The Last Shot
A sea of mixed emotions occurred during 1998 NBA finals. Many people from different parts of the country packed into an arena to witness history. It did not matter if a person was of different color, wealth or even sex, people wanted to witness greatness. As history occurred in that game, it was captured beautifully. One specific photograph of Michael Jordan hitting his iconic game winner became the main photograph of the night. The attention drawn to Michael Jordan that night was captured in a black and white view, yet a lot of detail is in the dark scheme to direct even more attention towards him.
The photograph clearly depicts Jordan as the center of all attention. Within every painting or photograph there are various aspects, and they point out the center out attention. As the original photograph of Michael Jordan making a game winning shot was taken; different versions of the photograph appeared to appeal to multiple viewers. This specific version has a grand change, which makes Jordan stand out as the center of attention. By having a majority of the picture in black and white, a dull sensation come along with the view. But the dull picture gets a beam of light in a simple way. The beam of light
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is the only color in the picture, which is Michael Jordan. As this version has this viewing scheme the attention and focal points seem to be obvious. Michael is not the center of attention just because he is in the middle of the picture, but also the color on his jersey ties into the attention. The center of attention is typically the main piece that people will view, and sometimes it is hard to tell what the center of attention is in a photograph. As every single person in the crowd is in the scheme of black and white, or even the balloon banners that are being waved by fans, really creates a dull view. This aspect of black and white creates an easy path for Michael to stand out in his colored uniform. Even though Michael does not have a lot of detail, unlike the surrounding crowd, the focal point is clearly shown with the only color. As more and more people view this picture, the other players on the court becomes a topic of conversation. All the players besides Michael have different reactions in the picture. This photograph includes both teams that were playing in the night. Along with the crowd, the scheme of black and white is also incorporated with the players surrounding Michael. Even though the players are in this color scheme, some of them stand out more than the others. For instance, the Utah Jazz players are in ghost-white jerseys that do not hide from the human eye. On the other hand, the teammates of Michael are in dull charcoal colored jerseys; these jerseys seem hidden compared to the slightly noticed Jazz jerseys. Besides the fact of the different colored jerseys on the players, reactions are also captured on every player. These frozen reactions intertwine with the main concept of the picture, which is that Michael is the center of attention in the moment. Along with the viewers, the remaining players have their attention drawn to Jordan. As they drift their attention to him, the various reactions are captured. All the players have a similar characteristic, which was a blank stare. The blank stares seem to be the same from player to player, but there is a slight difference with all their bodies. Each of the players are in different stances as they freeze in the final six seconds of the game. The most noticeable black and white player is the one attempting to guard Michael. This photograph snapshots the player in a squat form, almost losing his balance from the move Jordan preformed on him. As the other players notice Michael breaking down his defender, their reactions automatically become blank and awaiting the outcome of the shot. When the shot floats through the air, the players gear up to take a side with reactions, similar to how the diverse crowd is reacting. Along with the players on court, the crowd is also captured in the historic moment. Just like the players on the court, the crowd is a discussion topic. The crowd was already a diverse group of humans, but the diversity grows with the reactions occurring with each person. With a first glance the crowd seems boring because of the color scheme, but the crowd is a very interesting view. So many emotions and reactions ripple through the crowd, and they are all captured in the historic picture. Each of the fans are captured with a shocked face, but the fans present their faces in different manners. Some of the fans are seen grasping their heads as if big foot sat before their eyes. Other fans have the reaction of disbelief, the same disappointed face a person would make when a failing test grade is returned to the person. The other side of the crowd reaction contains fans full of joy. Fans jumping with joy, just like a person would do if they received news of becoming a parent. Besides all the fans and players in the arena, there are a few people with little reactions from what occurred. Those non-reactant people were the cameramen. Each of the camera men seemed to be breathless as they geared up to capture their million-dollar shot. As the camera men saw their results from the pictures taken; their emotions started to differ just like the fans and players. When viewing and going into detail on this historic photograph multiple reactions are captured; ranging from the individual fans to the players in action on the court, but all the attention is directed to Michael Jordan.
This picture is not only historic because of the game winning shot, but also because of what was captured that night. Not a lot of photographs or paintings can contain this much detail. Even as this detail is in the painting, it is also in the picture in a minor manner. The whole picture being in a black and white scheme, besides Jordan, has the great tool of making viewers look in depth at the photograph. All in all this photograph captures a lot of detail, and it also is a great piece for a viewer to look at in a detailed
stare.
Dunk was written by David Lubar. The book Dunk is about a boy’s summertime vacation. The main character is named Chad. Chad spends lots of time with his best friend Jason. Chad lives in the New Jersey shore by a boardwalk. Chad admired a clown on a dunk tank. This bozo as the book puts is the best bozo there. He can make anyone walking by want to dunk him. Around the same time Chad’s mom is waiting for the new person to rent the apartment for the second floor, but what Chad didn’t know is that the bozo is renting the second floor apartment. Chad got into some trouble, the bozo also known as Malcom, saw the whole thing and he knew that Chad was innocent, but Malcom didn’t speak up. Chad started to grow a hatred.
Walter LeFeber's book serves as a cornerstone of reference for its content as it relates to race, black business and the expansion of global capitalism since the late 20th century. With regard to race, it shows how race effected middle-class Michael Jordan at a young age and how he grew in the star he became, yet still could not es...
