Blog 8: The Final Four

I have continued reading my book "The Final Four" and things have gotten intense and interesting. While attending Michigan State university and playing for the basketball team, Malcolm, Roko, M.J., and Crispin wished to make the NCAA tournament and win the national title. Now, they are getting a chance for their dream. In the book, Malcolm and his friends had a good enough regular season and made it to the tournament! They know that this is their only chance to prove that dreams do come true and the only chance to win the national title they wished for. As they begin the tournament, they only have one team to worry about who they are enemies with. The Troy Trojans. Neither of the teams like each other, and tempers are going to flare if they ever play against each other in the tournament. Roko hates playing against the Trojans because he loses his focus on the game because of the aggressiveness they bring. An example from the book is during one of their games when a player from The Trojans pushed Roko and they started fighting. He knew that they were a dirty team, but he did not think they would pull anything like that. Ever since that moment, Roko has hated playing against the Trojans. But as the book continued, his friends and teammates encouraged him that they have his back and that he is going to be alright in this tournament as long as he remains focused. As they play their first game, they continue to push to keep their grades steady and know what is on the line. Not only are they participating for the championship for the school and for teammates, but also for their dreams to continue and to make their parents proud. Let's see if the Michigan State Spartans win the national tittle.

After getting close to the end of the book, I think I am able to tell the theme of the story. I believe the theme of this book is to never give up and that nothing is impossible. The reason I believe this is the theme of the book is because throughout the whole book, Malcolm knew that making it to the tournament and keeping their grades high was not impossible and that him and his friends would be able to succeed. All it took was confidence and the urge to accomplish those goals. While Roko started giving up, Malcolm was always their to remind him that nothing was impossible and to remind him of the reason they were here. An example from the book is when Malcolm tells Crispin, "We aren't here because of luck, we are here because we fought hard and had the courage to succeed and to push ourselves to the farthest limit." This is a good example of the theme because it proves that Malcolm was going to do whatever it took to be successful for his education and sports because he knew nothing was impossible and that dreams could always be chased. Malcolm is my favorite character in the book because of this. I too believe that if you really try and give it your all for education or anything you like, you can always achieve your goals and chase your dreams, because nothing is impossible.