Female Fans of the NFL: Taking Their Place in the Stands 9781315767550

Table of contents :
Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Dedication......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
List of Figures......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 14
1 Introduction......Page 16
2 Performative Sport Fandom......Page 28
3 Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance......Page 38
4 Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms......Page 67
5 A Family Affair......Page 95
6 Community Ties, Community Pride......Page 119
7 The Face Paint, Terrible Towels, and Tutus of Public Performances
......Page 143
8 Food, Football, and Fun: Watching at Home......Page 166
9 Who Do You Think You’re Talking To: NFL Representations of Women
......Page 191
10 Conclusion
......Page 215
Appendix A: Interview Guide......Page 230
Appendix B: Interview Participants......Page 232
Bibliography......Page 234
Index......Page 242

Citation preview

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Female Fans of the NFL

Quarterbacks, tailbacks, and cornerbacks sporting pink during breast cancer awareness month. Clothing tailored to a feminine shape and bedazzled with rhinestones. NFL-sponsored educational programs designed just for women. All these point to the undeniable fact that the NFL appreciates the spending power of female fans. The face of NFL fandom is changing. No longer a boys-only domain, women are taking their place in the stands. This book gives voice to those female fans. The NFL provides a unique site at which to examine the complex interplay between three theoretical areas: identity formation and maintenance, media construction of culture, and gender hegemony. In so doing, we engage Performative Sport Fandom as a theoretical tool to understand women’s experiences. Fandom is theorized as existing through and at the intersection of two performance modes: Knowing and Caring. This volume will appeal to anyone interested in sport, gender, or cultural ritual and practices. Based on five years of ethnographic research and firmly grounded in sociology and gender theories, Osborne and Coombs offer a unique look at America’s favorite pastime as well as a new theoretical approach to thinking about fandom. Anne Cunningham Osborne is Associate Professor in Syracuse University’s S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Danielle Sarver Coombs is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Kent State University.

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Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society

21 Sport Across Asia Politics, Cultures, and Identities Edited by Katrin Bromber, Birgit Krawietz, and Joseph Maguire

28 Sport in Prison Exploring the Role of Physical Activity in Penal Practices Rosie Meek

22 Athletes, Sexual Assault, and “Trials by Media” Narrative Immunity Deb Waterhouse-Watson

29 Sport and Nationalism in China Lu Zhouxiang and Fan Hong

23 Youth Sport, Physical Activity and Play Policy, Interventions and Participation Andrew Parker and Don Vinson 24 The Global Horseracing Industry Social, Economic, Environmental and Ethical Perspectives Phil McManus, Glenn Albrecht, and Raewyn Graham 25 Sport, Public Broadcasting, and Cultural Citizenship Signal Lost? Edited by Jay Scherer and David Rowe

30 Rethinking Drug Use in Sport Why the war will never be won Bob Stewart and Aaron Smith 31 Sport, Animals, and Society Edited by James Gillett and Michelle Gilbert 32 Sport Development in the United States Edited by Peter Smolianov, Dwight Zakus and Joseph Gallo 33 Youth Olympic Games Edited by Dag Vidar Hanstad, Barrie Houlihan and Milena Parent

26 Sport and Body Politics in Japan Wolfram Manzenreiter

34 Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport International Perspectives in Research, Policy and Practice Edited by Melanie Lang and Mike Hartill

27 The Fantasy Sport Industry Games within Games Andrew C. Billings and Brody J. Ruihley

35 Touch in Sports Coaching and Physical Education Fear, Risk, and Moral Panic Edited by Heather Piper

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36 Sport, Racism and Social Media Neil Farrington, Lee Hall, Daniel Kilvington, John Price and Amir Saeed 37 Football and Migration Perspectives, Places, Players Edited by Richard Elliott and John Harris 38 Health and Elite Sport Is High Performance Sport a Healthy Pursuit? Edited by Joe Baker, Parissa Safai and Jessica Fraser-Thomas

43 A Sociology of Football in a Global Context Jamie Cleland 44 Gambling with the Myth of the American Dream Aaron M. Duncan 45 Inclusion and Exclusion in Competitive Sport Socio-Legal and Regulatory Perspectives Seema Patel

39 Asian American Athletes in Sport and Society Edited by C. Richard King

46 Asia and the Future of Football The Role of the Asian Football Confederation Ben Weinberg

40 Pierre Bourdieu and Physical Culture Edited by lisahunter, Wayne Smith and elke emerald

47 Football and Accelerated Culture This Modern Sporting Life Steve Redhead

41 Reframing Disability? Media, (Dis)Empowerment, and Voice in the 2012 Paralympics Edited by Daniel Jackson, Caroline E. M. Hodges, Mike Molesworth and Richard Scullion

48 Researching Embodied  Sport Exploring movement cultures Edited by Ian Wellard

42 Sport and the Social Significance of Pleasure Richard Pringle, Robert E. Rinehart and Jayne Caudwell

49 Female Fans of the NFL Taking Their Place in the Stands Anne Cunningham Osborne and Danielle Sarver Coombs

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Female Fans of the NFL

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Taking Their Place in the Stands

Anne Cunningham Osborne and Danielle Sarver Coombs

First published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

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© 2016 Taylor & Francis The right of Anne Cunningham Osborne and Danielle Sarver Coombs to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Osborne, Anne C. (Anne Cunningham)   Female fans of the NFL : taking their place in the stands / by Anne Cunningham Osborne and Danielle Sarver Coombs.   pages cm   Includes bibliographical references and index.   1.  Football fans—United States–Social life and customs.  2. Women.  I. Title.   GV951.O73 2016  796.332'64—dc23   2015021680 ISBN: 978-1-138-01387-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-76755-0 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC

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From Anne: This book is dedicated to the memory of Gram, who taught me to sit up straight, sketch instead of trace, and sing out loud even though I can’t. I love and miss you! From Danielle: This book is dedicated to my two favorite people in this universe and beyond, Alexandra and Genevieve Coombs. Please accept this book as my official apology for raising you to be Cleveland Browns fans. I will love you forever, and I can’t wait to celebrate a Browns Super Bowl victory with you!

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Contents

List of Figures Acknowledgments  1 Introduction

xi xiii 1

  2 Performative Sport Fandom

13

  3 Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance

23

  4 Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms

52

  5 A Family Affair

80

  6 Community Ties, Community Pride

104

  7 The Face Paint, Terrible Towels, and Tutus of Public Performances

128

  8 Food, Football, and Fun: Watching at Home

151

  9 Who Do You Think You’re Talking To: NFL Representations of Women

176

10 Conclusion

200



Appendix A: Interview Guide

215



Appendix B: Interview Participants

217

Bibliography Index

219 227

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Figures

3.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 5.1 6.1

7.1 8.1

Fan Performance Matrix Situational fan performance Becky’s performances over time Truck decals (including the Steelers logo) found in a supermarket parking lot Stephanie and her father, Arnie, with a Brian Sipe poster in the background The women in our focus group enjoy snacks and a traditional shot of Fireball brand cinnamon whiskey (from left to right: Heather, Carmel, Patty, Diane, Joyce, JoJo) New Orleans Saints fan in game day costume Women negotiating between their roles as both Saints fans and mothers on Super Bowl Sunday, February 8, 2010

24 46 50 65 90

118 141 173

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Acknowledgments

FROM BOTH ANNE AND DANIELLE: We would like to thank the many women who opened their homes to us, invited us to tailgates, and spoke openly and passionately about their love for NFL football. We particularly appreciate those who took time to sit down with us for interviews. We also want to thank members of the International Association for Communication and Sport. Two chapters of this book were first presented at IACS Summits on Communication and Sport. We greatly value the support and feedback we received at those meetings. FROM ANNE: Many thanks to the family of Tom Jarreau Hardin, whose financial support through an LSU endowed professorship allowed me to conduct much of this research. My thinking about the intersections of sport and gender developed greater clarity while teaching a sport, diversity, and inclusion course at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University. I’m grateful to my department chair, Brad Gorham, for allowing me to teach that class, and to the many outstanding students, who asked thoughtful questions and offered insights. Thanks to Danielle for “bullying” me into doing research with her. A good research partnership is like a marriage. This one has taken us across two countries, at least three states, and nearly a decade. I look forward to seeing what we get into next. Thanks to my mom and dad for having the good sense to raise their children in Steeler Country. Even though I’m always a Steeler first, I am grateful to Dave Carner and many others for helping me to fall in love with the New Orleans Saints. Finally, most importantly, thank you to William G. Osborne, III, my amazing husband. Your support has been immeasurable. I cannot thank you enough for your patience, intellect, fantastic cooking, laughter, hard work, and exceptional cocktails.

xiv  Acknowledgments

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FROM DANIELLE: Massive thanks go to my excellent support network, which helped make sure that this project could be completed. My lunch (and dinner) buddies, including Mark Goodman and Norman Mallard, Marianne and Mark Warzinski, Audrey Lingenfelter, and Amy Wilkens made me laugh continuously throughout this process. Fellow denizens of the main office—Stacy Stevenson, Sam Lingenfelter, and Darlene Contrucci—offered positive words and, often more importantly, candy and coffee to keep me going. Director Thor Wasbotten from Journalism and Mass Communication and Dean AnnMarie LeBlanc from the College of Communication and Information offered invaluable support and encouragement. Huge thanks to all of you. My parents, Bill and Pat Sarver, have been spectacularly supportive throughout this entire process. Thank you for taking care of my daughters, bringing me dinner, and gently reminding me to get this done. My husband, Lindsey Coombs, is the most fantastic partner I can imagine. Thank you, Lindsey, for helping me make my dreams come true. Also, thanks for letting me get Browns season tickets for 2015. Special thanks go to Annie for being a friend, mentor, and partner in crime since 2000. We’ve come a long way since the Spanish Moon and King Dong, Twinkie, and the Moon Pies, but I am pretty sure we’ve only gotten better with time. I appreciate your patience, tough love, and good humor, and I look forward to more research adventures with you! Finally, much love goes to the Cleveland Browns. Without you, I would have fewer wrinkles, a slower heart rate, and a damn boring life. See you in September!

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1 Introduction

In early 2008, a new Reebok commercial aired across the United States. In it, an attractive young woman in a halter-top emblazoned with the logo for the New York Giants opens the door to her apartment to greet her guest, a sultry blonde wearing a feminine Giants jacket. The two women exchange a complex and well-rehearsed handshake. The next guest, another attractive, young, female Giants fan, is welcomed with a separate yet equally complicated set of hand gestures, culminating with a kiss on the cheek and a slap to the bottom. The last party-goer to arrive is conspicuous in her attire; rather than the Giants’ blue, this attractive young woman is wearing—gasp!—the green of archrival New York Jets. The two women look each other up and down before the host utters a cold and dismissive “Sheila.” As the women continue to give each other the evil eye, viewers hear the sound of a cat meowing. Text on the screen reads, “Be a woman. Be a fan.” The commercial fades to black as white text informs us that Reebok, then the “official outfitter of the National Football League,” is introducing NFL apparel for women. This Reebok commercial marks one of the NFL’s earliest efforts to acknowledge the significant number of women who are committed fans of the gridiron and to attract more of this lucrative female market. When the ad first aired, it undoubtedly stood out as one of very few to showcase women as devoted football fans. Now commercials featuring female fans and product lines—everything from clothes to purses to jewelry to home appliances—are commonplace. Even commercials for products unrelated to sports—things such as snack foods, beer, and even wireless phone service—regularly show women, often alongside men, as committed NFL fans. Since 2008, the NFL has developed and promoted clothing and product lines targeted to women; launched an annual, month-long Breast Cancer Awareness campaign; and created special educational programs specifically tailored to teaching women the basics of the game. By most accounts, the NFL’s efforts to grow a female audience appear to have worked. The sale of women’s NFL apparel tripled between 2009 and 2013 and the league reports that women now account for roughly 45% of its fan base (Boudway, 2013). AdAge reported that 50.4 million women watched the 2012 Super

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2  Introduction Bowl, which is nearly twice the number that tuned in to watch the Oscars (McCarthy, 2012). There can be no denying that the gates have opened. Women are taking their seats in the stands and proudly identifying themselves as football supporters. In the past, sport, particularly football, has been defined as a male domain. Women’s interest was presumed to range from gentle tolerance to active resistance, but today leagues, the media, and marketers see women as dynamic participants in sporting culture. Changes in sport’s culture, however, do not happen rapidly or without growing pains. Even though the NFL’s fan base has shifted, the league still grapples with the hegemonic masculinity that undergirds football as a cultural practice (Connell, 2005; Messner, 2002). From on-field violence (see e.g. growing data on the long-term effects of head injuries) to off-field abuse (see e.g. Ray Rice assaulting his fiancée and Darren Sharper’s conviction for serial sexual assaults) to homophobia (see e.g. Richie Incognito’s bullying of Jonathan Martin and reactions to Michael Sam’s coming out) to racism (see e.g. efforts to penalize players’ use of the n-word), the league remains an environment in which players are expected to “man up”; where aggression is rewarded; and where a player who fails to fit this model is often deemed a pussy, bitch, or worse (Perdue, 2014). In many regards, sport, particularly football, is synonymous with masculinity. “The behaviors and attitudes valued in men’s and boy’s athletics are not just about sports, but about masculinity more generally” (Hartmann, 2003, p. 16). So, if sport defines what it means to be a “real man,” where does that leave the women who love and support their teams and leagues? As the most popular sport in the U.S. (Pollack, 2015) and one that in recent years has specifically targeted female fans, the National Football League offers a unique site to consider this question. A lot has been written in the popular press in recent years about the NFL’s growth of its female fan base, but very little academic work has detailed the experiences of female football fans. One would assume that the intertwining of sport and masculinity often produce tensions for female fans of the game. In the past, women were simply left out of sporting culture, and “Sport has long been a site of institutionalized discrimination against women” (Hutchins  & Rowe, 2012, p. 172). Today, however, we see women in the stands (and even occasionally in the front offices of the professional organizations). Researching these female fans allows us to examine how women negotiate their place in a hyper-masculine environment, which then allows us to explore the complex interplay between three theoretical areas: identity formation and maintenance, media construction of culture, and gender hegemony. This book offers a unique look at America’s favorite pastime as well as answers to the question: How do women experience their fandom and what barriers still exist for them?

Introduction  3

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MASCULINE-FEMININE Sex refers to the classifications of male and female grounded in biological differences as expressed in reproductive organs, physical features, and hormone levels. Most world cultures divide people into a neat dichotomy, with only more recent understandings acknowledging that intersex individuals do not fit neatly into either group. Gender, on the other hand, acts as the complex set of culturally defined meanings we attach to the presumed dichotomy of male-female. Gender refers to “a broad collection of personality characteristics, beliefs, and behaviors that are understood to be more ‘appropriate’ for one sex than for the other. Gendered expectations are also applied to different ‘gender roles,’ which specify what is normative or culturally ‘appropriate’ behavior for men and women” (Smiler & Epstein, 2010, p. 133). As a social construct, gender is fluid and contested. Because understandings of gender vary across cultures and evolve over time, it is impossible for us to offer a definitive account of what it means to be masculine or feminine. Despite the difficulty researchers face in operationalizing gender, the numerous measurement scales developed to assess gender suggest some core factors. Masculinity appears “to include instrumentality or agency, restricted emotional expression, and rejection of all things feminine, and the core elements of femininity appear to include passivity, emotional expression, and concern for others’ well-being” (Smiler & Epstein, 2010, p. 150). Gender scholars have adopted the term hegemonic masculinity to refer to the “pattern of practice” that “embodies the currently most honored way of being a man” (Connell  & Messerschmidt, 2005, p.  832). Hegemonic masculinity has proved a valuable construct for examining sports culture. It was deployed in understanding the popularity of body-contact confrontational sports—which function as an endlessly renewed symbol of masculinity—and in understanding the violence and homophobia frequently found in sporting milieus . . . The concepts of multiple masculinities and hegemonic masculinity were increasingly used to understand men’s health practices, such as “playing hurt.” (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005, p. 833–4) As we detail throughout the remainder of this book, hegemonic masculinity is as much paradigmatic of sport fandom as it is of sport participation. Davis and Duncan’s assertion that “it is imperative to examine sport spectatorship as a milieu in which masculinity can be affirmed” (2006, p. 245) suggests that to understand women’s fandom one must first understand hegemonic masculinity. We certainly do not mean to suggest that sporting culture should be defined by masculinity. It is important to stress that our use of the terms “masculine” and “feminine” is in no way meant to be prescriptive. We

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4  Introduction mean merely to reflect the normative understandings of “acceptable” or “expected” gender performances within American culture, particularly American sporting culture. Similarly, in an effort to reflect the subjectivity of both biological and culturally constructed dichotomies, we refer to “female fans” and “women fans” synonymously. We also fully acknowledge that research such as ours, that aims to challenge gender norms, can inadvertently reinforce the dichotomies of male-female and masculine-feminine. In the tradition of feminist scholarship, we hope that, by illuminating the hegemonic gender structures in fandom, our research might help to dismantle those power structures. SPORT, FANDOM, AND GENDER HEGEMONY Research has long pointed to sport as an important cultural force in the formation and maintenance of masculine identities (Curry, 1998; Kennedy, 2000; Mean, 2001; Hartmann, 2003; Messner, 1992, 2002). Female sport fans, therefore, find themselves caught in a cultural tug of war. Sports organizations want to attract larger audiences, and women—a group that makes up half the world population—hold obvious appeal. It makes sense that the NFL would reach out to women. At the same time, many traditional male fans want to maintain the status quo and resent what they see as the women’s “infiltration into the boys-only clubhouses” (see e.g. Ruihley  & Billings, 2013). For these men, sport is an arena where they can “act like men without fear of feminization” (Davis & Duncan, 2006, p. 261). Simply put, “sport is an institution created by men for men” (Crawford, 2004, p.  56, emphasis in the original). The 33 highest-paid athletes of 2014 were men. Only three women—all of whom play tennis, the only sport with institutionalized pay equity—made the list of the 100 top earners (The world’s highest-paid athletes, 2014). Men dominate sports media, accounting for 90% of sports editors and 85% of sports reporters (Women’s Media Center, 2014). “The only legitimate role women occupy in sport is to spectate, support, and admire. However, even in their role as spectators of sport, women remained largely marginalized, particularly as followers of the majority of male mass spectator sports” (Crawford, 2004, p. 56). Research shows that, at least among college students, men and women self-identify as sports fans equally, but their fandom differs in several ways (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000). On scales that measure intensity of sport fandom, men tend to have higher levels of sport identification than women do (Wann et al., 2001). With regard to football fandom, women are more likely to support a particular team while men tend to follow the NFL generally (Lee et al., 2013). How men and women engage in fandom also differs. Both male and female college students report regularly attending sporting events, but men watch more sports on television (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000). While watching televised games, women often multitask, attending to housework during

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Introduction  5 broadcasts (Gantz  & Wenner, 1991). Later research expanded on these early findings by differentiating between television viewing habits of female fans and female non-fans. Fans reported being invested in the games they view while the non-fans were “disinterested” and watched games to fulfill social motives (Gantz & Wenner, 1995). Men are more likely to drink to excess and become violent at sporting events (Palmer, 2009). Women are less interested in team and player statistics than their male counterparts (Fink, Trail,  & Anderson, 2002). Men are also more likely to talk about sports with friends (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000). Men play fantasy sports in greater numbers than do women and with greater intensity. Research suggests that fantasy sport participation may reinforce hegemonic masculinity insofar as men play fantasy sports in part to enter an arena where they can engage in aggressive sporting culture (Howie & Campbell, 2015; Ruihley  & Billings, 2013). Women’s interest in fantasy sports, on the other hand, is motivated by a desire to connect with family and friends (Ruihley & Hardin, 2011). Other studies, similarly, have found that female fans are more likely than male fans to watch televised sports because of social motives (Gantz & Wenner, 1991; Whiteside & Hardin, 2011). Taken as a whole, the research on sport fandom paints a picture of women fans as generally less invested in sport than men, less committed to the teams they follow, and motivated primarily by the social aspects of fandom. This body of research also suggests that women do not engage in many stereotypical fan behaviors, such as gathering and analyzing player statistics, talking with friends about sports, joining in online discussion boards, covering themselves and their homes in team logos, or drunkenly fighting to defend their teams’ honor and abilities. As a result, women are often perceived as inauthentic fans because they do not engage in culturally constructed rituals of fandom (Back, Crabbe, & Solomos, 2001). Much of this research, however, is limited in two very important ways. A substantial portion the data regarding sport fandom is drawn from samples of college students, who may not represent fans more generally. This research also fails to account for why female fan behaviors may differ from men’s. By allowing women to tell their own stories about being fans without preconceived expectations of what it should mean to be a football fan, we hope to fill this gap. Our data support quite a bit of the existing research but offer greater depth and nuanced explanations, particularly of women fans’ practices. In other important ways, our findings depart from the stereotypical picture of the social female fan. As is often said, the devil is in the details. Through this qualitative exploration, we have been able to delve deeply into the meanings women construct out of their football fandom. METHOD This book is the result of five years of ethnographic research on National Football League fans. Since the beginning of the 2009 football season, we

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6  Introduction have spent countless hours watching people watch football; talking to fans about the experiences and the importance of the game to them; reading media coverage, sports blogs, and message boards. We have attended more than a dozen games in five cities, spent well over 50 game days watching football in public places such as sports bars (often watching multiple games), and attended numerous tailgates and football parties in people’s homes. The type of holistic data generated through ethnographic research has provided us with a richness that could not be replicated through other means. By sharing directly related experiences with women fans, we are better able to delve into their personal experiences and memories, gaining a more nuanced and subtle understanding of the respondents as both women and fans. As is characteristic of ethnography, we are both part of the world we set out to study; we are both NFL fans. This only adds to our ability to adopt an insider perspective. Our data collection focused on three NFL teams: the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Fans of these teams account for most of the women we interviewed but not all. All of the games we attended involved at least one, sometimes two, of these teams. During participant observation at sports bars, however, we interacted with a wide range of fans from throughout the league. Given the focus on three teams, there may be some nuances—say, to west coast fandom or fan experiences of newer franchises—that are not captured in our data and would warrant further investigation. Certainly the fan experiences for each of the league’s 32 teams vary somewhat based on particular traditions and regional demographics. Even so, we chose these three teams, in part because they are representative in their differences. We are confident that the shared experiences we report in the following chapters will resonate broadly with female NFL fans across the United States. The teams. The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers are two of the oldest teams in the NFL, both having been members of the NFL before it merged with the American Football League in 1970 to form the league we know today. Throughout their history, the Steelers have remained a perennial powerhouse, winning more Super Bowls than any other team in the league. Steelers fans—referred to as Steeler Nation, complete with their own flag, the Terrible Towel—can be found in nearly every corner of the globe. This long history of success and well-established fan base makes the Steelers particularly interesting for this project. The Browns have a unique history. Though a powerhouse from the 1940s through the 1960s, the Browns have struggled since. In 1995, then-owner Art Modell moved the franchise to Baltimore, Maryland. Following widespread fan protest, the NFL, in an unprecedented move, killed and then resurrected the Browns. After a three-year deactivation, in 1999 the Cleveland franchise was reborn, retaining the branding, history, and records, although now under new ownership and management. Since then, the Browns have struggled to advance to post-season play. Nonetheless, Browns fans—often

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Introduction  7 referred to as the Dawg Pound, an expanded definition of the hardcore fans who sit in a particularly raucous area in the stadium—are some of the most devoted, organized, and vocal in the NFL. Because of the level of loyalty demonstrated in the face of adversity, the Browns fans are worthy of study. The New Orleans Saints, formed in 1967, are relative newcomers to the NFL. Historically disappointing—even referred to by its own fans as the “Aints”—the team’s first 40 years were pretty unremarkable. Indeed, fans used to wear bags over their heads at games to express their embarrassment. In recent years, the team has forged a unique bond with its host city. When, on August  29, 2005, the levees protecting New Orleans from the waters of Lake Pontchartrain broke, tens of thousands of residents were left stranded as floodwaters rose. The Louisiana Superdome, home of the Saints, became one of two designated “shelters of last resort.” Those who sheltered there found a structure damaged by hurricane winds, without power, and woefully undersupplied. Over the next several days, the nation watched in horror as people struggled to survive and escape the city. With much of the national news coverage focused on the Superdome, it became a symbol of New Orleans and its social decay and class struggles. Due to damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina, the Dome closed in September 2005. One year and $185 million later, the structure was restored amid rumors that the Saints would not return to New Orleans but would instead relocate to San Antonio, Texas. When the team finally returned in 2006, it was to the first season ticket sellout in the franchise’s history. The team had a new coach, a new quarterback, and the devotion of a grateful fan base. This special relationship between the city and its team makes the New Orleans Saints worthy of study. Data collection. Data collection involved participant observation at sports bars, football stadia, and in participants’ homes. We coupled this with depth interviews with female fans as well as a focus group with women who hold season tickets together. Interviews allowed fans to describe their thoughts, emotions, and experiences, while participant observation gave context to their recollections. We conducted 17 structured and semi-structured interviews with women fans of the NFL during times outside of active participation as fans. We also conducted a focus group with six female Cleveland Browns fans who have held season tickets together for well over a decade. Most interviews lasted approximately one hour. One interview lasted only 23 minutes; the next shortest was 42 minutes, and the longest went an hour and a half. The focus group lasted approximately two and a half hours. Eight of the 17 interviews were conducted via phone. The other nine interviews were conducted at a location of the participant’s choosing, often her home or work. The focus group was conducted in the home of one of the participants. The 23 women with whom we spoke in formal, recorded interviews (thus not including the dozens of women with whom we spoke during our field work) represent a diversity of ages ranging from early 20s to mid- to late-60s. Most of

