I jogged observing people as I went around the track. Most of the people jogging were white and very few
blacks. There was one girl that got every guys attention every time she jogged around the track. As she
passed the basketball courts one of the guys whistled at her and said "hey shortie come here for a minute".
She ignored him and jogged a little faster acting as though she hadn't even heard the guy. There were two
overweight girls walking around the track together, one was on her cell phone and the other was listening to
a Walkman. I eventually stopped running and stepped on the basketball court. I knew at least half of the guys
there. After greeting a few guys with a "whassup" or "whats tha deal", we began to play a full court five on
five.
There were girls on the sideline pointing and flirting with guys on the court. This made a few guys show off
and the girls cheered them on as they did it. We began the game and I had all white guys on my team and we
were playing against a team of all black guys. I heard one of the black guys whisper to his teammate and say
"lets get this over quick, they can't fack with us". I laughed at his comment and the game started. The black
team played much more flashier than my teammates. They passed the ball liked Magic Johnson and dribbled
like Allen Iverson and some of them could even dunk. My team was struggling to keep up with their fast
pace play. We were all having fan laughing and joking when shots were blocked or someone got dunked on.
The girls on the sideline watched with enthusiasm pointing and shouting when my teammate caught an alley-
oop and dunked it. The girls made fun of their friends calling them "weak" Their comment intensified the
other teams play and they played harder and flashier. On one possession a guy who I'll call Mike drove to the
basket and got fouled. He got of the floor furious at my teammate for fouling him. Mike shouted with an
aggressive voice "foul me again and I'll beat yo ass". My teammate smirked and replied sarcastically back by
saying "sure, whatever you say tough guy". The game continued on as though nothing ever happened. We
were catching up and the opposite team was getting fatigued. They running slower, they weren't playing as
flashy, and they were missing all of their shots. The game eventually was tied and we had the ball for the
game winning point. I in bounded the ball and without hesitation this tall lanky guy shot the ball over Mike
and hit nothing but net. The whole court went crazy. The girls laughed at their guy friends and other guys on
the court and sideline taunted Mike for giving up the game winning point. He stormed off the court shouting
at his teammates for not helping on the defense.
I stop playing basketball and sat on the sideline watching a little more. I noticed at the far end of the court a
white guy and a black guy arguing. I walked over closer to see what the fuss was about. They were arguing
over a basketball and the white guy snatched the ball from the black guy and ran. The black guy chased him
all over the court and it looked as though they were serious, but it was eventually obvious that they were
friends and were just playing with each other. I then walked to the back gym where there were a group of
Asian guys playing basketball. They were all smiling and playing with each other. I left and walked toward
the exit and noticed a group of guys talking about the NCAA tournament and whom they thought would win.
Each person defended their team well and gave good reasons why they thought their team would win. I soon
walked away and headed for the door.
Fieldnote Example #3:
Strengths: Description of Setting; Structure of notes.
Weaknesses: Details choppy; Odd usage of points.
Place: Knights of Columbus Hall, Edwardsville, IL Date: October 26, 2002 Time: 8:00-9:00pm Social
Group: John (my boyfriend, 22), Jen (20), Matt (Jen's fianc6, 21), Trista (20), Eric (Trista's Ex-boyfriend,
21), Travis (mid 20's), Sheila (Travis's wife, mid 20's), Steve (early/middle 30's), Kathy (Steve's wife,
early/middle 30's), David (Steve & Kathy's son, early teens), Abby (Steve & Kathy's daughter, around 9-11),
and myself. We were all sitting at the same table together through dinner and during the reception.
Atmosphere: Wedding Reception for a couple right out of college. Dinner had already been served and the
lights were turned down and music began playing. Tables were set up along the West and East walls as well