High School Sports: Fla’s Most Segregated Place?
BY SAM FIELDS
Dr. Martin Luther King said, “The most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning?”
I have another activity that is as segregated as any church.
High School sports?!
I though about that while reading through the “All Broward High School Sport” section in The Herald.
Although high school enrollment in Broward is racially about five whites for every four blacks, the photos make clear that when it comes to sports it’s likely to be 90/10 or 100/0 based on the sport.
It is not surprising that football and basketball are dominated by Black youth.
What do you figure is the percentage of color in girls softball?
Try zero.
Boys and girls Water Polo? Subtract a kid named Goldenberg and it could pass for a Hitler Youth rally. Same for tennis, (So much for Serena and Venus) lacrosse, (one Black girl) and volleyball. The only integrated sports are girls flag football and track.
Most interesting is baseball where Black participation continues to drop, drop, drop.
Following in Jackie Robinson’s footsteps, thirty years ago Major League baseball was close to 30% African-American. Today it is 8%!…notwithstanding that it is safer than football with way more money. It pays as much as basketball with twice as many openings.
Broward reflects that devolution. Only three out of 31 baseball All-Stars were Black.
Jackie is rolling over in his grave.
Really Strict Construction
There is a new play in Washington called the “The Originalist”. It’s about U. S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a liberal law clerk debating Constitutional philosophy.
Needless to say Scalia is portrayed as the strict constructionist/“Originalist” who holds that the words in the Constitution have but one meaning and it is whatever the authors wrote in 1787. It is not a “living” document. Scalia has referred to it as a “dead document” that should be followed by its plain language.
The trouble is that even the two main authors, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, disagreed about the meaning. By 1792 they were arguing over whether The Constitution permitted the establishment of a “National Bank”.
But let’s assume that we are going to strictly adhere to the plain language. Talk about a briar patch.
For example, The Sixth Amendment’s plain language makes it clear that women accused of a crime, have fewer rights than men.
Huh?
THE SIXTH AMENDMENT
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.
The language is clear. All accused persons have a right to a speedy trial where the crime was committed and a charging document stating what they are accused of.
But the use of the terms “him” and “his” make it equally clear that only men have the right to confront accusers, subpoena witnesses and have a lawyer.
Now don’t tell me that “him’ and “his” include women; ‘cause then you start sounding like Bruce Jenner. Every dictionary ever written makes that clear and unequivocal that these words only apply to men!
Does this strict construction debate create some legal issues. Sure.
For instance, if a transgender going from male to female keeps their penis—as some do—would they surrender or retain their full Sixth Amendment rights?
I’m not sure what Justice Scalia would say. But I look forward to that oral argument.
May 21st, 2015 at 9:43 am
Fields no doubt worked up a sweat in high school as a member of the chess club or debating society. Those of us who actually got our hands dirty and our bodies punished know that the best player should be picked for a team regardless of ethnic background
May 21st, 2015 at 11:15 am
Dear Mr fields,
. Every Jewish men’s organization I never joined had a water polo team. Every camp or school I attended had multiple Jews on its team. You must lead an odd life if you don’t know American Jews play n even coach water pool. And by the way have you ever met a Hitler Youth? You constantly refer to this or that type of person then show no first hand knowledge.
May 21st, 2015 at 1:46 pm
I went to Hallandale High School and had non-whites on all 3 teams of women’s cross country, soccer, and softball. The article Fields refers to lists the players with the best stats “based on input from local coaches.” I see a lot of Broward high schools missing. Mr. Fields, did you see the list of Scholar Athletes? I don’t see your point with this article.
May 21st, 2015 at 2:48 pm
Intriguing analysis on Sixth Amendment, Mr. Fields. You are right. Strict Constitutional interpretation would require no trials for women. Women (and African-Americans) had no rights back then. Even Scalia would have to break his Strict Constitutional interpretation on this aspect of the Sixth or he would cause a revolution.
