Made Ya Look: How the NBA Resembles the WWE

Made Ya Look: How the NBA Resembles the WWE

     I remember a conversation from my childhood concerning the rise ofBret Hart in the early 90s. At the time, I missed a week or two of WWE programming. A good friend of mine brought me up to date via a short phone conversation. I still can recall the disappointment in his voice. “Man, the doctors told Bret not to wrestle!” You see, it was reported that Bret had a temperature exceeding 100 degrees. Yet, being a man of conviction, Bret chooses to go out and defend his WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Yeah, you guessed it, he lost.

Yes, I know. Wrestlers lose every day on and off TV. That’s not the bizarre part. This is: He lost to The Mountie! Yeah, that guy. To call The Mountie a mid-card talent would be a disgrace to this guy. If you could have seen the look on my face, you would have witnessed bewilderment at its most clueless moment. Yeah, that’s the only way a “less talented” wrestler with a corny gimmick could have defeated the singles upstart Bret Hart. Bret was clearly sick. At that moment, I felt bad for him. “What an unfortunate occurrence”, I thought. Little did I know, greater things were on the horizon for “The Hitman”.

Greater soon came in an “un-televised” WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory over The Nature Boy Ric Flair. As a pre-teen, I couldn’t see the masterful writing. The writers must’ve sat around a table discussing how to elevate Bret Hart from the mid-card to main event status without damaging his brand or in-ring credibility. “Let’s give the audience a valid excuse”, they must have conspired. “After we garner that sympathy, we’ll give him a clean submission victory over Flair.” The rest as they say is HIStory. Until his untimely retirement, Bret Hart remained a top draw and solid in-ring performer. Thanks to stellar writing, a star was born.

Stellar writing will make any story believable. If you don’t believe me, ask this gentleman. There are times I can’t clearly identify if I’m watching WWE programming or NBA programming. If you ask me, they are one in the same. Remember that Chris Paul to the Lakerstrade? I remember being so excited, I ordered take out to celebrate. Only to find that after I became a soldier in the General Tso Army, the trade was cancelled by David Stern. Wait! Maybe that was actually Vince McMahon. Does that not sound similar to this? That trade would have made the Lakers the most powerful team in the NBA. How? Well, the Lakers have not had a point guard close to the caliber of Chris Paul since Showtime. Dwight Howard has been desirous of playing with Paul since they were teammates on the 2008 Olympic gold medal winning Team U.S.A. Bryant/Gasol/Howard/Paul, how do you beat that? Answer: You don’t. This guy’s legacy had to be protected.

There you have it, protection from the highest power in the land. The trade was cancelled, thus changing NBA history forever. The Lakers have still not recovered, but there’s a new mid-carder wearing thechampionship gold. Shakespeare himself could not have penned a better drama. Wait, I think he already did.

Self-Hatred, Intra-Race Discrimination, Class and The Poetics of Spike Lee’s School Daze

    Spike Lee—an African American filmmaker from Brooklyn, NY—is known for setting fashion trends, controversy, his love of the New York Knicks, and strong films. Unfortunately, even though it was profitable at the box office, School Daze (1988) is not considered one such film. School Daze contains elements of a musical, a drama, and a comedy rolled into a medley. Lee himself affirms this, ”School Daze isn’t really a musical piece. But it’s not a comedy or drama either. School Daze is a complex hybrid of all the above. It’s hard to describe in a sentence” (Patterson 91). The fact that it does not stick to one style or genre makes its narrative difficult to follow. Though a portion of its message is to “uplift the race”—and to bring attention to Apartheid, a system of legal racial segregation that once existed in South Africa—this  message is easily lost in frat house tomfoolery and dorm room lust. Despite critical mauling, and the threat of loss of funding, Spike Lee created a narrative of the historically black college experience that cemented his reputation as a tough skinned director who was willing to take risks in expressing his ideals of intrarace discrimination, and achieving his goal of critiquing the African American community during an important moment in its history. This work will address the poetics of Spike Lee’s School Daze, along with the elements of self-hatred, race, and class in the film.

    Coming off the surprise success of She’s Gotta Have It, Spike Lee was poised and ready to begin a second project. He proved in his initial effort that he could negotiate financial setbacks, turn a profit and draw black audiences. Things were so financially bleak on the set of the film, Lee recycled soda bottles to raise funds for the film’s completion. Undeterred by the impediment, Lee would go on to make $8 million domestically with School Daze (Aftab 61). The film’s domestic take home is even more impressive once one considers it had a shoestring budget of only $175,000. “SGHI” was also unique because it was a crossover hit as well, drawing in movie-goers outside of the African American community. These patrons viewed the film as a comedy, due to the antics of Lee’s breakout character Mars Blackmon. While reflecting on his initial film success, Lee stated, “I truly believe I was put here to make films, it’s as simple at that” (Lee 17). Quietly, Lee was carving out a niche for himself in the film industry. During this period, Lee was billed as the leader of contemporary African American cinema (Antonio 1). As a result, he began to dream of finally having a real budget and bringing his next screenplay, School Daze to life.

    School Daze was set to be released by Island Pictures with a budget of $4 million. However, Lee found out quickly that this would not be the case. On Monday, January 19, 1987, he received a late night phone call from Laura Parker—VP at Island Pictures—that brought the somber news of Island deciding not to do the movie. “I couldn’t believe it. I’m awake, I thought, I’m not dreaming. This can’t be happening. Laura explained that she tried to talk to the group but it didn’t work. I thanked her, hung up the phone, turned over, and went to sleep, good night” (Lee 19). Showing “grace under fire”, Lee didn’t allow his project to be homeless for long. The next day, he made contacts at Columbia Pictures who agreed to do the movie. As a result, the production start date was only delayed by one week. Lee successfully secured financing and distribution for his second film.

Though many of Lee’s films have spawned controversy, School Daze was controversial for different reasons. The film details the Homecoming weekend of Mission College, a Historically Black College (HBCU) in the South. Initially, Lee was granted permission to film on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. This was an especially proud moment for Lee because he was a third generation graduate of Morehouse. However, the relationship between School Daze and Morehouse would not last long.

Lee began shooting School Daze in early 1987. Yet, after three weeks of shooting, Lee and his film were kicked off campus....

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