(06-27-2013 08:17 AM)vandiver49 Wrote: When I was exposed to lax 15 years ago at the Naval Academy, I wouldn't have guessed then that the sport would have taken off in the south the way it has. Spending 4 years in the triangle of hate that is JHU, USNA and UMD, I understand the appeal of the game, but I wonder why lax is flourishing while soccer goes into its 40th year of trying to get a toehold in the US and tennis has completely fallen of the map.
In this regard I can understand JR's position. Maybe b/c I first encountered lax while in the Mid-Atlantic/NE and that has created some bias, but I just think its popularity in the south is part aspirational and part defeatism. The elite part of it is easy to identify, while the defeatism part is a little more subtle.
In school I was 5'8", 190 lbs and while that happens to be the perfect spec for a soldier, its damn near worthless in terms of athletics. I had no problems being an intramural warrior as 'I was going pro in something other than sports'. But when I went to college lax games I was amazed by the talent these players possessed and wondered 'why the hell are they hiding out in lax instead of playing baseball, basketball, tennis or hockey?'
At the time, its impossible not to notice the fact that most of the teams were white. There is nothing wrong with that fact, especially in light lacrosse's previous stated elite roots. But not all the teams my school competed against could have been considered elite, some in fact were quite middling (the schools academic perception, not the lax teams). Thus, I've just always had this nagging suspicion talented kids that play lax, along with water polo and rugby in this country was kind of a form of self-segregation.
I guess my specific lament is with regard to basketball as the demographics for whites in MLB and NFL are around 63%. But in the NBA, whites only make up 20% of the league. Now, in MLB the fact that blacks only make-up 8% of the league, down from an all time high of 17-19% is considered a major crisis. But the fact that the NBA has gone from about 40% white to 20% in about the same time frame is apparently not a cause for concern.
IMO, it's not a question of talent, as any of the guys I saw playing lax could have been the next Pistol Pete or Tom Chambers, but more of a question of willingness. That is what truly concerns me.
(this rambling diatribe has been brought to you by a black guy who is simply concerned for the game he loves)
Vandiver I think your suspicions are grounded in a new growing form of discrimination that has less to do with race and more to do with socioeconomic standing. The reality right now is that the middle class of America is under total assault by corporate America. Retirement accounts are being annuitized (may pay a nice monthly stipend to the retired, but your children will never inherit the principal as the banking institution absorbs it, or in the case of privatized non-profits the parent organization). Because of the tax breaks that big box stores lobby for and receive Mom & Pop start the day almost 15 points behind their bigger competitors just on taxes due. This doesn't even include buying in volume. Mom & Pop survived against the big chains until the tax advantages were granted. With the destruction of private business and the absorption of lifetime savings disguised as annuities coupled with the rise in ad valorum taxation to make up for the declining sales tax bases that corporate tax favors have created the middle class is slowly being sucked dry. Sociologically what does this have to do with lacrosse?
There is pressure on to move from the middle class to the corporate upper class. Parents will want their children to imitate the lifestyles of the super wealthy in hopes that their kids will find a way into it. It's the same reason all poor people spent every last dime trying to get their children educated so that they could make what was once the American dream....the middle class, preferably upper middle class.
That is also why I have frequently stated that football realignment is just a symptom of the economic consolidation taking place in the country and indeed the world. If you want something really frightening to chew on, because you and I can't contribute to politicians what corporations do, our protests over the present situation will not even be heard. These people work off of privilege not ability and they are extremely exclusionary. And some of them have already expressed a very scary thought that the new rich will be finding a way to have 2/3rds less population in the future thereby creating a more sustainable planet for their children.
Privilege and herd thinning has been an inspiration for every atrocity that those who have believed themselves to be superior have ever perpetrated upon society. Whether communistic zeal, nazi arrogance, religious fervor, or out right racism, the perpetrators have all had one thing in common, enough power to think themselves above reproach. Corporate America is there today. Watch out! And sadly these people come to power always under the guise of success and progress and when any remaining moral compass is gone and they feel the power the trouble starts.
In this country it started with the definition of white collar crime and special prisons in which to protect these sociopaths. We were once a democracy. In a democracy ideally criminals receive the same treatment regardless of class and citizens are afforded the same protections and have the same rights regardless of class. When the pretext for this is no longer even considered necessary you are no longer a democracy but at minimum a meritocracy and likely much worse.
I think lacrosse is rising in popularity only because it is a symbol of the rich and powerful to which a public, still largely unaware of what has already begun to transpire socially, hopes to have their children aspire.
Note: I don't hate lacrosse as a sport, but I despise the exclusiveness it has come to represent. And, I recoil every time someone on this board speaks glibly about how lacrosse attracts major donors and that is why it good to have the sport. That sentiment means that the exclusivity mentality is already in place.
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, I see Clemson and Virginia Tech also have teams. Hmm. Very interesting.