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Concussion Reporting and Racial Stereotypes: ESPN’s Role in Shaping Public Perception About Athletes of Color

Niya St. Amant

In the 2022 National Football League (NFL) season, Miami Dolphins’ quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, received two concussions in 5 days and was taken off the field on a stretcher. The media framing around Tagovailoa’s concussions was focused on the flaws in the NFL concussion policy and the poor decision making of the neurotrauma consultant. However, no mention of Tagovailoa’s race was mentioned despite historical racist practices regarding concussions in football for racialized athletes. Given the media’s role in the framing of concussions and the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, I conducted a content analysis to explore ESPN media articles dedicated to concussion stories during the 2022 NFL season. Ultimately, this paper concludes that through subtle but pervasive frames, the writers at ESPN continue to perpetuate racial stereotypes that construct racialized athletes as physiologically superior, intellectually inept, and criminally dangerous.

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Cross-Cultural Comparison of Satellite Fanship: A Consumer Culture Theory Perspective

Yiran Su, Xiaochen Zhou, Daniel Funk, and Jason Daniels

Satellite fans make up an important part of a sport team’s market, but little is known about how long-distance relationships are developed across different cultures. In this manuscript, we utilize the Consumer Culture Theory to examine how satellite fans develop fanship toward foreign professional sport teams. Drawing from 46 interviews with Chinese and American fans of European soccer teams, we developed four archetypal pathways through which fans form relationships with their beloved teams, reflected in the labels “Detached Admirer,” “Relational Networker,” “Industry Analyst,” and “Spiritual Follower.” The findings showed both cross-cultural and intracultural differences in the way satellite fans connect to their teams. In diverse ways, satellite fans construct their desired identities based on the meaning of their fandom, influenced by a variety of social-historical parameters. Accordingly, we bring theoretical innovation to sport fan behavior research and provide managerial actions for teams targeting the satellite fan base.

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“Quinn, Who Goes by One Name”: Examining the Media Coverage of the First Openly Trans Nonbinary Athlete to Win an Olympic Medal

Barbara Ravel

A year after publicly coming out as trans, Canadian soccer player Quinn became the first openly transgender athlete to win an Olympic medal when they won gold at Tokyo 2020 in the women’s tournament. They then participated in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, another first for a trans person. These accomplishments created an important media coverage that this paper sought to examine. Inspired by a queer methodology and the concept of “trans joy,” the project proposed a creative way of documenting trans stories that were either accurate and positive or less trans-inclusive. The findings were discussed in light of the existing literature on the media coverage of trans athletes, as well as that of women’s soccer. Recommendations for the media are also included.

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A Sporting Body Without Organs: Theorizing Un/Gendered Assemblages

Janeanne Marciano Levenstein

Responsive to the recent proliferation of anti-trans sports policies and state legislation, this essay argues for a deeper collaboration across sports studies and trans studies. I offer an analysis of the 2020 Gender Inclusion Policy enacted by USA Ultimate (the North American governing body for the sport of ultimate frisbee) alongside an analysis of my embodied experiences while playing the sport. I develop a set of interrelated terms—the sporting body without organs and un/Gendered assemblages—that build upon Deleuzian and trans studies onto-epistemologies. Beyond an exploration of the gendered policies of ultimate frisbee, this essay’s broader purpose is to redirect the conversation about trans athletes and anti-trans policies away from the topic of how and why bodies become organized into categorical inclusion/exclusion, toward a focus on sporting moments and movements when gender can become a malleable element of play.

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Sports Sprawl: Arlington Stadium and the Rise of Suburban Baseball Venues

Brian M. Ingrassia

Arlington Stadium in Arlington, Texas, originally opened as a minor-league stadium in 1965, but by 1972, it became home to the Texas Rangers of baseball’s American League. Although it was an architecturally undistinguished facility, Arlington Stadium shows how civic leaders in Arlington, alongside boosters in nearby Dallas and Fort Worth, utilized organized baseball’s legal doctrine of territorial rights to unify the metro area’s baseball market within a centrally located suburb. Quickly growing Arlington thus became home to a stadium that might one day host a big-league team, although in the meantime, it could host a minor-league team. This article tells the story of Arlington Stadium’s planning and construction, as well as the Rangers’ relocation from Washington, D.C., as a way to understand how a metro area used organized baseball’s idiosyncratic rules, based on a longstanding federal antitrust exemption, to build a suburban home for a major-league team.

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Whose Helmet? Reconsidering American Football’s Iconic Equipment

Noah Cohan

In this project, I examine the manner in which fans and players of American football understand the plastic safety helmet. My findings are built on a series of qualitative interviews conducted with helmet aficionados and former players. While conventional wisdom would suggest that the protective purpose is the primary function of the helmet, I demonstrate that in practice it is secondary. The foremost service of the helmet is to convey meaning through team, regional, aesthetic, and branding signifiers, which shape how individuals affiliate themselves with the game, form their fan or player identity, and consume football and football equipment. Although they do so in different ways, both groups, players and aficionados, fetishize the object; exemplifying the way in which masculinity and materiality have become intertwined in the game of football, such that the helmet functions as an abstract avatar of heteronormative manliness.