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8  Introduction the women we interviewed are White; three are Black and three are Asian American. As far as we know, all of these women self-identify as heterosexual. Although sexuality was not part of our questioning, most women talked about a male partner at some point in the course of the interview. Appendix B offers details on each woman’s approximate age and ethnicity. The depth interviews and focus group afforded us a chance to engage with respondents to understand more varied and singular experiences. Because interviews could be conducted in neutral locations outside the context of a particular game, women who are less invested in the sporting experience—perhaps self-defining as casual fans—were more willing to participate. To supplement our interviews with women, a male research assistant conducted 16 interviews with male fans. We chose to have a male assistant conduct these interviews as we suspected that men would be more likely to openly express thoughts and attitudes about female fans to another man. We found during participant observation that men expressed the same attitudes to us that they communicated in interviews with our male assistant. The goal of this project is to give voice to the female fan experience, but we used interviews with male fans to sensitize us to issues we later explored in interviews with women. We also draw from these interviews with men to provide context and support to the experiences women describe in Chapter 3. As a part of this triangulated research design, participant observation allowed us to gain rich context through which to explore and understand memory- and reaction-driven data (such as those collected via interviews). Participant observation formed a foundation for our research, sensitizing us to issues we later explored through interviews. Over the course of the 2009–2014 NFL seasons, we watched more than 100 games in public spaces (including stadia and televised group viewing locales) in cities across the country, examining the attitudes and experiences of female fans. At times, we began in the respondent’s home and continued with them throughout their game day experiences, whether that involved heading to the stadium, watching the game at home, or viewing with a group in a public space. More often than not, however, it involved meeting women at the game or in a sports bar. Many participants had little idea that we were conducting research. However, with key informants, both male and female, we also conducted casual interviews throughout the participation and observation in order to contextualize observations and other data. Participant observation was particularly useful for embedding ourselves into the fan context. As just another pair of faces in the stands or at the bar, we could watch, listen, and learn, uncovering new areas for investigation and contextualizing what we heard from respondents. This method proved essential for developing substantial lines of questioning and making sense of data. Data Analysis. An interview guide for our primary data set—depth interviews with women (see Appendix A)—provided a starting point and rough structure for these conversations. Whenever possible, we recorded and transcribed interviews. When recording was not possible, as during participant

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Introduction  9 observation, we kept field notes and regularly met to debrief each other. During data analysis, we sought to adopt an outsider/etic position in order to theorize the experiences of women fans. We analyzed the data using a constant comparative analysis, whereby initial themes and organizing categories were developed and fed back into the data for verification. This method of data analysis worked to uncover the scaffolding that supports how women make sense of themselves and others as football fans. Data Reporting. In the pages that follow, we offer our interpretation of women fans’ lived experiences. In reporting our data, we rely heavily on the women’s own words to tell their stories. We use numerous, and at times lengthy, quotes drawn from interview transcripts. This emic approach allows our interpretations to remain close to the data and to best reflect the participants’ understanding of their fandom rather than imposing our voices over theirs. As is inevitably the case with qualitative research, specific data—quotes from our participants or observations from our field notes—provide evidence and context across a number of differing areas. Thus, quotes will be duplicated across chapters to help draw connections between and among our key findings. In quoting from participants, we often change the names in accordance with our interview protocols that offered confidentiality. In many cases, however, women expressly asked that we use their real names. These women are proud of their fandom and want to clearly claim their allegiances to our readers. WHAT TO EXPECT This book is organized into three broad sections. The first four chapters introduce the study and the theoretical framework. Chapters 5 and 6 examine the ways women are socialized into fandom and the importance of community, while Chapters 7 and 8 explore the “where” of watching. Finally, Chapter 9 uses a textual analysis of the NFL’s own marketing materials to gauge how they choose to represent women in advertisements targeted to them, while the conclusion (Chapter 10) highlights key themes and identifies both challenges and opportunities for female fans. More specifically, each chapter includes the following: Chapter 1. The introduction introduces the topic of women’s engagement with the National Football League (NFL), placing it in the context of existing scholarship on sport fandom and gender studies of sport. Sport is well understood as a central cultural re-enforcer of hegemonic masculinity, which presents questions about how women engage and negotiate their fandom in such a hyper-masculine environment. We detail the methods used to gather and analyze the data and provide a brief overview of the chapters to follow. Chapter 2. In this chapter, we provide the theoretical framework— Performative Sport Fandom—for the chapters that follow. Unlike previous

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10  Introduction fandom research that contrasts ‘fans’ versus ‘not fans,’ Performative Sport Fandom focuses on the social construction of fandom, saying that one becomes a fan by performing the rituals of fandom. Performative Sport Fandom shifts the focus of research toward looking at how performances are socially scripted and how gender identity may relate to how performances are enacted. Chapter 2 provides the theoretical foundation of our work. Chapter 3. Chapter 3 expands on PSF by detailing two modes of fan performance: Knowing and Caring. Fandom is not static. Instead fans engage in varying types and degrees of emotional expression and knowledge gathering and sharing depending on the situation. In Chapter 3, we explore the nuances of these modes of performance and provide a framework for locating performances in terms of Knowing and Caring: the Fan Performance Matrix. Chapter 4. Women fans feel they are often dismissed by others, even other female fans, or challenged to prove themselves. In Chapter 4, we discuss the microaggressions women commonly encounter as female football fans. We then outline the common stereotypes of women fans: Bimbo, Supportive Partner, Football Widow, Guy’s Girl, and Social Butterfly. Finally, we explore five common strategies women use to maintain their identities as NFL fans—drop the mic, toe-to-toe, subtle expertise, private fandom, and safety in numbers—and we detail the coping strategies women have developed to maintain their identities as NFL fans. Chapter 5. As this chapter demonstrates, women who are football fans often are such because their fandom is grounded in their childhoods. Memories of watching games at home with their families or, for some of our younger participants, at the stadium itself helped firmly establish their lifelong love affairs with the gridiron. For almost all of the women with whom we spoke, becoming fans wasn’t something that happened in a vacuum. Families, particularly parents, modeled fan performances for young girls, with fathers often taking on more Knowing performances while mothers engaged in more Caring performances. While husbands and boyfriends can play a role in maintaining interest (or putting women off), this is not the root of fandom. Rather, it is simply another negotiated relationship that helps inform performances. Chapter 6. In this chapter, we explain three primary drivers of women’s fandom: love of city, love of team, and love of communities of practice. Many women’s fandom is deeply tied to their hometown or to the town that, in adulthood, they adopt as their own. Others find community in the feeling that as fans they are a part of the team, or tied to a particular player. We often see women choose a “second team” based on love of their favorite athlete. Finally, football fandom forms a community of practice, where women can share rituals and experiences with other likeminded people. Chapter 7. A substantial body of research has documented fan rituals but most of this research has focused on traditional male fans. Chapter 7 explores female fans’ experiences within the context of hyper-masculine

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Introduction  11 rituals and how they create their own game day practices in the stadium and at sports bars. Going to a football game is special, as is, though to a lesser degree, watching in other public spaces. Our research underscores the importance of rituals, costuming, and feeding off the energy of the crowd. Women (and men) are often able to loosen gender roles. Women can be drunk, loud, and aggressive within the context of game day. Chapter 8. Women consider watching at home to be an important part of their fan experience. Whether it’s because tickets are too expensive, the stadia are too far, or they just don’t like going to games, women don’t consider staying home to watch the game antithetical to “authentic” fandom; indeed, for some this is a better way to experience fandom because they can watch more closely and be more cognitively involved with the game itself while also more effectively expressing and/or managing their emotional reactions to the game. Even while watching at home, women continue to engage in the rituals and routines that are part and parcel of fandom, including wearing their team’s colors and offering traditional football foods for those in attendance to enjoy. Chapter 9. Despite efforts by the NFL to attract a larger female audience, its programming is still heavily targeted toward a hyper-masculine stereotype, and much of the NFL’s messaging to and about women still marginalizes female fans. Chapter  9 offers a textual analysis of the NFL’s apparel advertising from 2010–2013 targeted toward women to better understand how the league sees its female fans. Chapter 10. In this chapter, we review key findings, including Performative Sport Fandom as well as the Knowing and Caring modes of the Fan Performance Matrix. We link together themes that emerged across the text, including a deeper exploration of how women consider their own fandom in relation to stereotypes. While the NFL has enjoyed substantial success in attracting women fans, Chapter 10 reviews challenges to maintaining these fans (and attracting new ones) as well as opportunities to better reach this audience. Finally, we offer suggestions for future uses of PSF. YES, WE LOVE FOOTBALL Our interest in sport research actually began with an ethnographic study of English Premier League football (soccer) team, Aston Villa Football Club. We spent more than six months in total living in Birmingham, UK, gathering data. As American women in a predominantly male, and of course British, environment, we stood out. Within this context, our national and gender identities forced us to actively negotiate our positions in relation to the subject of our investigation. During this UK research, it became increasingly clear that our identities necessarily affected how we conduct research. The inverse is also true. Our experiences conducting research in Britain have shaped how we think

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12  Introduction of ourselves as women, as Americans, and sports fans. It was at this point that we began thinking about those fans we did not often see in the stadia in the UK and that we rarely saw in academic literature on fandom. We became interested in the experiences of the women fans. But rather than continue this work with the EPL, we decided to look closer to home and in an environment of personal resonance for each of us—the National Football League. Anne grew up just north of Pittsburgh, PA. Steeler football, from as far back as she can remember, was just part of the landscape. Throughout her childhood, the red, blue, and yellow diamonds of the Steelers logo were as familiar to her as the golden arches or Snoopy. At family gatherings, Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene, and Franco Harris were discussed like old friends or distant uncles. Sunday was football day and Monday night was marked by the voice of Howard Cosell. Much like a familiar landscape, however, it was only with distance and time that she came to realize how much of her early childhood was shaped by the presence of Steeler Nation. Indeed, as a kid she even toyed with supporting the Los Angeles Rams or even the dread Oakland Raiders. These small attempts at rebellion never lasted and once she moved away from Pennsylvania, the Steelers became a comforting link to her hometown and her family. Particularly after her father died, watching the Steelers play and swinging her rally towel gave her a warm nostalgic feeling of being home. Raised in the southeast suburbs of Cleveland, Danielle grew up assuming that you had to swear while watching the Browns. She distinctly remembers the moment she heard that the Browns were moving to Baltimore: As a junior in college, a classmate dropped that bomb while waiting to go live on a show Danielle produced. Danielle was in tears, the show was a disaster, and the Browns became the Ravens. For Danielle, being a Browns fan is both a blessing and a curse. Moving all around the country in her post-undergrad years, being a Browns fan provided her with an important link to home. It was through this love of the Browns that Danielle started following Aston Villa Football Club, since then-owner Randy Lerner bought the Premier League side in 2006. Now that she is an adult, Danielle feels she has learned important lessons from her beloved Cleveland Browns, including that you should never, ever take anything for granted: No matter how close a team may be to victory, they can still find a way to lose. Luckily, with that nugget comes the joy of always believing that next year will be the year—we just have to keep waiting.

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2 Performative Sport Fandom1

For as long as there has been sport there have been sport fans and for as long as sporting events have been televised, fans have congregated in distant places to watch their favorite team, club, or athlete. Walk into the American sports bar chain Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on any given Sunday during football season, and it might seem that you have been transported to Steeler Country, traditionally found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Despite a strong showing of New Orleans Saints fans and a smattering of other National Football League (NFL) teams’ supporters, there is no mistaking this is where local Steelers fans gather. In the back bar, 40 or more die-hard fans push tables together, forming a phalanx down the center of the room. They set the tables in Steelers tablecloths, Steelers plates, Steelers napkins, and Steelers cups. On the railing separating the main bar from a raised seating area, fans drape a banner proclaiming the Steelers as six-time Super Bowl champions. Among the group are its patriarch, Dan, who grew up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and still has family in the Pittsburgh suburb; a young couple that grew up in West Virginia, just south of Pittsburgh, and thus consider the Steelers their hometown team; and a large number of 30-plus-year-old men, predominantly African-American, who have no ties to Pittsburgh but who forged their love for the Steelers during the dynasty days of the early 1970s. A handful of women sit among the crowd of men. Noticeably, most women are not adorned in Steelers jerseys. They appear to be wives or girlfriends, there to support their men. Outside of football Sundays, this group of Steelers fans has little or no contact, but on game day they come together like family to share in each others’ joy when the Steelers win and to provide comfort when they lose. Researchers have clearly established the cultural importance of sport fandom in creating unity within communities (see e.g. Crawford, 2004; Giulianotti & Robertson, 2007). Indeed, some have argued that sport has supplanted more traditional communities such as family and church (Crawford, p. 62). Despite the significant volume of research on fandom, however, no universally accepted and applied definition of a fan exists. Most of us can easily conjure an image of a fan, a man who obsessively follows his

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14  Performative Sport Fandom team, always wears his favorite player’s jersey even during the off season, spouts team and player statistics, and can detail key games from a decade ago. Nonetheless, efforts to define fandom often are complicated by its ubiquity—fandom is commonplace and common sense, and thus difficult to operationalize. We routinely talk about people who are fans of teams, celebrities, rock bands, fictional characters, etc. (Hills, 2002, p. ix). As a result, operational definitions have relied on finding differences between fans and cultists, fans and enthusiasts, fans and followers. Research, for example, differentiates sport fans, those with ‘an abiding interest in sport,’ from spectators, who actually consume sporting events either directly by attending or indirectly through some medium (Wann et al., 2001, pp. 2–3). Inherent in these definitions of a fan is a dichotomy between those who are ‘real’ fans versus the ‘inauthentic’ follower. Gender often stands as one of the dividing lines between the “real” fan and the poser. Several reasons have been cited for this, but they all boil down to the implicit and often explicit assumptions about what constitutes this “real” or “authentic” fan. Women generally are not perceived to fit the norms of a sport fan because they don’t look or behave like the ‘typical,’ male fan—the social construction of what a fan should be. For example, women are less likely to attend sporting events than men (James & Ridinger, 2002). Women engage in less violent, boisterous, and alcohol-laden behavior than their male counterparts (Palmer, 2009). Women tend to be less interested in gathering team and player statistics (see e.g. Fink, Trail, & Anderson, 2002). For these and other reasons, researchers as well as other fans often discount female fans’ identification with teams or athletes, thereby undermining their inclusion in researchers definitions as “real” fans. We contend that the absence of women and others from sport fandom literature largely results from how fandom is theorized. Sport research has relied largely on social identity theory, which roots identity in one’s association with groups. While group affiliation certainly plays a significant a role in one’s identity formation, social identity theory overstates the importance of the group and does not fully consider how one performs within the group. Drawing from identity and gender theories, we argue that fandom, particularly women’s fandom, can be better understood by thinking of it as performative, rather than as rooted in group affiliation. A performative approach to sport fandom can allow researchers to better capture the complexities of fan experiences and behaviors, including those of women; therefore, we propose Performative Sport Fandom as a more nuanced theory that captures a broader range of fan experiences. Our interest began with detailing a theoretical perspective of fandom that is more inclusive of the growing number of female sport fans. Nonetheless, Performative Sport Fandom need not be limited to the study of women. Rather, the theory opens the door for a more nuanced means of thinking about and researching sport fandom generally. Throughout this book, we aim to give voice to the women fans of

Performative Sport Fandom  15 the NFL, but we do not suggest that their experiences are necessarily different from those of men.

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GAPS IN THE CURRENT THEORETICAL APPROACH It was December 5, 2010, at Buffalo Wild Wings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where a crowd had gathered to watch the Steelers take on division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. Rick, one of the rowdiest members of the south Louisiana Steeler Nation, was making his way around the bar hugging and shaking hands with all the other Steelers fans. Seated among the sea of Steelers jerseys was Natalie, an Asian American woman dressed in a purple dress and boots. Natalie had been in semi-regular attendance at Buffalo Wild Wings all season and even had shared a table and french fries with Rick in the past. Still, as Rick approached her table, he paused and hesitantly held out his hand. Natalie enthusiastically took it and said, “Let’s go Steelers!” Rick responded, “Oh yeah, I didn’t know if you were a Steeler. All right! Let’s go Steelers!” The following week, Natalie arrived dressed for the first time in her life in a Steelers t-shirt. This time, there would be no mistaking that she is and always has been a Steelers fan. Unfortunately, sport fandom researchers—much like Rick and others within sport fan communities—have tended to exclude large segments of the population, including women, from their investigations (Crawford & Gosling, 2004; Jones, 2008). Many researchers of sport fandom seem to make the same mistake Rick made in assuming outward expressions of fandom constitute one’s degree of team identification. One of the most common scales used to measure degrees of fandom is Wann’s Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS). Among its seven Likert-scaled questions is “how often do you display [your] team’s name or insignia at your work place, where you live, or on your clothing?” (Wann et al., 2001). At first glance, this may seem like a clear indicator of one’s identification with a sport or team. Our research on fans, however, suggests that the frequency with which one displays a team insignia may be confounded by other identities such as race, gender, or sexuality. Until recently, for example, very few options were available for women interested in sporting their team pride. Even now that the NFL and other retailers offer clothing, jewelry, and accessories for women, many women that we spoke to said they have difficulty finding clothing in their sizes or in a style they find flattering and appealing. One woman with whom we spoke noted that, in her profession (commercial banking), men often wear khakis and team-logoed shirts on casual days, but she still feels pressure to look more professional. She wears slacks and button-down blouses. As we discuss throughout the remainder of this book, women have similar reasons for

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16  Performative Sport Fandom not conforming to other SSIS items such as the frequency with which “you follow the team . . . in person or on television, on the radio, or televised news or a newspaper.” As Natalie explained about her typical fan behavior, “I just generally like to be low-key.” Natalie rarely talks to people about football, even other fans, though she knows a great deal about the NFL and her team’s history. For Natalie, her fandom “is personal.” Measurements of fandom that rely on decontextualized behaviors as indicators of group identification often fail to capture this nuance. As a result Natalie appears to be a less committed fan. When asked what motivated her to buy a Steelers shirt, she explained: I felt like one of them and I think what it was was when someone questioned it I felt like, “You’ve got to be kidding. I’ve been a Steelers fan since I was a little kid.” And it kind of made sense. I mean I didn’t think the guy was nuts like, “You should have been able to tell.” I just suddenly realized what it is that he looks for when he’s looking for a Steelers fan, which is probably paraphernalia or some kind of expression or something. So yeah, if I’m not wearing anything the only way you can tell is if you watch me and kind of watch my expression during the game, which no one’s really going to do. So yeah, I just kind of got caught up in it and was kind of offended, just kind of upset with the fact that someone would question—not upset at the person but at the situation that someone would question my loyalty to a team that I’ve loved for years and years. I even thought that was weird because I’ve never folded to peer pressure before . . . but for some reason it just struck a chord with me. I think it was probably just the environment and because I just really liked everyone there. Natalie’s identification with her team—her fandom—did not change, but her desire to be affiliated with a particular group of people had. This example points out the weakness in current attempts to operationalize and measure sport fandom based largely on one’s behaviors. IDENTITY THEORY VERSUS SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY Generally speaking, there are two theoretical approaches to identity, borne out of two emphases within social psychology. Identity theory is rooted in the sociological side of the discipline while social identity theory grew out of the more psychological branch of social psychology (Hogg, Terry, & White, 1995; Stets  & Burke, 2000). Despite their differences, there are significant overlaps. Both theories seek to understand the reciprocal relationship between society and self; both view self as comprised of multiple, socially constructed identities; and both point out that societal structures organize and limit individual behavior into roles (identity theory) or norms (social identity theory) (Hogg, Terry, & White, 1995).

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Performative Sport Fandom  17 The theories differ in how they detail the processes by which the self is formed and maintained. According to social identity theory, the self is formed based on one’s association with particular groups. Simply stated, identity is “who one is.” According to identity theory, on the other hand, the self is formed through the roles one plays. In other words, identity is “what one does” (Stets & Burke, 2000). Admittedly, this is a subtle change in emphasis, but one that has significant implications for how we examine the phenomenon of fandom. “What one does” is important to social identity theorists insofar as acceptance within a group often depends on adherence to social norms (behavior), but because social identity theorists focus on affiliation with an in-group, research grounded in social identity theory concentrates on differentiating the in-group from the out-group. We see this clearly articulated in Wann et al.’s (2001) book on sport fans, where they clearly establish their parameters for this differentiation: “An important first step in understanding sport fandom is to define and classify those persons involved in the consumption of sport. In the following paragraphs, we will distinguish between sport fans and spectators, direct and indirect consumers, and lowly and highly identified sport fans” (p. 2). Thus Wann et al.’s research relies in large part on behavior—wearing a team logo, attending sporting events, or watching games on television—as indicators of group affiliation, but the group is central to the construct of identity. Identity theory, on the other hand, places greater emphasis on one’s role within a social structure rather than on defining the boundaries of the structures/groups. Like social identity, identity theory suggests that one’s self is comprised of multiple identities (father, husband, accountant, Minnesota Vikings fan). Identities are socially constructed; it is only through our interactions with others that we come to understand who we are as individuals. Identity theory, unlike social identity, stresses that this construction occurs through a process by which we take on roles that we then perform for an audience of others. Based on the positive or negative feedback from the audience, we learn which role performances—and by extension which identities—are socially acceptable. For example, a child growing up among Minnesota Vikings fans might be teased or even physically assaulted for wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey. On the other hand, she may be praised for wearing Vikings-branded clothing. Through this feedback, she learns that “Packer Backer” is an unacceptable identity while “Vikings” is acceptable. One of our participants discussed how she learned to be a fan by watching and practicing with her dad. She now sees the same process as her uncle teaches his young daughter to be a Steelers fan. As Courtney explained, “I think she will come into the room and be like, ‘Daddy, what are you watching?’ He will be like, ‘Football, honey. Shhh.’ Just like my dad was with me. . . . She’s still really young. She doesn’t understand. . . . But he does talk to her. He tells her that the Steelers are playing. . . . I think she thinks the Steelers are the only team around.” Courtney says she hopes and expects that over time this ritual will lead to a lasting fan identity for her

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18  Performative Sport Fandom young cousin. We see in these examples the performance of a role that is central to the formation of identity (Burke, 1980). It is important here to note the difference between performance and behavior. Behaviors are individual acts that comprise a larger performance. Therefore, one must look at how behaviors fit into the larger context of the role to fully understand their meaning. Using acting as an analogy, in the popular Canadian television show Orphan Black, actor Tatiana Maslany plays numerous clones, each defined by her unique mannerisms, clothing choices, and actions. The individual behaviors constitute the overall identity performance that distinguishes one clone from another. Returning to the world of sport fandom, knowing how often one wears or displays a team logo is not as important as why one does so. How does the behavior of wearing a logo fit into a larger performance of a fan? In the case of Natalie, choosing not to wear team apparel did not demonstrate a lack of commitment to the Steelers, but was because sporting a logo conflicted with other roles she performed. Employing identity theory to sport fan research thus focuses our investigation on understanding role performances rather than simply examining behaviors. Some areas of feminist theory also focus on roles and performance. Rather than using performance to understand individual identity, however, feminist theory investigates gender performances in order to uncover and critique societal structures that limit acceptable roles. As detailed in the following section, its critical stance distinguishes Judith Butler’s performative gender theory (Butler, 1988, 1999) from identity theory and other similar theories such as Goffman’s dramaturgy. Performative gender theory, unlike its counterparts, is concerned with how social structures repress unacceptable identities (Lawler, 2008, pp. 101–121). In formulating Performative Sport Fandom, we begin with identity theory but also draw from the feminist works of Butler to articulate a theory of fandom that can account for the experiences of non-traditional fans, including women. PERFORMATIVE GENDER THEORY Performative gender theory stresses that gender is a social act. “Gender is not a thing we have, but rather something that we do at specific times and in specific circumstances” (Wood, 2011, loc. 1874). As a critical gender theorist, Butler has focused on how the societal structuring of gender performances—often conflated with the biological construct of sex—disenfranchises women. In rejecting a determinist view of gender, performative gender theory seeks to provide insight into and challenge societal structures. Though different in their emphases, we see several parallels between identity theory and performative gender as well as some informative differences. As with identity theory, performative gender theory stresses that through performance of roles, we internalize a socially defined gender identity. In

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Performative Sport Fandom  19 particular, “gender is an act which has been rehearsed, much as a script survives the particular actors who make use of it, but which requires individual actors in order to be actualized and reproduced as reality once again” (Butler, 1988, p. 526). Acts, however, are not innately gendered. A woman does not wear a tennis skirt because she is female. Rather by wearing a tennis skirt she is enacting/performing femininity. A man may choose to wear that same tennis skirt, perhaps because he prefers to wear women’s clothes or perhaps because he is attending a costume party. The act of wearing a skirt takes on a different meaning, either reinforcing femininity or resisting it, and can only be understood within the larger context of the performance. Both performative gender and identity theory stress that roles/performances are relational. Identity theory states that roles can only be understood in relation to other roles. The role of wife only has meaning in relation to that of spouse or partner. In order to investigate an identity, identity theorists first must determine the relevant counter-identities (Burke, 1980). This often poses an empirical problem. “In some cases relevant counter-identities are obvious (e.g., boy for girl), but for many identities they may not be clear. . . . For example, counter-identities for the physician role might be nurse, medical technician, and patient” (Callero, 1992, pp. 486–487). With regard to sport fan research, fan has been defined in relation to spectators and non-fans, but this does not take into account the full complexity of various fan identities—baseball fan versus football fan, NFL football fan versus college football fan, home-viewing fan versus game-attending fan. Again, it is important to note that the identity and counter-identity are situational; in one context the counter-identity for doctor is nurse, in another the counter-identity is patient. Performative gender is similarly relational. “Our performances are not solo operations. They are always collaborative, because however we express gender we do so in a context of social meanings that transcends our individual experiences” (Wood, 2011, loc. 1874–1888). Whereas identity theory emphasizes the identity-counter-identity relationship, performative gender theory examines the relationship between role performances and the social structures that provide the script for one’s performance. It is only by uncovering the structure that one can subvert it (Butler, 1988). Butler’s assertion that performances can be resistant of social structures points to a second important difference between identity theory and performative gender. Both theories contend that an individual rarely enacts a role or performance of gender consciously. Yet, performative gender theory seems to ascribe greater agency to the individual insofar as it suggests one can consciously choose to contest existing gender roles. This is an important contribution to how we think about sport fandom in that it dispatches the ‘boys will be boys’ arguments often used to rationalize the marginalization of women both among fan communities and within academic literature. Performative gender theory suggests that research, rather than focusing on dichotomous identity-counteridentity constructs, should focus on uncovering the multiple, contextual meanings of a performance.

