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On Hallowed Ground
By Lisa R. Foeman
"There is no life after basketball because life is basketball. Is that a problem
or a solution?" Indeed a rhetorical question that strangely is in itself an
answer…an answer to why On Hallowed Ground: Streetball Champions of Rucker Park
is of special significance.
On the surface, Hallowed is just an entertaining basketball film about
Harlem’s legendary Rucker Basketball Tournaments. Special appearances by former
Rucker streetball masters Dr. J., Pee Wee Kirkland, Elton Brand, Mark Jackson and Vince
Carter add appeal for the basketball enthusiast while an assortment of young, streetball
impresarios with dazzling monikers such as “The Future,” “Half-Man
Half-Amazing,” “Captain Nappy,” and “Whole Lotta Game” draws in
the Gen Xers. The basketball scenes project raw energy typified by the crowd’s
intense excitement, the rap music playing in the background, and the players’
exhibition of natural talent - streetball talent.
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© 1999 TNT, Inc. |
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The profundity of the film, however,
rests in the detail. Hallowed’s incorporation of Kirkland quotables and
interwoven biographical tidbits of his life story, are smart pieces of information which
alert the viewer that the film is partly as Kirkland, the original crossover master, puts
it “about pride, self-respect, and community.”
Holcombe Rucker, founder of the summer basketball tournaments and namesake of Rucker Park,
established the games in 1946 and died of cancer a short nine years later at the age of
38. A passionate proponent of education, Rucker sent 300 Harlem children to school at
Laurinberg Institute in North Carolina over the course of 12 years. While the latter fact
isn’t expressly mentioned in the film, Rucker’s commitment to education is
crystal clear. Profound message number 2: a life singularly committed to sport is like
tunnel vision correctable only by the expansion of mind and opening of doors that result
from education.
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© 1999 TNT, Inc.
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After Rucker’s death, organized
summer basketball tournaments at the park faded until the advent of the Entertainers
Basketball Classic (“EBC”) in 1980. The EBC takes place each June through August
and features teams sponsored by various entertainment groups such as two-time champion Bad
Boy Records, Puff Daddy’s label. The Classic draws thousands of fans who are treated
to a free exhibition of talent rivaling that found in any professional basketball arena in
the country. As Hallowed makes clear, the Rucker legend would have died if the
EBC hadn’t stepped up to the plate.
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Hallowed also masterfully
provides insight into the evolution of the NBA game. Before integration, the set shot and
unstylistic play characterized professional basketball. They became a thing of the past
when streetballers like Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Nate “Tiny”
Archibald came aboard. Today’s streetball influence on the NBA game is exemplified by
Rucker alumni such as Allen Iverson, Shaq and Ray Allen.
Getting back to the original question posed, so what exactly is meant by the thought
provoking words uttered by the narrator: “There is no life after basketball because
life is basketball. Is that a problem or a solution?” Witness the mentality of
“The Future,” a talented veteran of the Rucker tournaments featured in Hallowed.
Spurning the European circuit for its lack of real money-making potential and possessing
no realistic prospect of playing in the NBA, The Future appears afraid or reluctant to
start making steps toward a life after basketball. For The Future and many others like
him, there doesn’t appear to be a life after basketball. Basketball - a solution?
Basketball - a problem? Maybe it’s neither when one realizes that basketball is
merely a means to an end. Kirkland puts it even better, “play the game and
[don’t] let the game play [you].”
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Hallowed premieres
May 6th on Turner Network Television (TNT) at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT with encores on May 13th at
12 p.m. ET/PT and May 17th at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Emmy Award-winning actor Andre Braugher of
Homicide: Life on The Street narrates.
M
April 2000
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"There is no life after basketball because life is basketball. Is that a
problem or a solution?"
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