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As America becomes more Hispanic and brown many of the traditional national past times have seen a decrease in attendance and participation. These include:
Baseball
Golf
NASCAR
Hockey
Rock and Roll
Ballet
Plays
Musicals
Broadway Shows
National Parks
Camping, fishing, Hunting
Tennis
Bowling
Cruising
If you research these traditional pastimes you will find they are basically "white" dominated activities (yes with some small level Hispanic Participation). As our country turns more brown, these activities will continue to lose popularity.
They are not losing their popularity because of hispanics or any other race. They are losing their popularity because the younger generations in general do not value them as much. They may not find them fun and want to try something else. But that is ok because cultures and ideas naturally change over time. Many activities enjoyed in ancient times aren't as popular now, are they?
They are losing their popularity because they have been turned into high-profit vehicles for big corporations. Because white people constitute a larger market share, with more discretionary spending potential. White people will pay $1,000 for a ticket to an event, so stadiums are torn down and replaced with structures that have lots of $1,000 seats. The fact that a game is being played in the stadium is incidenal.
Well, I only see three of those activities that I would miss. To the rest: goodbye. Don't write.
Most of them are too commercialized now anyway.
I don't think it's a racial/national thing. Are there national parks south of our border? Are there golf courses? Do they have anything better than rotating clay disks to listen to our rock and roll with? C’mon!
I listen to foreign radio (via internet) all the time. Spain (love Silvia Tarragona!), Argentina, Mexico, Norway, France, Quebec, etc... They know more about us than we do. I hear American music. I hear American news. I hear every time our president lets a fart. I hear all of our pop culture news. It's rather sad, but I hear more news about us than I hear about the various countries on their own radio stations. I don't think they are going to be responsible for changing our pastimes. We've changed them beyond imagination. I find it a bit sad.
When I attend or participate in these American pastimes I notice that nearly everyone is white. Here is the DC area most people are either immigrants or people of color, but you go to the Redskins Game (football), Nationals (Baseball), the Capitals (Hockey) or our stop on the PGA Tour, 95% of the people are white. As the White population continues to fall, I can not expect these things will survive. Will they?
I disagree with your basic premise that the things you listed are somehow inherently "white" things. Some are, some aren't, and if they are "white-dominated" in many cases that's just because there were more white people in this country to participate in them. Many of the activities you list are popular in other countries as well, including countries with non-white people. And even for "white dominated" pasttimes, it's not like a love for NASCAR or hockey is somehow linked to skin color. And there is no one "white" American culture, either, for that matter.
Attending sports events (and in DC of all places, where the numbers are skewed already by the nature of DC's position as a major tourist destination, and, more importantly, as the epicenter of the federal government and all the lobbying and politics that comes along with that) is hardly an objective study into larger trends.
I'm going to rant a little bit here. Ive been a Cardinals fan all my life, way back to Marty Marion, and there is something going on in St. Louis that nobody is talking about. The Cardinals have not had an African American playing in 100 games since Reggie Sanders in 2004. The have only one black player now, who is getting playing time only because a regular is injured. This, the team that was a league powerhouse in the '80s with several black superstars leading the way (McGee, Ozzie and Lonnie Smith, Coleman, Pendleton, Hendrick). What's going on?
They have retired the number of the white Ken Boyer, but not the black Willie McGee, although McGee's playing years and stats with the Cards were at least equal if not better than Boyer, and McGee came back (after being traded) to become a huge fan favorite (nearly all white fans, of course) in his declining years. Why do they refuse to retire his number? Why do they not have any black players now? St. Louis city/county combined is 25% black
Baseball in general is a hugely white sport. There are fewer African American players in MLB now than there were in 1980. A decade ago, I went to a lot of games at a junior collee in a half-black town in Florida. Every single baseball player was white. The past two years Ive been going the games of the college team here in south Texas. No black players, only one Hispanic player. We have a team in the Texas Collegiate summer league. Two black players in the entire league, no Hispanic at all. The only black spectator Ive seen is the driver from the visiting team's bus, who came in to watch the game.
I've been to minor league games in about 20 southern cities. Rarely a black person in the crowd. They are so rare, that if there is one, you'd notice him. In Greenville SC, a little group of about 8 members of the family of a Greenville boy on the visiting team, sitting off separately and rooting for him. The rest, all white. Next time you watch a MLB game on TV, look at the crowd shots.
I'm a white guy and I can tell you that my decline in participation has more to do with the decline in quality of what's offered. I used to be a season ticket holder in baseball and a regular attendee at basketball and football. I won't even watch any of the team sports on TV any more. Let's look at the "economics" of many of these activities"
Baseball-Subsidized by taxpayers, like GM!
Golf
NASCAR-Subsidized by taxpayers, tax breaks for tracks
Hockey-Subsidized by taxpayers, like GM
Rock and Roll
Ballet-Often underwritten by donations Plays Musicals Broadway Shows-these three are the same, many plays have "ethnic themes and a wider following among minorities than you may be aware of
National Parks
Camping, fishing, Hunting
Tennis
Bowling
Cruising
I don't think any of these are going to decline, at least not by much. As more minorities rise in some of the sports as participants the number of minorities that follow that sport (or other activity) will increase
Bowling
Cruising
golfgod
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