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Sports Participation During Adolescence and Menstrual Cycle Education Status in Females Across Six Territories

Phoebe Law, Natalie Brown, Charles Pedlar, and Georgie Bruinvels

Introduction: There is a substantial amount of sporting dropout in teenage girls worldwide linked, in part, to the menstrual cycle (MC). Firstly, this study aimed to retrospectively quantify the reasons for decreased sport and, or, exercise (sports/exercise) participation during adolescence across different countries. Secondly, this study investigated the prevalence, source, and content of MC education received in relation to sports/exercise. Methods: A survey was distributed via the Strava app to six geographical territories. The survey captured retrospective reasons for changing sports/exercise participation levels during adolescence and the provision, content, and source of MC education received in relation to sports/exercise. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies and associations between countries, education, and adolescent participation levels were determined using chi-square analysis (p = .01). Results: Female Strava users (M = 40.8 years, SD = 10.7 years) from six territories completed the survey (n = 10,371). 24.8% of participants decreased their sports/exercise participation during adolescence with the United Kingdom and Ireland (39.7%) and Spain (39.1%) reporting significantly higher decreases than the other countries surveyed, χ2(10)=1,023.77, p ≤ .001. The most common reason for decreased participation was a lack of time (28.0%). 71.1% of participants had not received education. Of those that were educated, the most common source was “self-education” (69.8%) and content was “to keep levels of exercise the same” (29.8%). Conclusions: There is a need for education to be available and easily accessible for girls and women which provides instructions on managing the MC and other commitments alongside sports/exercise, and highlights the many benefits of participating in regular sports/exercise.

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Fan Socializing and BIRGing: The Impact of Trait Competitiveness on Fan Behaviors

D. Todd Donavan, Mara F. Singer, and Brad D. Carlson

This research investigates the intricate dynamics between trait competitiveness and sport fan behavior, examining its relationships with situational and surface traits associated with sport consumption. By advancing our understanding of competitiveness as a key influencer in sport participation and entertainment seeking, the study contributes to our understanding of what drives sport fans. Utilizing Mowen’s 3M model and the Big Five personality traits, we explore the influence of traits on competitiveness, predicting its impact on participation and entertainment seeking and fan socializing and basking in reflected glory. The findings unveil the role of competitiveness in shaping behaviors, indicating that competitive individuals actively seek and enjoy competitive and entertaining situations. The research illuminates the paths by which personality traits affect sport consumption behaviors, providing theoretical insights into the complex dynamics of competitiveness in the realm of sport.

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Baseball and Culture: A Case-Study Examination of the Korean Baseball Organization Documentary Full Count

Kevin Hull and Minhee Choi

During the 2022 season, a documentary crew followed the teams and players in the Korean Baseball Organization, resulting in a 10-episode series Full Count that debuted the following year. The series was broadcast initially in South Korea; however, a later international release through a streaming platform allowed for increased worldwide exposure for the league, teams, players, and, perhaps somewhat uniquely, the culture and traditions in the home country. Therefore, even though the focus was baseball, this program provided a unique opportunity for the world to learn about the people and values of South Korea. Using constant comparative methodology, the following themes emerged: (a) emphasizing team over individual, (b) respecting elders, (c) overcoming adversity, and (d) playing with honor.

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Risk of Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, and Menstrual Dysfunction in Female Recreational Runners

Marissa Miles, Kelly Pritchett, Robert Pritchett, and Abigail Larson

Introduction: Running is characterized by high physiological demands with an emphasis on body weight, which may lead to a greater risk of developing low energy availability (LEA) and/or disordered eating (DE). The prevalence of LEA among recreational runners has not been well defined, and this population may lack the ability to distinguish between nutrition resources that are evidence-based or not. Purpose: This study investigated (a) the prevalence of those at risk for LEA, menstrual dysfunction (MD), and risk of DE and (b) compared the risk of DE, training volume, and body weight dissatisfaction between female recreational runners at risk for LEA versus not at risk for LEA. Methods: Female recreational endurance runners (n = 1,923) completed an online questionnaire that included the Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire to evaluate LEA risk and MD, and the Disordered Eating Screening Assessment to evaluate DE risk and body weight dissatisfaction. Results: 53.04% of participants are at risk for LEA, 42.5% are at risk for DE, and 61.7% reported MD. Conclusions: The current study suggests that recreational runners are at an increased risk for LEA and DE. Furthermore, DE, MD, training volume, and weight dissatisfaction may be associated with LEA in recreational runners. These findings highlight the need for education and preventative measures around LEA, MD, and DE among recreational female runners.