This story is interesting to me for a couple of different reasons.
I went to school in Dearborn. Beginning in the sixties Chaldeans moved into Dearborn from the Middle East to work at Ford. But Dearborn stayed more or less 90% white until the mid to late eighties. A lot of the (white) kids I went to school with in grade school attended Fordson for high school. I would have never imagined that the Middle Eastern population would explode to the point that the entire team (plus the coach) would either be Muslim or be from the Middle East.
The second thing is that this is the type of story that in another context would probably make a nice made-for-television movie or something like it. Ramadan is a supreme test of discipline, and to pull it off AND still be able to compete? Requires a great deal of perseverance.
For some reason I don’t think that movie will be coming anytime soon. Check out that first comment after the story to get a sense of what I mean. This isn’t just sour grapes speaking…Dearborn was well known throughout the country as one of the whitest cities in the North, and this change hasn’t gone over easy.
(I wish I could make this story replace the stories about Isiah Thomas coming in the wake of his sexual harassment of a black Madison Square Garden employee. I liked but really didn’t care about Marion Jones and the steroid deal. But the Thomas story has been more than disappointing.)
Doc great story, here’s a little sidebar, on Fordson,last year they fired their coach of 17 years because of lack of respect towards Muslim player’s;he was hired at Dearborn high a predominate whiteschool;who Fordson just beat.Congrats Fordson
Ramadan was always an interesting time when I was coaching wrestling. We had a couple Muslim kids, and one of em could never seem to make weight. Well, he made weight, but almost never without some last-minute action. And I usedta be dumbfounded. “How can you not make weight during Ramadan?!” (I knew the answer then, as well as I know it now, but it’s a good-sounding question.)
The answer I hear is that Ramadan in the US has become something of a bipolar matter. What goes on after dark subsequent to a day of pious behavior can only be called raucous in some Muslim households.
Hey Lester.
Yeah, I saw this, and it was a great piece. And I couldn’t agree with you more about the Isaiah Thomas deal. Turns my stomach, and I’m tired of hearing about it.