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20  Performative Sport Fandom Performative gender has already been applied to research on women athletes. Sport offers a rich site for the investigation of gender and identity, largely because sport simultaneously reinforces gender identities and offers arenas through which traditional gender roles are challenged (see e.g. Davis & Weaving, 2009; Aitchison, 2007). As such, performative gender theory does more than identity theory alone insofar as it stresses that the acts are fluid, contextual, and can be understood best by turning the lens outward to examine social structures that define performances. We propose a theory of Performative Sport Fandom as a way to shift the investigation away from examining the psychological motivations of fans or criteria for classifying sport fans. PERFORMATIVE SPORT FANDOM Performative Sport Fandom posits that individuals become sport fans through the performance of fandom. Those performances are socially constructed and vary based on context and audience. Furthermore, fan identity interacts in interesting and important ways with other identities such as gender, race, sexuality, socio-economic class and nationality. One notable weakness of performative gender theory is that it looks only at gender roles and does not fully consider how gender identity interacts with other identities such as race, sexuality, or national identity. In the same way, identity theorists stress the multiplicity of identities that comprise the self, yet often do not account for the interactions among those identities. Though Butler leaves open the question of whether her theory of performativity can be applied to other societal constructs such as race, we believe that it can and indeed that the interaction among performances is important to consider. In order to fully understand the interaction of identities, we must examine similarities and differences in performances among various fan groups. Past research has focused on determining who is or is not a sport fan in order to correlate degrees of fandom with variables such as aggression, wellbeing, or motivations. In our research, we instead attempt to understand the meanings that are constructed and reinforced by the performances of sport fans. Furthermore, what can those performances tell us about how societal structures such as race, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic status either reinforce or deny fan performances? Let’s return to Buffalo Wild Wings in Baton Rouge and consider what Performative Sport Fandom can tell us about Natalie’s fandom. When asked to describe a typical game day, she began: I check with [my husband] and see what he’s doing and I kind of warn him that I’ll be watching. But other than that no—I might read about the game and see if any players are out, but rarely. I really don’t do any prep work per se. It’s just turn on the TV and watch it and try not to yell too loud. . . . In the privacy of my own home I’m not very reserved

Performative Sport Fandom  21

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and the expletives fly and I jump up and down. [My husband] slams doors. . . . Looking closely at Natalie’s performance, we see that there is a conflict between her role as wife and homemaker, and her role as fan. This conflict means that she must ‘warn’ her husband that she is about to watch a game. Her fan role must be managed in relation to her wife role. Natalie explained, “So yeah, in the privacy of my own home I probably express my enthusiasm a lot more just because no judgment. Well, there is judgment but . . . [laugh].” Natalie consciously adapts her performances to varying situations. Despite her husband’s displeasure, she is more expressive of her fandom at home. In the sports bar, Natalie is reserved and only by closely watching her facial expressions can one see evidence of her identification with a team. Even in a room full of other Steelers fans, Natalie fears judgment and, therefore, does not engage in socially accepted and even expected fan behavior—yelling, cursing, jumping up and down—because it conflicts with socially expected behaviors of a woman, particularly a Chinese American woman. As noted earlier, traditional approaches to fan research, therefore, might classify Natalie as an inauthentic fan based on her behaviors. Performative Sport Fandom pushes us to consider how social structures limit Natalie’s performances. There can be little doubt that Natalie considers herself a fan, but because she experiences a conflict between her fan identity and her gender and race identities, she suppresses performances of her fandom. Natalie is not alone in this, since almost all of the women with whom we spoke indicated changes in their performances depending on where they are and with whom they are watching. Chapters 7 and 8 detail how women fans’ performances differ based on whether they attend games or watch from home. One reason for the difference in performance is that women watching at home often are expected to also fulfill hostessing and caregiving roles; at games, they are free to engage in more stereotypically male performances such as beer drinking and taunting of rival fans. Identity theory refers to the salience hierarchy to explain that ‘those identities at the top of the hierarchy are more likely to be invoked than those at the bottom . . . and to be invoked together with other identities” (Burke, 1980, p. 19). It does not consider the complex interactions of these identities and how someone such as Natalie creates nuanced performances. In some cases, as when Rick failed to recognize Natalie as a Steelers fan, she experiences a conflict between her performed identity and others’ perceptions. To address this conflict, she had to change her behavior. As Natalie’s story exemplifies, Performative Sport Fandom allows us to understand the flexibility and fluidity of our roles and how they are performed. Roles are neither permanent nor fixed; rather, they constantly shift and reshape over time and across situations. Specifically, we should consider performative acts in terms of three key characteristics. First, these roles are relational: They exist in relation to

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22  Performative Sport Fandom specific people, situations, and events. While they are relational, roles are not necessarily dichotomous as suggested by identity theory. Second, roles are contextual: Instead of thinking of (and measuring) roles in terms of specific behaviors, we should ground them within the broader context in which they occur (and recognize the influence of context on performances). Finally, role performances are negotiable: Because they exist in relation to others and are informed by context, we constantly engage in negotiation with ourselves and others to determine which performances are appropriate to the situation and how best to perform that role. When Natalie decided to wear a Steelers t-shirt as an outward demonstration of her fandom, she did this to demonstrate her legitimacy to other members of the Steelers Nation (relational) who were congregated at a central location in Baton Rouge (contextual) in order to shift perceptions of her authenticity (negotiable). It is important to note that while Natalie made a conscious choice to wear the Steelers shirt, the grounding for this decision—what made her decide to adopt an outward representation of her fandom—was in her unconscious negotiations. Making this decision did not legitimize Natalie as a fan, nor did it make her more authentic than other fans. Her choice did, however, represent a physical manifestation of the shifts in how Natalie opted to perform her sport fandom. A performative approach to fandom allows us to see how her fan identity relates to her other identities and how she consciously (and often unconsciously) manages her roles. We also see how gender and race identities intersect with fan identity to limit the performances that Natalie believes are socially acceptable and thereby limit the degree to which traditional fans accept her. Performative Sport Fandom provides the theoretical framework for this book. In the following chapter we expand on this theoretical construct by outlining two distinct modes of fan performances: Knowing and Caring. Our data show that one way of being an NFL fan and performing that fandom is characterized by gathering and sharing team and player data, history, and knowledge. These Knowing modes of performance enhance the qualitative nature of one’s fandom. A second broadly defined way of being a football fan is to express and experience emotional attachment to one’s team and the sport. This Caring mode of performance defines the scope of one’s fandom; one cannot be a fan without caring. These two modes of fandom help to explain the relational, contextual, and negotiable nature of fan’s performative acts. In the following chapter we detail each mode of performance and discuss how they intersect to form a Fan Performance Matrix. NOTE 1. This chapter was originally published as “Performative Sport Fandom: An Approach to Retheorizing Sport Fandom” (2013) in Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 16(5), 672–681. Reprinted by permission of Taylor & Francis (http://www.tandfonline.com).

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3 Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance

In everyday conversation, we often hear sports fans, journalists, and pundits talk about bandwagon fans, fair-weather fans, super fans, diehard fans, true fans, devoted fans, casual fans, psycho fans, and the list goes on. We seem compelled to categorize the quantity and quality of one’s fandom, often drawing distinctions between those who are authentic fans and those whom we dismiss for not suffering enough, knowing enough, or caring enough. The women that we interviewed were no different. They too tend to label fans, in part because we asked them to describe typical and super fans, but also because these distinctions simply came up when discussing their experiences having their own fandom judged, often by men. We make sense of the world around us by categorizing. Yet our data also clearly show the problems associated with trying to create classification schema. Nonetheless, most research to date on sport fandom begins with an effort to categorize degrees of fandom. Wann et al. (2001) separate fans from spectators, defined as those who merely watch sports but feel little identification with a team or athlete. They further classify fans as highly and lowly identified, and spectators as direct and indirect consumers. Giulianotti (2002) classifies fans as either “hot” or “cold.” A hot fan’s identification with her team/sport/player is integral to her sense of self-identity, whereas cold fans have less attachment to the objects of their fandom and tend to experience mediated fandom via television or the Internet. Giulianotti further subdivides hot fans into fans and spectators and cool fans into followers and flâneurs (French for idler). Crawford (2003) offers a “typical career progression” of fans from Interested to Engaged, Enthusiastic, Devoted, Professional, and finally Apparatus. Fandom, however, is a social construct and, like other social constructs, it is a fluid constellation of performances. Fans construct fandom through the complex interplay between how much you know about your team and how much you care about its success. Performative Sport Fandom, therefore, conceives of fandom as relational, contextual, and negotiable. Our data tell us that women consciously and unconsciously choose to engage in different modes of fan performance, depending on the environment, who else is present, and what other role performances (e.g. gender, sexuality, race) might

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24  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance be engaged at that time. From our data we are able to identify two performance modes: Knowing, one’s understanding of football plays, statistics, and history; and Caring, one’s emotional attachment to and investment in a team. Knowing and Caring are not two types of fans, though we often hear people talk about the Stats Geek or the Crazy Fanatic to describe the extremes of both. Rather, they are ways of performing fandom. They also are not mutually exclusive. Most fans engage in both Caring and Knowing performances at various times and to varying degrees depending on circumstances. Women talked about the emotional commitment (and at times toll) fandom takes, the excitement of watching the game they love, and the loyalty they feel for their teams. They also discussed how knowledge enhances that experience. At a minimum, one must know the rules of the game. The most hard-core fans know more; they study and understand the strategic nature of football. Caring and Knowing are both important aspects of being an NFL fan but in different ways. Given that fans employ both modes of performance, we see them as intersecting axes that form a grid we call the Fan Performance Matrix (see Figure 3.1). The FPM allows us to plot fans’ performances relative to one another and thereby visualize how fans’ expression of Knowing and Caring often shift based on circumstances. As we detail further in this chapter, there are various ways of Knowing; some fans may memorize a team’s roster going back five years or extensively study playbooks, while others may only know the big play-makers on a team’s current roster and be unable to explain a play-action fake. Similarly, with regard to Caring, one fan may cry or throw things when her team loses and decorate every corner of her home with team memorabilia,

Figure 3.1  Fan Performance Matrix. Created by Anne C. Osborne.

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   25 while another may rarely wear a team logo and only talk football with close friends. Observers of such performances, our participants included, often then pass judgment on a fan based on these performative modes and then label that person as a particular type of fan: diehard, fair-weather, etc. Fandom, however, is not a fixed identity. Compare the concept of fandom to gender. The idea of a “real man” is a social construct. Such a label simply means that someone fits the hegemonic standard for masculinity; measurements of masculinity simply gauge adherence to the social script. Similarly, scales used to distinguish authentic from inauthentic fans are constructed in relation to and thereby reinforce the stereotype of a fan. Our research seeks to interrogate the social construction of fandom; the Fan Performance Matrix allows us to do that. The term matrix may be somewhat misleading as the axes may suggest that we plan to measure Caring and Knowing. We are not concerned with quantifying fans’ knowledge or emotional attachment but with using the FPM as an integrative tool to consider different ways of being a fan. The FPM allows us to consider how Caring and Knowing interact to reinforce normalized understandings of what it means to be an NFL fan—how one should look and behave. It also provides a framework for examining why women are often deemed less authentic fans and how women fans challenge the stereotypical construction of NFL fandom. Finally, the FPM allows us to consider the fluidity of fans’ performances. In the remainder of this chapter, we first detail each mode of fan performance. We then underscore the contextual, relational, and negotiable nature of Performative Sport Fandom by showing how women’s fan performances map onto the FPM. CARING The women we interviewed define NFL fandom based on a person’s level of emotional attachment to the game and/or team. When asked to describe the ultimate fan, our interview participants almost always began by describing someone who is highly invested in his team’s success. It also is worth noting that the women we asked more often than not described a man. Amy offered: My Pittsburgh Steelers-loving brother. He really takes it very seriously. I’ll call him up, and he’s just talking to me about the football game. . . . You can tell that it affects him. When the Browns lose, I’m like the Browns lost the game, but whatever. It’s not that big of a deal. But I feel like if his team does poorly, it really affects him emotionally. He gets pissed and angry. To me it’s just like, I guess I’m just so used to it. I don’t know. I like it, I like to watch it, but I don’t see it as, it’s not going to ruin my life if they don’t do well. And I feel like my brother just takes a step further. He is just like diehard.

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Kimmy began by discussing the knowledge her husband has about the game, but when asked if that is what marks him as an ultimate fan, she turned to his Caring performance of fandom. . . . His super love for it. He truly loves the Browns. It’s really such true feelings that he cannot hide them. There’s no, “Oh, I’m disappointed with my team.” Oh, no, no. That doesn’t even begin to explain what he’s like when they are losing. It affects him physically. I feel like he is just so upset by it, you know. He can’t talk to anybody; he is that upset. When they win, he is so excited. He opens up beers on a play. “Oh, we’re up. This is great.” And he wants to walk out of the room and kick everybody out of the house when they’re losing. It is a serious, serious issue. Others, such as Natalie, compared football to religion. “These people who go out in you know, zero degree weather, no shirt, painted, um, colors, team colors on their bare chests. You know, someone who goes to their team’s games regularly like through the week football games and you know, follows their team during the football season. To me that’s pretty hardcore. Yeah it’s just anyone who has that kind of religious devotion to their team like that.” Kristy echoed this sentiment, saying, “Well football is kind of our religion, I guess, in a strange way.” Merchandise and costumes. The ultimate fan often calls to mind those painted and costumed fans in the Browns’ Dawg Pound or the Raiders’ Black Hole. Lisa pointed to two nationally recognized Saints fans: They have to be dressed up. They’re people you see like the Whistle Man with the whistle on his head or the Pope or the Nuns or whatever. I don’t know if it’s a certain gender. The face painted or something dressed in black and gold. It’d have to be something like that. Not just me in a jersey, it would have to be something wild just because it’s New Orleans. Something wild and crazy probably. According to our participants, not everyone goes so far as to employ costumes like the ultimate fans, but anyone can outwardly signify their Caring through merchandise. Football season or not, they adorn their homes, cars, and selves in team logos. In the previous chapter, we detailed how Natalie was mistaken for a non-Steelers fan until she began appearing at the local sports bar on game day in a Steelers t-shirt. The importance of merchandise in communicating one’s loyalty and devotion is worth underscoring. It was a highly recurring theme in how women see themselves and others engaging in the Caring mode of performance. I know a perfect person. And um, this guy did work—he was a contractor—he did a remodel on a bathroom for me at our house. And I’ve never ever seen him without a Saints cap on and a Saints t-shirt. He

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   27 was always very professional. He was a painter and a plasterer and he did everything. But every time I saw him, and so, and of course when I  saw him, “You’re a Saints fan?” “Yes.” I  went to his house to see some materials and look at some things getting ready, and I walked into his house and it was obvious. [laughter] His car, his truck, it’s obvious, the flags and everything there and like, he’s a season ticket holder. He, you know, he loves the New Orleans Saints. . . . You know, he’s what I would call a true fan. I’m telling you. When I say I’ve never seen him without something with the New Orleans Saints on, and I’m talking about anything. Always professional work but he is a true fan. That’s what I believe. (Shelly) He is a Steelers fan, and if you walk in their house, everything is Steelers. Their clothes are Steelers. Their blankets are Steelers. Their decorations are Steelers. Their three-year-old daughter wears Steelers clothes. The wife wears Steelers clothes. He wears Steelers clothes. (Courtney) He’s the one that actually owns the trailer that’s painted in the Browns colors. He follows them religiously and is always tweeting about them. He bought an RV and painted it. He won’t miss a tailgate. He’s always on the RTA at 5:00 a.m. He’s probably the biggest Browns fan I know. (Katlyn) Um, decked out in gear, the one that goes every week and tailgates. And if the team is playing out of town, it doesn’t matter. They’ll go to a bar and tailgate, per se. Um, and might even have like a man cave, and this pertains to women too. They might have a dedicated man cave with a bunch of paraphernalia. Yeah, you know, or like an area in the basement with paraphernalia, jerseys incased in a glass case or something, pennants, that type of thing. And, they like to drink, and they like to eat barbequed grill things—tailgating foods. And they get super excited when their team’s doing well, and they get very, very upset when the team loses. Where when the game’s over, it can ruin their night. That’s my experience with ultimate fans in Cleveland. (Becky) It’s clear that clothing can be an important signifier of fandom. As noted in the previous chapter, men often enjoy greater social leeway to wear team insignias and merchandise than do women fans. Stephanie talked about the pressure she feels to look professional at work while her male colleagues can dress down in team embossed shirts and still be viewed as professional. In recent years, the NFL has added a wider array of clothing for women that may allow female fans to express their Caring in more diverse settings. Older women fans, in particular, talked about the difficulty finding age-appropriate and flattering clothing. The investment. It takes a considerable financial commitment to accumulate the trappings of fandom. The average jersey costs approximately

28  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance

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$100, while a throwback jersey can cost as much as $300. Attendance for a family of four can average close to $500 per game (Team Marketing, 2013). Money is not the only commitment required of diehard fans. As the quotes below demonstrate, fans must also be prepared to invest considerable time and emotional energy. But not only that, when the game is on, he is talking to the TV. He’s screaming at the TV. He is telling the ballplayers what to do. That’s his thing. Football is his thing, but more importantly—the Steelers are his thing. Every Sunday, that’s what he is doing. He is in front of the TV. He’s watching the game. He is not going to dinner. He’s not going over to somebody else’s house unless they have the Steelers game on. He is a very dedicated fan. He is a very hopeful fan, and he is a very enthusiastic fan. I would think he is definitely the biggest football fan I know because week after week, he is in front of that TV and he is watching that game. He is there. It’s pretty cool. (Courtney) The ultimate fan would be down there at 6 o’clock in the morning tailgating and the first one beating on the doors to get in. Or pay the money to have seats down in those first few rows or something like that. That would be what the ultimate fan does. I don’t know what they look like, but what they do. We’re considering getting down there an hour and a half before kickoff. The ultimate fan gets down there the night before kickoff. (Lisa) I think about the people who get up at the crack of dawn and have . . . You know, there must be somebody—a friend of somebody on my street who has one of those Browns vehicles that is painted in Browns colors and it looks like a dog or something [laughs]. The people who go and tailgate from the very beginning of the day and dress up in all their gear. Those are the real fanatics, I would say. (Alice) The data clearly show that perceptions of the level of a person’s fandom rest on how emotionally invested she is in a team. Diehard, hard-core, or true fans are expected to demonstrate their devotion through emotive performances and signal their commitment with team logo–emblazoned merchandise. Such devotion can border on obsession. Discussing one of the most committed fans she knows, Lisa said, “I  don’t know that she understands the game much more than I do because she would ask me questions about things that are going on like rules and what not and I’d explain it to her. As far as emotion goes, that’s everything to her. It is kind of like her life revolves around it almost.” A  typical fan’s performance, on the other hand, conveys less Caring. Donna explained, “they like the game, but one, they won’t make sure they’re off of work for a game. They won’t compromise something else for watching a game. They’re going to

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   29 root for the team, but as soon as the team looks really sluggish they’ll probably give up.” Jamie said, “First criteria, do you care what happens at the game. A casual fan is just kind of ‘Great if they win. Oh well if they lose.’ The ultimate fan is in it to win it. But there’s a fine line between ultimate fan and bat-shit-crazy fan.” Emotional highs and lows. Whether a diehard or casual fan, the emotions experienced within the Caring mode of performance can be exhilarating. Women talk about their teams’ successes in ecstatic terms. But yeah, that season [the Saints Super Bowl winning season] was blissful. You saw us pull off games that you never thought we were going to win. It was like divine intervention. We were meant to win this year and nothing was going to stop it. It’s just a lot happier . . . Being at games like that, like the playoff game, that’s probably the best game I’ve ever been to is the Saints-Green Bay playoff game. I can remember the Green Bay playoff game. But so much is riding on it. The emotion and everybody is holding their breath and it was so stressful and there’s so much anxiety but it’s a good anxiety. When it goes your way—I don’t know. For me there’s few feelings that can replace that or just to say I was there and I saw it, it happened right in front of me and everybody went nuts. We all went out after and it was great. (Lisa) Kimmy described winning as “Awesome. You are so excited. The whole house is awesome. You can jump up and down and cheer. The whole day is just awesome.” A team’s failures can be devastating. Kimmy explained, “Because when the Cleveland Browns do not do well, no one in my house does well. The attitude completely changes. I don’t mean just for the time of the game, I mean the whole day. So I really don’t even enjoy Sunday football any more, at all.” Kimmy went on to further describe the pallor in her home after a loss. “It is very quiet in the house. We don’t really talk a lot. Actually when the game is over, we go separate a little bit for a while. Mike usually goes to listen to the sports talk in the basement. Me and the kids are watching cartoons and wait for their daddy.” Talea talked about trying to take losses in stride but finding it difficult: Sometimes it’s accepted, but when it’s a team that I absolutely [think] there’s no reason we should not be beating, then it’s a combination between being depressed and angry all at the same time, and then a commercial comes on and you laugh about it or somebody calls you to talk smack. There are some times I won’t answer the phone if we’re losing because I’ll ignore people, I don’t want to talk about it. And I tell people you got to give me at least thirty minutes after the game before we have this discussion. But for the most part I’m realistic

30  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance about my team as well. So I know they’re probably going to lose and that’s okay.

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At times the emotions can be overwhelming, so much so that the women we interviewed sometimes choose to step away from the game. And my adrenaline is just, I mean, it’s really it’s high. It’s like “woo.” I’ve gone to the mall. I’ve left the house. I just go to the mall saying “Ok. I’m going to leave.” [laughter] “Text me the score.” [laughter] You know, like that but yeah. I mean, like, oh my God I can’t really. I don’t like that. I don’t like that . . . I don’t like that feeling. So I just, move away from it. It’s just a little too much. Like yesterday was, yeah. You see what I’m saying? Woooooh. Just pull away from it. Me, that’s what I do. I’m not going to sit there. I’m going to get away. Oh, I gotta put all the clothes in the wash, go to the mall . . . really. Have to get out. (Shelly) I once was so frustrated and upset over the Browns game that I left the living room. Once I left the house completely and went on a drive crying. I  once locked myself in a bedroom. Now I  look back on it. I can’t even believe that was me but yet I could see me doing that again. I was so upset with them. If you’re gonna have people over, you have to continue some modicum of hostessing. I cannot predict that that’s what I will do. I can’t predict that I won’t turn off the game. So if people are there to see a game and wanna finish a game and you say, “I gotta turn this off. I’m so tired of them. I’ve had it. I’m done.” And that’s one of my famous lines, “I’m done.” And I might turn off that game. My husband will roll with it. He’ll just turn the channel. Guests aren’t gonna do that. And I have literally had times where I’ve left the house or had a crying jag so bad that I’ve locked myself in the room. (Stephanie) Gender stereotypes often paint women as overly emotional, prone to hysteria. As described above, some women do experience nearly unbearable distress when watching football. Nonetheless, our participants contend that men have the more extreme emotional reactions. Men seem to be more fanatical and more emotionally affected by the games than women are. That’s probably the biggest thing that I can point out. . . . We’re talking about earlier how that affects their entire day, their team wins or loses. Women seem to not care as much and just move on with their day or whatever else is going on that week while men seem to dwell on it and the thought of the game lingers. . . . Women are better at multitasking, so maybe just the fact that a loss is just another thought in their head and they move on to something else

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while men get stuck on that one thought and can’t move on from it. (Elizabeth) I think it’s completely different. I enjoy the game, I enjoy watching it. But I don’t let it interfere with my life. Whereas [my husband] will take the next three days, listen to sports talk radio and try to analyze every single thing that happened that day. Go over and over it again and again, talk to his friends about it, and talk to his friends about it again. Talk to someone else about it, and try to talk to me about it. I’ll just tune out. Definitely different. . . . [Women] like the game, we enjoy it for the moment that you are in it. After that, you don’t think about it again. I think it’s a difference between men and women. You know men are from Mars, and women are from Venus, that kind of thing. I think that’s one of the differences. . . . We hold dear our children. We hold dear memories, photos, things like that. But I don’t think when it comes to the actual game itself, I need to rehash it over and over again, like I feel like my husband does. He has to do it, he has to talk about it again. He has to get into it again. I just don’t have that kind of interest. Maybe it is a lack of interest. I do like the team, I do enjoy watching it, I enjoy the food that comes along with it, but I don’t necessarily need to rehash it over and over again. (Kimmy) Just a game. Despite the stereotype of the hysterical woman, our participants generally expressed aversion to extreme emotional responses. They consciously avoid letting football ruin their moods and are frustrated by others who do not do the same. Remember the Browns game where they lost to Oakland, and Brian [Sipe] threw into the lake. It was a terrible, terrible, frigid day. I had to miss work the next day. I was working for a fundraising agency in Cleveland. And by no means did they look upon it kindly when you missed work. Yes, I was depressed. I was all these things. But I had cried so hard at that game that my eyelashes froze. And I had to go to the doctor the next day to be treated ’cause I got a really bad cold in both eyes. So I couldn’t really drive or anything. That’s the kind of stupidity that I would go through. (Stephanie) Well one thing that has—one thing that has turned me off—I mean even throughout the years when I was going to the Browns games because we had season passes is how people, like, let it ruin their day or like get angry or you hear that random story where a fan, a Pittsburgh fan or a Browns fan ran over a Pittsburgh fan. Like, those types of things piss me off because, I’m like, I always tell people, they don’t even know you exist, but you’re letting it ruin your whole day. Or you’re the angry person at the bar starting fights. Like, that type of stuff pisses me off, and that kind of turns me off. (Becky)

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32  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance If the Packers and the Seahawks both lose, I am bummed but it doesn’t affect my entire week or anything. I can get over it pretty quickly and just look onto the next. . . . I’ve learned to “Okay, they lost,” like I’m used to that but I know for some people, especially the players, it affects their entire week. That is one thing where I think it’s like, it’s just a game, not life or death so they probably should get over it a little bit quicker but these people don’t have as much experience with losing as I do. (Elizabeth) Now I’ve seen people that literally need the next day [to recover from a loss]. Now, I think that’s a bit much, personally. I know I can’t really judge by any means, but that’s a lot. I know some people that you may not hear from them for multiple days, it just depends on how they feel about it. And then I know a lot of people that can shake it off instantly because they’re like, “I’m not on the field so who cares?” (Talea) Our participants see the extremes of Caring performances as an indulgence or a luxury, something they neither have the time, energy, or inclination to engage in to the same extent as the super fans—mostly male—they describe. The unwillingness among some women to (over)react may contribute to a perception that they care less, are less passionate, or are less committed to the game. Even other female fans reinforce negative stereotypes, as we see in Jamie’s quote below. She assumes that women cheer less because they are more interested in how they appear than with the game. Guys are way more animated. Girls are more reserved and, you know, concerned about how they look, I guess. That’s why I like my friend, Gwendolyn. When she gets sore it’s fun for me to be around. She makes me look like I’m a casual, country club mom fan. Compared to her at games I’m relaxed and, ah, low key. Yeah, I think guys tend to be more, um, outwardly involved. And I think there are probably a lot of girls that don’t cheer a lot because maybe they’re not sure that they’re cheering at the right time. You know what I mean. That can be intimidating at times . . . if you’re not comfortable in your knowledge. I mean you don’t want to go crazy and look like a fool. So guys are usually the ones high fiving in the crowd. So yeah, I mean I do think that’s a difference. (Jamie) Our research, however, suggests women’s performances of Caring are often a conscious negotiation between supporting their team and actively managing their own emotional wellbeing by lessening their Caring performances. Indeed women fans are caught in a catch-22 when it comes to performing within the Caring mode. If they express extreme emotions, they run the risk of being labeled hysterical. If they do not, they run the risk of being seen as casual or bandwagon fans whose interest in football does not run

Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   33 deep enough. Men, on the other hand, are free to engage in intense Caring performances ranging from anger to tears to joy.