May 21st, 2015 at 4:06 pm
Dear Anonymous,
You have touched a nerve. Athletics was about the only thing I accomplished in high school (North Miami ’62—“Go Pioneers”)
I swam for the Pioneers between 1959-62. We never finished worse than third in the state for either the boys or the girls.
I, along with most in my class, was offered numerous college swimming scholarships. Finishing near the bottom of the class—I flunked the 10th grade– it was not going to be for academics.
Without a heated pool, the water got as cold as 58. Why don’t you try swimming 5000 meters in that temperature?
How good were we? In an era when you had to be a sophomore in
college to swim on the varsity, we swam against the University of Florida freshman team—all there on swimming scholarships—and whipped them.
I would have tried out for the chess team but I could never remember how all the pieces moved.
See if Buddy will put up my high school photo
May 21st, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Dear Count,
I have met one or two persons who had been in Hitler Youth. I am quite sure that you can and do happily dwarf that number.
In my country, The United States of America, this would be an embarrassment.
I am not sure what country you are from [obviously not the USA since your use of title is unconstitutional for Americans. See Article 1, Section 1, paragraph 9 outlawing titles] but it is apparently one where their favorite dance step is the Goosestep.
May 21st, 2015 at 5:10 pm
@#3
You are absolutely correct. I have attended scores of soccer, softball, and baseball games at the high school level in the Tri County area over the past few years. There are players of every shade of skin color on high school teams. There is absolutely no point to this article.
Mr. Fields, you need to get out more. Integration happened a long time ago and it is flourishing now.
May 21st, 2015 at 5:37 pm
It’s interesting that Sam finds it “not surprising that football and basketball are dominated by Black youth” but is troubled that softball and water polo teams are white.
May 21st, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Broward lover says: I don’t see your point with this article.
Apparently, you are new around here.
May 21st, 2015 at 6:09 pm
sam as u r a great native new Yorker what was it STICKBALL OR TIDDDDLY WINKS
May 21st, 2015 at 11:48 pm
Oxford Dictionary: “him” means “Referring to a person or animal of unspecified sex”
Dictionary.com: “him” means “anyone (without reference to sex)”
Come on Sammy, every dictionary ever written? This took me about 60 seconds to show your pontification on this point is wrong.
May 22nd, 2015 at 7:37 am
@Hmmm
As a reader of this blog, I find that Sam does shallow research. He stops looking when he proves his point and goes no further. I am amazed that Buddy allows him to continue.
May 22nd, 2015 at 8:29 am
Isn’t 10th Grade where you learn proper grammar and the usage of language like “him” and “he”? Sam admits to almost flunking out. Maybe he was playing pocket pool in class instead of paying attention.
May 22nd, 2015 at 10:11 am
Well, even though this is typically over-the-top for Sam Fields, he is right to point out the decline in the percentage of big league baseball players and big time college baseball players who are African-American.
Baseball people have been talking about that obliquely for years now, and I’m not sure anybody has a reasonable theory or data for why this is happening.
May 22nd, 2015 at 11:30 am
without sam where would the humor be he could have been the original sienfield
May 22nd, 2015 at 11:58 am
This Mr.Fields sounds like a bigot to me. States black kids make up the majority of high school football teams etc(what you never heard of Dan Marino or Zach Thomas(friend). Mentioning Hitler w/ noted ,documented Jewish People. Not nice. again people so say Fields is a jew hater, bigot etc. he commits no crime. See what I mean. Back to firing the cops instead of trying to destroy their lives etc. we educate, teach, etc so we do away w/ racism, bigotry etc. Nope- no second chances(huh Lee). I hate bigotry etc, I have the resources to use street justice(which is wrong-but backed up against a wall you fight fire w/ fire(this is why I always prevail. I sn’t that right”G” as you await to be extradicted back to Broward-from Brooklyn w/ your finger up your ass-I did all this to you-screw me over-use the Mayor’ parents as pawns-who I don’t even know-that’s a meth head for you(thank you my bondsman-(-Spanish for Jim)Never beat me. Oh I’m not done yet -one down, one to go-to the “old lady”- bet your ass-I’m right behind you)…..
