Elijah Herbert
May 7th, 2011
Final Essay
As Michael sat down scratching his head looking at the picture of Erica, wondering what went wrong. He couldn’t realize why he hadn’t gotten any college letters back, he had decent grades, played ball was recruited and he was getting closer to graduation day.
“I can understand if I hadn’t been recruited and schools weren’t interested but damn when I am getting some letters” he said
“Michael lets go time to get up” Michelle said
“Iight mom I’m already getting dressed and don’t worry about breakfast I’ll get something after practice”
As he walked down the street it was 7:30 he figured he could swing by his girls crib and pick her up to see if she left. But instead he decided to call before he walked all the way over there
“She didn’t pick up she must have left already”
As Michael walked down the street he realized he was going to be late if he didn’t hurry put. He knew that he didn’t want to run the extra laps for tardiness so he sprinted to school. On his way he saw coach’s car and decided to catch a ride
“Alright Michael hop in what’s going on “
“Nothing much coach I was just wondering if any of the school called and looked into me I know a few have come to some of my big games and I haven’t gotten anything yet I don’t know yet man”
“Look Michael don’t worry about you’ll get something your listed in the top 25 players I the country”
Yea you right I just don’t know man seems like everybody going somewhere and I’m just still in the hood I got to get outta here man”
“Don’t worry about I’m sure you’ll have something I’m sure of it...this may be a good experience to sort out what’s important in your life, you know what you need don’t need, what to let good hold dear....something’s might surprise you what you thought you needed you didn’t need at all..."
Just then coach smith drove up in front of the school he let Michael out...
"Tell the guys I said get ready for practice go change an ill be down in a min...oh and I’ll give you some advice a few more scouts will be at the conference finals Tuesday afternoon you would want to put on a show for them but remember to get your teammates involved."
After practice Michael went to the showers and when he got out his girlfriend Erica was waiting for him
"Hey babe you couldn’t wait till I got upstairs"
"I could have but I wanted to see you before I went to class I have to get there early to help setup...did you get any college letters yet "? She said with her big glossy eyes
“Nah don’t worry about it but if I have a good game I’m sure I’ll get some letters"
"I’m not but if you don’t get any you can always stay here with me and go to college in the city"
"I don’t know I’ll always come down and visit but I don’t wanna be in the hood no more...hey listen we gotta get to class so ill talk to you later"
He gave her a kiss and ran off to class....
GAME DAY
As he put on his warm-up he sat in the corner by himself with his headphones in the rest of his teammates joking and laughing. They where good but he was the captain he had to focus he was the one looking for a brighter future, he had the grades and the talent and he still didn’t have a letter he could figure out what was wrong. But now was not the time to worry about that, this was a big game, he had to focus on the task at hand, and they were on the road and in a hostile environment.
The ball was up in the air he grabs the ball and dribbled down the court his defender continued to back up as he moved forward. Just then he pulled up and rained a three four feet from beyond the arc and dropped it in. the crowd booed loudly as he jogged back down the court with a smile on his face...
Down by three at halftime he knew he needed to turn it up had 18 points 7 bounds 3 assist and 4 steals. They hadn’t been down all season and his teammates looked like they were playing scared.
" you guys what’s going on out there where just taking the 1st shot we see no ball movement we can’t win like this we need to play together, we can’t let these guys win man we worked too hard all year long for this it’s our time lets go out there and take it"
The third quarter started off miscible for them , he knew they weren’t ready to play they hadn’t taken practice seriously had had been playing around all week long...so he did what anybody would have done took matters into his own hands. he single handily took over the game scoring bucket after bucket by the time the game had just under a minutes left he recorded a triple double 44 points 10 rebounds 11 assist 5 steals and 3 blks.
They were down by six and need to move quickly the small forward in bounded the ball and he dribbled up court surveying the floor he saw if he went left they had a trap waiting for him so he looked to his right and saw the same thing. Just then he decided to go to the middle as me increased his speed toward the middle the I side defenders moved toward the middle as he got closer he knew his only chance would be to try to split the defenders. He pushed the ball forward and jumped through their arms. He got closer to the line looked up and saw 24 seconds left on the clock he pulled up and the opposing guard took his legs from underneath him they below the whistle as the ball went through the net.
He had a chance for a rare 4 point play! Michael calmly went to the line and hit the free-throw. He sprinted down the court and shouted out some orders for a 1-3-1 zone. The other team has been shooting all night long and it was time to make the do something else. As they jacked up an ill-advised shot Michael picked up the ball and ran down court he evaded a couple of defenders and heaved up a shot with .9 seconds left the buzzer sounded and the ball clanged off the rim, the crowd went wild and he hung his head in disappointment. Tears welled up in his eyes but he held his head high shook hands with the other players and walked off the court. Despite his state setting record of 54 points Michael felt like he failed. He would have given up every single point for another chance at that shot.
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