Hoop Dreams: a Life in Pursuit of Excellence

Hoop Dreams is one of my absolutely favorite films of all times. The first time I finished watching it, I just kind of stared at the screen for a while, taking it what I had just seen. The film tells the story of two boys from inner city Chicago who dream of making it to the NBA. First, of course, they have to make it through the ups and downs of high school. The film takes you through a roller coaster of emotions, showcasing the hardships, both on and off the court, that the boys have to face--a 90 minute commute to school, drug addiction, and poverty, just to name a few. Like I said, after I finished watching the movie, I thought about what I had seen: two boys working their asses off to play basketball and, hopefully, find success.

Immediately after this short period of reflection, I googled what had become of William Gates and Arthur Agee. Neither made it into the NBA, but both of their Wikipedia pages gave good hope that both men were doing well in life. Gates graduated from Marquette University and became a real-estate agent and senior pastor at a church. Agee received a basketball scholarship and graduated from Arkansas State University. He then made a clothing line and started the Arthur Agee foundation (named after his late father) which encourages kids to see their parents, and not sports athletes, as their heroes.

Heather L. Reid questions what the point of athletics is and what winning actually is. While I found that all to be interesting, she mentioned something that I found to be a lot more though provoking.

"The definition of winning in sport is clear and quantitatively measurable — unlike "winning" in other areas of life, such as love or happiness, where success is not so easily measured." 

The lives of both Arthur and William were tumultuous at more than one point. Despite the fact that Arthur worked hard to remain at St. Joseph's, his mother could not pay for tuition and he had to change schools. Despite the fact that William was having a great season and pushing himself hard, he injured his knee, severely affecting his game play. It is quite evident that life can be incredibly unfair sometimes. Like Reid said, you can't measure your successes and failures in life. It is impossible to say that you've either lost or won. Despite how hard you "practice" or prepare yourself in life, something bad can happen and ruin everything. Interestingly enough, the motto of Arthur's clothing line is "Control Your Destiny". Of course, it is possible to work hard and prepare as best as you can for whatever life may bring, but this is only to a certain extent. 

Sports can be seen as a controlled, quantifiable version of life. In her essay, Reid uses the Aristotelian concept of arete to defend the importance of sports. While many people might believe the "point" of sports is to win, Reid believes that engagement in athletics adds to one's virtue. By constantly working to improve oneself in the sports arena through virtues such as habit, courage, and strength, an individual is promoting his or her overall excellence. These virtues are not just applicable on the court, of course, but are completely applicable to every day life. This is kind of obvious, of course. The difference between life and sports is that sports has a defined set of rules and a clear measure for winning and losing. 

Reid makes it clear why everyone loves a winner: 

"victory requires a knowledge of oneself that is rare and difficult to achieve as well as the discipline to maximize individual potential without stopping short of or overstepping one's limits. The recognition of ones' limitations must be tempered by a realistic yet ambitious drive toward maximum performance, this is a balancing act central to all forms of human excellence that can be learned through sport."

Clearly, the skills that one learns as an athlete can and should add to his or her overall virtue, or being. Arthur and William, while at many points in their life dealt with struggle and hardship, clearly found success within themselves. Just because they didn't make it to the NBA or win every game they played in does not mean that they are not winners. The sheer fact that they are progressing, moving forward in life, and generally being "virtuous" individuals shows that they are truly winners--both on and off the court.