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The I in Team: Sports Fandom and the Reproduction of Identity
There is one sound that will always be loudest in sports. It isn’t the squeak of sneakers or the crunch of helmets; it isn’t the grunts or even the stadium music. It’s the deafening roar of sports fans. For those few among us on the outside, sports fandom—with its war paint and pennants, its pricey cable TV packages and esoteric stats reeled off like code—looks highly irrational, entertainment gone overboard. But as Erin C. Tarver demonstrates in this book, sports fandom has become extraordinarily important to our psyche, a matter of the very essence of who we are. Why in the world, Tarver asks, would anyone care about how well a total stranger can throw a ball, or hit one with a bat, or toss one through a hoop? Because such activities and the massive public events that surround them form some of the most meaningful ritual identity practices we have today. They are a primary way we—as individuals and a collective—decide both who we are who we are not. And as such, they are also one of the key ways that various social structures—such as race and gender hierarchies—are sustained, lending a dark side to the joys of being a sports fan. Drawing on everything from philosophy to sociology to sports history, she offers a profound exploration of the significance of sports in contemporary life, showing us just how high the stakes of the game are.
- GenresSportsPhilosophy
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 26, 2017
3 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 10, 2019
Five stars! This book did not remotely meet my expectations. I picked it in the thought that better understanding of sports fan's motivations, might make me more tolerant of their obvious negative effects.
On the contrary my oft expressed sense that--particularly in the case of football--largely white audiences watching largely black players destroy their minds and bodies for the entertainment of the audience is inherently racist was an extreme case of only seeing the tip of an iceberg. I find Professor Tarver utterly persuasive: "Moreover, I will argue, because the mascotting of black male athletes is based on the racist association of blackness with hypermasculinity, it is instrumental in reinforcing heterosexism, homophobia, and misogyny" (110).
Lest you think this is not you: ", But this collective failure to recognize the role of others' subordination or service in one's own social position has been documented by many thinkers as a persistent feature of whiteness and colonialism" (132).
Not say that there is no hope for fandom, at least for fans of athletes such as Megan Rapinoe: "As I will argue in the next section, the explicit presence and celebration of lesbian and (otherwise) queer women in women's basketball and softball, including those women who flout the norms of traditionally feminine gender presentation, has mad fandom of these sports an important site of antioppressive resistance" (192).
"Introduction: Sports Fandom and Identity" (1)
"I hope it is possible to do fandom differently. But we will not find out without first exposing its evils, just below the surface" (7).
"1 Who Is a Fan?" (8)
"Though the specific content of 'fan' changes, what remains constant is the normativity of its application is the requirement that fans both feel a connection to their team or sport and put this connection into practice. The combination of these two dimensions distinguishes fans from persons who merely attend or happen to watch sporting events" (19).
"2 Sport Fandom as Practice of Subjectivization" (24)
"Dreyfus and Kelly argue that sport is appealing to fans because it offers such feelings to an increasingly secularized population" (25).
"In this chapter, I argue that everyday practises of sports fandom constitute a key means of cultivating and reproducing individual and community identities for Americans today" (26).
"As a result, participation in explicitly masculine sports culture becomes increasingly urgent, since it 'functions to assuage men's fear of feminization in current postmodern culture'" (39).
"Moreover, all of the ostentatious markers of southern aristocracy remain in The Grove, maintained by an overwhelmingly white fan population, in the context of a state with one of the largest (and poorest) black populations in the nation" (48).
"3 Putting the 'We' in 'We're Number One: Mascots, Teams, and Community Identity" (56).
"But if we take seriously the extent to which fan behavior is constitutive of a team's Identity (as Mumford suggests), we will have to acknowledge that such behavior need not be (and often is not) motivated by the rational appeal to a metaphysical grounding but instead could be motivated by an affective attachment that need not be particularly rational" (66).
"What matters, instead, is the collective fantasy of power or aggression that they inspire--the sense that we, too, become fearsome or daring when identified with them" (72).
"The use of Indian mascots, in short, involves the tacit reiteration of a sentiment that has more or less explicitly characterized white supremacy: these people exist for us" (76).
