1944- 1998 maybe not many people in China know about him, because there is no way to get in touch with these street basketball experts who are going deep into American cities. He is the legendary street basketball god "goat", whose real name is earl manigault. If you really want to know about street basketball, then maybe you can learn a lot about "goats".
There is a book called Sweeping Peas and Other Playground Legends. "Sweeping Peas" is Daniels' nickname. Based on Daniels, this book introduces the legendary figures of street basketball in new york. I just opened the preface of this book, and I was shocked and finally had to read it.
The preface reads like this: "One day, two old fans were chatting in the basketball and tennis hall in New Jersey. When the visiting team walked out of the retired star point guard robertjoseph cousy in the Celtic lounge, one of the old fans opened his voice and said,' Isn't Cousy the second greatest basketball player in the history of Andrew Jackson High School in new york?' Cousy, who has been elected to the Hall of Fame, turned to ask,' The second greatest? "Then who is the greatest?" Old Ball said disdainfully,' You must have heard the name of lloyd daniels!
Former NBA star Cousy is not as good as Daniels? The preface alone stunned me. Who is Daniels?
What's so weird about street basketball in new york that even NBA stars eat other things? This book fascinated me with street basketball in new york, and I made up my mind to go to new york one day if I had the chance to experience the street basketball story described in the book.
Jayson Willaims, a former Nets center from new york, once said: "The most boastful players in the world are the so-called' street basketball legends' because they only played in their neighbors' homes, and there are no statistics on offensive and defensive games. Who knows their real skills and performance? They are a group of people who have been over-mythologized. "
I only agree with half of what Williams said. Yes, their performances are sometimes exaggerated, but in the eyes of ordinary people, who cares about distant NBA stars? They only believe in the street basketball heroes they witnessed with their own eyes, and these street basketball heroes have many legendary stories that beat NBA stars out of the water. These are the heroes in their minds, and they are also the topics they talk about after dinner every day.
And I was deeply attracted by these legends. Every day, the NBA is long and short, which is boring enough. For example, I am used to watching the same serious news, and occasionally I have to watch some gossip news for a change. It's also interesting to read more rigorous official history and occasionally some unofficial history and anecdotes circulated by the people.
However, if we want to talk about the legendary English characters of street basketball in new york, we should start with 1960 and earl manigault, the famous "goat" who shocked street basketball in new york in 1970s.
Later in my preliminary plan, I will talk about Daniels, the most representative stag of street basketball in new york in 1980s, and finally talk about Rafer Alston, the most representative stag of street basketball in new york in 1990s.
NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once called Goat "the greatest player who has never played in the NBA". This sentence is both a compliment and a pity for "goat", because his basketball talent is rare in a hundred years. However, because he strayed into the "black street" in new york, he couldn't enter the NBA from beginning to end, or even get in touch with college basketball, and finally ended his legendary basketball career in tragedy.
Anyone familiar with Jabbar's life knows that he is an arrogant giant and his basketball career is invincible. Why is there such praise for a street basketball player? Because Jabbar was defeated by the goat, he knew the goat's ability too well.
To defeat Qiao Ba, who is 7 feet 2 inches, the "Giant Killer" should be at least as tall as Qiao Ba, like wilt chamberlain, or stronger than Qiao Ba. For example, "goat" moses malone is neither as tall as Qiao Ba nor as tall as Joe Bazaar. He is only 6 feet 2 inches tall!
What is even more astounding is his basketball talent, which is extremely elastic and explosive, and can easily win a quarter coin placed at the top of the backboard; Once I bet 60 yuan and stopped to pour wine 36 times in a row. These are still minor cases. His signature dunk, "one goal and two falls", is still talked about by neighbors and has endless aftertaste. He can put the ball in the basket in the air first, hold it with the other hand, pull it back and then pour it.
If you don't believe in his magic skills in the bullring, then in the 1964 high school star game, the goat showed the free throw line and dunked with both hands, which is enough!
At that time, the goat seized the fast break opportunity and went straight to the frontcourt. A player who retreats to defend is 6' 6 "and a player is 6' 8". Two long people are also ready. After the goat dribbled to the free throw line, no one knew what the goat wanted to do. Two long men jumped up to block the ball at the same time, only to see the goat flying higher and higher, but the two long men had already started to land. The audience was full and the fans stared at the goat. The goat with his hand in the air crossed two long squares and threw the ball into the basket. At first, the fans were silent and looked at each other. It took a long time to realize what this "skeleton" stunt was, and there was deafening applause. Its flexibility, air-staying ability and endurance are so amazing, not to mention in the 1960s, even in the 2 1 century.
Goats are two years older than Qiao Ba. At that time, the duel between them in the public high school league was the most popular game in new york. 1962, Benjamin Franklin High School led by Goat defeated Power Memorial High School led by Jabbar and won the league championship. Although Qiao Ba is young and unyielding, he is deeply impressed by this goat. Later, he said, "He is the best player in new york's history with such a figure." They both lit up for a while.
Jabbar is indeed a star of the future. After graduating from high school, he entered the basketball force of UCLA, NCAA University, and then rose to the NBA, becoming one of the greatest centers in NBA history.
Goat's life is facing a wave of impact, completely destroying the star of tomorrow. In his senior year, he was expelled from the school team for allegedly smoking marijuana. Later, he was transferred to Laurinburg preschool in North Carolina through a friend's introduction, hoping that he could stay away from the street life of black people, think hard and plan the future basketball road. Goat barely graduated from the penultimate place and entered the traditional black university Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina. Goat's schoolwork still didn't improve, and he was carried by the coach on the school team, because his ball style was too avant-garde and exceeded the eight-part essay style of the old pedant at that time. Not to mention dunk, even the "passing without looking" or dribbling behind it is regarded as an evil spirit by the coach. Goats can't stand basketball talent any more, and their creativity is suppressed. He packed his bags, returned to his hometown in Harlem, new york, and continued to live a life of wandering the streets.
Life is hard and the mind is immature, so goats can only seek liberation in the bullring. In the bullring, goats can push down giants like Jabbar, Chamberlain and Connie Hawkins, but once out of the bullring, goats are useless, have no goals in life and lack opinions. They can only drift and disappear in the dark streets.
1969, goats were fabricated for taking heroin and imprisoned 16 months. While serving his sentence, the writer Pete Axo published The City Game in 1970, describing the street basketball in new york, including a chapter that deeply discussed the legendary story of goats. Ironically, the prison guard also signed a book for the goat at that time.
At that time, Bill Daniels, the owner of Utah Star in ABA American professional basketball league, read the book and invited goats to take the test. However, the goat's body has already been eaten up by the product and failed to enter the professional basketball stage as expected.
1977-79 goat was jailed again for premeditated robbery. This time, a big fall also left goats in their thirties with nothing. After he got out of prison, he finally realized that he had got rid of the bad habit of smoking and broke up with his friends in the dark street. He used to promote grassroots basketball in the famous bullring. In addition to being a volunteer coach, he also held the "goat basketball championship", hoping that teenagers can learn from him.
Goat died of heart failure in May 1998 at the age of 53. In the same month, new york Park Management Office spared no effort to commemorate the goat's later promotion of public basketball, and renamed the street basketball courts on 99th Street and Amsterdam Avenue as "Goat Park".
Although goat's legendary street basketball career has come to an end, anecdotes about him are still circulating in the streets of new york. As long as the goat is mentioned in the bullring, everyone knows it and deeply feels sorry for him. In everyone's mind, he will always be "the greatest player who has never played in the NBA." .