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KNOWING As important as the emotional connection with the team is, knowledge and understanding of the game are also central to fandom. Alice posited, “I think it’s more enjoyable to watch if you know the rules and know what’s going on. . . . It’s not very much fun to watch if you don’t understand the rules.” Someone can be a fan without knowledge, but knowing the game adds to the experience. Faye explained: I just like how there’re so many ways that you can look at the sport. There’re plays. And then the more you get into it, you know what various players’ strengths are and you can watch the players and see where they’re going and see what they’re trying to do. And then you can see them trying to open holes in the defense or on the line. . . . It’s more fun if you know what’s going on. Talking about her father, from whom she learned about football, Kimmy said: I think he would say that more informed fans understand the sport better, understand what’s going on. Therefore that would make them a more engaged fan. I don’t know if he would say they would be a, quote-unquote, better fan. He would definitely say that they are more knowledgeable fan and a more engaged fan. I think he feels that sense of community as well. I think that’s something that’s unspoken between football fans. I think at the end of the day he would say that a fan is a fan is a fan. Shelly discussed how her fandom has changed as she has learned more about the game. It’s grown as I, I guess . . . the more I’ve learned about the sport . . . the more I’ve gotten into the statistics and the “who’s doing what,” you know. There was things about the sport that I didn’t have an interest in, like the draft . . . none of that mattered. I just wanted us to win. And now I’m getting more involved in the game itself. Kristy is a devoted Browns fan while her husband loves the San Francisco ’49ers. When it comes to football overall, “He’s probably a little bit more [of a fan] than me. But, yeah . . . I would say him.” What separates them is their level of knowledge. “I think it’s because he knows statistics, like crazy, crazy statistics. He knows all of these things about all of the players, and

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knows who absolutely everybody is, and I’m getting better at it, but I’m not anywhere near as competent with that as he is.” Respect. Knowing is esteemed among fans. Male and female fans alike afford greater respect to those who, in addition to loving the game, are also students of the game. Stephanie, for example, expressed her admiration for former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s football knowledge: I don’t feel tactically proficient in the game, I don’t feel as tactically—I don’t feel as analytic or as deep as I should be given my background [working in a highly analytical field in U.S. government]. And I  also am very persuaded by the way that Condi could mesmerize a room by her knowledge of the game so that, even if people weren’t football fans, they got it. They got that there was something bigger going on here than a game. And they could clearly see her mastery of it. I liked it. I like when fans bring a lot to it and aren’t just like, “I hate that guy.” They could really bring something into it that I didn’t know. In order to stay interested in a team that is not winning, you’ve got to bring more to the story. You can’t rely just on history. And you really are not in contention for long. So there’s going to be several weeks where you’re not in contention. You’re not even maybe a wildcard contender. So you’ve got to have something that’s interesting. And that, to me, has reignited interest in a way I didn’t expect. Talea expressed similar admiration for a knowledgeable fan that she knows. My ex-roommate—yeah, I’ll give it to her. The woman who is the reason why I fell in love with the sport in the first place, she knows the roster; she can tell you everything there is to know about them, what college they went to. I mean the only people I can tell you that are the ones I work with. I have no idea how she knows them so well, but she’ll be able to tell you everything about it. It’s not just for the Bengals; she’ll know it across the board—I’ve always been impressed with that. I would say that she is the true definition of a fanatic—where the word [fan] comes from. She’s extremely knowledgeable about the team, the players, the coaches, and even the owners. Anything that touches the team, she can pretty much give you some type of background about it, or be willing to research it. So, like I said, she’s probably one of the most knowledgeable people I know. Knowing is often discussed in awed tones as when Kimmy described her husband’s knowledge of the Browns. You could ask him pretty much any questions, I feel like he can answer it. We listen to the sports talk a lot, unfortunately. They always have

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questions, and he’ll answer right away. I would say 70% to 80% times he is right. He knows pretty much anything. He remembers the plays. “Do you remember that big play in 1976?” It’s ridiculous. . . . He is really good. He knows stuff that I don’t understand how he could even know it. Criticism from men. To challenge someone’s fandom, one need only attack that person’s understanding of the game. We particularly saw this when men criticized female fans for what they perceived to be women’s lack of football knowledge. Mike, for example, said this about gender difference among fans: “I would say men kind of watch the plays more, and study the mechanics of the game. I notice the women tend to notice what the players are wearing. Maybe what they are saying in interviews after the game. Stuff like that . . . In most cases, I guess, me, I assume that women don’t know what they are talking about when it comes to football.” Franklin commented, “They are more into the, I’m going to describe it as social experience of it. They don’t always understand the rules. They don’t always understand the penalties of it.” Men and women fans alike esteem greater Knowing. The difference is that women’s fandom is often dismissed based on the assumption that they are uninformed. It is up to the woman to prove that perception wrong. As Jack explained: I think it’s more of a cool thing to do. Like a Saturday, the cool thing to do is to go out and tailgate. I think [women] use football as an excuse to do stuff like that. They treat it as a social event I guess. I think if, yeah, I think a lot of guys have to dumb it down a lot. I know I do. I dumb it down when I have to talk to women about football. Unless they put in some kind of intellect into the conversation, like some kind of knowledge, then I’ll talk to them. But I’m not going to sit there and try to have some kind of intricate conversation with somebody if they are just sitting there saying they like passing the ball, or something like that. These assumptions are commonly held among male fans, and women thus have to prove their authenticity and legitimacy, a phenomenon discussed in detail in Chapter 4. Men, on the other hand, often are simply accepted into the community and assumed to be knowledgeable. Women are well aware of these assumptions. In Jamie’s experience, “Guys just blow you off. They don’t think you know what you’re talking about. I don’t, at this point, I don’t really care. That’s fine. You don’t have to think I  know what I’m talking about. I know I know what I’m talking about. And if you say something stupid I am going to correct you. Because shockingly [men] don’t know everything.” Other participants expressed similar frustration with the assumption that as women they would not understand football. I feel like men probably think that they know more but they don’t always, in that sense. They might be able to stereotype women as oh,

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they probably are just being cheerleaders and just being here for the team. I think there’s a lot more women now that know more about the game and want to know more about the game. (Katlyn) Well, I’ve been in situations where to be honest they didn’t realize that I could hang in the conversation. So, as far as the conversation and being able to be a part and work my way into a conversation or actually, whatever. . . . initially there were times when I was just around people that really didn’t know and they would start a conversation or treat me a little different because they didn’t expect me to say what I said, you know like. . . . I really know what I’m talking about. (Shelly) Credibility (especially with men). Given that Knowing performances earn fans greater respect, it is through this mode that women gain entrée into the boys’ club; it is how women establish credibility. For men, it is an assumed gender competency, whereas women often must fight against negative stereotypes of female fans. In the next chapter, we discuss at length the strategies women use to counter such perceptions. Knowing is generally key. Elizabeth explained, “I think really just knowing the game, that’s what I try to do, being able to talk about it, what’s going on, know the rules and the penalties, I think that helps in a way because people are like, ‘Oh, she actually knows what’s going on.’ ” Shelly proudly recounted a conversation with her husband about her football knowledge. “He actually told his coworker at work last week, he said, ‘My wife can tell me so much about this sport until I’m just amazed.’ And so the other day I said, ‘Did you know something something . . .?’ and he’s like, ‘No, I didn’t know. I did not know that. I was just telling a guy at work how amazed I am with you and football.’ I love the sport.” For Amy, Knowing is acceptance. “I feel accepted by men. I never feel ostracized because I am a woman watching football. I can hold my own in conversations with a guy.” When asked if that was important, she replied, For me, yeah. I like to know what’s going on in a game, know who the players are. If I am watching a game, and I see a guy holding a player, I’m like “it’s holding.” I think it’s important no matter what you do to know the rules and reasoning behind everything. I’m not just like going, “Yeah, team! Go Browns!” It’s important for you to be a credible fan. I think for anybody, even a guy. If a guy sits there watching a football game, and he is like “Hit a homerun!” he is going to look stupid. Stephanie talked at length about how NFL fandom garnered greater credibility and respect in her workplace. In the workplace I worked in, it was male-dominated but primarily white-male dominated for a good portion of my career. That changed

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   37 in the later portion. But to not be a sports fan probably denied you a seat at the table more often than not. You could make your way on other bona fides. But it was an immediate affiliation and an immediate bona fide. Football was probably the primary. If you would’ve come in and said I love tennis, you’d be seen as kind of weird—baseball and basketball maybe—basketball less so than that. Football pretty much always bought you bona fides very quickly. So yeah, you use it. You use everything you’ve got in that environment. Especially if you’re a [fan of a] team that everybody knows—you know—if you look at a team like Tennessee, who cares, really. I just had this conversation with my husband at dinner last night. Do you even care? I don’t care about Tennessee. Who cares? People don’t. Even the people from Tennessee aren’t really fans of Tennessee. For me, it was a bona fide to be a Browns fan. Everybody knows something about the Browns. According to Stephanie, you had to be able to talk the talk. Oh, yeah. But I didn’t have too much trouble with that. Because even though I couldn’t go deep in the game analytics, I was so steeped in the emotion of the game of knowing who we played, the ups and downs of the game, being able to know some of our history that was deeply coded in me, being able to go back generations in my family to talk about that. Yes, and I didn’t find it very challenging. . . . Also, I could go head-to-head— we have a lot of Ravens fans. I hate the Ravens. I hate Ravens fans. I  hate everything they stand for. So I  could stand my ground very, very effectively. And I  felt complete superiority and mastery—really important in a white-male-dominated environment. It just is what it is. A young woman today might not relate to that, but it’s true. You need to be able to have that bona fide, assert it well and show some superiority. Learning the game. Throughout data collection we often heard men comment that women cannot understand football because women do not play the game, at least not beyond the youth Pee Wee league level or the occasional weekend pick-up game. Mark, for example, explained: I think a lot of my fandom comes from having once played the game. Growing up I played, in high school I played. And so when I see it, I can almost put myself there. I remember game days. Granted, it’s nowhere near the same scale or same level. But I remember being there and I remember formations. I remember like looking and like play calling and all this stuff. And trying to read everything you see. I guess you have a lot of inside perspective, inside the player. You can put yourself right there on the field. It was your dream, if you played football, it was your dream to be on that field, or it was most people’s dream to be on

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38  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance that field one day playing professionally, so you always imagine yourself there. And I guess in a way as a fan, I can still do that. I can still see myself there. At times where I can still remember what it was like to be there again. Where as women I don’t think get that. Women don’t know what it feels like to get hit hard like that. And that’s like a good feeling in a way. I miss getting hit like that. Or women do not know what it’s like to go across the middle and know you might get hit, and you don’t or you do. And most women—I’m not saying all women because I’m sure some have played—but women in general don’t have that experience so I don’t know if they can put themselves into it. I don’t know if they appreciate the beauty of the physicality of football. I think that is probably a big difference there. While most women have not played the game, a lot of female fans have been immersed in football since childhood. According to them, they developed the Knowing mode of performance just by watching. Katlyn explained, “I’ve grown up around football so I know all the terminology. I actually have a friend who’s a defensive lineman on the [Cleveland Browns].” Kimmy had a similar experience: I think I learned what’s going on just by watching it. I don’t think anybody taught me, or sat me down and said “Okay here’s the formation and here’s what we’re going to do.” I think it was all just by, you know, I think it was just born and bred in me. You know, this is what happens, this is what you do. I think a little bit happened, probably is seventh grade, I was a trainer for the football team, for the junior high school football team. So I had to take some of the statistics down, you know, if it was my week to write it down, I had to know what play it was. I had to know who caught the ball, who got the tackle, those different things. So it happened to me a little bit more when I was in the seventh grade. Such knowledge building doesn’t happen overnight, particularly when you are afraid to ask questions. It was kind of a long process. Sometimes I  would ask questions, but I knew how many questions I could get away with asking before my brother or my dad would be like “Oh my gosh, stop asking questions.” I would ask a question here and there, and I would really just pay attention to what they were saying. If they said there was a flag on the play, I would listen to their conversation about what happened. Then I would be like, “Okay, someone did something that the ref is not sure is ok and that’s bad. That’s what a flag on the play is.” Or false start. Oh, that guy just said, “false start,” and that guy was running before this ball went into this guy’s hands. I’m like eight or 10 years old trying to figure out who’s this player? Why is this player standing there? What is this ref

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   39 saying that they are doing? It’s kind of piecing a lot together, which took me a while. Sometimes my dad would laugh because I would try and be like, nine-year-old Courtney would try and be like, “I know everything about football,” I’d try to be all smart and be like, “Oh, dad, did you see that interception?” My dad would be like, “Courtney, that was a sack.” I’d be like, “Oh, man.” I  thought I  knew what it interception was, but it was actually a sack. Sometimes I would embarrass myself, and my dad would make fun of me. I guess it’s all in the process of learning. (Courtney) Um, well so my father never really took the time to explain the rules to me [laughs] so it took awhile before I figured out what was going on. Um, my father was also, he is a very quiet very reserved man. So he wasn’t really prone to uh, “yay!” or any kind of gestures. Every now and then there would be a [clap sound] “god dammit” [laughs] you know, or, you know, a smile or something. But you couldn’t really pick up cues from him as to what was really going on. And so a lot of it would be cues from the television. Like cheering or something, if the Steelers team members would be celebrating or something. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on. I mean I knew if the ball made it to the other end but and all, but the other rules were not filled in until much later in life. (Natalie) Recognizing the value of performing within the Knowing mode, women go out of their way to build greater capacity to do so. Because most of the women we interviewed did not learn the game by playing football as children, they have had to learn by studying. I actually have a plan to go to the Hudson Library and get the Football for Dummies book and learn more about the positions and stuff like that. I know basic positions like linebacker, tight ends, and the linemen. But I don’t really know the plays—like who’s running where and who’s responsible for what. I think I want to learn more about it just because I want to work in sports in the future. (Katlyn) I watch football but I admit I just watch it. I understand the game; I know you have the four downs. I understand all that but I don’t know what a screen looks like, I don’t know what a post pattern is. And I watch the ball, I’ve been told. I watch the player with the ball. I don’t see the holding penalty, I don’t see that kind of stuff. I watch the game but I’m not one of these guys, “there’s a penalty holding.” I’m not one of those people. At one point I kind of wanted to learn. I’m like, I spend so much time watching this, I should know more detail. I kind of learned the positions, I went online. I looked up the safeties and corners just so I would know what they’re talking about when I hear that. I did that. (Lisa)

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Media’s role. Media play an important role in educating fans. Not all the women we interviewed chose to learn the game. Those who did often turned to television shows such as ESPN’s SportsCenter and talk radio where they could learn from experts as well as other fans. Media allow women to gather knowledge without the fear of embarrassing themselves with questions others, particularly men, would deem dumb. I just read a lot. I get ESPN, the magazine and Sports Illustrated. I read through the whole magazine cover to cover every . . . ESPN is a biweekly and Sports Illustrated is every week. I read through the whole thing so I read a lot through that. Also, I, off and on, run a sports blog. . . . I just write opinion stuff on sports or analysis because I really like statistics. I’m always looking at the stats of baseball, basketball, football, and analyzing that stuff and I  read ESPN online, their articles they post and everything. I watch it, seeing what the commentators have to say and stuff. Also watch SportsCenter a lot and Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption are two of my favorite shows. (Elizabeth) I’ve just really learned to love that kind of postgame analysis. I love that it’s analysis. I love hearing the fans call in who are usually pretty sophisticated in the analytics of the game, bring a lot a history in it, know a lot about the trading, a lot about the record of the player that I don’t bring to the game. I loved listening particularly to [former Browns head coach Pat] Shurmur. I think he was the stupidest coach in the NFL. As you probably remember, a couple seasons ago, there would be games where if the Browns won or if they scored at all, it was through field goals. And the same quarterback, whose name is escaping me, that my dad felt should be given more time—Shurmur would use that and say, “I think we see in today’s game the kind of things we want from a quarterback.” I would be by myself in the car in a very stressful—my dad is dying—and I would be laughing because it would be like, “Really? This is what we want in a quarterback?” We’re on the board only because of field goals. What don’t I get? Or he would say things like, “Before we begin, I just want to begin with an announcement. Clearly, we have to earn more points.” It’s just great theater. It was great to make fun of him. The whole packaging of it was great. But I liked the fact that the fans were analytic in ways that I wasn’t so I could learn a little bit. And I could go home and say to my husband, “Hey, I never thought about this. But here’s what I think could be going on there.” So it was really interesting to me. (Stephanie) When I was in college, we would watch football on Sunday. I would watch Pardon the Interruption and SportsCenter and all those things all the time. I think that’s just because I was in a house where that was okay. Now I wouldn’t subject my husband to that because he would go crazy if I watched that all day. When I was in a house where that was

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okay, I would leave it on and do homework or whatever, and I would definitely watch it. I would always like to see who the top quarterback is this week, who the top team is this week, that kind of thing. Also, why are the Broncos throwing more than they are running? For one, it helped me understand a lot more about football or why teams do the things that they do, or why coaches pick the plays that they play. (Courtney) Digital media provide another important source for information. Many of the women have apps on their phones that allow them to access information quickly and get regular updates on their favorite teams. Claire explained: During the season when there are games going on I have alerts set up through ESPN, so I pick that I want to get game updates from ESPN on my phone. Even if I’m not in front of a television I get updates on my phone. I do check ESPN, get those updates even when it’s not during the game. Sometimes even during the off-season I follow them on Twitter. I get those things there and, if nothing else, I usually read the sports section of the Cincinnati Enquirer online, so I’ll check those and get updates that way. (Claire) Or they can go online to do research. I think the Internet helps. These days if you want to get caught up in sports you can just read and really quickly find out everything you need to know, whether it’s rules. You can just go to a wiki page and read the rules on how hockey works or what does it mean if they’re saying this or what’s the difference between a yellow flag and a red flag or what are downs. People can look up what they are, things like that. You can look up stats and you can look up coaches, their histories, their players. You can get caught up really fast and then you’re a fan. Before all of that, I think, if you didn’t know it you were just kind of lost. And it’s hard to join. (Faye) Online discussions. For as much as women consume sports media, they tend to eschew online message boards and forums. By and large, the women we encountered were put off by the tone of Internet conversations about football and did not see message boards as friendly environments for them to share or acquire knowledge about the game. Once people find out that you’re a female fan they tend to get a little . . . I don’t know if jumpy is the right word, but . . . you know, they tend to make you prove yourself, especially online, more than in person. I don’t think any of these people would do it in person because they’d probably be too terrified to do it to someone in person, but online it’s kind of like if you’re a woman you don’t know anything, and that can be frustrating. (Kristy)

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No. I  keep away from doing that [going on message boards] because they are some stupid people, and I just don’t want to get on their level. They’ll just make really uneducated comments . . . I just, I like getting into face-to-face arguments, Internet arguments just get so petty. (Donna) I never post because I’m very wary of all the bullying. I like face-to-face trash talking, like if I know who I’m talking to. But just going online there are so many people who are just rude, or not making sense, or nitpicking if you mistype a letter. (Faye) Our findings complement earlier research that has found that online football forums are dominated by men and rife with misogyny (Kian et al., 2011). It is little surprise then that women choose to avoid them. It is not that female fans do not care enough or know enough about football to participate in message boards. Women, instead, find less hostile environments to engage with other football fans. Limited time. Much like Caring, Knowing requires time and many of the women we interviewed simply are not interested in investing the time needed to become experts. Faye offered an explanation that we heard echoed by others. She noted that boys are socialized from an early age to pay attention to sports statistics. Girls often are not. It is also more socially acceptable for women to be uninformed whereas men face social pressure to know and follow football. I don’t know a lot of girls who will just spit facts. Most of them who do watch will just watch the game. I don’t know if it’s a thing where guys feel like they should know. Because really you could watch the game without knowing a lot of players’ histories. Maybe there’re only so many hours in a day and a lot of girls are doing other things. Or maybe once you get started on a trail, like if a guy grows up watching and reading sports it’s really hard to stop, I think. And it becomes sort of a habit and routine to keep tracking people, whereas if girls don’t start off that way, it’s more of a learned habit. . . . [For guys] they look like less of a fan. It’s just more okay if girls don’t know because they’re not used to knowing. I’ve heard guys get into tech talk about players and games and whatnot. They’ll get all macho on each other. Who’s the bigger fan? [mocking tone] “Well you didn’t know . . .” (Faye) Several participants echoed Faye’s comment that “there’re only so many hours in a day.” One of the most common reasons offered by the women we interviewed for not knowing more about football statistics, history, and strategies was the time constraints they feel. Stats are a big part of it though; men tend to be more into stats than women are. I’ve never been a real big stats geek. And I don’t know

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if most men really know what the stats mean in the grand scheme of things. I love stories of kids and coaches. Fandom can be a 7-day a week activity. It shouldn’t be a 24-hour-a-day activity. (Jamie) . . . I don’t follow other sports teams. When I get a new coach, and they are talking about it on TV, maybe it’s just a new person they put in position, I don’t know anything about that coach, whereas my husband knows what that team has done in the past, why that person would be good or bad. I don’t follow other teams, I don’t have enough time to know all the Browns players, coaches, anything, let alone be able to follow other teams’ players and coaches. Who are they promoting? I don’t make time in my life to do that. (Kimmy) This was particularly true when it comes to fantasy football. Very few of the women we interviewed played fantasy football, though many expressed interest. Even those women who already know enough about the NFL to have won fantasy leagues, however, do not want to invest the necessary time it takes to do it well. I got back into football, and I was kind of a little crazy about it when my friend started a fantasy football league. And then I  joined—that was an all-girls football league—and then I  joined a couple, like two others with guys. And I was really into that ‘cuz I was good at it. . . . So, all of a sudden it was football in general that I liked, and I found myself, I  would call up the corner bar and say, “Are you guys playing this game? Are you playing this game?” And I would go there, by myself, and watch the game—that’s how into it I was. . . . And, so that was—that was not hometown pride. That was just I—I guess I’m good at this fantasy football thing and I like it because, it’s suppo—you know, I’m a girl, I’m not supposed to be good at it. And, that’s why football was fun for me then so I would watch all kinds of teams. But, what have I done now? Gosh, um, hmm, and that’s another reason why I got out of fantasy football because it took up so much time, like all weekend preparing and then the day of football I was just watching football all day long and getting upset—I found myself getting upset [slight sigh] and I was just like, ok, this—this—I don’t know, this isn’t good. (Becky) It seems like a lot of work, and something I don’t have time for in my life right now. (Heather) So, fantasy, I just never, I don’t even know actually. I may enjoy it if I ever got involved in it but I don’t think that with my personality I think it’s best that I don’t. I’m spending enough time with what I do enjoy doing. To add something else to the mix would take me away from things and I don’t wanna do that. I know me. (Shelly)

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Never, never, never. I  think because the people who I  know who do it are investing so much time and money. And I feel like those aren’t investments I can make. I’m kind of interested in it because they’re so obsessive. And I love obsessions. But to me, it feels like an investment I can’t make at this point in my life. So that’s why. (Stephanie) I think it takes over people’s lives, kind of like Candy Crush. I don’t play Candy Crush for that reason. I’m pretty sure that I would completely fall in love with it, and people just go overboard from what I see, and I don’t even want to try it out. (Talea) I don’t [play fantasy]—and I’ve never filled out a bracket for March Madness—because I know that I will be up for hours. If I’m going to do it I’m going to do it. But I’ve always been invited to join people’s leagues and I’m like if I’m going to do it I’m going to get obsessed. I’m going to read about everybody and everything and it’s going to take up so much time. It’s a decision, an educated decision, a calculated decision to make sure that I don’t spend my time. (Faye) Another common reason for not engaging more in Knowing performances of fandom is that female fans are turned off by the perceived arrogance of male fans that act as if they know more than other fans or even NFL coaches. They have, no matter what their trade is or no matter what they do for a living, they act like they know exactly what the Browns should do and who they should pick and what coach they should hire. And it bothered me because I’m like, why do you think—did you read this? They are so confident in their, you know, “Oh, so and so is so stupid for doing this,” and sort of, “yeah we got to get rid of this owner.” All those opinions—usually negative—about the owners, the coaches, or decisions they make, and I’m like, “Why do—Why do you know so much? Why do you think you know so much about the best move that the Browns should make and the player we should get. It’s—It’s weird to me that people will really believe they know exactly what should be done. I’m like, well, why do you all know and the people that own the Browns and actually make the decisions don’t know and they just lose every year? (Becky) There are people who know more about what happened to the Browns than I do. I don’t want to be one of those Monday morning quarterbacks. I don’t want to claim that I know more than what the coach knows, because that is not my job. I am just the fan. I don’t have all of the information. I just have the information that the media tells me. (Kristy)

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   45 The Knowing performance mode enhances the quality of that fandom. You can be a NFL fan without much knowledge of the game but you will enjoy it more and other fans will respect you more if you understand the game. For this reason, many women actively educate themselves about the game. Viewers can absorb a certain amount of knowledge simply by watching football but if you really want to join the community of football fans and be respected within the ranks, you have to know the mechanics of the game and be able to discuss Xs and Os. As we discuss in the next chapter, women are often tested on their knowledge and have developed strategies for responding. FAN PERFORMANCE MATRIX Having detailed the two modes of fan performances, we now turn to considering how they intersect. For the women we interviewed, Caring is essential to fandom. As explained earlier, the women we interviewed see Caring as indicative of the scope of one’s fandom. Talea said: I wouldn’t put myself on the low end of the [fan] spectrum because I may not know about every single player, I don’t even know the entire roster, I’m not going to lie, but I will say that when it comes to the game, being expressive, being excited about it, really almost sometimes scheduling your entire day around it to make sure . . . one of my least favorite things about when I moved back to this side of the state was the fact that all the Cleveland games trumped the Cincinnati games if they play at the same time. Performances within the Caring mode can even be sufficient to make one a fan if the performance is persistent, not a fleeting attachment to a team only when the team is winning. The two modes generally work in concert, however. Persistent Caring seems to naturally lead to greater Knowing. If you love the game, you want to learn more about it. The opposite is not true. One cannot be a fan based on detached knowledge of the game. In fact, extreme performances of Knowing can actually erode Caring. In discussing fantasy football, Lisa noted the betrayal she felt when her ex-boyfriend started paying more attention to players’ stats than his team’s success. My ex-boyfriend [played fantasy] last year. He would be complaining because his quarterback was hurt that week or something. He didn’t get the points for that or he picked this team’s defense and they didn’t do well. But he was pulling against the Saints sometimes because Matt Ryan was his quarterback. When we’re playing Atlanta he’s kind of pulling for Atlanta because he gets points if Matt Ryan does well. It’s like [in an exasperated

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tone], “we’re playing them, what are you doing?” I think your alliances become a little messed up if you’re doing the fantasy football thing. Jamie simply stated, “Fantasy football changes how you feel about teams.” Engaging in Knowing performances thus affects the quality or nature of one’s fandom, both positively—as when one learns more about a team’s history and mythology or when one develops greater appreciation for the strategy involved—and negatively—as when one becomes more interested in the statistics for individual players and stops identifying with a particular team. Knowing and Caring clearly work in concert to shape one’s fandom. As we stressed earlier in this chapter, fandom is not static. Fan performances vary considerably from person to person but also from time to time for a single person. In the following section, we detail how through the Fan Performance Matrix we can map the complexity of fan performances. Contextual. The women we observed and interviewed engage in different modes of performance based on whom they are with and what is expected at that time. Figure 3.2 shows how the performances of a single fan can change significantly based on the context. Let us begin with considering the setting for the lowest level of Caring and Knowing performances: the off-season. During the Spring and Summer months when the NFL is not playing, fans maintain their fandom but have little reason to actively engage with it. Fans may still wear team logos and may scan sports media and fan websites to gather information about players and possible roster or coaching changes. These Caring and Knowing performances, however, are necessarily limited by opportunity. It is only when something happens—if a major coaching change occurs or a star player is injured or gets into legal trouble—that fans reengage in greater Knowing by gathering information, commenting on message boards, and joining in conversations with other fans. During these times

Figure 3.2  Situational fan performances. Created by Anne C. Osborne.

