BOY'S BASKETBALL SHOT REBOUNDS NATIONALLY IT TOOK JUST 35 FEET AND A BUZZER, AND PEE WEE LEGEND WAS BORN.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer Jake Gould probably practiced the shot a thousand times. His older brother Alex would count down the clock: 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Then Jake would fling the basketball from half-court toward the basket. His coach, Jeff Brooks Jeff "J-Dawg" Brooks is a second generation independent wrestler, based out of Florida. He is the son of legendary pro-wrestler, Rusty Brooks - and is known as one of Florida's top independent talents - having worked for virtually every promotion in the state, winning dozens of , didn't mind a little playing around. After all, that's what 8-year-olds do. But when Alex and Jake would take too many half-court shots during practice, he'd rein them in a little. ``Coach Brooks is always saying, You don't even need to practice those shots, you're never going to need that in the game,'' said Jake, an 8-year-old from Studio City. Boy, was his coach wrong. Saturday afternoon, Jake put all those hours of practice with his brother to good use. With his team, the Clippers, trailing the Spurs, 20-18, in a Pee Wee Pee Wee, Pee-wee or peewee may refer to:
It was the shot of his young life, but things have gotten even more exciting since. A father of one of the players on the Spurs videotaped the game and gave a copy to Jake's parents. Brooks called up a friend who works at KTLA KTLA KCBS TV in Los Angeles (Channel 5) to see whether station officials would be interested in running it on the evening newscast newscast Radio or television broadcast of news events. News gathering and broadcasting by the radio networks began in the mid-1930s and increased significantly during World War II. The television newscast began in 1948 with 15-minute programs that resembled movie newsreels. . By Saturday night, the tape had found its way to ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network , where it was deemed the ``No. 1 Play of the Day'' on Saturday night and included in the network's ``Plays of the Week'' on Sunday. Monday morning, Jake's play was shown on ABC's ``Good Morning America Good Morning America is a weekday morning news show that is broadcast on the ABC television network. The show was adapted from The Morning Exchange, a morning show created by and airing on the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio, and was launched nationally as .'' Later that day, the show called to inquire about flying the Gould family to New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of to appear in a live segment. ``This has been incredible,'' said Jake's father, Jeff Gould. ``This was like flipping a coin that lands on its edge with all the things that had to come together just right for this to happen.'' Jeff Gould has spent the past few days setting his TiVo to record all of the various newscasts that run footage of Jake's shot and handling all the media inquiries that have come in. The situation is a little strange for him, though. Jeff Gould is an accomplished professional poker player, good enough to make a living playing cash games and tournaments at local casinos. Since Jake's highlight-reel shot, Jeff has got a fair amount of ribbing from friends teasing him about his son making it onto ESPN - the same network that airs the World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker is the largest set of poker tournaments in the world. It is held annually in Las Vegas, lasting just over a month. A bracelet is awarded to the winner of each of the fifty-plus events which include all the major varieties of poker. - before he does. ``Each generation is supposed to surpass the previous one, right?'' he joked. Brooks, who is in his first year coaching Pee Wee basketball, has also enjoyed the media frenzy that's followed Jake's last-second shot. ``The tape has taken on a life of its own Memory Burn A Life Of Its Own was released by Noise Kontrol in 2002. Memory Burn is made up of several high profile musicians who came together to create this special work. ,'' Brooks said. ``In this town, people are always hiring publicists and trying to get P.R., but with this, we didn't have to do anything. ``Everyone who has seen it loves it. The play really has it all. You've got the clock ticking One increment, or pulse, of the CPU clock. See clock speed and clock. down, and then this little kid throwing the ball up from 35 feet. Then Jake throws his hands up and the team is celebrating. But there's also the agony of defeat, with the kid from the other team on his knees, crying. You couldn't have written a better script.'' The dejected de·ject·ed adj. Being in low spirits; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed. de·ject  ed·ly adv. player on the other team is Dominic Maynes, the son of the parent who shot the videotape. ``It's kind of cool,'' said Rick Maynes, who shot the videotape. ``I never thought it would reach the heights it has. I mean, this was the No. 1 play of the day on 'SportsCenter.' Who knows, maybe it'll make the year-end top plays too.'' Jake Gould has taken all the attention in stride Adv. 1. in stride - without losing equilibrium; "she took all his criticism in stride" in good spirits . He barely even looked up from his computer game when highlights of his play came on KTLA on Saturday night. At school, a couple of kids have joked with him a little, calling him ``Mr. ESPN'' or saying that it was a ``lucky shot.'' Jake just laughs and shrugs. He's keeping everything in the proper perspective. ``It's not like I cured cancer or anything,'' he said. ``It was a lucky shot. I'm glad it went in. And it's been fun being on TV and all the newscasts. It's fun.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Jake Gould - the 8-year-old now known around his school as ``Mr. ESPN'' - has in a matter of days become a fixture on national television for a basket he made from midcourt during a Pee Wee Division game Saturday in Toluca Lake. ``It's kind of cool,'' said Rick Maynes, who shot the videotape. ``I never thought it would reach the heights it has. I mean, this was the No. 1 play of the day on `SportsCenter.' Who knows, maybe it'll make the year-end top plays too.'' (2 -- color) Jake Gould, holding the ball, made national television this week after he scored a basket from midcourt during a Pee Wee game Saturday. David Sprague/Staff Photographer |
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