| Much has been made recently of the dearth or decline | | | | and hockey gear are expensive, as is private coaching |
| of African Americans in sports like baseball, lacrosse, | | | | and ice time. Basketball hoops, on the other hand, are |
| golf, soccer, swimming, and hockey and the dominance | | | | at nearly every school and public park, so if you have |
| of African Americans in sports like basketball, football, | | | | a ball and some sneakers you're in business. Running |
| and track. | | | | around a track requires an even smaller investment. |
| There have been nearly as many theories and | | | | Among traditionally strong African American sports |
| explanations as there are pundits. It has been said that | | | | only football requires a large upfront equipment outlay, |
| African Americans concentrate on sports that can be | | | | and most of that is handled by public schools. |
| played in densely populated urban areas, that don't | | | | Another factor is attending games and becoming |
| require large initial investments, and that are largely | | | | immersed in a sport. According to the Inquirer, "A |
| supported by existing public school budgets. | | | | working mother of four can't afford to take her kids |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer came up with something new | | | | (to the ballpark.)" Single mothers, especially in the |
| in an August 2009 article on African American interest | | | | African American community, don't typically own |
| in the Phillies and in baseball in general in the wake of | | | | country club memberships, don't have the time to drive |
| the Phillies' 2008 World Series title and the team's | | | | to the ice rink, and often lack exposure to relatively |
| participation in inner city activities designed to increase | | | | new American mainstream sports like soccer and |
| interest in baseball. "Baseball is usually something you | | | | lacrosse. |
| do with your dad," the paper asserted. "The inner-city | | | | While there are consequences for African Americans |
| kids, the dads are not around." | | | | in sports, then presidential candidate Barrack Obama |
| Absent dads have been a focus point in the African | | | | noted in a June 2008 speech that absentee African |
| American community for decades, and the situation is | | | | American fatherhood problems run much deeper. "Too |
| often highlighted in public by community leaders like | | | | many (African American) fathers are M.I.A, too many |
| President Obama who claim that many African | | | | fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and |
| American adult males are shirking family responsibilities | | | | too many homes," Obama said. "They have |
| by being absent from the home. This is the first time | | | | abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead |
| we have seen the situation couched in terms of having | | | | of men. And the foundations of our families are |
| a catch with dad ala the movie Field of Dreams. | | | | weaker because of it. |
| One can certainly make the case that golf and | | | | "We need (African American) fathers to realize that |
| baseball in particular are sports introduced to a son or | | | | responsibility doesn't just end at conception. That |
| daughter by his or her father. Dad would usually have | | | | doesn't just make you a father. What makes you a |
| the club membership necessary to get started in golf, | | | | man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can |
| and middle-aged men are most likely to pass on | | | | have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the |
| baseball lore, take their child to a game, play catch, and | | | | courage to raise a child that makes you a father." |
| encourage rooting for "our team." | | | | That courage includes passing down family traditions, |
| According to a 2000 report from the US Census | | | | like sports. Every African American should know the |
| Bureau, 65 percent (or nearly two-thirds) of African | | | | story of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color line |
| American children grow up without a father in the | | | | with the Brooklyn Dodgers and should understand how |
| home. It's easy to imagine such children drifting into | | | | difficult a game baseball is to play well to appreciate |
| more solitary activities like shooting baskets or running | | | | Robinson's journey. With fathers in the home, African |
| around a track at best, or falling into the wrong crowd | | | | American children will also have greater opportunity to |
| at worst. | | | | follow the paths blazed by Tiger Woods, Jozy Altidore, |
| The pattern also holds when it comes to equipment. | | | | James Stewart, the Williams' sisters and Mike Grier. |
| Baseball gloves and bats, lacrosse sticks, golf clubs | | | | African Americans in sports will be richer for it. |