Life of a Giant

He was the rookie of the year, he had 2 rings, he had 31,419 points of his career, he had 23,924 rebounds, he had 4,643 assists he was a monster in the paint (under the hoop), he was the biggest guy they have ever seen at that time. He was Wilt Chamberlain.

                     

Chamberlain was a prodigy at scoring that’s all he did and I think that’s all he knew how to do. He didn’t average a lot of assist or that many blocks it was all about out scoring his opponents and have a lot of rebounds. His biggest opponent was 11 time NBA champion Bill Russell. When those were on the court the audience didn’t know what side to be on they were just happy to see the best players in the NBA at that time.

Chamberlain had a 2 decade rivalry with Bill Russell because of Russell criticizing of the way chamberlain played. So that effected their entire personal life.  He said that he had 20,000 sexual relationships with women and never married or had children, Which goes to show he was a ladies man. Chamberlain died of Congestive heart failure in 1999.

Wilt Chamberlain has been mentioned as the 10 player of the NBA. And that was his goal to be if not the greatest, then one of the greatest basketball player ever in the NBA. But if it came down to it I would say he is the best scoring NBA player who ever lived and that’s a fact. I think it would take  miracle to see someone as tall as he was come into the NBA and do what Wilt Chamberlain did I would love see it happen.

GOOD INTENTIONS

In the book Ray and Me there is a kid named Stosh and was recently hit in the head by a baseball and he nearly died. Now his coach is telling him a story about a  guy name Ray Chapman who got hit in the head specifically in the temple by a baseball and died. Now Stosh realizes how lucky he is to be alive. Stosh has this power that if he touches a baseball card he will be sent back in time to that that time frame. So now Stosh wants to go back to 1920 and save Ray Chapman’s life and the guy who threw the pitch his life too, he didn’t die at that moment but he was forever known as the guy who murdered a man and I don’t think that was a good reputation to have. Stosh's actions didn't  make him a hero, but he did have good intentions of a hero and that is the main theme in this novel.

One way that Stosh is a hero is that he had good intentions on saving both of them but it didn't really turn out how he would have liked it to. Another heroic action that Stosh did was stall in the locker room were  Ray Chapman was and tries to make him late for the game so he wouldn't have to play. 

Stosh isn't the only hero; the doctor wants to go back in time with Stosh so he can give a note to one the 1920 doctors so he can change the future, which is their time. The note has all of these scientific cures for diseases and he is hoping that by the time they go back to their own time they will have a cure for everything plus brand new technology like flying cars or microwave ovens or something like that.

In the end of Stosh’s journey he did not save their lives but he was still satisfied because of the fact he tried, and that made him happy.  I wouldn’t expect a 13 year old boy to save two lives, although he is very brave for even going to 1920 and attempting to do that. I must say that I really admire him for that. And fortunately that won’t be his last trip. 

Two worlds

The book Slam is about a kid named Greg “Slam” Harris. Slam really enjoys basketball and that’s what he wants to do play college basket ball. He wants more people to believe in him and have some people to support him and say he can do it. The person he thinks who has it out for him is his principal Mr. Tate, but all he is trying to do is help Slam become a better student and get use to the new environment he is in,  so he says. Mr. Tate's point of view in this is not that different but in a way still very different.

Mr. Tate  saw Slam as a slacker because of the way he was in school, he didn't even get to know him just judged him for what he saw. If he thinks your slipping a little bit in classes he won’t hesitate to take out of sports or call your parents for a meeting to see how they can fix the problem. For slam Mr. Tate focuses more on him because this is a more high class school  then what slam is use to. So basically Mr. Tate is helping Slam adjust to the new school, and he will do everything he can and has to do to assist him.

I see that Mr. Tate’s intensions are good but obviously his style isn’t really working out for neither of them. Slam is disappointing his mom and dad with his grades. Also I know that Mr. Tate wants to see some progress in Slam but it’s just not turning out that way. Mr. Tate needs to find a solution to this problem before Slam gets out of hand and starts to fail more classes and soon enough he might not graduate. That would really effect Slam if he doesn’t even have a high school diploma because how would you show a good impression to the NBA and they see you haven’t Finished high school. Mr. Tate wouldn’t want that on his conscious when he knows he could have had helped him but choose to not really dig deep and actually help him.

