#691 How Babe Ruth Saved My Life- Toure

#691 How Babe Ruth Saved My Life- Toure

Sports allegiances are a serious thing, and if you are a serious sports fan you know that there are unspoken rules about which team you are allowed to root for. And if you ever think about changing your allegiance from one team to another, you better have a good reason. If your team changes cities for example, or if you move cities, maybe after a certain interval you can change teams. But there is one hard and fast rule in sports allegiances in American sports: Red sox fans and Yankees fans hate each other and you cannot, EVER change allegiances from one to the other. 

“For a Bostonian to become a Yankee fan is for a Kennedy to become a Republican, an Irish Catholic to become a Jew. The Sox and Yanks are more than sports teams—they’re extensions of the local ego.”

One prep school kid is duped into thinking he can predict the outcome of the 1986 World Series and bets every kid in his New England school that the Mets will win. When his whole world is about to come down on his head, his life is saved by the “Curse of the Bambino.” Suddenly he changes his tune:

“If you could choose your parents you’d choose the best. If you could choose your team you’d choose the Yanks.”

Fun story, some of the details about betting are a little unbelievable (like needing to offer 75-1 to get people to bet one side of a World Series). No matter, GO YANKEES!!!

Rating: 7-7-6-7 Total= 27

#663 It’s Life and Death at the Slush Puppie Open- Toure

#663 It’s Life and Death at the Slush Puppie Open- Toure

This is a political science lesson played out on the tennis court. Two teenagers who attend the same junior tennis academy in Harlem are playing each other at the Slush Puppie Open tennis tournament. The favorite is Kwame Christmas:

“Kwame had been abandoned by his dad, and for him, tennis was about roaring back at the world. It allowed him to exercise the anger inside him through using his arm like a bullwhip, swinging hard and free.”

The director of the academy liked Kwame because he played like Malcolm X would have played:

“Attack the weak…We’re not here to have points given, we’re here to take them! To attack those whiteboys with a fury! You must play this game the way Malcolm would’ve played it! He would’ve hit the ball hard because he was all about acquiring power for the black community! He would’ve always held serve because holding serve is like controlling your community.”

Kwame was entangled in a heated contest with a lesser player from the academy, Paul Flambe. The director did not like Paul’s game, and considered it akin to Booker T. Washington:

“Paul talked proper. He used big words and pronounced everything crisply…[he] could sit on the baseline for hours and retrieve  almost any ball…he never felt the need to crush his opponents, never wanted to attack the net, never wanted to end points suddenly.”

This practice of wearing his opponents down aggravated the director, calling it “Uncle Tom Tennis.” But this day it won, he beat the top ranked Kwame. And that was sin enough to get all the other boys at the academy to see him as an enemy. They attacked him for beating their Malcolm X:

“Paul struggled the whole time. Especially when we slipped the noose over his neck. We held him up the way people hold people in victory. Then we dropped him.”

Toure is not subtle nor does he parse his symbolism. But the stories are so well done and packed in a clever delivery system that somehow makes the lesson entertaining. However the lessons are harsh and grave and need to be discussed. Why do we treat those political opinions slightly different than ours to larger penalties than those diametrically opposed? Those who agree with the teachings of Malcolm X should not be the enemy with those who agree with the teachings of Booker T. Washington. Not at all!

Rating: 8-9-9-8 Total= 34

#473 Raymond’s Run- Toni Cade Bambara

#473 Raymond’s Run- Toni Cade Bambara

It’s May Day and Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, the pride of 151^st street, is ready to win another race, she is the fastest runner in the neighborhood, except her father (don’t tell anybody).

She is a tough girl, with a bit of a chip on her shoulder. “I’m ready to fight, cause like I said I don’t feature a whole lot of chit-chat, I much prefer to just knock you down right from the jump and save everybody a lotta precious time.”

Besides running, her other purpose in life is to take care of her bigger brother, Raymond who is a little slow. On race day, Raymond not only watches his sister win, but races along side the track, wanting to be just like her. She see’s this with pride and realizes where her priorities should be.

Rating: 7-6-7-6 Total= 26

#458 The Rifleman- Craig Davidson

#458 The Rifleman- Craig Davidson

There’s a certain type of father that gets banned from attending his son’s little league athletics. Usually it’s one of two things: an over-bearing loud attitude that puts too much pressure on the kid, or public intoxication. Hank Mikan was guilty of both. He wanted his son Jason to be the next great basketball shooter, a rifleman. He would drill him until late at night when the neighbors began complaining about the noise.

Now as Jason is about to get college offers, Hank is barely a part of his life, and not by choice. He is one step away from being a homeless drunk. He is an embarrassment for Jason who wants nothing to do with him. He has made him hate the thing he is best at. The only thing his son has in common with him is basketball. When you get rid of that, what happens?

Rating: 7-7-8-7 Total= 29