“I was just looking for a second chance in a different way.”
January 24, 2019 12:27 PM   Subscribe

Sidney Wants to Be Someone Else by Max Marshall [Sports Illustrated] Rashun Richardson, the 17 year old basketball guard playing for Hillcrest High School is a good player, so good that dropping 30 points or more a game was a common occurrence. He lead his team to the playoffs and was district offensive MVP of the year. There's only one problem, Rashun Richardson was actually 25 year old Sidney Gilstrap-Portley. This is how a man posed as a teenager to become a high school star and was caught by the authorities. [YouTube][RealLyfe Street Starz Interview]
posted by Fizz (15 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
It covers that for like ten paragraphs, including details like the case being delayed until late 2019 by an overloaded court system. It's kind of a big part of the story they wrote.
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:05 PM on January 24, 2019 [15 favorites]


(I mean, the lede is about how this story literally "goes to a darker place".)
posted by the agents of KAOS at 1:07 PM on January 24, 2019 [2 favorites]


Before I RTFA, I was about to say "Hey, didn't this happen here in Canada?" but as it turns out, it's a different case I was remembering: Windsor high school basketball star believed to be 30 years old
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:20 PM on January 24, 2019 [3 favorites]


And I was like wait, didn't I comment on a thread like this before?
posted by Tknophobia at 1:25 PM on January 24, 2019 [3 favorites]


This has happened several times. Here's another. And more. Here's a woman that wanted to be a cheerleader.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:26 PM on January 24, 2019 [3 favorites]


I blame 21 Jump Street.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:58 PM on January 24, 2019 [16 favorites]


Seems seductively easy to relive one's youth literally. Much harder these days with social media.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:00 PM on January 24, 2019


I have this dream sometimes.

Actually, it's usually a nightmare -- I'm taking grade 12 French or math and I haven't shown up to any classes and I'm going to fail and they will take my university degrees away -- it's horrible.

I don't think you could pay me to go back to high school.
posted by jb at 2:03 PM on January 24, 2019 [17 favorites]


This has happened several times. Here's another. And more. Here's a woman that wanted to be a cheerleader.

This is an (early era) Errol Morris - or Les Blank, or maybe even Herzog in a particular mood - documentary waiting to happen.

Also. This story, intensely fascinating while intensely problematic, really makes me want to rewatch Hoop Dreams.
posted by nightrecordings at 3:22 PM on January 24, 2019 [2 favorites]


Yes, Cool Papa Bell. The cheerleader reminded me that all of this has happened before.
posted by rokusan at 3:24 PM on January 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


Maybe the fact that children in k12 are held to such unreasonably adult expectations that really only adults can truly succeed in high school.
posted by toodleydoodley at 3:42 PM on January 24, 2019 [9 favorites]


> Actually, it's usually a nightmare -- I'm taking grade 12 French or math and I haven't shown up to any classes and I'm going to fail and they will take my university degrees away -- it's horrible.

This has to be one of the most common anxiety dreams, because I used to have them all the time and everyone I mentioned them to said they did, too. I had it so many times that I got to the point where I would recognize that it was a dream - that dream - tell myself "You are not in high school/university anymore and you goddamn well KNOW this," and then I'd wake up. That basically put an end to them.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:23 PM on January 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


I didn't even want to be a teenager when I was a teenager. Sheesh.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 6:50 PM on January 24, 2019 [3 favorites]


Actually, it's usually a nightmare -- I'm taking grade 12 French or math and I haven't shown up to any classes and I'm going to fail and they will take my university degrees away -- it's horrible.

This is my most regular recurring dream. I am a university professor.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:37 PM on January 24, 2019 [12 favorites]


This is my most regular recurring dream. I am a university professor.

I taught college classes for about 13 years, and I have a mix of dreams where I'm the student who hasn't been to class, and where I'm supposed to be teaching but haven't been to the class in weeks, or where it's the end of the semester and I haven't graded any of their essays yet.

Our kids are all homeschooled, and my partner and I wonder what their anxiety dreams will be.
posted by Orlop at 6:03 AM on January 25, 2019 [2 favorites]


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