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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1995)
DREAM ON Documentary tells the story of two young basketball players Whether you re a sports tan or a fiim aficionado, on® thing is for certain about the basketball documen tary Hoop Or earns it's nothing but net And we re not talking about no cheap lay >n This is a 3€0 degree tomahawk lam-m-your-face type of t‘im. and it commands respect i-ke Hoop Dreams Arthur Agee, and William Cates Dinetpr Steve Jbmes Raird R Michael Jordan and the rock with three seconds on the clock Rut don t let the tide ot the? film or my metaphor tool you Hoop Dreams extends tar beyond the realm of mere athletics it is a tale ot human drama, sacrifice and family A gntty story Story by Greg Hamilton that grabs a noul or reality and squeezes from it the quiet moments as well as the cheers Filmed over the course ot live years. Hoop Dreams follows the lives of two young black men and their families, who deal with success and failure within the Chicago pro tects Pegged as roundbali prodigies in elementary school, Arthur Agee and William Gates are shadowed by the camera throughout a crucial time in their young lives Basketball is the dream that connects them both, but the realities and similarities of their separate lives are the heart of this film Hoop Dreams begins with Agee and Gates being "recruited" into the prestigious basketball program at St Joeseph's High School St Joe’s is a magnet for young urban talent with its high media visibility and famous alumni (which includes for mer Detroit Piston Isaiah Thomas), but it's also a world away from the urban decay of Chicago's innercity With its predominantly white student body and suburban socioeconomic culture, the gap between the haves and have nots is painful The basketball program at St Joe's is also brutal in many ways Although it prides itself on compel; tiveness. the program subtly troats its urban recruits like acquired prop erties, lording its status and athletic "responsibilities' over them at times Those who live up to the expecta tions as players are rewarded with outside aid and 'preferential' acad omc treatment Those who fail, or mature slower than expected are 'let go' and left to fend for them selves The message is clear Succeed or die During the course of events, one mem Forget the trial, and bring back soap operas There is this teal going on right now Perhaps you know the one t won t say who i$ involved because my editor has forbid den me to Let me just say that this certain trial is broadcast on TV ait day. preempting regularly scheduled programs Namely, soap operas In particular, ABC'S All My Children Freshman year my roommate in the dorms introduced me to All My Children We met every afternoon m the basement ol our dorm Since I hadn't watched it much, C>sa spent most ot the time tilling me m on the characters and the history ol the show She had me hooked Ever since then, I watch All My Children when I can. and I tape it. and watch it later, when l can t l look forward to watching it It is my treat at the end ot the day And when this silty trial is on instead, it makes me a little mad But I'm not the only one People are crazy about soap operas And when their soap operas am cancelled, they do cra/y things When the pretnai was broadcast a tew months ago, soap tans flooded abc; with cans Gmeral Hospital was !> • ) sfx:>*'• TRISTA during the noon NOEL hour, which is the i88*8®iw«s»s«sss9 time Ail My Children t$ on Peopie were upset because nor only was General Hospital be mg shown in AMCs spot, but no on® knew why that decision had been made So now. as the trial begins again, ABC has created Soap Line There is a special reporter who is supposed to keep viewers up to date on how the trial will affect the programming of ABC soap operas So far, she hasm done much good I turned my TV on at noon the other day, hoping All My Children would be on Instead. I had my first glimpse ol the Soap Une reporter in action It war, tine tor All My Children, but alt she said was that General Hospital would he airing soon Alter alt the commercial breaks it was almost 12 15. and the reporter said she would give an update o! what we had trussed on General Hospital so far She also ioid us that she had been watching it lor us, but she read Ihe updale off ot cue cards Sorry, but soaps aren t so complicated Ihat you need to write down what has hap pened to remember The show had only been on tor 10 minutes, what could have happened in that amount ol time that she couldn't remember'? She never mentioned why All My Children wasn't on She doesn't offer any information This Soap Line is worthless, and soap fans are still m the dark about what's happening Tnsta Noel is the entertainment editor of the Emerald comma v photo William Gates is one of the two basketball players whose life is documented In the film Hoop Dreams. of them succeed and ends up being 'sponsored' by a white a km m tamiiy The other ts forced to leave for 'financial reasons' that are more closely related to his inability to adapt and play ball in alien sur roundings its an ugly game of survival that leaves an indelible stain upon the punty of the sport a ‘game' that even m its mlant stages revolves around money It s a harsh truth that even the youngest of players seems to under stand In order to improve your tis cal surroundings, you must learn to lump through hoop;., as well as tie Turn to HOOPS, Page 8 Campus Dreams Oregon lht\kriball players Kenya Wilfeim and Henry Madden share ihetr opinions of the mow Hch>p Dreams —Pageti Weaver, Kingsley star in film abnnt justice, tnrtere Death and the Maiden is She story ot a woman wt>o makes captive the man she believes was respon sible for torturing her in a South American prison years ago How far will she go to settle the score7
