Carol Chen
Professor Warner
Engl 112B
2, December 2009
Using Sports to Erase Prejudice
Admittedly, the title of Whale Talk did not inspire me to rip open its covers and dive into Chris Crutcher�s imagination, but his novel on prejudice and racism is capable of touching even the most unwilling of readers. This book was banned in several places due to its grotesque nature and Chris Crutcher�s tendency to get down to the nitty-gritty. Adults felt that their children should not be exposed to foul language and the Minister of Missouri Valley Church of Christ even called it �filth.� They are wrong. Although Whale Talk tackles mature subjects such as racism, molestation, suicidal thoughts, murder, and alienation Whale Talk is exactly what the average high school student needs. The Tao Jones (T.J for short), the main character in the novel, is a protagonist that many children can connect with. Whale Talk is a perfect book to give a voice to those �outcast� kids who suffer from prejudice against their race, disabilities, or personality tendencies. Along with the Mr. Simet, the new swim coach, T.J. gathers a team of seven, composed entirely of students who don�t quite fit in.
Like many of his other novels, Chris Crutcher focuses on the harsh realities of life in Whale Talk. There are many people who �protect� their children by hiding this part of life, pretending there is no wrong in the world, but those people are stifling the voices of millions. Not telling this story would mean telling those kids who have hard lives that their story doesn�t matter, that they are second-rate citizens who don�t deserve to be heard. Whale Talk is a fantastic novel to teach students about acceptance and the ignorance of discrimination.
Annotated Bibliographies
Barton, Frederick. Courting Pandemonium. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Pub Ltd, 1986. Print.
A former basketball player for the Boston Celtics turns into a high school basketball coach. A talented high school female basketball player by the name of Barbara Jeanne Bordelon wants to become the first girl to play on the boys� varsity basketball team and mix in a radical feminist group and an equally strident group of evangelical Christians.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Courting-Pandemonium-Novel-Fredrick-Barton/dp/0931948983
Brashler, William. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings. Champaign, IL:
University of Illinois Press, 1993. Print.
Between baseball seasons in the 1930ss, the poorly paid black players would travel from the South to the North, offering to play the best talent each town along the way had to offer. The all All-Stars would have to balance their talent against the tolerance level of each community – no town put up gracefully with black players defeating local white heroes. In some communities it could even result in violence.
Rosen, Charles. The Cockroach Basketball League. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press,
1992. Print.
Rosen depicts a coach struggling to make his CBA team play like a team rather than a bunch of would-be stars trying to build up their individual stats so they can be called up to play real basketball in the NBA. He takes his team to the CBA championship in spite of everything.
Weesner, Theodore. Winning the City. New York, NY: Summit Books, 1990. Print.
This novel is about a 15-year-old basketball player who is cut from the roster because he plays the same position as the son of a rich man who is willing to finance the team. Consumed by the unfairness of it, the boy is determined to find another team to play on and to win the city championship against his school despite great odds.
Source: http://www.enotes.com/winning-city-salem/winning-city
Esiason, Boomer & Cauffie, Lowell. Toss. New York: Penguin Group, 1998. Print.
Esiasion, a longtime NFL quarterback, gives a gripping portrayal of an NFL team that�s been engineered for failure in order to lower its value and force a sale. The team�s manager drafts trouble-makers to instigate antagonism among the players. But the $6 million rookie quarterback Derek Brody wins his teammates over and convinces them that winning is possible.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Toss-Novel-Boomer-Esiason/dp/052594429X
Gilbert, Sarah, A League of Their Own, Warner Books, 1992. Print.
A reasonably good story in its own right about two competing sisters in the women's professional baseball league. There are several books that posit a rabid reaction to the first female player in major league baseball, although that is often accompanied by fan acceptance when the women show themselves to be outstanding team players. Among the best of these are Barbara Grigorich's She's on First, Michael Bowen's Can't Miss, and Gorman Bechard's Balls.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/League-Their-Own-Sarah-Gilbert/dp/0446363839
Bechard, Gorman. Balls. Dutton, 1995. Print.
Taking place in the year 2000, BALLS tells the story of Louise "Balls" Gehrig's debut season as the first baseperson for the Manhattan Meteorites, a National League expansion team. From the Supreme Court ruling that grants her the right to "play ball," to the threats from psychotic fans and players alike (not to mention newly appointed baseball commissioner, Dan Quayle), to the promise from Republican Presidential nominee, Rush H. Limbaugh, that " . . . once elected, I will sign into law a bill prohibiting women from participating in Major League baseball," Louise needs every ounce of strength just to concentrate on the game she so loves. Then she meets the man of her dreams. Only problem . . . he's a pitcher for an American League team . . . the team the Meteorites will most likely face in the World Series.
Source: http://www.writers.net/writers/29265
Jenkins, Jerry. The Rookie. Wolgemuth & Hyatt Pub, 1991. Print.
Unlike most baseball novels, this is centered inside the consciousness of a young boy, son of a former baseball player who is now in prison. The boy is determined to make himself a great batter and pitcher, and puts himself through an unbelievably exacting regime, becoming the youngest player ever in the major leagues. But excellence does not relieve the pain.
Source: http://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9781561210398
Shields, David. Heroes. Nebraska: Bison Books, 2004. Print.
An outstanding novel about a college basketball team (Iowa readers will have no trouble identifying the college as the University of Iowa, and the town as Iowa City; whether the team is the Hawkeyes is another question). A sportswriter sees a point guard on this team who, if he were used properly, would be a great player, the Magic Johnson kind of player who makes everone around him better. But the coach wants him to be a shooter, not a playmaker. And, unfortunately, this player has no business being in college. The sportswriter finds out the truth about the kid's high school and junior college records, which have been doctored, and has to choose which he cares about more--his journalistic ethics, which would compel him to tell this story, and his love of basketball excellence. This man knows and loves basketball, and it shows.
Lewis, Michael. The Blindside. Norton, 2006. Print.
An intermittently homeless Memphis ghetto kid taken in by a rich white family and a Christian high school, Oher's preternatural size and agility soon has every college coach in the country courting him obsequiously. Combining a tour de force of sports analysis with a piquant ethnography of the South's pigskin mania, Lewis probes the fascinating question of whether football is a matter of brute force or subtle intellect.
Source: http://www.amazon.com/Blind-Side-Evolution-Game/dp/039306123X