Emotions held Prisoner

Emotions held Prisoner

It was a building of gray color, like the cement of stones of a state prison wall. Groups of people go in and out at scheduled times wearing the same uniforms similar to a series transferred prisoners. You can hear screams and shouts and a buzzer blaring and thumping and high piercing noises and banging and stomping from the outside of its walls, like when you pass by an insane asylum in a scary movie. When you go inside, you see men lined up, like inmates for roll call no names just numbers. The buzzer goes off to signal the roll call. There are metal bars all around the room. The people in charge are wearing their own special uniform. What this place is, is Lawrence Jones’ basketball gymnasium.

From the outside you see the dark gray walls and stone pillars that are in fairly new condition, yet the colors appear dull, lifeless and depressing. You see many cars parked in the parking lot to deliver their players to their scheduled games. The players – tall and short, fat and skinny, boys and girls – all came to have fun. When they arrive they are happy and joyous because this gym is a confined space of excitement and fun, unlike a prison filled with death and chaos. Instead of containing convicts it is holding feelings and emotions ready to be released. The players come like I once did with the dream of scoring the winning bucket or scoring 10, or 20 points, a prisoner comes with dreams of freedom; when the players leave the gym you see happy faces of winners, or you see the sad faces of losers. When prisoners leave you see the happy faces of freemen, or you see scared faces of parolees. The side to side glass doors are a gateway to the emotions of the sportsman’s soul; while the clanging iron gates to prison strike fear into a man’s heart.

When you walk through the doors it opens up to a large, wood-floored basketball court, hoops at each end suspended from long metal poles. They are motorized and lowered slowly like a sloth climbing down from a tree. When I look around the walls there are felt pennants from the years the school won league, and colorful posters painted with player names and numbers to cheer on the team at each challenge. The gym has one scoreboard with several bulbs out and two small black shot clocks; dark because they are never running. There are wooden bleachers several feet high on both sides with shiny black bars on each side to prevent people from falling, unlike the bars in prison which are used to keep people inside. The morning sun casts a glare across the basketball court that can blind a man at its brightest, but when the doors are open, you feel a biting cold breeze sweep across the room sending chills down your spine.

The people inside are the players dressed in their uniforms, each team with their own color, such as sea-like blue, onyx black, blood red, or shimmering gold. There are the two referees that are dressed in their black and white striped uniforms who regulate the games like guards keeping inmates in order. You have the coaches for both teams that are dressed in nice collared shirts; one coach is encouraging and positive while the other is intense, more competitive and yelling at the kids to run plays. Then there are the fans who are mostly parents; there are the intense parents screaming the whole time, the confused parents that yell offense when their team is on defense, the parents who sit there with dumbfounded, no idea what’s happening, and the bored parents who look like they just want to fall asleep.

Before a game the gym is full of noise of gossiping parents, full of noise of the thundering pounding of the players feet against the ground as they warm-up, full of noise of the coach’s murmurs to each other as they strategize; the prison yard is also full of noise, bickering prisoners, the guards chit-chatting, the clamoring of weights and convict’s work out equipment. At the start of the game, the crowd hushes and the starters line up on the sideline; the referees then check them in as a guard would do to check the number of convicts. Shooting, running, rebounding – that is what you see the players do on the court. Shanking, rioting, beating – that is what prisoners do to each other. During the game the gym erupts into a big room full of emotion; there is the piercing noise of the referee’s whistle as it cuts through the air, and the rolling thunder of running down the court, the splash of a swoosh, the clank of a missed shot, the oohs and the ahhs of the crowd, and the violent ringing buzz of the buzzer. Coaches yell and scream because they think the referees made a bad call; the referees yell right back and give the coach a technical for being disrespectful. The emotion of the crowd is expressed through their jeers and their cheers: the parents boo at the refs for bad calls, or applaud when their kid makes a basket. Each point scored results in an explosion of cheers from the fans of the team that scored the bucket, not unlike when convicts chant to encourage a brawl. At halftime the teams go and strategize for the second half; the losing coach uses a stern tone while the winning coach uses an excited tone. The game continues and the emotions follow highs and lows through the end of the game.

The outcome of the game effects the emotion of the players and fans. The winner’s faces are ecstatic, the losers are depressed; the winners joke and laugh, the losers slump and stumble. The winning coach is delighted, the losing coach is disappointed. The winning fans sing words of triumph; the losing fans mumble words of defeat. The older ref is tired, the younger ref is energetic. The gray, dull, lifeless exterior of the gymnasium may appear to look like a prison; but it holds emotions full of potential instead of convicts with none.

I saw happiness. I saw sadness. I saw many raw emotions. When Lawrence Jones is first looked at, it may appear as a sad depressing gray building, but once inside the average spectator feels the burst of emotions flying through the room. This gym is filled with excitement and possibilities, it is a place where kids can go to have fun and create an overall positive experience for everyone.

Kyle C