Review of
Basketball
Clown, by C. P. and O. B. Jackson
Three out of five stars
Fred Lyon is a
guard on the Valley High School basketball team and the captain. Elroy Conklin
is a large boy and when the story opens Fred is desperately trying to get Elroy
to join the basketball team. With Elroy on the team, Fred thinks that they have
a chance to win the championship. However, Elroy is a natural clown and has no
initial interest in playing basketball.
Fred is finally
able to convince Elroy to join the team and he proves to be a natural, quickly
becoming the best player on the team, if not the conference. Unfortunately,
Elroy is unable to contain himself, making fun of opposing players and referees,
leading to frustration on the part of Fred and the coach. The rules explicitly
state that only the team captain and the coach can speak to the referees, yet
Elroy cannot resist talking.
The season
moves along, and Valley High is one of the dominant teams in their conference,
Fred’s prediction of a possible title seems to be coming true. Yet, there is
significant dissension in the classroom and on the court that the team needs to
overcome if they are to win the big game at the end. As captain, it is largely
up to Fred to find the solution.
Most readers will
side with Fred in his struggles to rein in the on-court clowning by Elroy, which simply goes beyond what any
coach would tolerate. Elroy struggles to understand that there are times to
play around and times where you must play with focus and discipline. This is a
good story, but it simply takes too long for Elroy to understand what he can
and cannot do on the court.
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