

they drop out.

So that means that the child

is just thrown out there.

I was gettin' 368.

Now I get 268.

And that's it.

And that's to take care of me

from one month to the next.

Now, can you imagine

a person living on that?

Do you-all wonder sometime,

how am I livin'?

Or how do my children survive,

or how they livin'?

It's enough to make people really wanna go

out there and lash out and hurt somebody.

A message to the Oreo cookie.

No matter how much you wanna switch,

here's what they think about you:

Fried chicken

and biscuit-eatin' monkey, ape, baboon...

big-thighed, fast-runnin;

high-jumpin; spear-chuckin;..

360-degree basketball-dunkin;..

Pit-swingin' spade moulanyan.

Go the f*** back to Africa.

Go the f*** back to Africa.

Go the f*** back to Africa.

Think about it. F***in' sellout.

Play the music, motherf***er!

Put the music on!

Shoot it.

Rebound.! Go, go, go.!

Gates stinks.

You got that? he stinks.

He doesn't play with confidence,

like he did before he was injured.

I don't believe the other players

have complete confidence in William.

They were in awe of William

when he was a sophomore.

They're not in awe of him anymore.

Sophomore year...

I was just carefree.

If it could be done,

I was gonna do it.

I wish I could

get that attitude back.

Go.!

Hold up.!

That's crap.!

That is dog-sh*t crap.!

Why did you have to

do something unnecessarily?

If you would've kept it over here, William

- Look at me!

If you had kept it over here, wide,

you could have gone all the way.

What is that crap,

the shovel pass?

There was never any point in our school...

where we just-

just played outright, you know.

Now, remember, think about the ball game

on the way to the game.

I'll bet a nickel.

If I got a nickel.

Yeah, I got it!

Marshall began its season well...

winning four of six.

Today's game will be their first

against a city power.

The only way you gonna beat them

is to play good basketball.

All that bullshit that you be playin' -

You play half of a game, for two

or three minutes you play pretty good...

then you go to sleep.

You have to play a whole ball game.

When we start out,

Arthur will be completely in the ball game.

But as the game progresses,

then he digresses.

By halftime, Marshall trails

highly favored Dunbar by 15 points.

But late in the fourth quarter...

Arthur and the Commandos

claw their way back.

On a crucial possession...

the ball goes to Arthur.

Hey, boy!

Gimme some, boy!

Hey, Arthur G!

Hey, Arthur G! You ever got rich,

they'd catch you for sure! Come here, dog!

That's it, man.!

Showin' your beef!

I want it up high, G.

I want it up high.

Led by William's 16 points a game...

the Chargers have a 20 and 3 record.

But Coach Pingatore feels they're not ready

for the impending play-offs.

Alabama.! Alabama.!

Alabama.!

Well, don't throw the ball!

Jesus, will you cut it out

and quit acting like a baby!

Will you quit cryin'!

This team just drives me crazy.

It's been a struggle all year.

You think you're better than you are.

The two big guys are prima donnas.

They should be killin' people.

For you people

that are really agonizing...

and just hate all this stuff

and all the hollering...

if you don't make a turn,

it'll be over next week...

so you won't have to worry about it.

That's the point.

I wanna end this game

in the next three to four minutes.

Otherwise it's gonna be a ball game.

All right, let's go get 'em. Come on.

Hail Mary, full of grace.

Blessed art thou -

holy Mary, Mother of

God, pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

All right, let's go.

Come on.

William's just too nice of a kid.

I don't know if he has

the killer temperament.

I don't know if he has

the eye of the tiger.

He's gonna need that

when he goes to the next level.

Remember, square up!

It's business, it's big bucks...

and that's what the scholarship's for.

Good job.

- his coach is stingy and selfish.

- My coach is not -

he just want William

to run out there and play-

- My coach is not stingy and selfish.

- Yes, he is!

The day she was gonna be born

I told him he had to be there.

I don't care what his coach say.

I know the game was important.

But this was more important,

and his coach doesn't see it like that.

I just can't miss a game...

just because, you know,

an incident occur...

unless it was like a death

or somethin' like that.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Ain't like the girl was born every day.

That's what I was tryin' to get you to say.

Especially around that time

of the year too - state tournament.

It was simply out of the question.

He tells me,

"Well, it'll benefit us in the future. '"

I'm, like, "But what about now?"

he keeps sayin' in the fu -

Basketball was my ticket

out of the ghetto.

If I wouldn't have been playin' ball,

I would not even be goin' to college.

I'm goin' to college,

and I have a daughter.

So what's

my excuse?

Because the situations

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