Dave Sez

Indian Ballers

Tim Stevens of the News & Observer has a few sentences on two prep school brothers who are getting some attention for their basketball abilities (you'll need to scroll down; it's at the end). The brothers are both 6'11" and - here's the kicker - they are of Indian descent.

I don't think I've ever seen or heard of an Indian (or Indian-American) Division 1 basketball player. Not a football player either, for that matter. In fact, despite being a country of over a billion people, and despite millions of Indian-Americans, I can think of only a very few world-class Indian athletes (outside of cricket, of course). You have Vijay Singh and a couple tennis players, including the guy who was in that James Bond movie, and that's it.

It's odd. I've known several Indian-Americans who were excellent athletes. It's not like they are genetically disposed to being terribly short or unathletic. You'd think there'd be more. Or some anyway. It's interesting. Anyone have any theories on why this is? It would have to be cultural, but that doesn't really explain the scarcity of Indian-American athletes.