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   47 fans likely also engage in greater Caring, often expressing extreme emotions, but the Caring performed is very different from the Caring one sees during a game, for example. As noted earlier in this chapter, many women consciously choose to limit their Caring performances. The off-season provides a time for them to focus on other things and catch up on other interests. Becky, for example, noted that she took up gardening. As the preseason approaches, fans are more likely to engage in performative fandom across both modes. Fans often buy new merchandise. Some attend training camp to get an up-close look at and to meet players and to bond with other fans. This is also a time that a fan is likely to start studying her team’s roster and follow sports media more diligently. During preseason games, we saw fans perform greater Knowing than Caring. These early games do not count toward the team’s season record and so the women we observed did not cheer or express as much emotion during these games. Instead, they watched games as a way to learn the team’s roster and often engaged in conversation with other fans about prospects for the season. The preseason is a time for building excitement, but mostly for analysis and prognostication. Even during a single game day, we often see women negotiate the two modes of performance. As discussed earlier in this chapter, women often begin game days in a Knowing mode. Donna discussed waking up and immediately turning on sports television. Others listen to sports radio in the morning or go to their mobile apps and the Internet to read about the games ahead. The earliest pregame performances are Knowing. As the day progresses, performances generally become more Caring, particularly among those who tailgate before the game. In Chapter 7, we talk about the importance of tailgates as an expression of Caring performances. Chapter 6 talks about the more subdued Caring performance we often see among women watching at home. Whether at home or at the game, during game time everyone is dressed in team-labeled merchandise and sharing in the community of friendship and fandom. Women’s game time fan performances are more Caring than Knowing, but the Caring performances vary based on the other identity roles involved at that time. Take, for example, Julie, who is a young mother and season-ticket-holding Saints fan. She actively engages different modes of performance depending on whether she must also act as a mother. As we discuss in considerable detail in Chapters 7 and 8, when Julie is at a game without her children, she engages in heightened Caring mode performances. She dresses to communicate her team affiliation, she yells and cheers, and sometimes becomes rowdy with other fans. There would be no doubt to an outside observer that Julie is highly invested in the Saints’ success. When she watches games at home with her children, however, her Caring performance is more reserved. Her attention is divided between caring for her team and caring for children. While she still dresses for the occasion, when with her kids, Julie is more likely to spend time talking to friends—often

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48  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance other mothers—or playing with her son. Regardless of the performance at any given time, Julie maintains a self-identity as a Saints fan. Caring performances also change based on the opponent and importance of the game. As with preseason games, non-conference games affect teams’ rankings less than conference games so fans tend to engage in greater Caring during conference games as well as during games against division rivals or during championship games. The height of Caring performances occurs during the Super Bowl, particularly if a favorite team is playing in the championship game. Male and female fans alike cheer, scream, curse, and cry both for joy and for sorrow during these most important games. A fan is said to bask in reflected glory (BIRGing) when her team is winning. When her team loses, however, she cuts off reflected failure (CORFing) (see e.g. Spinda, 2011). BIRGing and CORFing occur because a fan’s self-esteem rises and falls with the performance of her team. Both BIRGing and CORFing are emotionally rooted. In BIRGing, a fan will speak about the team in the first person, thereby strengthening her connection to the team: “I can’t believe we won that one in the end.” In CORFing, on the other hand, a fan talks about her team in the third person, putting distance between herself and the team: “They played a horrible game.” One of the ways fans create greater emotional distance after a loss is to switch from Caring performances to more Knowing performances. When CORFing, fans often critique coaches’ strategies, players’ execution, and referees’ play calling in a detached and analytical manner. We often observed this response, sometimes called Monday morning quarterbacking, on the day after a game, particularly a big loss. It is clear from our data that women’s fan performances change considerably based on the contexts such that the mode of performance is determined by outside variables. Women also change their performance modes based on what other identities might be salient at that time. At times the choice of how to moderate Caring and Knowing modes of performance is consciously decided. More often than not, however, the negotiation between modes occurs naturally and without consideration. Relational. We often heard women talk about themselves as different types of fans at different times in their lives. Unlike Crawford (2003), who explains fandom as a progression from Interested to Apparatus, we did not see women’s fandom evolve in a linear fashion; rather, we saw women continuously engage with and modulate their Caring and Knowing performances. Becky, for example, refers to herself first as a fair-weather fan, but later talks about being a die-hard fan. When I was younger I really got into the Cavs [the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team]. . . . And then in high school Indians [Cleveland’s baseball team] were a big deal. And then, later on, it was probably more NFL football. And I guess that, you know what, I guess that relates to how well we did, so perhaps I’m one of those fair-weather fans. But definitely

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   49 a theme from childhood to adulthood is, if I was into sports, it was more of a party atmosphere. I mean, obviously when I was eight I wasn’t drinking, but it was that party atmosphere, like everybody got together and it was a fun experience. High school it was a reason to get together and underage drink. [slight laugh] Then college it was a reason again to drink at 10 am, tailgating and barbecuing in asphalt parking lots and those types of things—so it was more of a social thing for me. . . . I’ve been, you know, I’ve been a different kind of fan, different degrees, at different points of my life. So, it’s, you know, whatever, like you can be the token girlfriend who wears, like high heels to the game and looks all cute in her tight jeans and has her cute little jersey on and her big Gucci purse walking up the stairs—I mean I don’t care, you can do that. But when I was a die-hard fan I was like, “Oh God, look at this dumb girl; this is probably their first date. She knows nothing about football.” You know, and that’s usually when I was drunk I would feel that way. . . . I mean there’s all kinds of fans, and there’s room for all of them I think. Um, the ones that annoy me now is just those—those guys who get belligerent drunk and swearing because there are kids there, and the ones that want to start a fight, and it’s like, “R-really? You know, like, you’re spilling beer all over us, like go sit down and relax and enjoy the game.” But yes, you can be—there are all kinds of different fans. Becky explained that she chose to take a step back from practicing her fandom because she feared becoming too obsessed. She points to meeting her husband as one of the factors for her making the shift in fandom. I think I was in one more league after my husband—my husband and I have been together since 2010 or end of 2010 so maybe three years cuz I think I was in a league and he had to witness me being football crazy for a little bit. . . . I guess he was kind of like, well no I wouldn’t say he was annoyed. I wasn’t too crazy, I wasn’t going to the local bars and like leaving him to go watch a game or anything. But he was just kind of indifferent. Taking Becky as an example, we can plot her fandom over time, showing that at various points in her life her fan performances have been more Knowing and at other times they have appeared more Caring. It would be a simplification to say that she was a fair-weather fan whose interest deepened as she learned more about the game or to say that she used to be a fan, who eventually lost interest in football, though on the surface both assessments might appear accurate. It would be more accurate to say that over time Becky has adapted her fandom to be more congruent to the relationships in her life. Using the FPM, we can see that Becky’s fandom has always been a nuanced interplay between Knowing and Caring (Figure 3.3).

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50  Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance

Figure 3.3  Becky’s performances over time. Created by Anne C. Osborne.

When Becky was a child, she was interested in football because she enjoyed the social atmosphere during games, when her aunts and uncles would gather and watch together. At this early stage of her life, one might not call Becky a fan because she did not understand the game and her enjoyment centered on time spent with her family not on attachment to a team. Nonetheless, she clearly valued football as the reason for family gatherings. By engaging in Caring performances of fandom she was able to bond with her family. In high school, football provided an avenue to socialize with friends. Over time she came to feel an attachment to the game itself such that when she went to college, she chose to attend Browns games and buy Browns merchandise. Her Caring performances became more autonomous and more internalized behaviors she learned from her family. By the time she went to college, she attended at least one Browns game per year and had come to know the basic strategies of the game. Becky engaged in both Knowing and Caring Performances at this time. By the time she left college, she would consider herself a more die-hard fan. While her interest was still centered on the Caring aspects of socializing with friends while cheering on her team, she was willing to make sacrifices to attend games and had developed a commitment to her team’s success. Her fandom deepened when she started participating in fantasy football. Now she really studied the game. As quoted earlier in this chapter, she liked that, as a woman, she was not expected to win at fantasy—but she did. Spurred by the sense that she was challenging stereotypes, she would go to bars by herself in order to watch games all day each Sunday. At this point, she considered herself a die-hard fan who was deeply entrenched in both Caring and Knowing modes of performance. As the quote above indicates, being a die-hard fan meant that she was more likely to judge other fans, particularly women, for how they performed and to assume that women knew less than she did.

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Knowing and Caring Modes of Fan Performance   51 When Becky met and later married her husband, she made a conscious choice to be less involved in football fandom. Her husband did not participate in her Browns fandom and she worried that she had become “obsessed” and was “being football crazy” so she lessened her performances. Becky does not actively follow football now, but she still considers herself a fan; it is part of her identity. When asked what team she supports, Becky answered, “None, but if I had to pick one I would say the Browns, which is very painful in and of itself.” Even though she does not actively support the Browns, she feels pained by the team’s lack of success. She explains that it is a “hometown pride kind of thing.” Her attachment to the Browns has become ingrained such that even though she does not follow the team now, she still feels allegiance. She also still knows a great deal about football and the Browns, particularly the team’s history, even if she does not know its current starting lineup. When asked about football, she is a wealth of knowledge. The example of Becky shows how fan performances change with different life stages. Even now that Becky less actively performs her fandom, she still considers herself a Browns fan and, when appropriate, can engage in Caring and/or Knowing. CONCLUSION According to the theory of Performative Sport Fandom, fandom is constituted through the performance. A fan is not something one is; it is something one does, such that through performing fandom, the identity of fan is created and then maintained. The Fan Performance Matrix breaks those performances into two modes: Knowing and Caring. As detailed in this chapter, the scope of a fan’s fandom is expressed and proven through Caring performances while Knowing performances enhance the quality of fandom. As such there are fans whose performances are almost exclusively Caring, with Knowing performances limited to only the most basic understanding of the game. Often, however, as one’s Caring grows, one engages, both consciously and unconsciously, in greater Knowing. As such, the two performance modes are not mutually exclusive. They also are not constant; they change over time and in relation to the context. The Fan Performance Matrix, thereby, offers an interpretive tool for considering the complexity of fan identity, even for an individual fan. The FPM allows us to visualize how individual fan performances adapt to particular situations as well as how performances change over time. Unlike other approaches that read fandom as fixed and measurable, Performative Sport Fandom and the Fan Performance Matrix underscore the fluidity of fandom. Football fandom is consistent with male gender identities; fandom often conflicts with social expectations of women’s roles. Women fans, therefore, often feel particular pressure to negotiate their fandom in relation to their other identities and role performances. In the following chapter, we discuss challenges to women’s fandom and the strategies women employ to address them.

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4 Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms

In the previous chapter, our Fan Performance Matrix established the two modes of fan performance: Knowing and Caring. As the matrix shows us, both modes are tremendously important in terms of understanding and contextualizing the formation and maintenance of fandom. When women define the “ultimate fan” or the “biggest fan I know,” they usually describe someone (almost always male) with a masterful knowledge of facts and figures related to both their team and football as a whole. This person immediately can recall specific data—statistics, player numbers, historical match-ups, et cetera—easily offering evidence to support his position and bolster his arguments. This super fan also is passionately committed to his team and the sport, living and dying by the results on the field and personnel moves in the off-season. He wakes up early to prepare for games, wearing his team’s colors with pride. His game-days are defined by ritual and routine, and he is known for his deep love for his team of choice. While this “ultimate fan” is consistently described, it’s important to reiterate that he was not presented as an aspirational ideal. Women did not envy this fan, nor did they feel that they would want to emulate or replicate this level of fandom. Instead, it often was used as a point of comparison to define and contextualize their own fan performances. Women clearly know what a fan is “supposed” to be, and they are all too aware of stereotypes that exist about women fans (as clearly articulated by the men quoted in Chapter 3). The women with whom we spoke shared common ground in terms of their experiences as fans and, more importantly, as female fans, including how these experiences are negotiated and contextualized in relation to those around them. In this chapter, we first examine the ways in which women are challenged to prove their authenticity as fans. Next, we explore perceptions that exist of both male and female fans and identify and then examine commonly held stereotypes of women fans. Within this framework, we explore strategies women employ to negotiate their fan performances and discuss why it is worth it to be a fan, even with the considerable challenges at play. Finally, we address the ways these performances are contextualized.

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PROVING AUTHENTICITY While men are assumed to be football fans by default (and, in fact, often are criticized or penalized if they do not follow or enjoy the sport), women still are not expected to enjoy or actively follow football—despite the fact they make up almost half of all NFL fans. Almost all of our participants talked about the surprised reactions they constantly experience from men when they—women fans—demonstrate mastery of and passion for the game. They describe “shock” and “surprise,” noting that men still expect women to not know or understand the game, even if they are there and dressed in team colors. These subtle gestures are not as threatening as the overt aggression women sometimes face when at sporting events. As we discuss in Chapter 7, gendered comments are often leveled at women fans by male fans of opposing teams as a way to delegitimize female fans. Overt aggression—telling women fans to get back in the kitchen, for example—has been well documented in research looking at message boards and in sport generally (see e.g. Kian et al., 2011; Hutchins & Rowe, 2012; Rhuiley & Billings, 2013). In our data, overt attacks were more prevalent in public settings where the men and women did not know each other. However, it was during face-to-face, interpersonal communication, often with friends and loved ones, that women tended to experience microaggressions. The shock and awe of men described by women are examples of microaggressions, “defined as brief and commonplace daily verbal behavioral, and environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative sexist slights and insults toward women” (Nadal et al., 2013). Though not as obviously communicated, the assumption that women do not understand the game, the eye-rolls, and the laughter of men can just as easily damage women’s self-identification as fans. Katlyn describes the most typical micro-aggression: the double take, “I think it’s kind of like wait, you know? It’s like a double take—‘You know what you’re talking about.’ Some of my friends are like ‘How do you know all this?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve been watching since Pee Wee [youth football].’ I take pride in knowing that kind of stuff.” Similarly, Talea has found others expect her to know nothing about the game: But what people assume I am before they get to know me is someone who does not know what’s going on, does not appreciate a first down by any means, or a pick six, or anything like that. . . . [They perceive me as] someone who couldn’t tell you right from left when it came . . . or doesn’t understand a single call before somebody says something. So, pretty much just a level of ignorance about the sport in general, and not really caring to know about it. It’s if you’re there to watch the game it’s purely social.

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54  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms Faye, a 20-something ’49ers fan, first talked about men’s surprise when they learn she is a basketball fan. When asked if men are equally surprised that she follows football, she said, “Yeah, I think more so. Also maybe it’s one of those things where it’s unladylike to be a wild girl. I think it’s a sports game, when else are you going to be loud?” Donna articulated comparable experiences and introduced the sometimes-negative outcome that can be associated with female fandom, explaining that she often is talked down to or patronized when it comes to football. She believes it is “more because they’re surprised, but then again there are some that will sort of knock me off and start talking down to me. Maybe it’s because I’m short and little too, but they’ll start talking down then they’ll get extra surprised when I can keep up.” This surprise that women are knowledgeable, caring fans often is highlighted when women join in conversations about football, offering opinions and insights—backed up by facts and observations. Like many of our participants, Shelly described her experiences talking about football with people she doesn’t know: Well, I’ve been in situations, to be honest, but they didn’t realize that I could hang in the conversation. Know what I’m saying? So as far as the conversation and being a part of, you know, being able to work my way into a conversation or actually whatever, initially there were times just around people that I really didn’t know. And they would maybe start a conversation or, you know, and just treat me a little different because they didn’t expect me to say what I said. Like you know, I really know what I’m talking about! Courtney recounted a similar incident, specifically focusing on her experience at an actual NFL game. Younger than most of our other participants, Courtney has grown up at a time and in a home environment where her fandom is more accepted than our older respondents might have experienced. Thus, she was “caught off guard” when fans around her resisted her expertise: Some of the guys—there were a couple of guys beside us, and my guy friend was between me and them. They were talking about technical things, and I kind of jumped in and was like talking away or whatever and talking to them and responding with them. We kind of got into a conversation—the four of us kind of got into a conversation about it. I  think that those other guys—my guy friend knew I  knew a lot about football—but I  think those other guys were kind of like “Oh wow, she knows a lot about football.” I’m just keeping up with them. I’m going toe-to-toe with them in the conversation, and I understand what they’re saying. They didn’t really say it, but you could tell on their face, they were kind of like “Oh, she knows what she’s talking about.”

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That was kind of funny to me. It kind of caught me off guard. I guess I didn’t really realize that there aren’t a lot of NFL football fans that are female. It was kind of funny to me. My guy friend and I talked about it afterward. He was like “I think they were impressed at how much you knew.” I was like, yeah, I think so too. It’s not a big deal to me. I grew up with that. It’s not abnormal. Courtney’s experience as a woman at the stadium—feeling forced to prove her authenticity in order to be taken seriously in a conversation with other fans at the game—was somewhat unexpected for her (even as she acknowledged it is fairly normal in her experience). This would not be surprising to older respondents. Women who came of age before the turn of the millennium are much more likely to have faced active and vocal resistance to their fandom, in large part because women football fans truly were anomalies during their formative years. Now, however, women make up a considerable portion of fans, yet they still encounter microaggressions regularly. Amy, a respondent in her early 40s, notes that this change has occurred, and points to the history of the sport as an explanation for why these perceptions remain: I think when football began, it was such a male sport. Back in the ’50s, I cannot imagine many women were as big football fans as they are now. I don’t know, I think that might be some of the sexism in the game, definitely. And I think maybe women help perpetuate that a little bit. Maybe the ones that don’t like football, “It’s a guy’s game, something my husband does.” I think it’s definitely not as uncommon as it used to be. Carmel agreed, noting, “I think it’s more of a generation thing. I think the younger kids today or the younger generation [are more open], it’s the same way in the workforce. I think it’s more they appreciate the fact women are involved more.” Other interviewees offered similar explanations for why women are not expected to be fans, pointing to other forms of entertainment that are stereotypically considered more appropriate for women. Saints fan Donna offers the following explanation: It could be society. I mean, women generally are expected to like other things, and have more interests where guys are supposed to keep up with sports, it’s an expectation. Like, most guys, what they want to watch in the morning is sports center because they want to keep up with everything where girls probably want to watch their reality TV. Elizabeth, a Seahawks fan from central Ohio, echoed this sentiment: “I think it’s just society by association. Girls are supposed to be interested

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56  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms in reality TV shows and whatever else is going on in the celebrity world and guys are interested in sports but I’ve never liked that stuff. I’ve always liked sports so I guess I’m the exception.” It is fascinating that both of these respondents chose to specifically cite reality TV as ‘expected viewing’ for women fans, and they were not alone. Kristy used this same point of comparison, when talking about men being surprised at her fandom: “I actually take it as a compliment. It used to bother me. But then I realize that they probably don’t have women in their lives that are interested in sports. The women in their lives probably went home and talk about women things, shopping or reality TV . . .” When considered in conjunction with the stereotype that reality television is ‘trash TV,’ particularly shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians or the Real Housewives series, this claim reinforces our fans’ perceptions that they are treading outside of a traditional women’s domain. Their choice for entertainment—professional football—features some of the same characteristics of reality television: heightened drama (entering the red zone versus whispers of scandal and intrigue), threats of violence (a particularly hard hit on the field versus a slap during the reunion show), and rabid fan bases that desperately seek out news, information, and gossip about the subjects of their affections. Clearly, however, the perception that football is for the menfolk while reality TV is for the ladies continues to hold water. For our participants, this is a convenient heuristic for expressing their internalized belief that others often believe football is not a game in which women can, will, or should be interested; instead, their attention should be diverted by the frothy fictions put forward in reality TV. Women recognize that these stereotypes often can work against men as well. As several of the above quotes indicate, men face the other side of this expectation: While women are not supposed to be football fans, men are assumed to be. As Kristy said: I think you have to prove yourself knowing about it, knowing about football. I think a lot of men just assume that other men know about sports, and women don’t know anything. In a lot of cases, it’s just the opposite. There are a lot of men who don’t care at all about sports, there are a lot of women who really do and know a lot about it. That’s totally fine. But I think there are definitely stereotypes there. For men who are not interested in the game, this can be a difficult challenge, and the women with whom we spoke expressed sympathy and often a certain kinship with those men for not meeting society’s expectations. Stephanie termed this as a “reverse bias,” noting that men who were not football fans in her hyper-masculine workplace faced challenges: “No, the trouble men get into is if they don’t love football in that kind of setting. I don’t think that’s fair, either. If a man came into my former work environment . . . as a tennis fan, no good.” Within that environment, even men who

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did not like football had to at least become conversant in the sport to gain credibility among their peers: If you’re not a football fan there, I think you would still struggle. And certainly, in most of my formative years there, you would’ve struggled mightily. You’d have been pilloried. And maybe in good humor, you know, “Well, we know why you’re eating your brie and (drinking) wine.” But it would always get back to the fact that you would pretty much buckle under and become a fan—at least capable of discussing a game. It’s important to note that women are equally complicit in the gendering of football. While watching the 2010 season opening game in a sports bar, a woman in her mid-30s offered the following: “I have a story to tell you about football. You know living in LA [Los Angeles] no one really pays attention to sports or if they do they don’t talk about it. The men are all [she makes gestures as if she’s grooming herself ]. They’re more female than male. So there’s only one sports bar in LA until a second one opened called Big Wangs. So I have this friend who lives in New Zealand and we’ve been friends since high school. She was coming to visit me and the only thing she really wanted to do while she was in the states was to see a Chargers game, to watch football. So I said, ‘This is great, I know just where to go.’ And as soon as we walked in it was completely packed. And I thought finally real men! I had never been and it’s LA so we didn’t get there until right before kick off. There was only one chair in the whole place and so my ex-boyfriend, ex-fiance, said, ‘Here, you sit here.’ And he got us another chair. I felt completely at home at this place. We ended up talking to this group of friends. It was great and I thought I’m going to hang out here all the time now because these are real people. One of the things I most loved about my boyfriend is that he’s a big sports fan.” (Field notes, September 9, 2010) This woman clearly equated sport fandom with masculinity, with being “real men.” Men who do not fit this hegemonic standard are “more female than male.” Women’s inauthenticity as fans is the flip side of men’s authenticity. Suspect motives. Because women football fans are still considered an anomaly (even though they are, in fact, common), their motives for watching often are suspect. Rather than being at a game or watching at a sports bar because they want to see how their team does and are genuinely interested in the game, women often are assumed to be invested only in relation to a man. This often is contextualized with claims that women fans are there because they find the players physically appealing, and that their

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knowledge is specifically tied to only players to whom they are sexually attracted. Claire recounted this tale: I can remember one time being out at a restaurant and I was with a couple of friends. It was a girlfriend of mine and then it was another guy I was with and his friends. The guy friend he knew that I knew about football. His other friends were having a conversation and I chimed in and said, “Oh yeah Ocho Cinco, that’s Chad Johnson, you know, he’s doing this now, he’s doing that.” It was actually really recent and they were just very surprised and they were like, “Oh, how’d you know that. You just think he’s cute.” I said, “You know, well he is an attractive guy, but I know that he played for the Bengals. He did this, he did that.” I  definitely defended myself, came back with saying other things and stood up for myself to let them know, yes, I am a woman and I do know these things, and don’t look at me like I’m crazy or completely oblivious to what’s going on. I stood my ground and I proved myself and they definitely were surprised by that. It felt good because I like to be able to show these guys that, yes, I am a woman but things are different now. This anecdote evidences an experience shared by a number of our participants, particularly young women: when they initially express knowledge of or interest in football, it is met with the criticism that they are there for cute players rather than an authentic love of the game. Two related assumptions about women football fans continue to reinforce the undermining of women. For young women, they often face the criticism that they are pretending to be football fans for a very basic reason: to meet a guy. For women of all ages in relationships, it is assumed that their fandom is adopted due to a romantic relationship: they want to make their boyfriends or husbands happy or to find a reason to spend time together (a stereotype explored in more detail later in this chapter). As Kristy noted, “If you are married, or you are there with your boyfriend, people would assume that you just come along because they probably have to. I think a lot of guys think that that’s a good place to pick up girls.” We repeatedly observed this first dynamic—the expectation that young women are into football to meet a guy—during our ethnographic fieldwork. For example, at a Steelers game together, we noted the following exchange: Two men sitting behind us keep commenting on the “cute girls” a section over. Their comments focus on their looks. One asks if they are single. Another notes that they wouldn’t be there if they didn’t want to meet guys. All laugh. Their comments seem fairly good-natured—they don’t seem angry that the women are there. This is different from what we’ve seen/heard in other contexts. Still, focus is on looks/clothing. Assumption is the women are there to meet men and these men wonder if they could be the lucky guys. Blerg. (Field notes, December 8, 2011)