“Glory Road”, based on a true story, relates about a first mixed black and white college basketball term to the NCAA national championship. The story is not flamboyant or exciting, but the movie does accomplish to present what it is about the lead character that’s so stimulating and compelling. I am a big fan of basketball, and this film touched me on so many different figures. The one of the central figures in movie is the coach, Don Haskins. He determines to be “color blind” when he have his first chance to coach a basketball team down in the south where there was so much discrimination and prejudice. The most amazing parts of this movie are not basketball games, but the interactions the players have that change from two colors to a whole team.
We see the unfairness that was demonstrated to blacks whether it was on the battlefield or the sports field. There are all these hardships that black soldiers and athletes have to endure before others are able to see what exactly the capabilities of the black characters being portrayed. I believe that these actions are due to the blindness that society had for blacks and thought of them as a lower class in society. Today, many former soldiers like retired General Colin Powell and athletes like Michael Jordan are very much looked up to as being a higher class. I think in the next 10 to 20 years we will see documentaries made about these two gentlemen and we will still see some hardship that they endured due to the color of their skin. The unfortunate part is that society as a whole thinks still to this day that those of different color still belong into a particular class whether higher or
Home. Entertainment, 1996.. Walker, Sam. A. “How Blacks View Sports in Post-Robinson Era.” (cover story). Christian Science Monitor 1997: 1.
He is a meaningful character to his team and he symbolizes that patience is the key to success and that when an opportunity comes don’t let it pass by you. So this symbol means that in the story, Michael Jordan says that he mostly never misses a shot for his team. This is because Michael Jordan has the patience when to shoot the ball, not when you get the ball and then shoot right away, and when he has that patience he finds an opportunity to make a shot, in which he does. So patience and opportunity is an important symbol relating MJ and to people who play basketball or any other
The picture I chose is a very deep picture, it is Michael Jordan's first National Basketball Association Championship that had eluded him for the previous seven years. He was the most valuable player in this championship series which means a lot to any professional player who wins it. His father, James, is the other man in this picture, showing great pride in his son knowing all of the hard work he put into this championship and his career. Even though he struggled to win the trophy, he is overwhelmingly happy and expresses great triumph.
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience that Michael Jordan even now in the present is still the greatest player ever to play in the NBA.
When we were asked to start thinking of our topics for our research papers Michael Jordan had just announced his retirement from basketball. There were all of these specials on the sports channels and the news so I had to find out what all the commotion was about. This is why I chose Michael Jordan to be the topic of my research paper. I hoped to find out how he became to be considered the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. I learned about a lot about Michael during the first week of my search since he was getting so much attention from the media at the time.
The Civil Rights Era impacted the realm of sports in a great and powerful way. Throughout the mid 1900s, many minority athletes emerged through all odds and began to integrate themselves in the white dominated athletic business. These athletes endured constant hardships in order to achieve their goals and dreams; facing much racism, segregation, and violence. Minorities across the country began to look up to these sportsmen and realized that anybody could attain greatness despite the social troubles of the time. Stories depicting the struggles of minority athletes soon arose and grew popular among different cultures. These true accounts passed from generation to generation, each admiring the courage and bravery of athletes and how important they became in obtaining an equal society. Producers and directors soon found a way to revolutionize the film industry by retelling the racial discrimination that minority athletes faced. Remember the Titans, The Perfect Game, 42, and The Express are all examples of how minority athletes overcame racial adversities in order to obtain the championship. These Hollywood movies contain many inaccuracies that draw away from the true impact minority athletes had during the Civil Right Era. Although these films do depict the racial components of the time, they do not depict the accurate occurrences of the stories they try to recreate.
December 21, 1891- The birth of basketball. It has been changed from simply shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket to dunking a seven pound, leather ball into an iron rim. In the early years of the game, basketball was not as popular as other sports. In the 1985 NBA draft all this would change with the emergence of a 6'6" basketball phenomenon from Wilmington, North Carolina. Although going third in the draft, he recreated the game and is known as the best player to ever touch a basketball; he is Michael Jordan.
“We are more visible, but not more valuable”. This famous quote was said by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the most famous black basketball players, symbolized what many black athletes were pursuing when they first got into sports. In today’s world not only are black athletes a part of our sports venue, they are dominating the landscape of some sports such as the NBA which consists of a whopping 80% black athletes. Black athletes continue to revitalize sports in America as some athletes became the face of their sports such as Muhammad Ali in boxing, Jackie Robinson in baseball and Michael Jordan in basketball. Sports came as a form of entertainment for many Americans, but for black athletes it came as a pathway to express who they were and what they believed in. The more they became involved in sports, the more media they were able to attract which enabled them to talk about topics other than sports such as racism, their religions and equality through the civil rights movement. These views and statements made in their interviews and press conferences were the ones that became publicized and more popular amongst the typical white men in America and it played a huge role in changing the way blacks were viewed in American society.
Whitaker, Matthew C.. African American icons of sport: triumph, courage, and excellence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.
Photojournalism plays a critical role in the way we capture and understand the reality of a particular moment in time. As a way of documenting history, the ability to create meaning through images contributes to a transparent media through exacting the truth of a moment. By capturing the surreal world and presenting it in a narrative that is relatable to its audience, allows the image to create a fair and accurate representation of reality.