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More than 10 years ago, Darcy Frey
covered this story about the lives of the basketball players at Abraham Lincoln High
School. He focused on a couple of key players, Tchaka Omowale, Russell Thomas, and Corey
Johnson. He talked to their families, to their teachers, and to their coach. He followed
them in their daily routines and listened to them. He also reported on the way college
basketball recruiting actually worked and affected their choices, recruiters who
sometimes only conformed to the NCAA’s rules very loosely. As a result, this conflicted
system affected players in unpredictable ways. Some players set their hopes on the NBA,
despite the fact that the odds were against them. Others just wanted to get college
scholarships.
Why update the book? Well, now we can see where the players
ended up, and the results are varied. One actually did make the NBA, but none of the
others did and one is now dead. One player says that no one encouraged him in any
academic subject the way he was encouraged to play ball. Certainly many players found
less academic support than they did for their sport.
Hard to believe that
after the publication of this book there was no clamor for reform. At the very least,
when reporters are covering such systemic flaws, it seems hard to believe that the public
can be caught short when recruiting abuses arise in other sports, like the scandal now
brewing at the University of Colorado. You want to do nothing when an abuse is laid at
your feet? Fine, but don’t act the innocent when scandal breaks. The problem has been
there for a long time; the public’s will to change it hasn’t.
You could
read the book as a case study in how the business of basketball is conducted today. And
if you’re a reformer looking for a cause, you could find one here. However the true
value of the book is the look it gives us into the lives of the players. It’s a tribute
to the young men who played the game and struggled with life-changing decisions in an
unforgiving setting. There’s plenty of inequity to go around, and plenty of changes
that need to be made, but Frey’s best accomplishment here is the way he’s captured the
players and allowed them to speak for themselves. It’s worthwhile and engrossing
reading.
