# Talk:Hoop Dreams

Does this make any sense to anyone? Who is doing or saying what? "Freida Lee Mock, the director of the winning film Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, was accused by the press (which she recalled was unpleasant, exhausting and stressful) of cronyism who said that the award should've belong to the popular Hoop Dreams and having served several terms as Chairman on the screening committee while praising the film. Ebert apologized to the director after seeing the film.[41]"

There ought to be some information here about the making of the film. Watching some of the intense personal moments captured in Hoop Dreams, I'm always aware that there must be a camera in the room, and I ask myself how all the participants agreed to be filmed in such circumstances. How can you expect a family to behave normally when they're being filmed for a PBS documentary - and how can anybody talk realistically with a coach or guidance counselor while on film? Are all of the scenes genuine, or were some of them reenacted for the cameras? I still wonder exactly how these two kids were recruited, not just for a high school scholarship, but for a long term documentary project. What did they hope to gain from it? What sort of contract or agreement did they make with the producers? This part of the story is untold in the movie, and I haven't found any detailed sources on the web either. Mtford 22:11, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I finally watched the movie for the first time, and I came here to find out more about the making of it as well. My feelings are the same as Mtford - it would be nice to find out more about all of this was accomplished. Some things I wondered about: how did the writers/director decide on who to follow, how often did they check in with the boys to film them, how receptive were the schools/families to having cameras follow them, etc. Dlsimon (talk) 06:32, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Any suggestions for ways to include a plot summary?  The only portion of the current article that seems, to me, to be a plot summary would be the paragraph that begins "The film follows...", and even that is very limited.  A plot summary for this film would almost be a sort of biographical summary of the two boys as they progress through schools. GCD1 13:31, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

This article has had its infobox tag removed by a cleanup using AWB.
Any concerns please leave me a message at my talk page. RWardy 20:09, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Image:Hoop Dreams.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 22:51, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

This paragraph seems suspect, since it is a recent addition with no attribution and a direct contradiction of information 2 paragraphs up (that neither young man made the NBA).  Still, if he was even drafted/courted, it is an interesting bit of additional news or information and exactly the sort of thing I came to this article seeking:

When William Gates was older, he received a telephone call from Michael Jordan. Jordan was in the process of getting in shape to return to the NBA and play for the Washington Wizards. Gates was invited to a pickup game with Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and others. Gates was able to keep up with Jordan and had an impressive showing. He finally made the NBA after proving himself in that game before injuring himself before the first game of the season. William retired afterwards. But he proved he was good enough for the NBA.

Similarly, much of the aftermath text is unattributed and Aftermath paragraph 2 (the one immediately above this paragraph) was also not a very old insert (doesn't appear 30-50 revisions back... I rarely edit wikipedia so forgive my vagueness here; I lack any expertise on how to easily detec when changes happened beyond clicking a couple radio-buttons and viewing compare screens).
134.20.11.88 (talk) 21:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

I removed the paragraph in question.  Gates never played in the NBA, and without a reference to support the Jordan story, we shouldn't include it. Anson2995 (talk) 23:06, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
There is plagiarized text in the Aftermath paragraph. The following sentences are copied directly from the 2004 chicagoist article linked here: 

Gates has also risen above his earlier circumstances while giving back to the community as senior pastor at Living Faith Community Center in Cabrini-Green, where he works at the Kids' Club.

On Thanksgiving morning 1994, Agee's older half-brother, DeAntonio, was gunned down at Cabrini-Green. In September 2001, Gates' older brother, Curtis, 36, was shot to death in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.

Several of the preceding sentences are also paraphrased in the same order and with very few changes from the article.--Mossinator (talk) 02:36, 14 February 2012 (UTC)
Most of the removed paragraph ("When William Gates was older, he received a telephone call from Michael Jordan....") is true. I'm putting it back with a citation and some editing to improve it. Ian m (talk) 20:53, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

A paragraph starts out:" According to Roger Ebert, reliable sources said members of the Academy's documentary nomination committee had a system in which one would wave a flashlight on screen when they gave up on the film. When a majority of the lights flashed, the film was turned off. Hoop Dreams didn’t even make it to 20 minutes."  This is the first use of the word "academy" in the article.  This is very poor writing.  The academy (presumably the one that gives out Academy Awards) should be clearly identified. 202.179.16.72 (talk) 08:59, 21 September 2012 (UTC)

The whole "20th anniversary restoration" seems to be copied verbatim from this copyrighted article. Should it be considered plagiarism? --Danielba894 (talk) 19:39, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Hoop Dreams. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060908200137/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20041215%2FCOMMENTARY%2F41215001%2F1023 to http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20041215%2FCOMMENTARY%2F41215001%2F1023
Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110624120430/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/11/the_great_american_documentary.html to http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/11/the_great_american_documentary.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 21:15, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Hoop Dreams. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20141224205400/http://chicagoist.com/2004/12/17/hoop_dreams_father_slain.php to http://www.chicagoist.com/2004/12/17/hoop_dreams_father_slain.php
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:38, 3 November 2017 (UTC)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Hoop Dreams/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Mike Christie (talk · contribs) 11:30, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

I'll review this. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 11:30, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
The image is appropriately tagged. 

FN 52 links to a blog; the link is dead, which is not in itself a problem for GA, but if it's a blog it's not a reliable source.
"James was able to leverage a relationship the vice president of the MacArthur Foundation": looks like a word is missing here?
Those are the only concerns. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 13:00, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

Thank you for the review Mike Christie. I fixed the typo, removed the blog source, and slightly rewrote the last section to only use information from the Kartemquin press release. Ruбlov (talk • contribs) 12:02, 16 August 2022 (UTC)
Fixes look good; passing. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 12:09, 16 August 2022 (UTC)

Rublov, I realized after I promoted this that I should have been doing spotchecks. I checked several citations and just found one problem:

FN 3 cites "Its appearance at Sundance helped it secure a distribution deal with Fine Line Features, and the film opened nationwide on October 21, 1994."  The source doesn't mention Sundance or how the distribution deal was secured.
-- Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 00:14, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Good catch, I cited the first half of the sentence to the oral history article. The second half is still supported by the NYT article. Ruбlov (talk • contribs) 03:42, 21 September 2022 (UTC)
Looks good. Mike Christie (talk - contribs -  library) 10:20, 21 September 2022 (UTC)