Eventually they make amends with each other and find a way for Slam’s study habits to be better involving basketball. Just like him and his dad made some time to spend with each other.

Rise above Hate

“You can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree.”  Malcolm X

The author of the book The Hoopster is Alan Lawrence Sitomer

racism is one of the themes theme

 Racism is the theme because the author wants the reader to learn something if not all ready about racism and how it can hurt people.

 Specific support/quote-In the book The Hoopster Andre gets beat up by a white gang because he was black and was going to succeed in life.

When everything  was over and went to the hospital for some reason that beating made him want to write more stories because obviously that beat up did not faze him.   

Andre’s goal is to warn kids about the real world out there and still be brave enough to go for their dreams and don’t let anybody stop you. Andre hopes he sees a kid step into his office and remind him of himself but not go through the beat and still be successful.

Time

Over time people change in goods ways and bad. But in this case it’s good. When I was younger I heard that as you get older people get wiser and learn new things from experience or just read a book about it or someone told them. If the person did have to experience something to learn a lesson then I hope it was a good lesson and not one that will scar them  for life.

Ten years has passed and Andre is now an adult. He works for the cities news paper for kids telling them good advice on school going for your dreams and striving for good goals. He talks about his personal life but makes it funny so it won’t be a sob story because many kids do not find that interesting.  Kids are allowed to write back and ask to for Andre to write a story that they are interested in but makes it more interesting.

As you can see Andre is very happy with his life, he hasn’t gotten married yet but plans to et married and have children. He is still distraught about getting beat up because of his race but he tries to move pass that and get on with his life. He is doing good for himself and I don’t think he is going to fall back any time soon.

Happiness and Pain

“Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving”, said Walt Disney. In the book The Hoopster, by Alan Lawrence Sitomer, the author relates this idea to life in so many ways and shows how racism hurts other people.

In the book The Hoopster, somewhat it’s a sad story but then again it’s not because the main character Andre Anderson is surrounded by his best friend Shawn and his cousin Cedric. Those three love to play basketball. They are competitive when they play with each other, and usually they argue about who won and who cheated but at the end of every game it’s with laughter, jokes and Happiness. Andre is the best left handed player on the team; in fact he’s the best player on the team period. But Andre doesn’t just like basketball he has the dream of becoming a Journalist so he tries to secure a Job this summer working at a Magazine. I think for being a young teenager and knowing what he wants to be when he grows up is amazing, because there are grown-ups that still don’t even know what they would like to do for a living. It’s good that he has an idea of what he wants to be because it’s a chance that he might change his mind and want to be something else later in life.

Shawn, Andre's best friend thinks that Andre spends too much time on working, so Shawn introduces Andre to a Latino girl named Gwen, who is extremely sweet to Andre. When Andre stresses over anything Gwen is there to help Andre take his mind off things and lets him just relax. I think would be the perfect girl for Andre because she’s kind, respectful, encouraging and not a wild child. Andre is sometimes the total opposite, and I think opposites attract so their perfect for each other.

Andre’s boss wants Andre to write an Article on racism. While Andre finished the Article and was put on display the next night when Andre was walking home from a basketball practice Andre was violently attacked by a racist gang that doesn’t like black people and it was bad for Andre because he was black. Andre was sent to the hospital with his friends and family is left wondering whether or not he will recover from the attack.

Fortunately he recovered from the horrible attack but Andre was badly injured on his right arm. When Shawn came inside the emergency room and saw Andre in the bed Andre had said to Shawn “those people who beat me up are stupid they ruined my right arm but I’m left handed” Andre said with a chuckle Shawn tries to enjoy the joke but he can’t just laugh because he see’s Andre in this condition. But Shawn was just admiring how strong Andre is because he was in pain in a hospital bed and still had a smile on his face that’s brave.

As you can see the author relates to life in so many ways and shows how racism hurts other people. I admire Andre’s bravery because he seems like he could be a good role model for kids and I think he is going far in life especially because now he knows what it’s like to be on the edge of his life not know if he would live or die. And even after being attacked he had a big grin on his face.

Mr. Mason's Jar

I think what was inside that jar was a finger. I think the finger was so gross that it scared him for life. It was probably alive too because not any ordinary finger was going to scar him, It had to be the ultimate most revolting finger he ever saw.