May 22nd, 2015 at 3:07 pm
Thanks to the series of tubes, I managed to dig up this photo of Sam Fields in his early days.
http://www.markymunster.com/markymunster210.jpg
May 22nd, 2015 at 4:39 pm
@Hmmm
Dear Anonymous,
You have touched a nerve. See if Buddy will put up my high school photo.
Reading between the lines,
What nerves were being touched?
Why would Buddy have high school photo’s of Sam Fields?
Are these provocative photo’s of Sam Fields when he was on the swim team?
Is Buddy Nevins being blackmailed by Sam Fields?
FROM BUDDY:
I have no high school photo of Sam Fields. I have no idea what he was referring to, which is frequently the case. I didn’t even know Sam Fields until decades after high school.
May 22nd, 2015 at 5:09 pm
I was told many years ago whites play the expensive sports and blacks play the inexpensive sports. They where right.
May 22nd, 2015 at 6:29 pm
This is the most flawed piece of crap I ever read. Mr. Fields takes awards given to a handful of Broward high school athletes and uses it to promote his theories about all sports. It is more reflective of the bias of The Herald than anything else.
May 22nd, 2015 at 6:35 pm
Do you truly ever really know Sam Fields?…
May 23rd, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Who was the last white cornerback in the NFL?
May 23rd, 2015 at 8:58 pm
Do you really think that Jackie Robinson is rolling over in his grave bc there was only 3 African American baseball all stars in Broward County? I think he would be more concerned with the police issue in the country. Broward is one county, in one state. Sam, really? Did your parents even teach you about mountains and molehills?
May 24th, 2015 at 3:06 pm
Jackie Robinson was a conservative Republican. He would be turning over in his grave because he put his life on the line to break racial barriers so that guys like Michael Jordan could make millions and ignore the plight in the black community or on the other side have an Allen Iverson decide to spend the last 20 years creating a thug image to sell sneakers yet ignore the problems in the black community for his financial gain. Of all the athletes that Robinson paved the way for over the last 60 years, few if any lifted a finger to help their own overcome but instead played nice with white corporate america, got rich and live in gated communities with white people.
May 24th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Speaking of high school photos etc. I would love to see the “heathen’ snapshots huh Chaz(everybody hate you back then to)What do you care if Mayor Robb has a moment of prayer. Leave the room. Hang him Mayor Robb and deerfield Comm….
May 25th, 2015 at 6:02 pm
People hate me.
Oh, boo hoo.
Now, I’ll never win the Internets…
May 26th, 2015 at 10:15 am
No Chaz Stevens you are just a bastard. You prey and obsess that these elected officals etc. will fail and there you will be to save the day (sure). You are like some of the other opputurnists in Ft>alu(many have come to that poor podium)for you/ theirs own self gratification and basicly to hear yourselfs talk. I wish I had mor e time to start my own network of blogs. emails etc. to eliminate your need to exist. To a lot of you thank you for your support (its like I can walk on water(w/ a lot of you holding me up chanting go Robert go-amazing part is none of you that support me owe me anything-make no mistake there are distractors-enemies- fear not people I can/will beat them every time(bet heavy w/ me my people I will never let you down- modern day Octivian)….
May 27th, 2015 at 10:15 am
Dear The Truth
Jackie Robinson was a conservative Republican???? On what planet?
There can be no better source than his autobiography “I NEVER HAD IT MADE”
Jackie Robinson was among the last of the Blacks loyal to the GOP out of respect for Lincoln.
In chapter XV–ON BEING BLACK AMONG THE REPUBLICANS–he describes his relationship with liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller.
Specifically he talks about the 1964 GOP convention that nominated Barry Goldwater…who he calls a “bigot”.
He goes on to describe acid being thrown on one of the few Black delegates and almost getting into fistfight with a GOP racist.
In the end he he voted for LBJ and worked for “Republicans for Johnson”.
Some conservative.
But getting back to my orginal point, Jackie would be sad to see that Black athletes have lost interest in baseball.