"4 Hero or Mascot? Fantasies of Identification" (79).
"Rather, their identification is with feelings of domination, power, hypermasculinity, violence, or animality that are otherwise inaccessible" (99).
"However, I will argue in the remainder of this chapter that even fans' love for Jordan is, for the most part, understandable as mascotting rather than hero worship and thus there is good reason to suspect that contemporary sports fandom is not the setting for racial equalization" (105).
"5 'Honey Badger Takes What He Wants': Southern Colligate Athletics and the Mascotting of Black Masculinity" (109)
"Beyond consideration of institutional structure, however, I want to argue that attending to fan Identity and engagement will show that the moral problems of colligate sports fandom run far deeper" (110).
"As a result, it is not surprising to find white fans with a sense of entitlement that is required to view those who would resist their own exploitation as 'spoiled': the belief that black college athletes 'owe' whites their athletic labor is supported by the assumption that access to white institutions is extraordinarily valuable, according to which such athletes are 'lucky' to have been admitted" (128).
"6 From Mascot to Danger" (143)
"In this chapter, I examine fan practices of dis-identification and argue that these further expose the racialized and racializing character of sports fandom in the contemporary United States" (143).
"Perhaps tellingly, fans seem more than willing to express moral disapproval of or anger at acts of violence against women committed by their favorite athletes and return to rooting for them shortly thereafter" (150).
"On the other, they are not concerned with the welfare of these athletes beyond their performance on the field or court and, once they leave the sporting context, may have attitudes toward them characterized by indifference, contempt, or fear" (157).
"Haterade is, in short, a crucial instrument in the production and reinforcement of sports fan's identities" (169).
"7 Women on the Margins of Sports Fandom" (171).
"Some forms of women's sports fandom, I will argue, involve practises that constitute significant resistance to misogyny, racism, and heterosexism and thus give reasons to nuance our analysis of the social functions of sports fandom" (173).
On the contrary my oft expressed sense that--particularly in the case of football--largely white audiences watching largely black players destroy their minds and bodies for the entertainment of the audience is inherently racist was an extreme case of only seeing the tip of an iceberg. I find Professor Tarver utterly persuasive: "Moreover, I will argue, because the mascotting of black male athletes is based on the racist association of blackness with hypermasculinity, it is instrumental in reinforcing heterosexism, homophobia, and misogyny" (110).
Lest you think this is not you: ", But this collective failure to recognize the role of others' subordination or service in one's own social position has been documented by many thinkers as a persistent feature of whiteness and colonialism" (132).
Not say that there is no hope for fandom, at least for fans of athletes such as Megan Rapinoe: "As I will argue in the next section, the explicit presence and celebration of lesbian and (otherwise) queer women in women's basketball and softball, including those women who flout the norms of traditionally feminine gender presentation, has mad fandom of these sports an important site of antioppressive resistance" (192).
"Introduction: Sports Fandom and Identity" (1)
"I hope it is possible to do fandom differently. But we will not find out without first exposing its evils, just below the surface" (7).
"1 Who Is a Fan?" (8)
"Though the specific content of 'fan' changes, what remains constant is the normativity of its application is the requirement that fans both feel a connection to their team or sport and put this connection into practice. The combination of these two dimensions distinguishes fans from persons who merely attend or happen to watch sporting events" (19).
"2 Sport Fandom as Practice of Subjectivization" (24)
"Dreyfus and Kelly argue that sport is appealing to fans because it offers such feelings to an increasingly secularized population" (25).
"In this chapter, I argue that everyday practises of sports fandom constitute a key means of cultivating and reproducing individual and community identities for Americans today" (26).
"As a result, participation in explicitly masculine sports culture becomes increasingly urgent, since it 'functions to assuage men's fear of feminization in current postmodern culture'" (39).
"Moreover, all of the ostentatious markers of southern aristocracy remain in The Grove, maintained by an overwhelmingly white fan population, in the context of a state with one of the largest (and poorest) black populations in the nation" (48).
