Meal Ticket

- Gotta get close to you, buddy. - There you go.

- Took about two minutes. - We good. We good.

Hi. You probably recognize me, but a few years ago,

I was sitting where you are today.

Hardly anyone knew who Michael Jordan was.

The All American Game is a chance to compete on national television,

and to play with the best high school basketball talent in the world.

The competition is tough this week, and it gets even tougher.

Let's go. Hey, East on three.

- One, two, three. - East!

… California. Number 10. Amari Bailey!

So, make the most of it.

But just remember, when you get to the NBA, the fun's over.

'Cause I'll be waiting for you.

LeBron James. At the St. Vincent-St. Mary. National champs once again.

I keep telling everybody.

Number one in the country.

I'm up here chillin'. What's up, bruh?

You didn't get where you are today without hours and hours of work,

with a ball, and a dream, and a body.

For a basketball player,

playing at the McDonald's high school All American Game

is the equivalent of going to the Oscars.

That's the holy grail.

When you get that invite to play in that game,

you tell yourself the first thing, "I'm going to the league."

I think the big thing, you got a guy like Bob Geoghan,

who puts in a lot of time with this.

And that's the kind of thing that makes this successful.

Thirty NBA teams, over 100 NBA scouts in South Bend this week.

How does that affect your game?

It really doesn't. You know, I just gotta come out and play hard.

I really can't… I can't get caught up in the names that's here.

You know, the Pat Rileys and the Larry Birds and those guys.

I just gotta come out, play hard, represent myself, represent my community.

Oh, yeah, it's everything and much more. Um, just being here, being on national TV,

being able to play with all these great players.

Uh, it's just a wonderful dream come true.

Some day we'll have a girl's dunk contest, right?

Of course. 'Cause girls can do anything that boys can do.

All right. Greg.

I'm glad I played in the game. Uh, and I'm glad we got the win.

Everybody see the basketball game tonight, but, you know, it's a lot more than that.

McDonald's All American High School Basketball Game.

McDonald's All American. Glad to be here is all I can say.

- Toast to McDonald's. - Yo!

You're 'bout to spill it.

That's why I'm like, "Real life TV."

Yeah, I was, like, this is not just, like, a workout. This is like...

Right. I mean, if you're doing a scrimmage maybe.

- No, yeah. There you go. - Like, just practice.

She's the number one player in the country. I want her spot.

But it's cool. It's all love, regardless. Period.

This really is my one way out.

Without basketball, I wouldn't be me.

Without basketball, I wouldn't be where I am right now.

Everybody always dreams about becoming a McDonald's All American.

And, well, I know each and every one of us

is fortunate and really grateful to be here.

We've all put in endless hours, endless time, and endless dedication

just to try to get better and try to be the best basketball player we can.

This the best of the best. Like, it don't get much better than this.

And I like to compete against the best, like, just to see where I'm at.

Because I feel like if you can beat the best, then you the best.

Everyone get the same treatment, for real, for real.

Just go out there, compete, play hard.

It means the world to me to be one of the 48 All Americans.

I mean, it's history.

There's never as much talent on the floor at the same time.

You're the best of the best. You're the elite.

That being said, this is the reset button.

The evaluation process starts all over again.

How hard you go, your IQ. So, they're evaluating everything.

I've talked to almost every NBA GM, scouts,

and they'll say the number one event to evaluate kids pre-draft

is the McDonald's All American Games.

Because never is there 24 great players on the same courts.

As a basketball guy, there's nothing better than that.

When you're a kid and you're dreaming about, like,

"Man, like, what do I wanna do when I'm, you know, throughout my career?"

Playing in a McDonald's game, that's one of those milestones.

It's one of those accomplishments that you hope,

that when you look back, you're fortunate enough to achieve.

It certainly sparks some great memories.

And certainly appreciative of them.

- Hello, everybody. - Hello!

I'm Sonny. I don't know all your names,

but we're gonna have a good conversation here.

Listen, pay attention, and do whatever you want with it when it's over.

- - That's all I can ask.

Your documentary will be a true documentary.

It's-It's a good story. It really is.

It opened the doors for thousands and thousands of young people in America.

"Sonny, I met you for the first time in 1973

when you came to DC to discuss my creating the McDonald's Capital Classic."

Bob Geoghan was one of the few sports promoters in the Washington DC area

that never made money.

But he had a passion for basketball.

He'd say, you know, the goal is, you gotta get the guy off the barstool.

Just the local, 20, 30-year-old that just wants to come to a game.

