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Disco and Mr. Lou often speak with sorrow of other black inner-city neighborhoods around the country, like the ones in Chicago, where drug dealers swagger up at neighborhood tournaments to recruit players straight off the court. Coney Island's devotion to basketball, they hope, will prevent that from happening here. "As long as we got the kids at the Garden, they're okay," Mr. Lou says.
I'm a sports fan. The literary/intellectual types I often hang out with frown at that, but it's not something I'm ashamed of. Sports have been an important part of my life since I was a kid. It's been an important part of every society since men have started to have hobbies. I've grown a kinship to basketball because I've played in high school and grew an intellectual relationship to the game. THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS, by Darcy Frey became a seminal reading not only for basketball fans, but whoever wants to understand where the line between leisure and business is drawn, in professional sports. Becoming a pro athlete takes more than just hard work, you also have to navigate a maze filled with snakes and pitfalls, in order to make it.
THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS follows the senior high school year of ballers Tchaka Shipp, Corey Johnson and Russell Thomas (the player's real name is Darryl Flicking, but Frey changed it at the request of his mother), as well as future NBA all-star Stephon Marbury's freshman year. As the summer winds down and the kids begin their last year of high school, the recruiting process begins and their lives start to change at an alarming pace. Tchaka is being recruited by division 1 schools, Russell and Corey struggle with their SAT scores while trying to attract the attention of division 2 and division 3 school, and Stephon's the center of attention, the way it's always been. The rest of Coney Island watches from the bleachers, putting all their hopes in these four boys.
The first thing about THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS is the gorgeousness of Darcy Frey's prose. It's observant, visual, almost Fitzgerald-ian. Someone writing non-fiction who cares about the writing so much immediately puts me at ease, because he knows what the hell he's doing. Frey knows when to disappear and leave the floor to his subject, yet he has a terrific nose for meaningful moments. THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS is a controlled experience. At no time, you feel Darcy Frey disappear. It's a first person narration, although it's a very discreet one. Frey's skill, control and understanding of his subject are what makes the book enjoyable first and foremost, I believe. He could've written about anchovies and made it fun.
"This is a business - ain't nothing but. And if I don't receive satisfaction, I will take my business somewhere else. I always say, a wise man has his wisdom to protect him. A fool has his God."
Writing mastery isn't the reason why anyone would pick up THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS, though. Darcey Frey isn't a household name like, per se, the pope of sports nerds Bill Simmons. People want to read this book because they want to learn about the soullessness of the recruiting program for college sports. Imagine being seventeen years old again, and having countless grown men selling their institution to you, with promises of giving you an education and/or turning you into a superstar, and not being able to hire anybody to protect you (the NCAA rule uneligible high school kids who are professionally represented). The kids of THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS have to shoulder the future of their families and the hopes of their neighborhood all alone. There,s about 99% chances of making the wrong choice.
Becoming a professional athlete is, socially speaking, the highest achievement for a young man in Occidental society, along with becoming a Hollywood actor. Where does the conceptual part with million dollar salaries, legions of adoring fans and Godlike status ends, and where does reality kick in, with the pressure, expectations and business obligations? THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS is a book about dreams becoming business objectives and young men being thrown to the wolves in order to please green God we came to worship. 0,1% of them return leading the pack, but lots of blood is shed and many dreams are broken in order to build champions. Harry Crews once said that sports was as close to the truth as he's ever been: "either you can or your can't do it," he said. There is a ruthless business established around finding those who can, though.
Becoming a professional athlete is, socially speaking, the highest achievement for a young man in Occidental society, along with becoming a Hollywood actor. Where does the conceptual part with million dollar salaries, legions of adoring fans and Godlike status ends, and where does reality kick in, with the pressure, expectations and business obligations? THE LAST SHOT: CITY STREETS, BASKETBALL DREAMS is a book about dreams becoming business objectives and young men being thrown to the wolves in order to please green God we came to worship. 0,1% of them return leading the pack, but lots of blood is shed and many dreams are broken in order to build champions. Harry Crews once said that sports was as close to the truth as he's ever been: "either you can or your can't do it," he said. There is a ruthless business established around finding those who can, though.