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   59 Interestingly, our interviewees generally did not talk about being subjected to this assumption, but they echoed it themselves. Questions about the motives of young, attractive women dressed in “cute” clothes permeated our interviews, particularly if the clothes were seasonally inappropriate. While women often were quick to follow up their suspicions about motivations with reassurances that those fans were welcome too, they did express at least unconscious assumptions about the intentions and authenticity of women who look like they are on the prowl and are using football as a means to meet a man. There can be an upside to having to prove authenticity. Young and conventionally attractive women in close-fitting clothing aren’t the only ones forced to prove their fandom. Women across the spectrum, regardless of age, race, socioeconomic status, or geographic location, expressed similar reactions from the other fans—particularly men—they encounter. For some, however, these lowered expectations can be turned into an advantage, as expressed by Talea: Personally, it actually kind of works to my benefit when it comes to shock and awe and surprise. They don’t expect you to be a fan and then you’re watching the game and see your reaction and they hear you keeping up and then all of a sudden, it’s almost like a new found respect for you. Elizabeth expressed a similar reaction, commenting, “Usually, they actually think it’s cool that all that I know, because I usually know more than them. They just like to talk about it. It’s usually never like a roadblock or anything.” Heather just laughs when she explains to the interviewer about having to re-prove her authenticity during each home game: Heather:  Absolutely. I have new people sit next to me every game. It’s always interesting to see the male reaction to me and to our group when we really know what’s going on and follow the game. They are always like: “Oh, you really are a fan” instead of “They are here to have fun.” Interviewer:  How would you characterize their response to you? Heather:  Very interesting to say the least. It’s very like that they can’t believe that a woman would know anything about football. Interviewer:  How does that feel? Heather:  I think it’s funny actually. I find it’s quite humorous when men think that they know more about sports that a female fan. Interviewer:  How come? Heather:  I just think it’s quite humorous, because I was raised that woman can do everything. And there are (some) men who

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just think that I couldn’t possibly follow a sport or know anything about sport is kind of funny. Interviewer:  How does it feel when you prove them wrong? Heather:  It’s definitely interesting and fun. Get that little smirk in your heart. This “little smirk in your heart” that Heather expresses in this exchange is a sentiment echoed by other women with whom we spoke. There is a certain glory in proving authenticity and being able to hold your own in a conversation with other fans, particularly men who are surprised to find a genuine woman fan ready to hold her own in a conversation about football. This will be further discussed later in this chapter when we talk about coping strategies. Proving authenticity and the Fan Performance Matrix. As the quotes above indicate, Knowing and Caring—the two modes of performance—are the ways women enact—and thereby demonstrate to others—their fandom. When challenged by others to prove that they are genuine fans, not just women there because of cute players, to find a man, or to make their (male) partner happy, women have to rely on these modes to provide evidence of their fandom and find acceptance and/or recognition among those who question their legitimacy. As we explain in the previous chapter, one cannot be a fan without Caring. But within the context of proving herself to a male fan, women often find that Knowing is the more important performance mode. Caring—demonstrating passion for the team by cheering loudly with other fans—can be seen as transient, tied to that singular experience in that specific place. Knowing, on the other hand, requires investment and a long-term commitment to a team and the sport. No Janey-come-lately can fake knowledge, particularly related to the team’s history and experience. To be able to hearken back to legendary plays and games, players and coaches, offers a credibility that isn’t conferred simply through cheering along. Furthermore, being able to offer specific data and insights related to the current team—player positions, names, and numbers—or being able to call plays and identify penalties indicates an expertise that connotes a deeper fan performance. A more promising future. While all of the women with whom we spoke articulated similar experiences with proving authenticity, they also expressed hope that times are changing. As more and more women become vocal, visible female fans, the assumption that women fans are unusual or illegitimate likely will change as well. I think more and more we are starting to see a lot more female fans really and truly understanding, and I think it’s something that is just starting to happen this season or this season and last season. I have like three female friends that are in fantasy leagues. That’s really surprising to me. I guess that’s a national trend that people are starting to

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   61 see—more female fans on fantasy football leagues. Unfortunately there is still that stereotype that women don’t really know a lot about football. They are just there for the fun of it, there to see the cute players or whatever. I think that that trend is starting to change with seeing these other girls who are on fantasy leagues. Maybe some of these women that are on fantasy leagues are doing it because their husbands or their boyfriends are on it. But they are still learning about football in understanding the teammates and the numbers and stuff like that. That’s a cool thing. It’s exciting to see that football might not just be a guy sport anymore. (Courtney) For women fans willing to take the challenge and work to prove their authenticity, they reported that male fans often accept them and, in fact, even celebrate them. They tell us about men buying them a beer once their football banter or discussions are over, celebrating their newfound bond borne from a shared love of football. Women often downplay the microaggressions they experience, characterizing the common slights as humorous. Kristy laughed when she recounted her now-husband’s reaction to her passion for football, explaining that he was surprised because she was, in his experience, an anomaly: “Because I don’t think he’s been around any women who know anything about sports. I think he was shocked by that. I told him that I might not be the only one out there that knows about sports, likes sports. I don’t think that’s part of his world.” Likewise, Jamie credits her friends for taking her fandom in stride, even though they find it unusual: “Friends think it’s hilarious. I don’t think any of them has ever really known a girl like me. They’re very accommodating and patient about it.” Nadal et al. (2013) found that laughter and minimization are common responses women have to dealing with microinsults and microinvalidations. The power of microaggressions. While the fans with whom we spoke generally did not articulate specific concerns about their experiences facing resistance as fans and having to prove authenticity, we do find the systematic and seemingly universal experiences of these fans to be problematic. These experiences reinforce the perception that football isn’t really for women, exacerbating the hegemonic masculinity delimiting football as a “man’s game.” When women are systematically presented as intruders to this world—the implicit assumption connected to constant surprise that women are fans—it reinforces that women still are not given permission to have unfettered access to the most popular sport in the United States, despite making up a considerable proportion of its audience. This exclusion is then considered acceptable in related industries and visible roles within the NFL and its franchises, including in administrative offices and in football coverage across media. When women aren’t visible in these roles, it continues to symbolically annihilate their experiences within the framework of the sport, perpetuating a cycle that makes it more difficult for women to be taken seriously within the context of football. As Lisa explains, when

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women are so rarely seen and heard, the pressure is on the few to represent all women well, all of the time, in all related contexts. A woman speaking publicly about football is never just representing herself; she is representing all women who follow football. While a man making an ill-informed comment or criticism typically is characterized as a singular idiot, a woman doing the same is perceived as representing and enacting the ignorance of all women everywhere: . . . the sports reporters, they used to all be men. Now they’ll have Erin Andrews or whatever. She’s beautiful. It’s like, you have the best job ever. At first I was like, “You don’t play football, why are you doing this?” It took me awhile to adjust to that because in your mind you think it’s a guy’s sport. Guys play it, guys watch it. I think it’s more accepted now that women are becoming reporters or what not. I think all of that is becoming more accepted but don’t look stupid. Don’t do that because it’s becoming okay now but I don’t want a guy to be like, “typical woman she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” You just want the gender to look good if you’re trying to express your opinion about a man’s sport. It’d be like if a guy called into a show about make-up or something. Don’t do that. At least ask an intelligent question if you’re going to be getting into that. STEREOTYPICAL, NOT ASPIRATIONAL Though our project focuses on the experiences of women, our interviews and observations by necessity included comparisons between male and female football fans. Even as they recognize that the culturally constructed stereotypes suggest that “real” men know and love football and that women do not, our interviewees were quick to note that there are levels of fandom for both men and women. This explicit recognition that there are different types of fans—and that not all fans are made the same—is particularly important within an examination of women fans. After facing lifetimes of being asked to perform fandom in the same way men do to prove their authenticity, including providing evidence of sufficient levels of Knowing and Caring, women tend to recognize and appreciate that fandom manifests in different ways for different people. When asked if she can articulate differences between male and female fans, Kristy replied: I don’t think so because I think you can have a woman who really knows what they’re talking about just as easily as you can have a man who has no idea what’s happening. I think there’s different levels. And I think that those levels can be . . . I don’t necessarily see them as male or female . . . I think if someone is just an average fan that will watch the team if they’re winning and not watch them when they’re losing

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   63 and don’t really know. They could probably name the quarterback and the coach, but not anybody else. And then there’s going to be the really intense rabid fan who knows absolutely everyone on the roster and can name all the men on the roster, plus all the coaches and coaching staff. And then there’s going to be the fan who got free tickets from work and is just going because it seems like a fun thing to do on a Sunday. And I think there can be all three of those levels, and anywhere in between them you can have men or women fit all of those. I think that there’s more men that are the rabid fans than women, but I think it’s becoming more and more common for women to be up in that area. Even so, our participants easily articulated and at times seemed to tacitly endorse the stereotypical differences they identified between men and women football fans. Often, this came down to knowledge. As Claire explained both men and women engage in Caring performance but men are more likely to perform in the Knowing mode: I definitely think for males it’s one of those things where the stereotypical thought is they’re males so of course they’re going to like the sport and they like it for the rough and tough part of it, for the aggressiveness of it, for the getting out there hitting and pushing and things like that. They’re more vocal and more boisterous in how they root for their team. They’re more willing and definitely will go above and beyond and search for the information about the team and finding those little stats on every player and following up with the team. Whereas women I feel we can definitely appreciate the team. We definitely will pick a team we want to follow, but as far as having that be a main focus or something that we will continue to go search for and look for I don’t think that’s necessarily something women do. They definitely will if they hear something about a player or team they’ll definitely be interested in it, but it’s not something that they will actively go search for all the time. We definitely enjoy the game and appreciate it for what it is, but it may not be on the same level or as involved as a man would be. This quote is important on several levels. Claire expresses a common belief among our fans: Stereotypically male fans tend to be more knowledgeable and actively seek out information about their teams whereas stereotypically female fans still are fans of a team, but tend to be more passive and less driven to know details. In Claire’s view, women fans often are just not as involved as men would be. This was echoed by a number of other interviewees, including Courtney: In my experience, yes. I should say yes. Once again, not to be terrible and stereotypical, but usually your male football fans know a lot more about the teams in the league and who plays who and who is number

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64  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms one right now, who’s number two, who is number 10. What do these technical terms mean? Who did what last Sunday? I think that’s a guy fan. That’s the kind of the fan I am. I unfortunately know who is in the majority of what league, which is terrible. I don’t know why any person should ever know all that. Most female fans know that the Browns are doing really good; the Browns are three and two or whatever, or the Steelers lost last week. I guess more so female fans are a little bit more surface. They understand, they know, but they might not dig as deep as male fans do. Some reason, men are more into the whole technical aspect of everything and knowing where everybody fits and that kind of thing. Courtney acknowledges that this is a stereotype, but one that is borne out among her friends and family. Interestingly, she explicitly states that she considers herself a “guy fan”— unlike Claire, who positions the male fan in relation to herself, Courtney locates herself within the male description. For women who engage in Knowing performances, the implicit connotation is that “real fans” are male—and since these women consider themselves “real fans,” they are better represented by that model. Donna adopted this same approach, claiming: I would say more males are kind of where I’m at in fandom. You won’t meet too many females . . . like, you’ll meet females who like football, that’s generally becoming more and more popular, but you’re not going to meet one like me who’s going to watch everything on TV, and make sure they have as much knowledge as possible. For these women, football—like trucks—should be “for girls.” (See Figure 4.1.) While Donna specifically focuses on Knowing as a marker of fandom, the all-consuming passion expressed by Donna to differentiate male versus female fans also speaks to the Caring mode of performance; in her estimation, when you are fully committed to a team, you live and breathe the experience, consuming as much content as you can. Other interviewees were even more explicit about how the Caring mode can separate stereotypically male versus female fans, particularly in terms of acts of aggression to release the emotions connected with the game: Um, yeah, I think, in general, I mean I don’t know the statistics, but I’m just going to guess there are way more men fans out there than women. And I don’t know if it—I don’t know if it’s their testosterone, but they just get so much more passionate about it and like, the whole, there might be a crowd mentality. Like, or that mob mentality where if someone gets angry and picks a fight and then everyone starts jumping in and fighting. Like, if a bunch of women did—I just don’t picture women doing that as easily as men would. Bunch of testosterone in the room,

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Figure 4.1  Truck decals (including the Steelers logo) found in a supermarket parking lot. Photo taken by Anne C. Osborne.

if someone lights a match and says something negative and another guy picks a fight, and all of a sudden—especially if drinking’s involved—I think guys are more willing to just start brawling with each other. . . . So, yeah, and I don’t know if I’ve ever read one story or heard of a story of like women fans at a football game getting into a fight. I don’t think I’ve ever read one story about that. But men? Like, yeah. Heard plenty of stories, seen that. (Becky) Becky was not the only participant to identify the passionate behavior of men as a point of differentiation between men and women as fans. Jamie followed the same path, pointing out that “guys are way more animated. Girls are more reserved and, you know, concerned about how they look, I guess.” Interestingly, she follows that up with a nod to her friend Gwendolyn, a diehard fan who is not afraid to express her fandom during games: She makes me look like I’m a casual, country club mom fan. Compared to her at games I’m relaxed and, ah, low key. Yeah, I think guys tend to be more, um, outwardly involved. And I think there are probably a lot of girls that don’t cheer a lot because maybe they’re not sure that they’re cheering at the right time. You know what I mean. That can be intimidating at times . . . if you’re not comfortable in your knowledge.

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I mean you don’t want to go crazy and look like a fool. So guys are usually the ones high fiving in the crowd. So yeah, I mean I do think that’s a difference. Jamie’s estimation that women tend to be more low-key in their performances so they don’t “look like fools” was reinforced and in many ways justified by our fieldwork, particularly when observing reactions to women fans at stadia and in other public venues. While some women were unafraid to be loud and assertive, they did not do so without repercussions. For example, while at an October 2010 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns, a group of women were seated one section to our left, with their seats slightly behind ours in the upper deck of Browns stadium. One of the women loudly shouted a criticism of the team, and a man near us yelled in response the clever instruction to “Get back in the kitchen!” His admonishment generated smatterings of laughter around us, and the female fan was quiet for the rest of the game (Field notes, October 3, 2010). When it comes to understanding women versus men as fans, it is important to revisit the discussion in the previous chapter. For almost all of the women with whom we spoke, the extremes of both Knowing and Caring—the persistent, unending investment in studying a football team or the extreme emotional reactions, particularly to a team’s loss—are not at all aspirational. Women fans don’t want to be that kind of fan, finding it impossible to conceive of a way that this type of constant commitment to both Knowing and Caring can fit into their already-busy lives. Despite their love of the game, the women with whom we spoke do not want football to dictate how they spend their time day in and day out, year round. Instead, women are more likely to talk about those fans with a touch of humor as they describe what they consider to be over-the-top behaviors. Because women do not feel compelled to embody the ultimate fan (read as male) performance, they recognize that fan performances do not have to be exaggerated or all consuming to be authentic. Thus, they also tend to be fairly welcoming of a wider array of fan performance. To be considered a true fan, you do not have to go to the stadium at all, let alone be a season ticket holder. You do not have to rabidly watch each game from the minute coverage starts until the last second ticks off. You do not even have to perform at the higher levels of performance modes, and you especially do not have to be constant in your Knowing and Caring over time. Instead, the criterion most women seemed to consider fundamental to being a fan is a genuine love of the game. If they perceive that another fan truly cares about the team and the sport, they are open to fan performances that might be in the lower left quadrant of the Fan Performance Matrix. Courtney was adamant about this during her interview, insisting: No, no. By no means do I think any type of fan is better than any type of fan. If you are a football fan, you’re a football fan. The other people

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   67 might know a little bit more, but that doesn’t make them a better fan. You are a fan. You like your team and your players and your game. The fan is a fan. Everybody comes together on a Sunday and watches the game. It doesn’t matter if you know who is in the AFC North. What matters is you love the sport, you love the game, and you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re definitely not a fan. But you love the game and the sport. You enjoy the community that it brings to people. That makes a fan. It doesn’t matter what you know or who you know or how you know. What matters is you know you like football. I think that’s why my friend and I talk about it. She’s a football fan. She doesn’t know everything about football, but she is a football fan. I don’t know everything about football, but I’m a football fan. I think that at the end of the day, a fan is a fan. If you enjoy football, you are a fan. Katlyn agreed, noting, “I’m not judgmental. I know that I probably know more than most people. So I’m not going to be like, ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I’m thinking they probably don’t know all that much about football. But it’s nice that they’re still here to support the team.” Women implicitly recognized the relational and contextual elements of fan performances, understanding that where you are in life can impact how you perform as a fan. Having routinely experienced microaggressions that leave them feeling pressured to justify themselves, women fans try not to do the same to others. That being said, they are not always successful. In the following section we discuss common stereotypes of female fans, stereotypes that women sometimes use to characterize other women. Our respondents obviously do not feel all self-proclaimed fans are equal. STEREOTYPES OF WOMEN FANS As discussed earlier, there is a suspicion toward women who seem to be adopting the mantle of fandom for reasons other than loving the team or the game. Often, these women embody stereotypes that women fans must fight against in their own experiences: “I’d say that they probably expect them to be gossiping about what people are wearing, just not talking about the game, not talking about the player, not really talking about anything that is happening other than, what so-and-so is doing at work” (Kristy). Claire adds: A stereotype is that they’re only a fan because of their boyfriend or husband, they just picked it up because the guy in their life is a fan. Stereotype that they have no idea what’s going on. They don’t understand any of the calls that are being made. Stereotypes that they’re just out there to be there, they’re just there to look pretty and have a drink or eat the food and just hang out with their friends. They’re not really paying attention. That’s the stereotype.

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68  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms This was echoed by Donna, who said, “I do think there are stereotypes because I think people usually think women who are NFL fans are just going because it’s a social event or going because their boyfriend or husband likes it but I think that’s wrong because there are a lot of women like me.” During our research, including both interviews and ethnographic fieldwork, we identified a number of stereotypes that are commonly held about women fans. While not exhaustive, each of the stereotypes examined below was referenced multiple times by various participants and observed through conversations overheard during games. Our participants found some stereotypes more egregious than others. The names we have assigned to each stereotype typically are in vivo, derived directly from our dataset. The Bimbo. Typically described as being on a date or on the prowl, the Bimbo wears cute (and tiny) clothes, no matter what the weather is around her. She is assumed to be vapid and know nothing about the game, there just because she thinks it’s cool, and this lack of knowledge was something our respondents actively resisted and resented. Talea, for example, cited this fear as one of the incentives for her to learn about the game: “I wanted to know more about it so I could understand. I was never one to want to be one of those stereotypical females who didn’t understand what they were talking about, always asking ‘What’s that? What happened?’ ” During the focus group, Heather described the Bimbo in explicit terms during a discussion about NFL commercials: “I don’t want to use the stereotype of ‘bimbo,’ but they’re showing the blonde hair, skinny lady with her little jersey on. It’s like [high voice] ‘Oh, here I am at the game!’ ” Earlier in the discussion, we asked about a woman referenced earlier who sat next to the group wearing seasonally inappropriate clothes. When asked how that fan made them feel, Joyce replied “Pathetic.” JoJo said to the imaginary fan, “You’re stupid.” Patty chimed in, “It’s a waste of a ticket,” and Carmel did an imitation of the young woman, saying, “Don’t they have the prettiest color uniforms? They’re purple!” Patty then summed up the stereotype of a female fan: “That they don’t know the game. That they’re going, because they think it’s cool, or they have a date.” The Bimbo was widely recognized by our participants, with almost all of them discussing the stereotype of a pretty, dumb “girl” who was there just to be with or meet a cute guy. During participant observation, we most often saw this fan among 20-somethings at sports bars, as was the case September 23, 2010, at a bar in Baton Rouge, LA. “One woman was wearing short shorts, thigh-high sport socks, pony tails and eye-black. Her look was akin to a Halloween costume a woman would wear of a football player. Also present were the Crown Royal girls and Miller Lite girls” (Field notes). For all the Bimbo knows or cares, she could just as easily be at the club as at the game. The Supportive Partner. An outgrowth of the Bimbo, the Supportive Partner is there because she has to be, not because she wants to be. She is probably dressed in weather-appropriate team gear, but she is not an enthusiastic fan and is expected to have low levels of Knowing and Caring. Instead, the

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Supportive Partner’s fandom specifically is grounded in her (male) partner’s fandom. She is there to make him happy, and football serves as a way for them to spend time together as a couple. Courtney easily recognized this stereotype: Unfortunately I think they expect most women fans to come to the games with her husband, which is kind of a date, a fun time out. They come with their husbands and they eat food and get a beer and watch the game, but I think most guys expect most female fans to not really totally understand—understand who the players are and some of the terms, but maybe not like super technical. Unfortunately I kind of think that sometimes, too, with the female fans. I think “Good, she knows the teams and whatever.” Not everybody is raised like I am. I don’t know if that’s really awful and stereotypical. Courtney identified her uncle’s wife as the embodiment of this stereotype, commenting: His wife I think is a fan because he’s a fan. She doesn’t really watch the games, she doesn’t really know the players. I think she supports them because she supports him . . . at the end of the day. I think at times, it’s bonding for them, too. She will sit down and watch the game with him. I don’t really know how much she knows about football. I’m not really so sure that she knows any of the technical things or not. Her and I don’t really talk about football. I have a feeling that it’s a bonding thing for them. She watches with him because he likes it so much. She might ask a question here or there or that kind of thing. I wouldn’t really call her as big of a fan as he is . . . I think she does it because she loves him and she knows that’s what makes him happy. That’s a lot of love, especially with Steelers stuff. Our participants tended to be more sympathetic to the Supportive Partner than the Bimbo. They understood the benefit of supporting an interest that is important to loved ones, as explained by Elizabeth: That’s their choice. Some people just aren’t interested in sports. That’s fine. They have other interests and other things they’re passionate about. If they go meet up with friends and have a good time, that’s another benefit of going to a sporting event. That’s also in and of itself pretty cool that it can give joy to people not only who love the sport but also aren’t as interested but love some other aspect of it. Unlike the Bimbo (and the soon-to-be-discussed Social Butterfly), the Supportive Partner is given permission to focus on the social elements of fandom. Since they are there in an effort to support their partner, they seem

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70  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms to be given more leeway than embodiments of other stereotypes to not be invested in the game itself. The Football Widow. Widely recognized and referenced by the media and other observers, the Football Widow does not even feign interest in the game. Instead, the Football Widow is left at home, abandoned, while her spouse invests his weekends in watching football—as much football as possible, whether in person or in front of the television set. Amy differentiates these Football Widows from the Supportive Partner, noting, “From what I see, there are very different levels of football fans in women. There are some fans just kind of watch it with their boyfriends and husbands, because it’s on. But there are some football widows. They don’t watch it at all with their husbands or boyfriends or friends.” These women just disconnect entirely from the sport, assuming they will be on their own for Sundays during the season. The Guy’s Girl. Loud and aggressive, the Guy’s Girl is the feminine embodiment of the masculine football fan. She drinks heavily and cheers loudly, vocally supporting or criticizing her team. The Guy’s Girl is a close relative of the Cool Girl described in Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel, Gone Girl: Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl. (210) The football fan version of the Cool Girl, the Guy’s Girl stereotype is always willing to “bro out” during games, drinking copious amounts of beer, cramming in nachos, pretzels, and hot dogs to sober up before having to make her way home. She swears with the best of them, cursing and gesturing to show her disapproval. Unlike the Bimbo, the Guy’s Girl doesn’t necessarily come across as a superficial fan; in fact, this is the stereotype most likely to be perceived as someone who at least has a modicum of interest in the game. The challenge to the Guy’s Girl authenticity is focused on the performance itself. Other women point to the Guy’s Girl as someone whose performance is grounded in media-driven male fantasies of what a woman fan should be like, rather than an authentic expression of her own fandom. Jamie talked about her perception of what men want: I always chuckle because guys always say, “Oh I wish I married somebody that loves sports ‘cause my wife gives me a hard time about

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watching the game or something.” That always makes me laugh because they married the girl that didn’t know that much about sports so clearly it couldn’t have been that big a deal to you. You know what I mean? I just think it’s funny when they say that. Well so why didn’t you find a girl that likes sports because there are plenty. I mean, there are, I’m not that odd. I think it’s an interesting . . . it can be intimidating for a guy. Though she may be the male fan fantasy, because the Guy’s Girl stereotype often is tied to alcohol consumption, women question whether or not she even knows what is going on by the end of the game. Amy described her experience at a game when she witnessed, “this girl . . . she was so drunk . . . She was just ridiculous to me. I don’t know if she remembers doing that. She was that drunk, there is no way she was watching the game.” While drinking alcohol is part and parcel of the game day experience, especially when watching in public, it’s notable that the Guy’s Girl takes that to the edge, drinking to the point where she is no longer considered an authentic fan. A real fan is focused on the game, and thus needs to stay sober enough to watch the whole thing and engage. The Guy’s Girl is distracted by the party and the experience. The Social Butterfly. The Social Butterfly is drawn to football solely for the social experience. She wants to be part of the community and part of the scene, and her fan performance is grounded in socializing and engaging with others rather than a love of the game. Unlike the Bimbo, the Supportive Partner, and, to a lesser extent, the Guy’s Girl, the Social Butterfly stereotype is not constructed exclusively in relation to a male “true fan” or the male fan experience. Nonetheless, it is one of the most common stereotypes women encounter and the likely reason that many blanch at any suggestion that football is a social event. Instead of being invested the game, the Social Butterfly is drawn to the off-field action. In her quote used earlier in this chapter, Talea specifically positioned herself in opposition to this stereotype when she talked about expectations that she doesn’t know anything about the game: “So, pretty much just a level of ignorance about the sport in general, and not really caring to know about it. It’s if you’re there to watch the game it’s purely social.” This sort of dismissive approach was common among the women with whom we spoke, and they were sensitive to the perception that all women were only there for the party, rather than the game itself. Social Butterflies often are visible at games, as Amy has witnessed: “They are there with their friends, not too into it. I guess they are just there for the social aspect of it.” Notably, this perception was not exclusive to women. During the focus group, for example, Joyce talked about a group of men who were seated near her in the stadium. She perceived that they weren’t there as authentic fans, but instead: There has to be an agenda for them to be there. They wouldn’t just go there. Maybe they got free tickets. Occasionally, one of the last games

