Archive for the ‘wiley’
39 years later
I didn’t think I’d make it to this point. Or said another way, I really didn’t think about what my life would be after 32. The year 2001 represented the future to me, so 32 was always my imagined end point. And here I stand and remain….
One more year until the blowout.
….
On another note, I knew that Michael Wilbon would write what some of us were thinking. Thank goodness for the Red Wings or I wouldn’t have been able to properly enjoy what SHOULD be the best series since Detroit v San Antonio.
Predominantly Muslim High School Beats Crosstown Rival during Ramadan
This story is interesting to me for a couple of different reasons.
I went to school in Dearborn. Beginning in the sixties Chaldeans moved into Dearborn from the Middle East to work at Ford. But Dearborn stayed more or less 90% white until the mid to late eighties. A lot of the (white) kids I went to school with in grade school attended Fordson for high school. I would have never imagined that the Middle Eastern population would explode to the point that the entire team (plus the coach) would either be Muslim or be from the Middle East.
The second thing is that this is the type of story that in another context would probably make a nice made-for-television movie or something like it. Ramadan is a supreme test of discipline, and to pull it off AND still be able to compete? Requires a great deal of perseverance.
For some reason I don’t think that movie will be coming anytime soon. Check out that first comment after the story to get a sense of what I mean. This isn’t just sour grapes speaking…Dearborn was well known throughout the country as one of the whitest cities in the North, and this change hasn’t gone over easy.
(I wish I could make this story replace the stories about Isiah Thomas coming in the wake of his sexual harassment of a black Madison Square Garden employee. I liked but really didn’t care about Marion Jones and the steroid deal. But the Thomas story has been more than disappointing.)
Quick thoughts on Vick
The central meme that will define Vick’s circumstance is a simple one.
He didn’t leave the hood in the hood. People make the same argument about Pacman, and used to make the same argument about AI.
But here’s the thing. While there is a set of geographical markers that distinguish Detroit/Baltimore’s East Side (or Chicago’s South Side, or Saint Louis’ North Side) from its West/North side, even within this place there’s a whole lot of stuff going on. Even within one thin demographic slice you’ve got hustlers, workers, intellectuals, artisans, etc. And even within the straight up criminal class you’ve got people who understand the value of discretion, who know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. People who might not be able to tell you how to allot your 401K, but can tell you within a minute of meeting someone whether that person is trustworthy. Can give you both strategic and tactical advice about how to negotiate a given situation with a minimal use of rhetorical/physical violence.
The question then isn’t why Vick “didn’t let the hood go.” Because the “hood” contains as many different characters and character types as any other place that we might find on a map.
Why Blacks Don’t Play Baseball
I’ve been reading about Gary Sheffield’s (expanded) comments about the relative absence of African Americans in Major League Baseball. To tell you how much I know and how deep this situation is, until Sheffield made his comments I just assumed that Sheffield himself was Latino. I know that Bonds is an African American, and that Griffey is African American…but after that? My mind is a blank. (Oh. Cecil Fielder’s son Prince is African American.) The Tigers are now good enough for me to follow now, so hopefully that situation will change.But whatever the case I think that Sheffield’s comments are worth thinking about, and fleshing out. I’ve read at least one commenter who got some of it right. And another who also came close. But there’s more than a few idiots floating around. The following represents a piece I wrote over at my old haunts, with a few modifications. (more…)