"3 Putting the 'We' in 'We're Number One: Mascots, Teams, and Community Identity" (56).
"But if we take seriously the extent to which fan behavior is constitutive of a team's Identity (as Mumford suggests), we will have to acknowledge that such behavior need not be (and often is not) motivated by the rational appeal to a metaphysical grounding but instead could be motivated by an affective attachment that need not be particularly rational" (66).
"What matters, instead, is the collective fantasy of power or aggression that they inspire--the sense that we, too, become fearsome or daring when identified with them" (72).
"The use of Indian mascots, in short, involves the tacit reiteration of a sentiment that has more or less explicitly characterized white supremacy: these people exist for us" (76).
"4 Hero or Mascot? Fantasies of Identification" (79).
"Rather, their identification is with feelings of domination, power, hypermasculinity, violence, or animality that are otherwise inaccessible" (99).
"However, I will argue in the remainder of this chapter that even fans' love for Jordan is, for the most part, understandable as mascotting rather than hero worship and thus there is good reason to suspect that contemporary sports fandom is not the setting for racial equalization" (105).
"5 'Honey Badger Takes What He Wants': Southern Colligate Athletics and the Mascotting of Black Masculinity" (109)
"Beyond consideration of institutional structure, however, I want to argue that attending to fan Identity and engagement will show that the moral problems of colligate sports fandom run far deeper" (110).
"As a result, it is not surprising to find white fans with a sense of entitlement that is required to view those who would resist their own exploitation as 'spoiled': the belief that black college athletes 'owe' whites their athletic labor is supported by the assumption that access to white institutions is extraordinarily valuable, according to which such athletes are 'lucky' to have been admitted" (128).
"6 From Mascot to Danger" (143)
"In this chapter, I examine fan practices of dis-identification and argue that these further expose the racialized and racializing character of sports fandom in the contemporary United States" (143).
"Perhaps tellingly, fans seem more than willing to express moral disapproval of or anger at acts of violence against women committed by their favorite athletes and return to rooting for them shortly thereafter" (150).
"On the other, they are not concerned with the welfare of these athletes beyond their performance on the field or court and, once they leave the sporting context, may have attitudes toward them characterized by indifference, contempt, or fear" (157).
"Haterade is, in short, a crucial instrument in the production and reinforcement of sports fan's identities" (169).
"7 Women on the Margins of Sports Fandom" (171).
"Some forms of women's sports fandom, I will argue, involve practises that constitute significant resistance to misogyny, racism, and heterosexism and thus give reasons to nuance our analysis of the social functions of sports fandom" (173).
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November 23, 2021I wasn't interested in sports fandom itself. I had hoped the book would shed light on group loyalty and partisanship. I was thinking that most fans live in different cities / states than "their" team's home stadium, most of the players came from distant regions or countries, there was little other substantive connection to a particular team, and any team can be watched on TV. So, what makes strong loyalty?
In reality, most of the book deals with how racial and sex prejudices operate among many sports fans, and how some elements in sports reflect prejudices even if not blatantly so. The book doesn't try to establish cause and effect (in either direction) between sports / fandom and prejudice, or a connection between prejudice and being loyal to a particular team. Much of the material used to present the author's case is more like anecdotal evidence than from scientific studies or statistical analysis.
In reality, most of the book deals with how racial and sex prejudices operate among many sports fans, and how some elements in sports reflect prejudices even if not blatantly so. The book doesn't try to establish cause and effect (in either direction) between sports / fandom and prejudice, or a connection between prejudice and being loyal to a particular team. Much of the material used to present the author's case is more like anecdotal evidence than from scientific studies or statistical analysis.
July 19, 2018
3.5/5. Pretty interesting look at identity via sports fandom, with some applicability to dynamics in media/"geek" fandom as well, albeit on a smaller scale. Lots of glimpses in particular at race and sports fandom and the role of black men as mascots for white society on all levels.
December 15, 2017
If you're not formulating an academic submission just skip this; instead, search for Tarver's articles online
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August 24, 2018306.483 T196 2017
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews