John Edgar Wideman : (2)

" Writing ‘Hoop Roots’ was a substitute or a surrogate activity. I can’t play anymore – my body won’t cooperate – so in the writing of the book, I was looking to tell a good story about my life and about basketball, but I was also looking to entertain myself the way that I entertain myself when I play. " - John Edgar Wideman

" What basketball expresses is what jazz expresses. Certain cultural predispositions to make art. All African-American art has a substratum, or baseline, of improvisation and spontaneity. You find that in both basketball and jazz. " - John Edgar Wideman