New Jersey Drive

A Story by Abishai100

A returning athlete seeks to redeem himself in a Hoop Dreams city basketball tourney but must overcome serious evil.

One last parable about the American Dream, inspired actually by a film I really like, starring the great Leon! God bless,

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This is a story about modern city basketball that inspires great hoop dreams among youngsters and aspiring athletes. The story takes place in New Jersey and the players are linked to Voorhees High School. One player is a former students now seeking to participate in the city basketball tournament as a returning veteran of sorts, sorting out personal emotional troubles.

That troubled returning veteran is Isaac Satan, an Algerian-American who attended VHS (Voorhees High-School) and had hoop dreams of playing as a point-guard for the legendary Duke Blue Devils NCAA men's basketball team. However, a drug conviction landed Isaac in jail and out of any Duke recruiting contention. He let his city down and failed to play in the anticipated city tournament in which he's expected to really stand out and help the VHS team the Fury reach the stars.

Isaac's returned to his hometown and moved in with his mother and is dating his high-school sweetheart again, Laura. He's promised Laura he's turned his life around, but he has a secret he can't tell her. Isaac, you see, owes a big debt to the city druglord Old Dirty and is required to perform a bank heist of some blood diamonds from South Africa in the city bank. However, all Isaac wants to do is return for a moment of retrieved glory and play for the VHS Fury in the city basketball tournament...and for his high-school sweetheart Laura!

ISAAC: Duke and college ball and hence pro-ball was out the window for me, but I have a chance to save my life.

Isaac decides to sit in his mother's house and watch a favorite film about hoop dreams in his room. He thinks about his lost glories and how he might do something precious for his home city for the basketball tournament. Previous standouts in this tournament have included great players in NCAA ball and two NBA players --- Mike Gminski (76ers) and Ben Gordon (76ers).

However, Isaac Satan has to do this blood diamond heist for the city druglord Old Dirty. He can't get out of this debt. He walks into the bank dressed as an Iranian investor and jewelry store owner looking to inspect the safe-box #445 in the vault-room, belonging to Saudi prince Ali Fahd who's stored blood diamonds. Isaac tells the bank manager he's an associate of Fahd and seeks to take photos of Fahd's diamonds and forges a signed permission letter and requests to be escorted to the vault-room with a security guard so he may take photos of the South African diamonds.

When Isaac is inside the vault-room, he pulls out a tiny toy water-gun which is filled with corrosive HCL acid. He tells the escorting guard he's going to swap the Fahd blood diamonds with fake diamonds he's brought with him, concealed in the soles of his shoes. He tells the guard Fahd is a purely evil blood diamond merchant in New Jersey and that blood diamonds are now tied to warlord activity stretching from Africa to Europe. He pleads with the guard not to make a fuss and help him veil the security camera while he makes the important blood diamond switch for a rival of Fahd who'll undo the corrupt Saudi prince's terrible prestige! The guard's visibly shocked by all this horrifying city corruption and concedes to cooperate. Isaac manages to talk his way out of that bank with Fahd's $20 million blood diamonds and drives his Volvo to Old Dirty's house and delivers the goods as promised in exchange for the welfare of his mother and girlfriend Laura.

ISAAC: I did my evil deed and now I'm ready to participate in this city basketball tourney and bring real spirits for God.

CITY NEWSPAPER: This year's city basketball tourney sees a returning veteran named Isaac seeking to redeem himself!

Isaac doesn't tell Laura or his mother about the horrible debt-deed he had to perform for the city druglord Old Dirty. However, Isaac's relieved to learn in the papers that the blood diamond intrigue now ensuing has led authorities to some important leads regarding Fahd's blood diamond trail. Isaac is happy, since his own mother banks at the bank he robbed that day for Old Dirty!

ISAAC: I disposed of those acid-guns I used for the blood diamond heist, and I hope to just put that behind me forever!

Isaac even decides to cover his own involvement in this whole New Jersey blood diamond affair by keeping a Princeton (New Jersey) bill-bond token as a promise to reinvent his life, forsaking all activities involved with modern American crime diaries.

Laura shows up to the city basketball tournament to cheer on her boyfriend Isaac and brings his old JVC stereo to offer the crowd some daylight music --- some cool House of Pain and MC Hammer mix songs.

The coach of the VHS Fury is relieved to see Isaac Satan has showed up to play for his team for this important and publicized tournament, since people are talking about how a returning veteran to the competition will encourage the New Jersey youngsters to think positively about media roles in student-athlete dialogue!

ISAAC: I hope nothing Old Dirty has done will disrupt this basketball, even though he's sponsoring a team in the tourney.

Isaac's coach tells him to just stay calm and play point make sure the other teams don't exploit the Fury's weak center defense and advises Isaac to organize his point guard play to create a rotating zone of offensive shooting. Isaac understands what his wise coach wants and plans to follow the advice and begins thinking about this zone-diagonal strategy!

ISAAC: This tournament is about human hoop dreams, and no city crime will sully the line of social diagonals today.

The tournament kicks off and the teams are competing not only for youth energy but also for the spirits of older players and men in the New Jersey area who like to cheer on the student athletes!

The colored teams represent the city's investment in uniforming the athletes so that each team can be designated by a single color. The VHS Fury, Isaac Satan's team, is colored in Navy-Blue. The other teams are colored in red, orange, yellow, and purple.

COACH: America's been through hell, like 9/11, and this city tourney reminds us all of American dreams.

Isaac's Fury sails past the first two rounds by defeating the red (Fire) and orange (Rockets) teams. Isaac coordinates his guard-play by targeting the confident shooters to compliment his fine 3-point shooting. The Fury reaches the Finals to face Old Dirty's sponsored team, the purple-colored Blazers. In this final match, Isaac has everything to stake and much to lose in terms of religious dignity. He decides to make an unusual move to counter the bullyish playing style of Old Dirty's Blazers by rotating out the centers to fake-shoot while dishing to the more consistent shooters to reach more inside lanes to either shoot or launch out to Isaac to hit diagonal 3-pointers. Isaac's Fury defeats the dirty Blazers (Old Dirty) 45-38!

However, the evil druglord Old Dirty has something in his sleeves. He's hired a maniac goon to show up at the city basketball tourney with a vintage Western pistol, masked of course. This maniac, 'Leatherface' will shoot the winners who've unfortunately defeated Old Dirty's Blazers team. The druglord's decided that sports humiliation should be drowned out by the swift and evil hand of modern city vertigo. However, Isaac pulls out one of those acid-guns, one he's kept in his pocket from his blood diamond heist, and uses it to spray the maniac 'Leatherface' all over his shoes, causing him to fall to the ground and giving the cops enough time to haul the psycho off to an interrogation center.