Even the most notoriously known athletes in their respective sports have their own rites of passage. In order to be the best, you have to rise to the occasion, regardless of the pressure.
The McDonald’s All-American showcase is the debut and premier opportunity for the top-ranked high school basketball players to prove exactly why they deserve a spot among the NBA’s legends. There’s an iconic phrase: Chicago figuratively and literally breeds superstars. Directors Carlton Sabbs and Corey Colvin pay homage to their city as they delve into the McDonald’s All-American legacies and spotlight just how extensively the showcase has positively impacted unity amongst various communities. “So many people don’t understand, like if you want to be good in anything coming out of Chicago, it makes you tougher … Hard work pays off,” Colvin attributes this to the city’s overall landscape of competition, passion, and grit.
If you want to be a star, you have to qualify amongst the greats. The ones who sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears on the same court while chasing their dreams. The McDonald’s All-American game is often a sentimental event for each city’s beloved star players, and its significance continues to carry immense weight in predicting where selected athletes may play Division I collegiate basketball. As thrilled fans and audiences fuel the massive anticipation surrounding this legendary exhibition, everyone seems to hold their breath as the players release their 3-point jump shots.
“It means everything … coming from Chicago with the game having close ties to the city and the energy it brings almost every year, especially in the early 2000’s to like 2011 … It’s super important and crucial in how it all came together,” Sabbas stated. “Actually, Corey and I were working on the rollout of the movie Genius, which is the Kanye story, which was a super Chicago project … then we were brought the opportunity to tell the McDonald’s All-American game story potentially. So, from it coming from a Chicago film to taking on and being Chicago people telling the story, oh yeah, it means everything.”
With Meal Ticket now streaming on Amazon Prime’s global platform, this opportunity is a full-circle moment rooted in years of persistence and creative alignment for the two filmmakers. Their shared grind has now evolved into cinematic artistry, centered on one of the most notable pinnacles of prep achievement for athletes on future scouting radars for NBA or WNBA drafts. Furthermore, this exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the McDonald’s All-American Games will allow international fans to learn about the legendary basketball showcases they may not have known about before.
“We were overjoyed. It’s a dream come true. It’s like in the title of Meal Ticket, what that means is like a quadruple entendre. For the players, it’s a meal ticket; for the game, it’s a meal ticket; and for Corey and me, it’s like, this is a great opportunity, given all the projects we’ve done together in our careers. We got this opportunity, and we’ve reached the opportunity to have our own meal ticket,” Sabbs conveyed. “Amazon was a great partner, and it made a lot of sense, so we were happy to get on with a streamer that has the reach that was needed to tell this story in the way that we really wanted it to be told and the support. So one of the best things about Amazon is that they told us they were getting us rights to show NBA games. So it just made so much sense for them to have this film on their platform, and then they have the global reach. It’s a lot of new NBA fans who don’t know about the McDonald’s games. They’re like fans of Luka Doncic, Giannis, and Wemby from France. But they don’t know how Michael Jordan, LeBron, Derrick Rose, and Candace Parker rose to prominence in the McDonald’s game before they even came on the scene. It’s a special moment; we have really good partners. Everybody that got involved from McDonald’s, we got Roc Nation involved, they’ve been great support with Jalen Rose, a former McDonald’s All-American and NBA player. To KNOWN and creative control … “
Of course, as true original McDonald’s All-American fans, both directors have their own memories of being completely in awe of their favorite athletes who left their initial major marks. This was often their very first introduction to the players before they later reached and achieved superstar status. These athletes are now household names, as each generation strives to meet and exceed the very same standards of excellence set by the greats.
“Shaq was my favorite player growing up. To be able to tell the story of Shaq and how he used that McDonald’s All-American platform, that game, to help continue his legendary growth and path means a lot to me. And hometown kid Derrick Rose. I would say Derrick and Shaq,” Colvin said. “Mya is the goat, and even right now, for where we are with women’s basketball, A’ja Wilson … We had an opportunity to talk to her when we were covering the game in Houston in ’23, and her energy was everything. That’s the thing, too. When we got the chance to talk to people about their experience at the McDonald’s All-American game, it was something everyone just loved to talk about. They love going back to those memories of that Senior year of high school, and they just light up like oh yeah, that was a good time.”
Furthermore, the McDonald’s All-American Games has a reputation for honoring those who deserve a chance in the spotlight, despite circumstances beyond the athletes’ control. Both directors want to intentionally give athletes their rightfully deserved flowers who are still here to smell them.
“My first time, I remember being really young and seeing Kevin Garnett in 95′ at the game … Seeing him at the McDonald’s game was like a moment … I remember watching Brandon Jennings in the McDonald’s game, it was my first time seeing him, and I was like, yup, he’s cold! He had the Gumby cut that everybody was feeling, and I think Kanye glowed the dark tour at the time, so they all had the glow in the dark glasses from the tour … He went to Europe for a year because he couldn’t go straight to the league,” Sabbs explained. “I’m glad that the McDonald’s game anointed Ronnie Fields, who’s another Chicago legend; he got in a car accident, played with Kevin Garnett, but he didn’t get to play in the game. He was in Kobe Bryant’s year, but I’m glad that he at least has that in his legacy because no one got to see who he could have been … Women are Mya Moore for sure.”
Meal Ticket is officially streaming on Amazon Prime now!
The post Before the League, There Was Meal Ticket appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More.
