2008, Nov/Dec – HOOP Magazine: The Fab Five with Jalen Rose and Bobbito
December 8, 2008
Jumpball: The Fab Five
A longtime pop culture aficionado, Jalen Rose pits his personal tastes against some notable personalities. Up this month: Bobbito Garcia.
FAVORITE SCHOOLYARD GAME:
Jalen: “21. Everyone can participate. If the previous shot was not an airball, when you get the rebound you must take the ball back to the free-throw line. Each basket is worth two points and “free throws” (a shot from the top of the key) are one point. If you make three in a row, it’s “three and out.” Big bragging rights if you beat everyone.”
Bobbito: “Hot peas and Butter, Come and Get Your Supper.” Somebody hid the belt – I mean, I lived in a building with like over a thousand residents, so there’d be like 30 to 40 kids playing – and whoever found the belt has to try and run back to the base and then whip people before they got past you to the base. Yeah, it was a pretty sadistic game. Pretty fun.”
FAVORITE SCHOOL LUNCH:
Jalen: “Salisbury steak – a public-school classic – with gravy and mashed potatoes. These were definitely the days that you had to use the money on your school lunch card.”
Bobbito: “I’ve been eating Sal and Carmine’s pizza for 35 years… I went to Holy Name Parochial School and we used to leave during the day, and the slices used to be a quarter back then, and I would never have any money but I would always bum a bite, or by boy Craig would never eat the crust and he would always give me the crust. That was the highlight of the day, to eat Sal and Carmine’s crust.”
MOST EMBARASSING SCHOOL MOMENT:
Jalen: “Playing against our high school’s rival Cooley High [Ed note: Jalen attended Detroit Southwestern], I went up for a dunk and got clotheslined, fell on my head, got knocked unconscious, went into convulsions and got carried off the floor on a stretcher.”
Bobbito: “In seventh grade I was part of a holiday theater production, The Nutcracker, and I had to wear a hat, and when I ran out on the stage the hat fell off. But I didn’t know my hat had fallen off, so it was like first to eighth grade, like 800 students laughing. And I think they’re laughing because I did something funny, but they are laughing at me, not with me.”
FIRST DATE:
Jalen: “I can’t exactly remember whom, what or when, but I do know where – the drive-in movie theater was my spot, enough said… lolol.”
Bobbito: “When I was at Brooklyn Tech, I met this girl in my class and she was the first girl I ever tried to kick it to that didn’t live in my neighborhood. She lived on Roosevelt Island, so I had take the tram. Her ex-boyfriend turned out to be her next-door neighbor and then, like, him and six dudes wanted to beat me up. It was hectic. It wasn’t pretty man.” [laughs]
BEST SCHOOL PRANK:
Jalen: “Wait until a schoolmate is in full motion and set to take a seat and then pull their chair from underneath them. These falls are hilarious and they hurt!”
Bobbito: “In school I was a really good student, a good kid, but when I was 11, 12, 13, I think that’s probably when I was my most devious. We used to throw eggs, spit – I lived on the 13th floor of my building, so anyone that crossed our backyard was fair game – we use to throw ice at people, we used to throw M80’s. Thankfully, I grew out of it really quickly. It’s my youth, I’m not proud of it, but that’s what kids do.”
