Considering The Miracle of St. Anthony is one of my favourite basketball books of all-time, it should come as no surprise that I loved the documentary on the same subject, The Street Stops Here. That subject, for those uninitiated (shame on you) is the St. Anthony’s (New Jersey) high school boys basketball team and its legendary coach, Bob Hurley.
The story is one we’ve all heard, read and seen before – a basketball coach uses a tough love approach to keep his players from succumbing to the streets. While the topic might not be unique, it doesn’t diminish the powerful effect of this documentary. Coach Hurley truly is a godsend to these kids, giving them hope for the future and pretty much guaranteeing them admittance into college (despite yelling, cursing and threatening to knock them out). The movie follows the Friars through their 2007/08 season, and is full of off the court and on the court battles. The school battling to stay afloat financially. An administrator battling for her life against cancer. The players battling to win a state championship. The coach battling his players. But, despite all of these conflicts, this remains an uplifting movie that should put a smile on your face. And there is plenty of basketball action for you hoopheads, including high school footage of current NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Tyreke Evans, as well as NCAA stars Mike Rosario and Lance Stephenson, to name a few. If you love basketball (which you should if you are visiting this site), you’ll love this movie.
Catch The Street Stops Here tonight at 10:00pm Eastern on PBS, or buy the DVD here:
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