That is an interesting point that it is possible more African Americans are playing soccer than baseball. I wonder if this is truly the case.

Wilbon's piece was very interesting - I'm not sure if this is baseball's fault or the shifting of tastes amoung kids in the US. Clearly, baseball has slipped, but it remains to be seen whether soccer can step into its place.

Goff - from your days as a college soccer reporter - there are even fewer scholarships available for soccer players than baseball players, correct?

I don't know the specific numbers. Major Division I soccer programs have, I believe, approximately 10 scholarships to offer (they can be divided into portions). Anyone out there know for sure?

check this site out

www.streetsoccerusa.org

Of course, Lucigol is African Brazilian! It's in the net! It's in the net!!!

I believe the NCAA maximum for soccer is 9.9 scholarships per team. I have no idea about college baseball, though.

According to Wilbon, baseball provides exactly 11.7 scholarships.

with soccer the story is much about the children of recent African immigrants continuing with the game of their homeland rather than huge strides in the inner cities of the US (see socceramerica recently)

I don't know the background of all the DC players, but DC does seem to have a higher # of players with African-American roots that date back as far as Jackie Robinson than other MLS teams

Wilbon's column is mandatory reading, regardless of the topic. But he does his best work when he takes on race issues.

Soccer may be gaining ground, but I think the point was that basketball succeeds in the inner city because it takes almost no equipment, very little space and is heavily marketed by the shoe companies who have exploited the celebrity status of players.

It's harder to market Ronaldinho or Drogba when they are not on TV in the US and kids need a lot of space to play.

I forgot to add that I read Steve's column before Wilbon's; excellent insight into Soehn. Nice quote by Payne about Soehn's other potential employers not making the right choice.

Wilbon "does his best work when he takes on race issues"?

Are you kidding me? He talks about racial issues so much that his column has become unreadable. It is just so tiresome. I think he uses the topic as a crutch because he can't think of any other interesting topics and write as well as Kornheiser.

Granted, the past few days he's written about Jackie Robinson, Don Imus, and Eddie Robinson, but those appropriate given the timeliness.

"write as well as Kornheiser"
You need to update your subscription :-)

It's interesting today thinking that, as WIlbon writes, "More black kids were interested in riding in the Kentucky Derby than shooting a basketball until the late 1950s." Even though soccer isn't mainstream in most African-American communities, it gives me hope that it might be in the future.

The Soccer America series on the increasing number of players of African descent in US youth national teams is encouraging. But the other article next to it about the lack of black coaches in US soccer is discouraging. By my count, MLS has only one black assistant coach (Denis Hamlett of Chicago), which is incredibly sad.

But isn't the larger issue, and yes, I do appreciate the cultural significance Jackie Robinson had on American culture, that *nobody* under 35 plays/follows baseball anymore. African-Americans are merely the most obvious demographic subgroup to focus on with the arrival of the Jackie Robinson anniversary, but this is a game whose fanbase is aging and African-Americans, who have for a long time been the bellweather of what is 'cool' or 'in' in this culture, are simply the vanguard of this cultural shift.

This is a soccer blog, but since we've gotten on to baseball, hasn't anyone noticed that the changes in MLB are due to it being a wide open international game? 30 years ago, there were slightly fewer teams but all the players were Americans. The percentages of black (and white non-hispanics) have dropped because there are so many non-Americans playing now. The Dominican Republic produced more players than any individual American state other than California. I think this is a good thing, by the way, as it increases the world's attention on the game and improves the product. The same thing can be said for soccer. While it seems from the major signings that MLS is becoming the league of Brazilians and Argentines who couldn't get jobs elsewhere, in fact there are a lot of quality players from all over, which makes the games better and makes US players better, who then go and play in Europe.

by the way, when did Kornheiser last write a column?

LOL

David,

Attend some more games and look around. A lot of people under 35 attend. Baseball attendance has generally never been stronger. Fewer kids rate it their favorite sport, and fewer play it, but generally they go, and as of now they still grow up appreciating it.

Troy,

Even allowing for the impact of Latin and Asian players, there's clearly been an abandonment of the game by large*r* segments of the US black community. It is what it is.

Wilbon's right, that even though MLB is not the source of the problem, they'll have to be a big part of the solution, because if they don't do it, no one else will.

"It's harder to market Ronaldinho or Drogba when they are not on TV in the US and kids need a lot of space to play."

So why not work on starting inner-city Futsal leagues? Isn't that how Ronaldinho got his start?

Lack of black coaches in U.S. soccer is directly related to the lack of black U.S. soccer players 20 years ago. That goes away in time, as the current players age and take coaching jobs. Where were the current young coaches like Curt Onalfo 20 years ago? Playing.

I think Wilbon misses the role of the gaming industry in promoting sports in kids. Like it or not, the U.S. produces more kids who play video games than who play sports. The favorite sport product in the U.S. is NFL football, not basketball. I would venture to say it's the favorite sport of inner city black kids, rural white kids, and everyone in between. The largest thing responsible for the growth of NFL football fans under 35 is hands-down Madden by EA sports. NBA Jam (He's on FIRE!) was responsible for a lot of the growth in the years when the NBA was growing it's audience (it's not growing it like it was back in the first Jordan days). My video gaming free time has waned as I've gotten older and gained responsibilities. Is there a good soccer video game?

P.S. There were no good baseball video games in the 80's or 90's. That's why they don't have the American kids interest.

LSG:

FIFA07.