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72  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms that we went to, there were three guys that were there. It was a business thing, because the one guy kept buying rounds of beer. There were a bunch of people there, and I’m thinking, “Beers aren’t cheap, and he’s buying another round, another round, another round.” He must have spent $300 on beer for these people. Were those people real true . . . Would they have gone to the game, if it wasn’t for their boss getting them the ticket? No, probably not. It’s not just women. It’s anybody that goes to the game, but there’s a reason why they’re there other than the fact that they are really into the games. Since women tend to confer authenticity to fans that they believe are driven by a love of the game, the Social Butterflies don’t make the cut. Here’s the problem. While these stereotypes are fairly innocuous on their own (much like the Steelers fans questioning the motives of attractive women at the game mentioned in field notes earlier in this chapter), the sheer pervasiveness of these perceptions contributes to an environment in which women fans are marginalized and ignored. All of the women with whom we spoke could articulate these stereotypes, and as explored above, they have faced both passive and active resistance and challenges to their own fandom due to the assumptions that they fit into one of these stereotypes of female fans. Furthermore, all of these stereotypes also characterize a woman’s fandom in relation to a man in her life or a man she hopes to attract into her life. This seems to presume that all women, football fans or not, identify as cisgender and heterosexual. As such, the stereotypes of female fans position football as just another arena that furthers the marginalization of gay and genderqueer women. Women fans that have an authentic love of the game do not see themselves in these stereotypes, but they also cannot articulate a shared vision of how fans “like them” look or act. Often, as we see above, women have to turn to the stereotypes of male fans to find commonality or framings that fit with their own self-conceptualizations of their performances as passionate, knowledgeable fans. Because of this, women football fans have had to develop a number of strategies to negotiate their fan performances. STRATEGIES FOR NEGOTIATING FAN PERFORMANCES As Performative Sport Fandom tells us, fan performances are relational, contextual, and negotiable, and thus inherently are not static. In this section, we focus specifically on the ways women negotiate—sometimes consciously and strategically and sometimes reflexively—their performances, depending on where they are, who is there, and how they are being perceived and treated as fans. Women across our interviews articulated these strategies in various forms, regardless of age, race, or geographic area. These approaches by necessity are flexible and fluid, although women tend to more commonly adopt a certain approach depending on their own personalities and where

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   73 they are in life. It is also worth noting that, because women tend to be challenged on their knowledge, not their passion, most of these strategies employ Knowing modes of performance. Drop the mic. Women adopting this strategy actively seek out opportunities to school men who doubt their fandom, enjoying the opportunity to “mic drop” some football knowledge and walk away. We saw this earlier when women described their interactions with male fans, including the “little smirk in your heart” that Heather articulated. Kristy describes this as a “little thrill”: I really enjoy sports, I enjoy it, I like it, it’s great. It’s something you can talk about and I get a little satisfaction out of a smirk or a look of shock. . . . I kind of tell them that, no you are wrong, it was this, or what about this. I can have a conversation with them about sports and have them be shocked that I know something, or know more than they do. It’s kind of a little thrill, I guess, because they aren’t expecting it. Most men don’t expect women to know anything about sports, or even be interested in them. I like the fact that I do know what I am talking about, for the most part [laughs]. Faye explained that when men express surprise at her level of Caring and Knowing about football, her “inner trash talker will come out.” For Kristy, Heather, Faye, and others, there is an emotional benefit to this performance strategy. The charge that comes with proving your ground as a fan—demonstrating your credibility to doubters—is real, and can add to the excitement of game day for women fans. Akin to the Guy’s Girl stereotype, drop-the-mic fandom as a performance strategy often is represented as a woman “bro-ing out,” embodying the practices and principles of a stereotypical male fan: loud, aggressive, and in your face. As part of this strategy, women demonstrate they can hang with the best of them, vocalizing both their knowledge and their passion to prove their authenticity as a fan. Unlike the Guy’s Girl, however, the drop-the-mic fan’s love of the game is not in question. While she might be drinking before and during the game, she doesn’t get so intoxicated that she can no longer follow what is going on: After all, the game is the priority. As Becky said, “On game days, I think for the most part, the well—the die hard, you know the true blue fan, the woman who knows what she’s talking about—she’s just one of the guys.” Toe-to-toe. Compared to the drop the mic strategy, performances grounded in the toe-to-toe strategy tend to be more understated and less aggressive. Instead of feeling compelled to prove authenticity and demonstrate high levels of Knowing and Caring, a woman adopting this approach more casually inserts herself into football discussions but does not seek out challengers. Shelly exemplifies this strategy. Earlier in the chapter we quote her explaining that she likes to “work my way into the conversation” after others have started talking football. She enjoys the fact that she can

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74  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms hold her own but doesn’t take any particular satisfaction in outdoing other (male) fans. Subtle expertise. The woman who employs this strategy tends to be at peace with other people not necessarily knowing how much she really knows. She doesn’t feel compelled to prove anything, instead being comfortable with her own understanding of her fandom. While it still feels good to be taken seriously, she is okay with being dismissed. Interestingly, the women we saw adopting this strategy tended to still be taken seriously as fans, in part because when she does engage, her knowledge and behaviors reinforce her expertise. Those around her know that she is an authentic fan, so she doesn’t have anything to prove. Diane, for example, was cited by members of her season ticket holder group as one of their leading experts on football; as JoJo said, “Diane knows a lot about it. She knows football.” She learned the sport from her family as a child, and her sons played football through high school. Diane clearly is well versed in the rules of the game, and she loves watching plays unfold. Her friends noted that Diane will always have her binoculars on, focusing on the game even when others are distracted by side conversations. While her friends and those around her know that Diane is an expert, she does not articulate a need to prove her fandom. She didn’t recount experiences where she would need to “mic drop” after demonstrating knowledge; instead, Diane was comfortable with being a subtle expert. This strategy does seem to be correlated with age. Diane is in her fifties, and she has had a lifetime of fandom to prove to herself and those that matter to her that she is a fan. While younger women also can (and do) adopt this strategy, we saw it as more prevalent among women in their thirties and older. Private fandom. Women who adopt the private fandom strategy choose to keep their cards close to their vests. Unlike women employing subtle expertise, whom most would know to be avid watchers of football, people around this female fan may not even know she likes the game. In fact, most wouldn’t know unless she chooses to tell them. As Alice says, “I don’t actively seek out other Browns fans to hang out with. [laughs] It’s more of a personal addiction that, you know, after loss after loss I always wish I could free myself from wasting a Sunday afternoon.” Like Alice, women who often engage this strategy typically view at home, meaning they spend less time in environments where their fandom would be challenged. This does not mean that these women are lower on the Knowing or Caring axes; in fact, these women usually are quite passionate about their commitment to their teams. They are just less vocal and visible to the outside world. Natalie, for example, believes she is “a private person in general,” and her fan performance strategies reflect that. “I always grew up being a very quiet child, quiet person. I was always very reserved . . . I mean it’s outward expression at a game or something. You know my parents were fairly ‘we don’t behave like that.’ . . . So yeah, it has to be dragged out of me.” Safety in numbers. The final strategy we saw commonly adopted among our participants and during our fieldwork was going in groups—safety in

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Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms   75 numbers. Because women recognize both that they are not automatically conferred legitimacy as fans and that their fandom often is perceived in relation to a man (their fathers, boyfriends/husbands, etc.), we found some women chose to go to games with other women or in a mixed group. This could be in a large, formalized group, such as the women in our focus group, or formed on a more ad hoc basis—grabbing friends who wanted to watch and joining them. This was particularly true for public viewership, since those environments are the ones in which women are most likely to be questioned. While these strategies are not exhaustive, they do represent commonly adopted ways for women NFL fans to engage with their fan communities. These approaches also are not mutually exclusive: a woman who typically employs subtle expertise can be driven to drop-the-mic fandom by a particularly dismissive or offensive challenge, while private fans celebrating a massive victory likely would be incentivized to go public. They do demonstrate, however, that women continue to face challenges as they perform their NFL fandom. NEGOTIATING PERFORMANCES AS WOMEN (AND WITH WOMEN) Interestingly, our research indicates that performances can differ when dealing with other women. Within that context, women are more likely to talk about players being “cute” or admiring specific body parts. When describing her best friend’s efforts to learn about football, Courtney noted that her conversations are different with her than with her father: It definitely is different. I don’t know if it’s—no, it’s definitely different. I was going to say maybe it’s not so much because she’s a girl, but it definitely is. Her and I will have a conversation about how cute players are. I never have conversations like that with my dad. We will talk about, “He is cute.” When talking with other women, there is less pressure to prove one’s fandom. There is an expectation that other women will recognize and respect fellow members of the tribe, and that you won’t have to go to great lengths to demonstrate expertise. Women also tended to be more forgiving of those who showed less expertise, recognizing and valuing that not all fans perform the same way. Interestingly, a number of women in our study specifically addressed the importance of teaching other women about football—paying it forward, so to speak. Talea, for example, spoke about the efforts she and a colleague engaged in to help other women learn the sport: Some of them are my close girlfriends, even if they’re not into it . . . myself and one other friend of mine who works in the office with me,

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she’s probably more diehard than I am to be honest with you, I think they see us into it so much that they . . . the other two ask us a lot of questions, and they know it doesn’t bother us. Some guys it drives them nuts, but for us, we’re willing to educate because somebody had to teach us. While comparing conversations with her best friend versus her dad, Courtney makes sure she provides detail and context to help her best friend learn: It’s also different because I’m kind of the teacher now, so I am trying to help her. In that sense, it’s like talking to my dad, too, because my dad is still trying to teach me about football. It’s definitely different, and we talk about it in different ways. With my dad, I talk about it in very technical ways. With her, we talk about it—like if I say the name of a team, I will say the Cleveland Browns. I want to say the Browns or the Bengals. I say the Cincinnati Bengals. ’Cause if I say it like that, then she realizes that that’s who that team is. She doesn’t know that the Broncos are the Denver Broncos or the Chiefs are the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s definitely different because I’m not as technical or whatever about it. With her, it’s more about a detailed thing. For Courtney, both of these two conversational approaches are positive. She notes that at the root of both, she gets to talk about football. When asked if it feels different to talk to her best friend versus her dad, she replied: Not really, because I’m still feeling the excitement from the game. I’m still feeling the excitement from football. I wouldn’t really say I feel differently. I’m still really excited to talk about football and feel really comfortable talking about football. It’s the same feelings that I feel when I talk about it with my dad—comfort because I understand and I know and excitement because I love it and it’s fun for me. Those feelings really never change when I talk about football. I’m never frustrated. I guess I am frustrated if I’m talking about football, and the Browns are losing. [laughs] I guess there are different feelings for different conversations, but I would say over the course of the two conversations they are definitely pretty equal. My feelings are pretty much the same, depending on the content. I’m definitely not more frustrated when I’m talking to her because I have to explain things. That’s not the case at all. The perception that women can help support each other as fans was powerful and echoed across our research. Furthermore, women pointed out that there are times that other women can inspire them to live more fully as a football fan. Stephanie, who worked at very high levels in national security, pointed to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a specific

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example of an inspirational football fan, saying, “She is a passionate Cleveland Browns fan. And she’s unabashedly unashamed. She has no shame about being a Browns fan. It gave me courage . . . ” Stephanie was particularly impressed with Rice’s ability to own the room with her football knowledge: I think she was in a largely white male, academic world where she could compete on [football knowledge]. But she could master anyone in the room. She was dealing with the neocon wing. Most of those guys are not masters at football. You know, think about them. She was going to have absolute mastery in that environment. Eliot Cohen is never going to argue—he’s not going to be able to argue the fine points of football. A lot of those guys couldn’t do it. And she could. I think it was winning where you can get the win. And that really matters in Washington and in the world at large. But that really matters. As this example demonstrates, being able to talk about football, particularly with a significant amount of knowledge, expertise, and passion, can open doors to women and provide “bona fides” in a male-dominated environment. While most people won’t be discussing strategy within the White House, the lesson remains the same: Football fandom can be a wonderful common denominator. SO THEN . . . WHY BE A FAN? Given the challenges and degree of negotiation required of women fans, one might ask, why, then, keep supporting the game? For the women with whom we spoke, the answer is clear: They are in it for the love of the game. Courtney speaks of the excitement around football, commenting, “It feels so good. It’s exciting, especially when you’re like, ‘They are in the red zone. They scored!’ It’s just an exciting feeling . . . I wouldn’t say I cry whenever my team wins, but I definitely feel a sense of happiness—‘They got a touchdown.’ It’s exciting, it’s rallying, it’s uplifting.” She continues, “I think that that is what has been instilled in me—is that football is a good time. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much because every time I watch football, I have a good time.” Courtney isn’t alone in feeling the excitement that comes with watching football. Saints fan Donna builds her weekend around watching football, and she radiates enthusiasm as she describes an upcoming viewing schedule: I get excited, I’m like, “It’s game day!” Like this weekend, I’m excited that the Saints are playing, but it’s like the Saints and the Ravens play at the same time. Those are the only two games that I’m really interested in because the next game is Patriots and Jets, the Bengals and Steelers

78  Challenging the Stereotypes on Their Own Terms (no offense), and then Monday night is Lions and Bears, and, well, I’m going to watch all of those games. But, it’s like after about 3 o’clock; my game day is going to diminish.

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For Donna and others, football is a massively important part of their lives. She notes, It’s very important to me. Generally speaking, I can be friends with people who aren’t fans of football, but being really . . . I guess I could be really good friends with people who aren’t fans of football, but as a person, people who are friends with me, they have to understand my fandom: where it comes from, why it’s important to me, and that it’s not going to change—it’s not something I’m going to tone down. Elizabeth, a Seahawks fan, reflects the same level of obsession as Donna. When asked why football is so important to her, Elizabeth responded: I just thought about that. Why am I so obsessed? I never want to watch a TV show. I always want to watch a game. I really like sports are like, it’s like overcoming adversity every game. Sure, you might not be feeling the best or something goes wrong and you got to fight through that to try to win. I just love seeing the passion that people play with. It inspires me. That’s probably why I think I like it a lot. Like many of the other women with whom we spoke, passion for the sport—love of the game—keeps Elizabeth enraptured. Talea gets even more specific, talking about what makes the game itself so appealing: Whereas in football, we celebrate the small things—like a first down. Yes, you made it there, we get to start over, okay now let’s go on. Even if you don’t score right away, the fact that you made it to a first down which gives you a new chance to start all over again to score is just as big as it is to get an actual touchdown. So, I think that’s kind of the part that kind of separates it—it’s a game that celebrates the victories along the way, not just the score itself. All of the women interviewed for this book shared the same dedication to and love for the game of football. As we noted earlier, this is the “litmus test”—if one exists—that women use to judge other fans, particularly other women. If they perceive that another woman genuinely loves the game, or at least has the potential to, the fans with whom we spoke are willing to cut her a break for not understanding the sport or just beginning to develop their appreciation for the game. For women, this true passion for the sport is the most important aspect of fandom.

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CONCLUSION Women football fans regularly experience challenges to their fandom, sometimes in the form of explicit and aggressive confrontations but more often in the form of subtle microaggressions. Despite the fact that women are a significant and substantial portion of the NFL’s fan base, they continue to be assumed to be illegitimate and, in fact, have to demonstrate that they are not any of the commonly held stereotypes: the Bimbo, the Supportive Partner, the Football Widow, the Guy’s Girl, or the Social Butterfly. For women, the marker of a true fan—one who is authentically, genuinely, legitimately a fan of the game and/or a team—is the love of the game. If you truly love football, you get more permission from women fans to have more flexibility in terms of Knowing and Caring. At its core, fandom is rooted in the love of the game. Fandom may be rooted in Caring, but the greatest obstacle to women’s fandom is rooted in Knowing—more specifically in the perception that women don’t know the game. It is predominantly in Knowing modes of performance, then, that women develop strategies for proving themselves and handling the naysayers. How, then, do women develop fandom? What draws them to the sport and helps foster the flames of interest? Our research indicates there are two key areas that support this: family and community. These will be explored in the next two chapters: Chapter 5, “A Family Affair,” and Chapter 6, “Community Ties, Community Pride.” In these chapters, we detail the supports that undergird football fandom for the women we interviewed.

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5 A Family Affair

Becoming and staying a fan of one particular team presents intrinsic difficulty. Unlike fixed works—movies, books, pieces of music—sports teams inherently and constantly change. New owners, new coaches, new managers, new players, new logos, new uniforms, and at times new names—the traditions and people so valued by fans often are, ultimately, ephemeral and transient. Big stars come and go, coaches leave after a bad season, but fans stick around: “Individual owners, players, and managers may change . . . But as long as the fans are cheering, the club will remain” (Osborne  & Coombs, 2010, p.  250). In this chapter, we consider the question: How does a particular team place its stamp on the hearts and souls of its fans, becoming the number one choice despite dozens of other teams clamoring for attention? For most of our respondents, football fandom is grounded in their families. The women with whom we spoke easily shared memories of time spent watching football throughout their early childhoods, sprawled on the floor or tucked on the couch, surrounded by parents, siblings, and, at times, extended family. Often, these memories included specific references to the cultural and familial traditions surrounding their experiences, including rituals around food, clothing, and performances as fans. Almost none of the women with whom we spoke self-discovered football or their team of choice. Instead, their love of both the sport and their franchise is grounded in their families and family traditions. As we discuss in the next chapter, some fans choose a team—generally in adulthood—because of newfound ties to or love of a city or a location-based community. However, family bonding marks even those women’s current fan experiences. In this chapter, we will examine the important ways families have informed, shaped, and defined fandom for the women fans with whom we spoke. This includes three main themes. First, we will explore the importance of football fandom in terms of heritage, providing a continual link to childhood and family traditions. This heritage is particularly prevalent in discussions with fans of less successful franchises that do not attract bandwagon fans. Second, we examine the importance of family in modeling fan behaviors to young kids. Through parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles,

A Family Affair  81 children learn how to be a fan, how a fan performs. Within this second theme, we discuss a number of important subthemes. Finally, we discuss football fandom in adulthood in relation to significant others.

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HERITAGE Our findings indicate that, for women, football fandom often is a means to link into their heritage, tapping into shared experiences with their families and continuing traditions older than they are. While there are current benefits to fandom (as articulated elsewhere in this chapter and throughout this book), we cannot discount the powerful emotional connection that women establish to the sport and their team during their childhoods. Many of our respondents indicate their team preference emerged directly from previous generations: parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. There is value in knowing that this is something you were born into; it is bigger than just you. Indeed, football, as a site of practice, reinforces the importance of family traditions. For most of the women with whom we spoke, fandom was instilled from childhood. Donna spoke with pride about her family’s franchise-long affection for the New Orleans Saints, noting: As I tell people, I bleed black and gold, it’s a family tradition. My dad probably remembers the first Saints game ever played because he was born in 1950, Saints were [formed in] 1960. He’s a first generation Saints fan. My mom, she got into football at an early age, but probably because she liked the dolphin on the Miami Dolphin’s helmet. Her dad was a Saints fan. Coming from New Orleans, it’s just being a Saints fan. Women smiled as they told stories of spending time with extended and immediate family to watch games, whether as part of holiday celebrations or just on any given Sunday. Courtney, for example, recalls spending her childhood Thanksgiving celebrations by sneaking down to watch the game with her father, brother, and the other men in her family: Courtney: I always remember being little, Thanksgiving Day—eating all the food. I was probably like . . . my first football memories are probably like seven maybe. We had Thanksgiving dinner the first thing that my uncle would say is “Somebody go put the football game on.” All the guys would go downstairs and watch the football game, and all the girls would stay upstairs and they would talk about things or play cards or whatever. For some reason, I would always just wander downstairs to watch the football game. I don’t know if it’s because I always wanted to hang out with my dad or what. That was definitely one of the first memories that I had—that Thanksgiving. I think I was probably around

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82  A Family Affair seven. I was like, “I want to go hang out with the guys and watch the football game.” I think after that, I was like, “I really like this football thing.” Interviewer: How did your family react when you went downstairs instead of staying upstairs with the other women? Courtney: At first my mom was like, “What are you doing? That’s not a normal thing. Why don’t you say up here with us?” When I went downstairs, actually my dad was like, “If you’re going to be down here, you’re going to have to be quiet” because I’m a talker. “You are going to have to be quiet. We don’t want to answer a bunch of questions. We don’t want to explain things. You are going to have to watch and hang out.” I’m like, “Okay.” I just kind of sat there and kept my mouth shut and I had no clue what was going on, but I couldn’t ask questions. It was definitely a shock, but I think it was not like, “Oh no, you can’t watch football.” It was like, “Okay, that’s interesting. We didn’t know that Courtney would like to watch football.” My dad was like, “You can stay down here. Just don’t talk.” Like most of our respondents, Courtney’s experience watching her team with her family centered on watching at home. As Courtney laughed, “My dad watches it all the time, so it was always on in the background on Sundays. He would be lying on the couch watching the football game, and then everyone was falling asleep for a couple hours and would wake up and there would be a new football game. I guess that’s something our family always did.” This last sentiment—that this is something our family always did—is a common refrain among the women with whom we spoke. When women share their recollections of early football memories, they often focus on the rituals that surrounded these game day experiences. Rarely would an interviewee fail to give specific details about her family’s particular way of watching NFL football games. Claire, a Cincinnati Bengals fan, remembers her mom cooking chicken wings, fries, and assorted other junk food as the family would “sit in our family room together, watch the game together. We’d root and cheer and of course my dad would yell at the TV. . . . I remember it would just be about the food and we would all be together as a family watching it together in our family room just whooping and hollering for the Bengals.” New Orleans Saints fan Lisa “vividly” remembers watching NFL football with her dad; they knew every quarterback from every team. Like other women, Kristy spoke of spending football afternoons with her parents and brother. She remembers, “We would make necklaces out of dog bones, because it was the Dawg Pound. We were wearing those necklaces and we were watching them play. My brother and my dad and my mom and I, we all had our Browns shirts on. We watched all that. You kind of lived and breathed with the team.” Likewise, Saints fan Donna reports, “My parents used to have, like, these big groups of parties. They had all of their friends

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A Family Affair  83 over every Sunday. We had two TVs in the front room, so they’d watch two different games but of course the focus would always be on the Saints game. But it didn’t matter win or lose, it would be this big ruckus at the house.” For women who were first- and second-generation Americans, the connection between football and heritage was particularly strong. These women told stories about how football was, for their parents or grandparents who immigrated to the States, a way to connect with their new country and to step outside of their work-focused existences. Becky, a first-generation American whose parents and extended family emigrated from the Philippines, remembers the entire group congregating at someone’s home to watch on Sundays. These experiences were a rare opportunity to have the family get together and have a celebration: It was awesome. I  loved it because watching my aunt and my mom and my [adult] cousins . . . I loved watching them, seeing them excited. Because growing up, I felt like everybody worked so hard and everyone was at work. So when we would watch football or have our family parties, it was always fun to see them excited about something and cheering and laughing. It was just different. It wasn’t just everyday whatever—it was funny, almost, and different and exciting to see everybody cheering and it got me excited. . . . It was just fun to see them react to something besides everyday life. This was particularly notable because the same family members who were so animated while watching the games were new to football, a sport that had not made inroads in their native Philippines. For her family, football was intrinsically linked to life in the United States. When asked to identify adjectives she could use to describe her childhood memories about football, Stephanie, a college professor in her 50s whose family hailed from Italy and Ukraine, said: “Loyalty. We were a loyal family. The games were very much a family thing. . . . Perseverance. You were expected to be disappointed. But you were expected to be there in that seat. . . . Those are kind of coded into us though because we were a working class, first-generation family. Football helped instill those or kind of redoubled those things, or they were the natural manifestation of a loyal family. We are about family. And we persevere.” For Stephanie and for others, fandom was and is inextricably linked to family heritage. In fact, she specifically remembers her father rooting for the Italians on the team: The people that my dad tended to talk about early on, heroically, tended to be Italian Americans like Lou Groza, Dino—oh, gosh, I’m drawing a blank on these names—from the Cleveland Browns. They tended to be Italian Americans who had done very well in athletics. My father would make fun of my mother. We would have these family things. My mother was Ukrainian. And he’d say, “Who do you guys have besides

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84  A Family Affair Bronko Nagurski? You don’t have anybody but Bronko Nagurski. Your problem is you’re slow runners. The Italians are fast runners.” They were based almost like in the—Dante Lavelli was the other one—Lou Groza and Dante Lavelli. So they were kinda coded as immigrant success stories. So American, yes. But we tended to know who was an Italian playing. And there weren’t many Ukrainians. I mean, we didn’t grow up in a place where there were many Ukrainians, period—or we didn’t know ’em. So we were always rooting for the Italians. So I think that had something to do with it, too. My dad would talk about Lou Groza and Dante Lavelli and people like that. While the legacy of fandom was expressed among women from across our entire interview pool, it is important to note that heritage as articulated by our participants typically is team-based rather than sport-based. In other words, the women with whom we spoke overwhelmingly continued to root for and support the teams of their forebears, even if they adopted a “second team,” which we discuss in Chapter 6, for other reasons. While families usually introduced them to the sport itself, the emotional connection central to heritage was almost always associated with a specific team. Heritage and the beleaguered team. This sense of heritage and tradition is particularly salient for women that support teams that have not enjoyed much success. Native Clevelanders, for example, who support the Browns—a team that has not won a championship since the inception of the NFL and whose record since returning as a franchise in 1999 can be characterized as less than successful—often express the importance they place on being a Browns fan because their parents were. Simply put, family is the only reason they have to support their team. They often joked about being embarrassed to publicly acknowledge their team affiliation, citing a lack of success and the team’s general reputation as being at the bottom of the rung. As Becky noted, “For Cleveland specifically, Draft Day is our Super Bowl. It’s this huge, big thing and all the hope and all the Super Bowl talk on Draft Day and ‘oh this guy we’ve got, we’ve got this pick and we’ve traded for these two picks . . . ’ ” Despite this constant disappointment and a dearth of reasons to start watching the team, fans stay loyal. Women who became Browns fans in their youths—because of the family traditions around them—remain true to the orange and brown, despite all available evidence that being a Browns fan is a depressing proposition. Stephanie refers to her Browns fandom as a “genetic weakness,” citing her dad, uncles, and cousins as having the same affliction. Likewise, when asked to identify her favorite team, 40-year-old Kimmy indicated she was “unfortunately” a Browns fan. When asked to clarify, she replied, “Because unfortunately they have been fairly terrible for the last . . . well, my whole life. [laughs] But I still love them.” So why, then, support this team? “I think it’s family ties. I think it has to do with, what my dad did, I do. I just think my family does.”

