4 Stories from the Final 4 - Part 3

I loved the movie, He Got Game. Spike Lee's gritty production, extraordinary basketball knowledge, and the story of reality off the court. The Movie's subject, Jesus Shuttlesworth, grew up in Coney Island, NY. He is a well-trained, pure shooter with discipline to accompany his God given talent. Named after Earl the Pearl Monroe, he did not disappoint his namesake.

He Got Game is a story of growing up amid massive adversity with only one place to escape: The Basketball Court!

UConn's Kemba Walker is the modern day Jesus Shuttlesworth - a well-trained, pure shooter with discipline to accompany his God given talent. Kemba went off in the Big East tournament with the aforementioned film maker at court side. Giving the people of the Bronx a local hero to look up to. His lowest point total in March had been 18 and has been over 30 on 5 occasions this month.


Spike Lee wrote He Got Game for kids like Kemba Walker. He found art amid the madness of the street he grew up on. When the basketball was in the air time froze and everything was OK for 3 seconds. He took the weight of his neighborhood on his shoulders...a man of the people representing them on the world's biggest stage.

So the kids with blunts in their ears hopped back of the A Train after watching Kemba drop 33 on the boys from upstate. Proud as hell because for 3 hours everything was OK. There's a kid out there that they know. Performing on the world's biggest stage....They will look through bar windows in the Bronx to watch Kemba play on Saturday. Prideful of their environment but not beholden to it.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave