MAC: Sports on the Decline
By Joe DeFeliceDid you know …
The popularity of three sports — golf, baseball, and softball — is rapidly declining. Golf participation in the United States has declined every year since 2003. Golf courses are closing after about 4,500 opened from 1990 through 2005. More shut down in 2013 than opened for the eighth straight year. Television ratings for the Masters and the U.S. and British Opens all declined this year. In baseball, ratings continue to drop. In fact, the five lowest-rated baseball all-star games were in the last five years. Softball has seen the biggest decline. As baby boomers are retiring, they are taking softball with them. Nationwide, the number of adult softball teams is down 56 percent since the mid 1990s. Only 12 percent of U.S. companies sponsor an athletic team, down from 29 percent seven years ago. Members of generations X and Y are less likely to have grown up playing baseball or softball. Senior softball for those 50 and over is still popular; but as the “boomers” retire and move on, softball may go with them — and that’s too bad.
According to the Canton High School website, the student body makeup is 49 percent male and 51 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 24 percent. The enrollment of economically disadvantaged students is listed at 15 percent. The total enrollment at CHS is listed at 883 students.
Talking about high school enrollment, Franklin High School, a longtime member of the Hockomock League and a rival of Canton, has an enrollment of 1,650 students. The town recently completed building a new high school at the cost of $103,513,848, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.
Stoughton selectmen recently voted unanimously to approve a deal with online retail giant Amazon.com to lease the former site of the Reebok outlet and distribution center on Technology Drive. Amazon plans to hire as many as 125 full-time employees and hundreds more as part-time and seasonable help. According to Stoughton Town Manager Mike Hartman of Canton, Amazon is expected to invest $3 million in improvements to the existing building and spend an estimated $17 million on machinery and equipment.
The ALS Association has raised an unprecedented $42 million nationwide since the “ice bucket challenge” was launched in July. It has been called a “social media miracle.” Presently, there is only one drug used to treat ALS, and it only moderately slows the progression.
According to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, the interchange project at routes I-95 and I-93 in Canton is expected to be completed within the next five years. It includes a two-mile section of I-95 south from the interchange to Neponset Street to be widened to four lanes and a one-mile section of I-95 north from Dedham Street to I-93 that will also be widened to four lanes. Two new entrance ramps will also be built — one from University Ave to I-93 north, which will include the discontinued use of Green Lodge Street west of Elm Street, and a new exit ramp from I-93 south to University Ave.
Governor Deval Patrick recently signed a bill that granted the city of Boston 75 more liquor licenses over the next three years. The governor also signed into law a bill that would prohibit state and local departments of public health from regulating the servings of food brought to potluck dinners sponsored by a group of individuals or by a religious charitable or nonprofit organization. The new law was authored by state Rep. Louis Kafka of Sharon/Stoughton. The participants in the “potluck dinners” must be informed that facilities used to prepare the food, and the food itself, was not inspected by state or local health departments.
The Canton Lions Club luncheon will resume September 20 at 12 noon at the Canton Senior Center. The menu will be meatloaf. Please note that reservations are required by calling the Senior Center at 781-828-1324.
Sometimes the best way to help someone is just to be near them.
This is all for now folks. See you next week.
Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=26695
Posted by Joe DeFelice
on Sep 4 2014. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion.
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