“To be honest, I wish some of these people would just give Lenny a job,” he said.
A decade ago, Shopkorn was willing to stake his future on Cooke. Now Cooke lobbies Shopkorn to stay longer when the time comes to leave after a day of shooting video. Cooke said he was excited by the chance to spread his message – stay in school and steer clear of the industry flesh peddlers – far and wide. But the attention is intoxicating.
“I do know that by coming back and putting cameras in his face and providing him with all this attention, it’s inevitable that there’s going to be a return to the feeling that he’s the star again, like he was in 2001,” Shopkorn said.
But he believes this is one cautionary tale of the tapes that should be told. All that is lacking is the happier ending that Noah, Bortner and the others still in Lenny Cooke’s corner are hoping for.
Or more to the point: a promising new beginning.
Article reprinted from blackubiquity.com
Article first appeared @
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/basketball/lenny-cooke-star-to-be-who-never-was.html?_r=3&src=dayp&pagewanted=all
This Article Appeared in The Black Truth News Volume 3 Issue 7 July 2012