Racism or Ignorance?

I don't know if I am reading into things, but when this situation occurred it really bothered me. I contemplated not blogging about it, but then I decided, what the hell. It's my blog (with Hopps and Sinickal, of course). This seems like an appropriate time, being just after the end of college bowl season and on the eve of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s holiday (although I have to work Monday).

Here is what happened.


Way back on December 26, 2008, Florida Atlantic University played against Central Michigan University in the Motor City Bowl, ultimately winning the game 24-21. This actually earned Howard Schnellenberger a nice win, bringing him to 6-0 in his career in bowl games. However, my gripe occurred well before the victory festivities began.

At the outset of the programming, ESPN made a HUGE deal over the fact that FAU had 3 defensive starters with the last name Joseph, yet none were related. The players were Daniel Joseph, a sophomore defensive lineman from Lake Worth, Florida, Frantz Joseph, a senior SI Honorable Mention All-American linebacker from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Greg Joseph, a senior FoxSports.com All-Bowl cornerback from Miami, Florida.

Now, Florida Atlantic is a small, regional university located in Boca Raton, Palm Beach County, that attracts second-tiered recruits from around the state of Florida, and perhaps some first-tiered recruits from the local area who either (1) want to stay close to home, or (2) do not want to compete with 15 other prized recruits at the same position at UF, FSU and Miami. (Note - This still brings in some pretty healthy recruits for the program.) As you can see, the Josephs are no exception, all hailing from SE Florida (Palm Beach, Broward and Dade Counties, respectively).

Now, South Florida also has a pretty healthy Haitian community. Joseph happens to be a relatively common surname amongst the local Haitian community. Ergo, it should come as no surprise that a local university that heavily recruits locally, finds a collection of unrelated kids with the same surname. BIG FUCKING DEAL ESPN! This is not a story. Do you do the same thing to a baseball team that has a couple of Martinezes or Ramirezes? What if Northern Illinois had a few Wasilewskis? I am sure several colleges have multiple Smiths, Thomases or Johnsons. (Wow - multiple Johnsons - but I digress).

The fact that the announcers (and boy do I wish I remembered who announced this game), kept bringing this up shows that either the announcers or whatever production personnel thought that this would be an actual story worthy of mentioning on air are either completely ignorant about South Florida culture, and in particular that of the Haitian community contained within, or they are just plain racist (either subconscious or overt). I hope that its the former. I really hope that its the former.