Hoops By John Paul Pacho: Literature Book Talk

Characters- Will and his father, Joe, are the main characters in the story. They both love football, and they have both played football in their lifetime. Will’s mother died when he was 3, so Will has had no connection with his mother. Will’s best friend is Tim, and they play football together, and go to school together.

Do you like to read sports book then this is your book to read, filled with action and tons of problems and sports events.

In “Fastbreak” by Mike Lupica, Jayson faces many struggles in poverty. Jayson has no money

Throughout this narrative Danois uses the story-telling tool to its utmost potential as he continuously uses the life experience of the people mentioned throughout the novel. His use of storytelling grips the reader from the very beginning of the narrative and has the reader continuously asking “what happened next?” and “Did the team continue their streak?”. One of the many reasons this book continues to keep the reader’s attention is that it utilizes the tool of flashbacks and allows the reader to understand more about certain people and helps them to piece together why certain people act in the manner that they do. In a way, this book catches the reader’s attention like a good TV series would catch a viewer’s attention throughout a series. If there are any criticisms for this book it would stem from the over utilization of the spotlight placed on 5’3 guard Bogues. Bogues who became a Perennial superstar in the NBA, definitely deserved praise, however, Danois may have “ran the well dry” by continuously placing the limelight on Bogues with stories such as “When the fans saw “Mugsy” announced during the starting lineup, snickers and laughter came raining down from the stands” (3:45-3:46) and then Bogues would continue to show the crowd how good he was and he would always earn their respect. That story seemed to repeat itself throughout the narrative and began

Conflict is a literary device used for expressing a resistance the protagonist of the story finds in achieving his aims and dreams. The conflict is fairly easy to recognize, Marcus’s decision to either sell out his best friend or take the blame and risk his chances of getting out of the projets. Not only that, but about everything in this book leads to conflict. Towards the end of the book, Eddie starts to distance himself from Marcus, believing that he’s actually the guilty one due based on what his parents were telling him. For example, Eddie’s mother states that “it’s where Marcus lives... it’s the projects. There is crime all around him. It was probably too big of a temptation” (Volponi 2005 53). I spent the whole morning at school dodging questions about Marcus... They were asking me about Marcus like I was his brother. (Volponi 2005 55). Similarly, Marcus’s mother begins to turn Marcus against Eddie and his parents. For example, Marcus’ mother states “It’s Black and White until somebody’s ass is on the line. And when it’s time to go to jail, it’s just Black” (Volponi 2005

In John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player” the poet uses literary devices to depict the existing way of life of a once-famous sportsperson. Flick Webb was in before times a gifted athlete on his high school basketball team, and he was commendable of much awe. However, Flick never acquired any other skills to prepare him for a future. Accordingly, he now is locked into an unskilled job and his former glories have pale to all but Flick himself. Updike has created a character that is at this point in time going nowhere and spends most of his time thinking about his former days of glory. Flick dwells more restricted by the past than the present because the past was much brighter for him. Flick’s emotional retreat into his earlier period is exposed

Struggle; segregation; hard work; a few of many words that reverberate throughout your head when you think of, Oscar Palmer Robertson. Perhaps the most significant, valuable, and crucial word that comes to mind though, basketball.The “ How good is Oscar Robertson?” Red Auerbach - a highly respected NBA coach for many years- once said, “He is so good he scares me.” His sheer talent and dedication got him to the National Basketball Association (NBA), but his, hard work and will to win kept him there. He was a marvelous player, and an even more spectacular person. He journeyed through life before, after, and during his NBA career, with a smile and determined look. Oscar, is truly an inspiration.

John Wooden has been well-known for what he has done on the court as a player and off the court as a coach for some of the greatest wins in basketball history. When John Wooden was a coach for the “UCLA men’s basketball team, the team won 10 NCAA national championships” (Leadership Lessons from Coach John Wooden ; 2). This has encouraged many coaches to follow his lead as a coach and attempt to achieve something even greater than what he has accomplished. It also helps player know what they can do to truly be one of the best. John Robert Wooden has encouraged many coaches and players to become great by truly being one of the greatest in the sporting

Harlan was a center on the Lakers 12-and under basketball team. After 1 game, when Harlan missed 2 free throws that almost cost his team the game against the Bulls, their rivals, he felt that he was a bad center. His next game he let the other center beat up all over him in the paint and they again almost lost because of Harlan, but won again because of Miles and Jackie, the 2 guards. After those games Harlan wanted to quit, but Miles and Jackie didn 't let him. Miles and Jackie went to the park with Harlan to help him improve his game. The very next game after the tips Miles gave to Harlan, Harlan played bad in the first half of the next game. Then, he remembered what Miles had told him. When Harlan used his tips, he started playing better

The movie Hoop Dreams centered on a pair of intercity youths, William Gates and Arthur Agee. Both of them lived in the projects surrounding Chicago. Their families were economically and educationally disadvantaged. William and Arthur had almost everything imaginable trying to prevent their success. However, they shared a dream of playing in NBA. With the support of their families, William’s and Arthur’s motivation to accomplish this goal led them to fantastic high school basketball careers.

Your dreams dying, your activities fading, and your friendships, all rollaway for a little face that will change your life forever. "I layed down my basketball and it rolled out the door into the hall toward Mary 's room"(Johnson page 23). Bobby has to give up his dreams, his actives, and his friends every time they want to go play basketball. Bobby 's life is going to change and with that he is going to have to change too.

•Jimmy is a serious, quiet, mysteries individual who portrays a hero because he is seen as the star player. After the death of his coach, he stopped playing basketball. Many people tried to persuade him to get back in the game, except Norman Dale. Norman did not push him or try to pressure him into playing basketball. The Incentive Theory applies to Jimmy because he decided to play ball again in exchange for Norman Dale to stay as coach. He even said that he wouldn’t play if the coach was fired. Jimmy was energized to play basketball again and to end the strike he was in. His direction was to play ball again in order to save the coach’s job and to lead his team to victory. Jimmy did not show any intensities, he had the same serious expression during the entire movie.

Summer Ball by Mike Lupica is a coming of age novel of particular interest to young boys. It follows 13-year-old Danny Walker as he attends an elite summer basketball camp in the hope of finding out whether his lack of height will prevent him from being able to play against bigger and stronger

It was the second week of school during my senior year in high school. I was playing one of the Don’t Touch the Tile knockoffs, trying to beat my high score waiting for the weight training teacher to show up. As always I would continue to play, waiting for him to say the magic words “Basketballs are out”. He sat at his desk, taking longer than usual to tell the class the magic words. He stood up, while telling the class to take out a sheet of paper. This had to be something serious as this never happens. He would continue to tell the class a long speech about what exactly are goals. The main message of the speech was to always write your goals down no matter how big, such as your college experience, and small, such as remembering to take the trash out on the weekends. He would eventually tell the class to list our goals down. While I want to say that moment changed my life, I can’t as I allowed the idea of playing basketball of 30 minutes overwhelmed my perspective of my life in the future. My list of goals was lackluster. Now, I wish I took this moment more importantly.

If you're in every game of life and death you elit. A lot of you are dead. Dean Smith, Coach. College Basketball North Carolina man