Boobie Miles: Racism In Sports

740 Words2 Pages

Chazong Lo
Written Task 1
Dec 2015

Rationale:

Effects of Racism in Sports
In the year of 2014, there were 89 reported racial incidents according to ESPN. The issue of racism continues to grow and to find the effects that it has, we interviewed Boobie Miles, a former high school football player at Permian High school who was a target of racism. Boobie Miles was a character in the ethnography, Friday Night Lights that outlines the football season of 1988 along with racial issues that Odessa, Texas has. We asked Boobie Miles how racism affected his football career and life afterwards.
Boobie Miles was raised by his uncle L.V. Miles in Odessa. L.V. brought Boobie into the sport. Boobie played for a football team that L.V. coached and …show more content…

How did that make you feel?
Miles: It put a lot of pressure on me. Teams like Notre Dame and Houston sent me letters.
Interviewer: During the preseason you injured your knee. Was this a major turning point to your season?
Miles: Yes, at first I thought it was a little knock but it turned out I needed surgery.
The injury that Boobie Miles acquired was a torn anterior cruciate ligament(ACL). A serious injury that changes athletes forever. Boobie and his uncle L.V. opted to use a knee brace and go through rehab to be able to play.
Interviewer: What made you continue to play even though you had an injury?
Miles: The pressure. The pressure to play for the team and the pressure to play for football teams after high school.
Interviewer: Do you regret playing with an …show more content…

I felt that i could recover.
Interviewer; In the game that you returned you limped off the field. Did that worry you?
Miles: Yes, but by next week I felt like I was ready to play again.
Interviewer: The game the week after you returned, you didn’t receive that much playing time, how did that much playing time. How did that make you feel?
Miles: I was angry. Last season I rushed over 1000 yds and they didn’t give me a chance to be back on the team.
From this point Boobie Miles would be the victim of racial abuse. He was left on the bench and was racially abused by fans of his own school.
Interviewer: When did you start getting racial comments?
Miles: After I picked up my injury.
interviewer: Do you know why?
Miles: At the time in Odessa, Texas, racism was very noticeable. Only a few minorities could get into schools like Permian nonetheless get onto the football team. I guess when I no longer could produce for the team I no longer received respect from anybody. It's like slavery still existed. If I couldn’t produce then I wasn’t needed.
Interviewer: How did racism in Odessa affect your football

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