Letter by Keenan Mann...
I watched a documentary on Netflix with my son called “Doin’ It in the Park: Pick-Up Basketball, New York City”. The title pretty aptly describes the content of the one hour and twenty-two minute film. But, for those in whom the title doesn’t conjure up any images at all, I’ll say it was a very entertaining look at the origins and evolution of pick-up basketball in The Big Apple.
I watched a documentary on Netflix with my son called “Doin’ It in the Park: Pick-Up Basketball, New York City”. The title pretty aptly describes the content of the one hour and twenty-two minute film. But, for those in whom the title doesn’t conjure up any images at all, I’ll say it was a very entertaining look at the origins and evolution of pick-up basketball in The Big Apple.
Along with lots of footage of street ball games from the old
days and the new days, the film also contains interviews with some of the more
famous players to grace the blacktops, as the outdoor courts are called, over
the last fifty years or so. Some of the
more well-known names include Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving, who both went
on to fame and fortune in the NBA. But in addition to the NBA legends, there are various mentions of, and even a few very
interesting interviews with, some of the more famous street ball legends. James “Fly” Williams and Pee Wee Kirkland,
number two and number four respectively on the 100 All Time Greatest Street
Ballers list, as compiled by the Street Basketball Association (yes there is
apparently such a list and such an organization), both featured prominently
over the course of the film. Separately,
each waxed on about himself and The Game.
Lots of what they said was pure entertainment – I mean hilarious
stuff. For instance, the sixty-one year
old Fly Williams, in an apparent response to the interviewer, who is off
camera, asking about his notoriety,
pointed his finger at his chin and said, “look at this face, I don’t have to
tell you who I am, everybody knows The Fly.”
Pee Wee Kirkland, who is around the same age as Fly (I think), at one
point says, in a completely serious tone, "if you’ve never left the court crying
or went home bleeding, then you don’t know about basketball".
Not all of what they said was comedy. Some of it was quite informative. Both Fly and Pee Wee went to college on
basketball scholarships. Pee Wee went to
Norfolk State and Fly to Austin Peay.
During his time at Austin Peay, Fly’s fans would chant “The Fly is open,
let’s go Peay!”. The ‘let’s go Peay!’ part
of the chant is still used at games to this day. But the real claim to fame for both was what
they did on the blacktops of NYC. And that’s
what really struck me upon immediate reflection. Both of their interviews were fraught with
the phrase, or at least sentiment, “I was…”. It’s seems that
basketball was as good as it ever got for them and many like them.
That notion led me to write the following letter:
Dear ___________,
I was in the gym the
other day watching you play. As a former
player myself, I’ve got to tell you, I’m not easily impressed by what I see on
the basketball court these days, but I was very impressed with your game. The jump-shot (mid-range and long), the
handles, the hops, the footwork – all tight. You’re
very talented. But I’m sure you’ve heard
all that before from people considerably more talented and important than I, so take it
for what it’s worth.
While I’ve got your
attention though, I’d like to tell you a few things you may not have heard
yet. First, you’re probably not going to
the NBA. There are about 360 active
roster spots in the NBA at any point in time and there are about a million
times that many people living in the US alone.
You don’t have to be very good at math, although I hope you are, to
understand that a million to one odds are not a very good bet. And that’s before you add in all the people
from all the other countries who have the same idea in their head. After you add them in, your chances of making
it to the NBA all but disappear, practically speaking. Keep dreaming though, because there’s nothing
wrong with that. But please work on more
than just your game.
Second, you probably
won’t get a scholarship to play D1 basketball since only one third of one
percent of high school players achieve that distinction. As a point of reference, there are roughly
17,800 boy’s high school basketball teams in the country (there are about as
many girls teams by the way). Assuming
there are twelve players to a team, that means out of roughly 213,000 boys, 700
will get a scholarship. Good luck with
that, but please keep in mind that scholars can get scholarships too.
Third, if you do
somehow manage to get a D1 scholarship, you probably won’t graduate. Okay, maybe you will, since 66% of all
student athletes graduate in 6 years (55% of black student athletes), but just because
you have a degree doesn’t mean you have an education that will be of any use to
you. So be careful what you major in and
how seriously you take your studies and remember that your coach may care more
about what you do in the next four years than he does about what you do in the
next forty.
(By the way, I got a
BA and an MBA in six years and there are people who do it in less time than
that, so don’t set your goals too low)
Oh, I almost forgot,
pull your damn pants up when you’re wearing street clothes, stop posting all
the stupid and vulgar stuff on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and stop with
the tattoos and ridiculous hairdos.
There’s absolutely nothing original or individualistic about looking
like, acting like, or doing like everyone else around you. In fact, if you want a piece of really good
advice, take this from Earl Nightingale, “Whatever the great majority is doing,
in any circumstance, if you do the exact opposite, you’ll probably never make a
mistake as long as you live”
Now, I hope you’re not
too mad at me. If you are, you can take
all of what I said and use it as motivation to get your D1 scholarship and your
NBA contract, if you’d like. I’d be happy
to see you achieve both and would not mind at all you thumbing your nose at me
when you cross the finish line. I’d much
rather say “congratulations” than “I told you so”. But please know my purpose in writing you
this letter was not to kill your dreams, rather it was to perhaps change your
thinking in some small way. Because, as
it was once said, “If your way of thinking changes, your actions change. If your actions change, your habits
change. If your habits change, your personality
changes, and if your personality changes, your self changes. And once your self is changed, your whole life is different.”
___________, I’d much
rather interview you for the documentary I tentatively plan on doing in 10 or
15 years and have you repeatedly say “I am” rather than “I was”. Your best years should always be ahead of
you.
Study hard, play hard,
and take care.
Keenan