Hooked on Hoops: Understanding Black Youths’ Blind Devotion to Basketball

Chronicling and critiquing the passion African American males have with the NBA, this thoughtful dialogue challenges athletes, parents, educators, the media, and the larger society to examine the obsession with basketball. With 91 percent of NBA players being African American and only two percent of African American community becoming doctors, dentists, and engineers, a solution for the future is desperately needed, and this book tries to answer some of the tough questions posed by these alarming figures. Among the questions addressed is What happens to all the athletes who are unable to go into the NBA? and Has this obsession with basketball robbed the African American community of talent needed in other professions? These questions are accompanied by an examination of the attitudes and perceptions of the black sports culture.