Word: kikuyus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...white downtown corporations are persuaded to do the right thing, and since team names are to be those of African tribes, by mad and wondrous logic there are the Northwestern Mutual Life Pygmies, the Northern Trust Maasai, the Morgan Stanley & Co. Mau Maus and the First Chicago Near North Kikuyus...
Coyle's narrative follows the Kikuyus, an endearing collection of woofers, goofers, complainers, excusemakers, big talkers, strike-out artists and wavers at fly balls. They are a fairly normal group of eight-to-12-year-olds, except for a higher than average incidence of male relatives dead or in jail, and except for their conversation. After one girl gangster shoots at another but misses, a gentle 10-year-old Kikuyu says, "I think I heard the bullet. It go fooooosh, right past my head." His buddy scoffs, "What, you never seen nobody do no shootin' before? Man, I seen that...
True enough, or close. But the kids want to play baseball. When Brad, one of the white coaches, arrives at their field early in the season, "most of the Kikuyus were already there, loosening up their arms by tossing rocks at the El train." A two-level pecking order develops; there are the Busters, who are physically hopeless, and the Home-Run Hitters, who are prima donnas. As the summer swelters on, a couple of the Busters have growth spurts and become Home-Run Hitters. The Kikuyus win some games and even learn to execute the cutoff play. They earn...