In an ordinary American-style neighborhood basketball court, a basket is surrounded by a group of people dressed in different clothes, mostly black. In any residential area of the United States, such a scene occurs every day, and it is not uncommon. What's rare is that the top edge of the rebound in this basket frame has a coin — yes, on the top edge of the rebound, not the basket, but the top edge of the rebound. And what is even rarer is that a black man who is neither tall nor strong, an acceleration, a meal on the ground, the body folded together, and then the whole body popped out of the ground, only to see 1 meter 88 his head immediately flattened to the basket. But what was surprising was that in the following instant, under the stunned eyes of everyone and the "gaze" of the open mouth, McNicolt reached the highest point, his head was already tens of centimeters above the basket, and then he grabbed it with one hand, and the coin was tightly held in his hand. Before he landed and showed the coin in his palm, everyone exploded the pot - this is so normal, instead you witnessed it all, wouldn't you be excited?
(Pictured is the movie goat actor)
It sounds like I made it up, but almost all Americans know about it, and the protagonist of it, Earl McCourt, the most legendary name for American streetball, is called "goat." Maybe you don't know who he is, then you must have heard the name of "Tiangou" Jabbar. The latter once praised McNicolt as "the greatest player who has never played in the NBA", and the two intersected as teenagers, but fate put the two geniuses on very different paths in life. Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar became famous in the halls of professional basketball, and the "goats" left a glorious but desolate and sad legend on the streets.
The streets of America in the 1940s were chaotic, and they were as turbulent as they were then, and Earl was born in a place like this, growing up in a single-parent family. Young Earl was fortunate not to get caught up in the filthy underworld and met the same thing that would make him famous in history - basketball. Soon, at the age of high school, "Goat" and Abdul-Jabbar both became star players, and the two were also very close friends, joining forces to sweep the streets. Since then, the life trajectories of the two legends have quietly separated. Abdul-Jabbar went to college, made it all, and had it all in the NBA. Earl was expelled in his final year of high school for drug problems. This was only the beginning of the tragedy, and the later "goat" entered a traditional black university, but because of the coach's old-fashioned and unable to accept Earl's fancy street style, the "goat" was depressed, and finally left in anger and returned to the streets of New York.
In 1969, Earl was imprisoned for 16 months for drugs, and when he got out of prison, he did not seem to realize that his youth and basketball talents would be destroyed by drugs and prison. The days of chaos and chaos on the streets continued, and soon he was past the age of standing. The attempted robbery of $6 million in 1997 and the 24-month prison sentence were the turning point in the second half of the "goat's" life. The "goat" in prison does not know how many times he has faced inner regret, and after the death of youth, he realized how amazing his talent was, and how many people who loved him looked forward to his success on the road of basketball. But he ruined everything, and his body was no longer strong, he could no longer catch the coins on the rebound, and his playmate as a teenager was famous all over the world, and he had abandoned his talent in vain.
McNicholt leaves the Black Street, perhaps confronted with his inner remorse, and the "goat" realizes that since his dream has been shattered, he may be able to help the children who, like their young selves, have talents but know nothing about the world. Let them stay out of the way and go the way they should. In 1998, Earle's heart stopped beating forever due to failure, and there were no new York "goats" in the world, only the "goat park" named after him and a street legend.