Boys from every side of the tracks converge in privileged sports history
One's experience growing up in Detroit tracks largely with the events of each decade. The adversarial love/hate decade of the 60's birthed the me generation of the 70's which inexorably spawned the dystopian 80's.
In the midst of every struggle and tragedy were small delights....jewels of humanity and tokens of hope. In Spitting Image, I include many chapters of my formative years in Detroit to give the reader some idea of how my worldview as an adoptee, a foundling abandoned at birth was formed. It was not at all filled with pity and heartbreak. To the contrary, I was extremely fortunate. One such example is my work with the Detroit Pistons as a Ball Boy in 1977 and 1978 at Cobo Arena before they relocated to the Pontiac Silverdome. The resentment I experienced as an African-American male growing up in "the most segregated city in the North" was confounded by many kindnesses and opportunities that did not fully inform my consciousness until years later when I was afforded a much broader perspective of America and the world.
Check out my interview with former Pistons Ball Boys Andy Doctoroff, Kevin Swanson, and Peter Skorich as we remember those very special times and share what they meant to us and some of the names that contributed to our development as young men in Detroit. Equally fascinating are their own stories of family genealogy and genetic heritage.