We gotta get them to come to the game.

Before the 1960s,

high school basketball players had no platform to compete nationally,

and recognition came primarily through newspapers and magazines.

Sonny Vaccaro saw this gap,

and created a regional high school all-star game, called "The Dapper Dan."

Inspired by Sonny's initiative,

Bob Geoghan had an idea to make a national game,

so fans could see the best high school players in the country

compete against each other.

Geoghan approached Bob Beavers from McDonald's, and Morgan Wootten,

who then recruited basketball leaders like Sonny Hill, Howard Garfinkel,

and the great John Wooden to ensure the game's success.

Initially, Wooden was against all-star games,

but Morgan convinced him to support the event

because it was tied to charity and the Ronald McDonald house.

Wooden eventually agreed,

and the McDonald's All American Game was born.

I need to take a drink.

After you went through all that trouble getting me this, let me take a drink.

Okay.

I kinda was just one of these people who had a vision

and just kinda worked to see if I could make it really happen.

And so, I went to the McDonald's Corporation,

and I asked them if they would underwrite the game, and they…

And I thought they were a big corporation and they could run the game,

I was just gonna buy a ticket and watch it.

And they said, "Well, we're great at marketing hamburgers,

we know nothing about running high school all-star games.

And since you have the three years' experience, you're gonna have to do it."

And you have over a 60% chance of having a significant NBA or WNBA career

if you're a McDonald's All American.

So, these are the best players at-at their age in the world.

On the selection committee today,

there's 21 voting members, and then 23 with Joe and I.

They work hard. They work countless hours.

Uh, they're in every high school gym during the high school season,

they're on the road all summer at camps.

Not only are we looking for the best basketball player,

we're looking for pretty well-rounded and good person.

What's their impact gonna be in college, in the NBA, the WNBA?

Where is their future going, and their potential?

Welcome, welcome to the greatest city on Earth.

Congratulations on being selected as, uh, McDonald's All Americans.

I know right now you kinda not able to appreciate the moment,

but you doing some, like, really dope and amazing stuff right now. Like…

As a historian, I-I really, really appreciate, uh, history being made.

And right now, you guys are literally making history.

Whether you live to be 95 or 105,

like, your name is going in the history book right now.

You are cemented forever.

It's such a surreal feeling being able to put on that McDonald's uniform.

I… I would have dreams of just being here, honestly. Um…

Words can't really describe it.

I feel like there's a little bit more respect

that you can put on everyone's name that's a McDonald's All American now.

I think I was at school. I was in class, and my mom texted me,

"Please step out of the class, I have to call you."

So, I'm thinking something bad's happening,

but whenever she called me she said, "I'm so proud of you.

You're a McDonald's All American."

I was at practice and my coach told me, she was like,

"You know, Janiah, you made it." I was like…

People like, "Do you think you're gonna make it?"

I was like, "I don't know, I really hope so."

They're like, "You know you're gonna make it." I'm like, "I really don't know."

You never know how people thinking, how the committee's thinking,

but when I made it, it was… it was actually crazy.

I started crying.

My teammates came around me. They-They hugged me.

They let me know they were proud of me, and that I deserved it.

I was at my high school. We did, like, a little watch party, right?

And my coach is like, "Yeah, we gonna go buy a whole bunch of McDonald's,

we finna get the drinks. This-The ice cream, all that."

I'm like, "Coach, bruh." I was nervous. I'm like, "Bruh,

if I don't get it, you know how embarrassing that's gonna be, bruh?"

So, we had this big ol' watch party. We watching ESPN, man.

Oh, you gotta turn this up. Where's the speaker at?

They on TV, they talking 'bout McDonald, McDonald.

And then, it comes to time, they like, "Now, the girls."

- - Oh, it's right now. Okay, okay!

Hold up, y'all. Hold up, y'all. Y'all gotta be quiet.

Y'all gotta be quiet.

And then

it's Kiki Rice, Janiah Barker, and Ayanna Patterson.

And then, we also have Paris Clark, Flau'jae Johnson…

- Oh, my… -

My hard work finally paying off. Like, they finally seein' me.

They seein' what I knew.

Uh, they validating it for me. They stampin' it for me.

I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you. Oh, congratulations.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Oh, my God! Go look at Twitter, bro. I'm a McDonald All American!

Oh, my God!

I'm a McDonald All American, bro!

I'm a McDonald All American!

That was probably, like, the best moment of my life, for real, for real.

The game touches virtually every high school senior in the country

who's a basketball player.

I wanted every kid in America