Book Review by Emi Meyer, Week 10: Sports

I found these four readings, Mexican American Baseball, The Silence of the Rams, Tiger Woods at the Center of History, and Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars to complement each others' angle on the discussion of race in sports.

Mexican American Baseball discusses how baseball clubs became much more than recreational activities for Mexican American communities. It allowed solidarity and pride in the face of discrimination, as well as a masculine and competitive mentality of men in organizing labor protests. However, the author notes the resulting marginalization of women as ultimately undermining effective unity.

The Silence of the Rams discussed the channeling of resources in St. Louis to a sports team, when children of poor neighborhoods are in dire need of funding. Unsurprisingly, the children that are underserved come from minority communities. This relationship between athlete and funding is explored in Tiger Woods at the Center of History. As a potential example of how a “single person could save US society from endemic racial problems” (p.10), Tiger Woods fit the role of the "black hero." Corporations such as Nike, riding on the marketability of such an image of integration and progress, quickly endorsed him with extravagant deals. This corporate identity takes the racial hero beyond the political arena and into "mass consumption capitalizing on the dreams and hopes invested in him." (p.11) Thus, the attempt to overcome one hierarchical social order (racism) enforces another (capitalism).

Finally, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars examines a case in which black athletes take the spotlight afforded by the growing role of sports in US culture and media to make a political statement. Instead of submissively partaking in the Olympics, Smith and Carlos took the opportunity to bring the racial inequalities within the US to the fore. They are connected to the politicization of sports, and their fists have become famous symbols for civil rights.

Thus, all four authors deal with sports as both an egalitarian and capitalistic institution, as well as the role of athletes inside and outside the US. The athlete's body becomes a symbol and in Yu's opinion, its value is detemined by race or brand.

I find the complexities of racial acceptance in the field and the lack of correlation to social integration shocking. Perhaps it is the media that allows such an illusion to persist. If we watch passively, the dire reality will go unaddressed. Thus, I appreciate it when activists such as Smith and Carlos shock us out of our comfortable seats and ask us what it is we are watching: Is it really just a game?