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The New Orleans Saints finally won a Super Bowl in 2009. Much like the Browns, however, for many years before the team’s fairy tale return to New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, it gave fans little reason to stay loyal. Lisa talked about her earliest memories as a Saints fan: Lisa:  You have to understand, the Saints were terrible, they were horrible back then. Something else I do remember, I don’t know if you remember this if you lived down here back then. There used to be a call in show—there is a call in show after the game and sports newscaster Buddy Diliberto did it. There would be these callers and they were crazy. They would be like the same callers every weekend. Of course, this is back when the Saints were the Aints. People would be complaining because they were terrible. My dad would listen to this show and laugh because of the people that would call in. It was exciting if we could get tickets. My dad would get tickets through work or something. It was like, we’re going to a Saints game. We hardly ever won. It’s more of something to go to and we’re excited to be there. But if we won it was great. I guess those were probably my earlier memories of it. Probably from age 6 on I can remember watching that wanting to be like Terry Bradshaw or Joe Montana and Roger Staubach and remember all those guys. Interviewer:  Your dad, with high blood pressure, watching a team that loses routinely? Lisa:  I don’t know if he was like that back then. I don’t think he was like that back then because I think he could watch the games back then. I don’t know why he’s that way now. But, yeah. I’m sure it was frustrating for him but I remember him hating the Cowboys and that’s why I hate Dallas. They’re like the Yankees, you either love them or you hate them. Most people hate them. I remember him hating Dallas because they were good. That was a good reason to hate them. I guess he imparted that on me. A player he might like or something, I mean you were a kid. The Saints are different now. The team became one of the ultimate sporting feel-good stories when, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s utter destruction of New Orleans. The Saints miraculously turned around their “Aints” history to make. The playoffs and then eventually win the Super Bowl behind quarterback Drew Brees and coach Sean Payton. For a period of time, the Saints enjoyed the moniker “America’s Team,” attracting thousands of new fans. As Lisa’s quote evidences, women who forged their fandom during the less halcyon days did so largely because of both family and, as we discuss in the next chapter, regional ties.

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Family is fundamental to developing fandom for teams that do not experience success. As our data show, it is easy to be a fan of a winning franchise. Supporting the losers is much, much harder. The reward is in knowing that you are carrying on a tradition. For these women, it is in their blood—passed on from earlier generations, and a fundamental part of their identity. FAMILIES AND LEARNING TO PERFORM FANDOM Families do more than introduce women to the sport and, more importantly, their teams of choice. We also found that these early memories helped women understand how to perform their fandom, both in terms of Knowing and Caring modes of performance as well as understanding when various performances should be employed. Because they were raised around football, women observed and internalized the performances of the adults around them. Much as they learned to model other identities (wife, mother, friend, etc.), they learned to perform their fandom in various ways. Fan performances were demonstrated by mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, friends and family—anyone who was a regular presence in their formative football years potentially helped shape their own performances. Parents and, for many (particularly older) women, specifically fathers played the biggest role in shaping their fandom. Cincinnati Bengals fan Claire, for example, talks about how both of her parents showed her how to be a football fan in terms of game day rituals and performances: I would say I’m a mixture of the two because I think I definitely can appreciate the game and I  understand the game like how my father does, I guess if you want to call that the male perspective, the male kind of knowing football and understanding the sport, and then my mother, I’m mixed with her because I am about, okay, let’s bring the food, let’s make it a whole event where it’s a family type thing, but she still enjoys the game and follows along and understands so I think I’m definitely in the middle because I will root and cheer but at the same time, I’m like you know what, I enjoy just being in the moment and just being around people as they’re watching the game. Jamie’s parents divorced when she was four years old. Both her parents are avid sports-lovers and she talked about the role they both played in her fandom: . . . I had a lot of one-on-one time with my parents with sports. And so that was something we talked about and when you talk about it with your parents and you see things on TV, then it’s easier for you to talk about them outside the home or with other people. I mean it probably

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was, it probably did, it was something I could talk to adults about and I was frequently the only child at things. Knowing fathers. As we see from Courtney and Jamie, both parents often played a role in shaping their daughters’ fandom. Many of our participants, however, cited fathers as the primary influences in their development as a football fan. When asked if her father’s love for the Steelers had an impact on her, Natalie replied: I think so. I mean part of it . . . it’s definitely the relationship with my father because I do get along with him better than I do my mother for whatever reason. But also, when I was growing up, I wasn’t allowed to watch television, hardly at all really. So when I could, it would generally be say on the weekends, if my mom wasn’t around, I could sidle in or on a weekend they may let me watch TV. But my father controlled the remote and so inevitably it was football and since he followed the Steelers . . . My most vivid memories from when I was that young was either Steelers or Cowboys. And I guess that’s, you know, their era of the ’70s and um, so those are the teams I remember. And I remember picking up names of Steelers players and um, and I guess it was something that, you know something that I wasn’t allowed to watch TV but then now I could, you know? And I just kind of got into it that way. And it just went from there. Alice also credits her father as opening the door to her football fandom: My dad was a big Browns fan and so I grew up watching the football games with him. He was very passionate about watching the games and very vocal when watching the games. I have very fond memories of watching the, you know, watching with him and celebrating. There were some pretty exciting teams in the ’80s when we were watching together and so I  have fond memories of doing that with him. He is responsible for me being a fan today. Interestingly, a number of our interviewees noted that football remains a constant in their relationships with their fathers, providing a bridge that is not replicated in other ways. Fathers continue to play a role similar to the one women recollect from their childhoods—they are sounding boards and strategists, helping their daughters work through the games, particularly on the technical side. When talking about watching games with her dad as an adult, Courtney says: . . . but we are cheering and happy with the Browns. We are sad about the Browns. We are bonding with each other and talking. We’re interacting and laughing. We laugh a lot. We joke a lot. That’s what makes it fun. Not only the bonding time with my dad, it’s also bonding time

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with whoever else is in the room because we are all talking and joking and having a good time. I think that that is what has been instilled in me—is that football is a good time. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much because every time I watch football, I have a good time. Talea echoed the importance of football in her relationship with her father. Her father, a former college basketball player, did not watch football much when she was a child. As her love for the sport developed, however, he spent more time watching it as well. This provides an additional link in their powerful chain as father and daughter. While she doesn’t believe he exclusively started watching football because she did, she recognizes her fandom has had an impact on him: But, I think the more I fell in love with football, the more that he keeps up with it and calls me about it and tells me different stuff because now it’s almost like, oh wow, we have something else in common in addition to the million and one other things we have in common. . . . If we can’t [watch games together] because we live about an hour apart, we’ll definitely call each other on the commercial breaks and talk about a big play or something that just happened, or something like that. While football isn’t the only thing they share, the strengthened bonds are valued on both sides. For some women, football is one of the few ways they can interact with their dads in a meaningful way. Donna, for example, laughs when she says she can only discuss the three Fs with her dad: food, film, and football. Likewise, Courtney believes football provided an essential shared interest for her father and her in terms of establishing a strong father-daughter bond: The same bonding experience, no. Smaller bonding experiences—perhaps. Again, we both golf, but that’s not something we do on a regular basis. That’s maybe like once a year or twice a year. But the extent of the bond that we have over football—there’s nothing that could be comparable. We both play video games a little bit. I  play video games more than my dad does. That’s not really something that we totally relate on. We watch different TV shows. We are just kind of different in that manner. The one thing that we do have that is the same is football. I don’t think anything could ever be that father-daughter bond—even close to what we have with football. As we see here, shared fandom for football and, for most, a certain team provides common ground, providing a specific reason to reach out and make contact. No matter what else is going on in their lives or how frequently or infrequently they talk to their parents, women who share this bond with their parents always have a reason to call home after their team plays.

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A Family Affair  89 For the majority of women with whom we spoke, their fathers were the main conduits into the knowledge elements, Knowing modes, of football fandom. It was through their dads that women learned the rules and the players, internalizing the game’s fundamentals in order to demonstrate genuine interest and be perceived as “legitimate” fans to their dads. As Courtney noted in her discussion of joining the men in the basement to watch football on Thanksgiving, she knew she had to be quiet and focus on learning. Only by absorbing what she could and asking questions at appropriate times would Courtney gain invite to the men’s viewing area, and she worked to establish the information needed for admission. This pattern was reflected by a number of women in our study. They spent childhood Sundays watching with their families, and they had to “earn their chops” to be recognized by their fathers as authentic and thus welcomed into the experience. It’s important to note, however, that women did not characterize this as negative; instead, they spoke fondly of these memories, noting that these game-watching experiences planted the seeds of an interest that has permeated their lives. They recognized and celebrated the prioritization of knowledge as an essential part of demonstrating the quality of their own fandom. As articulated in Chapter  4, women often note that as adults they find themselves compelled to prove their fandom by demonstrating expertise and being able to go toe-to-toe with others—usually men—who challenge their legitimacy. This pattern often was first established with their fathers, albeit with a different tone. Fundamentally, fathers often established clear expectations for what a “real” fan does, even if it was never articulated that way. Girls learned the importance of being knowledgeable about the game and the team. They observed and absorbed proper game day etiquette in terms of how to behave—when to yell, when to cheer, when to throw up your hands in despair. These girls had to prove themselves to get a seat on the couch, so to speak, and learning these performances was an essential part of their lives. Their fathers provided the link to learn about the game, and this was a valued relationship. A dad’s expertise—and willingness to share what he knew—helped his daughter acquire the understanding needed to make sense of the sport. Stephanie smiled as she remembered her father, now deceased, teaching her about football: My dad was a natural explainer and teacher. If we were watching at home, he would explain the play. I’m not as tactically good as I should be at that. But he would explain what was going on. He would explain why it mattered, why it was stupid. I grew up with someone who was a storyteller about football and about sports in general—but particularly football—who could explain the game and then tell stories. You didn’t have to be in the stadium for this great game. But you could feel the excitement of the game.

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Figure 5.1  Stephanie and her father, Arnie, with a Brian Sipe poster in the background. Courtesy of Stephanie Danes Smith.

Stephanie credits her dad’s knowledge and generosity as fundamental to her development as a football fan, particularly during a period when women were still a rarity among the football faithful. With her dad Arnie as her guide, Stephanie did not need to be at the stadium to experience the game. He brought that home to her. Caring mothers. While fathers were cited most often as the most influential person in our interviewees’ memories as young fans, most also emphasized the presence of their mothers in their recollections. Contrary to what the Football Widow stereotype tell us, moms often did not just sweep into the room to drop off food, bring a cold beer, or clean up the mess left by the rowdy men in their lives. Instead, mothers were present in front of the television, spending time with their families—and often as invested as anyone else in the room. This is not to say that all mothers were dressed in their fan finest and jumping in celebration; certainly, we heard stories of women who were in the room doing something else while their families watched. Kristy, for example, describes her earliest football memories as such: Kristy:  Sitting around in our living room, with our old TV set, no remote control. You had three channels. They have the UA and VA, and a switch. It was probably that, just watching football with my dad, seeing how excited he got into the

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A Family Affair  91 game, interested in it and get involved in it. It made me want to do that. . . . Interviewer:  So when you guys watched football on Sundays, it was you and your dad. Was anyone else there? Kristy:  Yeah. My brother and my mom. She’d be there, but she wouldn’t pay attention all the time. She’d be reading a magazine or cooking dinner, or something else. So she was there. So it was family time—we all spent time together during that time. However, while not unheard of, this was far from the rule. For many of the women with whom we spoke, their moms were an integral part of their football Sundays. Becky laughs when she talks about her Filipino family watching games in her childhood, talking specifically about her mother, aunts, and older female cousins letting loose during games: “I grew up with, actually, females in my family, very matriarchal family—they loved watching sports. . . . It was a party atmosphere, like everybody got together and it was a fun experience.” When asked what she did when her dad and brother went to games, Kimmy responded that she watched at home with her mom. It wasn’t a question that the two would watch together: . . . because it is just Sunday football. And she knew that her husband was out there, and I  guess a couple are going to talk about it after all [laughs]. I don’t remember that much after the game. But yeah, we always watched it. Sunday was always football Sunday. I  remember that through my whole life. I  never even thought that Sunday is for anything else. . . . It was always fun. It was always exciting. I think my mom always did something for us special, like she made popcorn. I also remember being in your jammies. So sometimes at the evening games that we would watch, and being in our jammies running around the house watching football. Interestingly, both parents seem to play an important role in modeling Caring modes of performance for their daughters, but mothers showed them different manifestations of Caring than their fathers did. Katlyn, for example, gives this explanation of how her mother and stepfather differ while watching a game: The Browns being the underdog that they are, she’s more of . . . a sympathetic fan, whereas [my stepfather] is kind of like “get your stuff together.” Or “who are they going to find as a new quarterback.” She’s like, “I  feel bad for [the quarterback]”—that kind of deal. She said, “Everybody is someone’s son out on the field.” She is kind of sympathetic when they’re down and that kind of stuff.

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Rather than piling on criticisms, Katlyn’s mom demonstrates a compassion for the players. Likewise, Claire recounts her parents reacting differently while watching games at home on television: I think like I said my dad is definitely into it, paying attention to the players and what they’re doing, how what the players are doing affects the game overall, and then how our team does, how that affects everything else. Whereas my mom, like I  said she does enjoy it, she does follow the team and you know she picks out who she likes as a player, but she’s not as, maybe not as intense I guess as my dad is. You know, where you’d see the males are very whooping and hollering and yelling and screaming and things like that whereas my mom, she’s very much just where she’ll watch it, she enjoys it, but she’s not as vocal in her not being satisfied with the way the team is playing. So I think it’s kind of just the way they support and root for the teams are different. These recollections appear to reinforce the perception held by our participants that women fans are expected to moderate their performances more than their male counterparts. This may help to explain why the women we interviewed express an aversion to what they perceive as outsized reactions to football. As we discussed in Chapter 3, women tend to adopt the attitude “to recognize that it’s just entertainment. It doesn’t ruin my life if they lose” (Jamie). Not all women with whom we spoke had fathers who were actively engaged in football fandom, of course. For some of those women, their mothers were the primary conduit through which they learned to love—and learned about—the game. When asked about the biggest fan she knows, Lisa identifies the friend with whom she goes to games—and that friend’s mother. I guess my friend that I  go to the games with because honestly, after the 2009 season, her house was like a shrine, so probably her and her mom. She had fleur de lis everything, everywhere, signs in the yard. They would go, you know when the team would come home from away games, they would go to the airport and watch them come home. Now we did that after the Super Bowl. We went out to the airport but everybody did that year. They would do it for the away games. She was just so into it. And I don’t know that she understands the game much more than I do because she would ask me questions about things that were going on, like rules or whatnot, and I would explain it to her. But I guess as far as the emotion goes, I mean, that’s just everything to her. Her mom, it’s kind of like her life revolves around it almost. I  mean she’s got grandkids and they’re active in their church. They go to mass on Sunday before the game and the priest will be praying for the Saints. She was friends with the tight ends coach’s wife, Terry Malone and his

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wife. They’re members of their church. And they actually got us passes to the lounge after the game, where players go to meet up with their families. . . . Anyway, her mom, everything’s about the game. She would go by herself if she had to. She’s just totally into it. Reports of this type of multigenerational female fanaticism were not uncommon in our research. When asked how she got started supporting her team of choice, Heather responded, “My mom and my family. They are huge sports fans and every Sunday, they watch football and I would sit next to them watching football with them.” Her mom, in fact, is the biggest sports fan she knows, although her entire extended family shares the love: Definitely my mom. She is a huge sport fanatic and really when it comes to football, I definitely get my [fandom], you know, sitting next to her and watching the football. But as a big Italian family, we would always get together on Sunday for Sunday dinner. And part of the routine of Sunday dinner during football season is also sitting as a family with my aunts and uncle, cousins, Grandma and Grandpa. We were watching the game along with Sunday dinner. Heather’s family members, the subjects of our focus group, continue this tradition today. During away matches, Heather’s entire extended family—aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends—are invited over for a big potluck dinner. Most of the women were at one time or another members of their season tickets group, and they all talk, laugh, and cook while watching the game on multiple screens around the main floor. As our findings presented thus far indicate, the characterizations of mothers as football fans often seem to be tied to more Caring performance modes. While the power and potency of those emotions ranged from those passionately committed to those more passively present, the fathers often were considered the experts as football fans (with notable exceptions, as demonstrated above), while mothers generally were less likely to be cited for performances grounded in Knowing modes. This did not seem to impact their daughters’ perceptions of them as legitimate fans, however, particularly if the emotional representations of fandom were high. Generational shifts. It is important to note that how women fans learned fandom has and continues to change. As the prevalence of female fans increases, the role of mothers as socializing role models correspondingly has grown. Younger women are more likely to cite mothers, aunts, female friends as role models for fandom. Another important generational difference exists in early experiences of fandom. For women fans, television and home viewership is central to their family traditions. Since the earliest days of professional American football leagues, the game has been the near-exclusive domain of men. Women were not expected to be fans, and certainly women were not encouraged to attend games in person. Until the

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94  A Family Affair 1960s, when sports television became commonplace in American households and NFL games started to be regularly broadcast, women had no way to watch—even if they wanted to. The emergence of football as a televised event coincided with a time period characterized by change and unrest. This was a pivotal time for women, with increasing numbers of women in the workplace—in part an artifact of divorce rates rising. Women’s rights and gender equality were thrust onto the political front burner, and gender roles were examined, challenged, and redefined in new and exciting ways. Thus, while women of all ages frequently talked about the importance of traditions and shared rituals with their family, those who came of age in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s were markedly different in some ways. Television and watching at home was the main—if not only—choice for women to see football for much of this time period. The women with whom we spoke who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s clearly remember watching at home with their families. Diane, for example, shares this memory: I remember coming home from church, running to Davis Bakery, and then having breakfast, and then it was football time. There was a TV on legs, and then there was a TV on top of that, because there was no picture in picture. There were two games running simultaneously. You had to watch one game up on the top TV and one game on the bottom TV. That was after I had run down to the neighbors with the bookie money. . . . We’re betting the game, the over and under. What’s the total point score over and under. My dad would give us an envelope. We’d run it down the street, and we’d come home. Of course, we had to watch the game, because we wanted to see who won, and if he was going to win any money. That was when I was young. I was probably ten. Joyce, a member of the same focus group, shared similar recollections (with one important difference): The same thing as [Diane], except we didn’t have the bookie down the street. We came home from church, and there was TVs. You’d sit there and watch the Browns. You’d watch any football, whether it was the Browns or not. It was from one o’clock till whenever they stopped playing on Sunday. It was unheard of to do anything else. The other women in her focus group—mostly in their 50s and 60s— laughed, recognizing the similarities between what Joyce described and their own childhood Sundays. They described family-wide spaghetti dinners at halftime, since according to Patty, “There’s always the meal at halftime, whether it’s the Super Bowl or whatever. Halftime is when everybody eats.” For women whose childhoods passed before the mid-1980s, going to the stadium was clearly a father-son affair. Women born in the 1970s and

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A Family Affair  95 earlier tell stories about their dads taking their brothers to games—even if the daughter was the bigger fan. Interestingly for the women who, as girls, were left home, this was something they had to accept. No matter how much they wanted to attend, going to the stadium was not on the table. It was just the way of the world and our participants accepted that girls would not be invited to go to games. Amy, for example, told of her dad taking her brother to Browns games when she was a girl—even though her brother was a Steelers fan. When we started the discussion, Amy was asked how she became a Browns fan. She explained: Amy:  From my father, growing up. He was a Browns fan. Of course, we are in Ohio, in Northeast Ohio. So our location is probably one of the reasons. And just growing up watching the Browns with my dad. Interviewer:  So what’s your first memory of the Cleveland Browns? Amy:  It’s funny. My first memory is probably when I was about five or six [years old]. My dad and brother went to a Cleveland Browns’ football game in old Municipal Stadium. I  just remember them going to the game, how excited they were for the game, and how worried my mom was. Interviewer:  Why was she worried? Amy:  Because my brother was like eight [years old], and he went to the game with my dad. You know, I  think when they got home late from the game, and my brother was telling my mom about how my dad got in an argument with a guy. It was a Pittsburgh Steelers–Browns game. That game, I  think that was one of my first memories of how upset my mom was with my dad, and my brother. It was kind of funny. When asked how she felt when they were going, Amy replied, “I wanted to go. I  remember. I  was jealous.” She chalked it up to being too young, since her brother is four years older. Amy went on to tell the researcher that her dad and brother went to games at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium regularly throughout her childhood, but she was never invited. In fact, Amy did not attend a game in-person until she was in college—when she went with friends. When asked how it felt that her father took her brother but never her, she responded: “You know, I don’t know. I think, I don’t really remember being that big of a deal to me. It was kind of like something that they did together.” Amy’s response was quite typical for women born in or before the 1970s. During that period, women attending football just was not commonplace. It was almost inconceivable that a young girl be invited to attend—even if she wanted to go and her brother did so regularly. In just a two-minute snippet of our conversation, Amy acknowledged both her jealousy that they

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96  A Family Affair would go without her and her acceptance that it was “something they did together.” For girls of this era, it usually did not matter how much they wanted to go; football clearly was for the boys. While later chapters will explore game day experiences both in stadia and at home in more depth, it is essential to recognize that there has been a generational shift. No longer are girls always expected to stay home with their mothers, waiting while their brothers and fathers head off. Women’s fandom has now extended to the stadium itself, introducing a new set of performances for girls to learn from, internalize, and emulate. Katlyn, Faye, and Donna, women in their 20s, represent a different point of view from our older participants. Katlyn, for example, remembers spending Sundays with her family, watching the game with her mom, stepdad, and brothers. When asked about her first memory of the Browns, her team of choice, Katlyn replied, “Me and my twin brother were always kind of dressed in Browns apparel. I  remember running around with a little helmet on and stuff like that.” Unlike older respondents, Katlyn’s experience with the Browns was not limited to watching from home. Her family had season tickets, and much of her childhood autumns and winters were spent heading to downtown Cleveland with her parents and siblings to watch the Browns in action. Katlyn was among the youngest of our respondents, a recent college graduate, who came of age with the “new” Browns and the clean, updated, safer Cleveland stadium in the 1990s and 2000s. In the new stadium, parents could more easily bring their young children in good conscience, including their girls. Katlyn remembers “just being in awe of the stadium and just the game.” Their game day rituals were set, and Katlyn and her family followed a routine: We would get up early and drive to Cleveland stadium. We were obviously too young to tailgate—but just like walking around the stadium. And we would get to our seats kind of early, grab our snacks and everything and see the Dawg Pound come in. Everybody dressed up and chanting and everything like that. I’m sure there were a lot of drunk people at the time, but I didn’t know. Everyone was just enjoying the time. Regardless of where women watched the games while growing up, one common thread among our respondents was that football has acquired a significance that is not easily replicated in other ways. For many of the women with whom we spoke, shared football experiences are the primary way they bond with their families, both in their youth and today. Tying it back and paying it forward. The importance of football as a link between and among generations seems to be particularly powerful for women who have lost loved ones with whom they shared this common interest. In these instances, football is a way to keep the memories of loved ones alive. Talea spoke of her college roommate, an instrumental

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A Family Affair  97 person in her development as a Cincinnati Bengals fan. The two bonded over the team, with the roommate regaling Talea with stories of the Bengals heritage—and her experiences as a young Bengals fan. These personal memories of her roommate and her roommate’s father were particularly powerful. Talea recalls: “. . . when I say history, I’m more so thinking of the memories she would tell me about. Because once we were living together, her dad had passed, so kind of just being part of that experience with her as she kind of relived some of those moments was always a nice thing to experience.” Stephanie, who had lost her beloved mother shortly before our interview, smiled as she recalled her mother’s last days: On my mother’s deathbed, we could rouse her with [former Browns quarterback] Brady Quinn. Like, “See Ma, he’s not a starter anywhere. So you were wrong about Brady Quinn.” She was so fanatically loyal to Brady Quinn. That was not a quarterback who my dad felt, “Let’s give him a chance.” But she felt fanatically loyal to Brady Quinn. So we had these loyalties, not necessarily to the same player. There would still be an adult sense of pride if I had met Brady Quinn. I would have called my mother and said “Oh, my God, guess who I just met.” And it would be the same kind of intrinsic reward that it was as a kid. So who can explain that. It’s just the power of football. While heritage and nostalgia are potent emotional connections for women NFL fans, they also see current value in fandom through bonding—bringing the rituals and performances they witnessed in their childhood and young adult years into the present day, replicating and recreating these traditions across generations. Women reported that watching football with loved ones was a primary way they spent time with the people they hold dear, celebrating a shared interest. Many of the women we talked to now play a primary role is passing their families’ legacy on to the next generation. Families rarely gather around the dining room table since schedules can be difficult to align. When multiple children are in several different activities, parents often feel like they are spending their time playing chauffeur rather than meaningfully engaging with their children. Football can provide that common ground, where parents and children—and fathers and daughters—can sit together and share in something of interest to them both. This shared experience is something women often want to pass on to their children. Heather, for example, tells us about her eight-year-old son’s desire to go with her to a Browns game: Nicky, he saw it on the news the one day, that August 28 was a Browns game. He goes, “Mommy, they’re playing a Browns game on my birthday. Are we going? Are we going to go? I want to go! I want to go!” Now, his theme for his birthday is now the Browns. He wants to go to that game, even though it’s on a Thursday, and it’s a school night.

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We experienced a similar scene of women sharing their fandom with their children the night the Saints won the Super Bowl: As has been the tradition for all away games throughout the season, members of the Gang gather at Julie and Randy’s house in suburban New Orleans to watch and cheer their team.  .  .  . Almost everyone watching the game inside is female. Most of the fans outside are men. The floor of the living room is strewn with baby toys. A baby bouncing seat sits on one side of the room, to the other side is an automatic rocking cradle. . . . One mother sits at the back of the room with 2-year-old son on her lap. As she claps hands with him she sings, “Saints go all the way. Saints go all the way.” Her son giggles and sings along. (Field notes, February 7, 2010) Clearly, football can provide a way to create and maintain shared bonds between and among generations within a family. I LOVE YOU . . . AND MY TEAM One of the most common tropes in American media is the beleaguered girlfriend/wife, frustrated and uninterested as her boyfriend/husband is glued to the game. Male-targeted media outlets frequently run stories on how to help get the “little woman” to be less bored and more supportive, including such helpful suggestions as to tantalize her with stories and to “treat your heroes as people and not just players on a field” (Sagba, October 6, 2014)—a quote from a Men’s Health story in October  2014 that generated such outrage and backlash that the magazine deleted the story and tweeted an apology. (This article will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 6.) Boston.com staffer Hilary Sargent (2014) offered this critique: “The worst part about this 101-word Men’s Health article is that it was written by a woman. The second-worst part is the headline. The third worst part is the premise. And then there’s the stock photo.” Clearly, this article was a miss on all fronts, indicating that “apparently Men’s Health magazine doesn’t know all that much about how men should talk sports with the opposite sex after all” (Staff Report, October 7, 2014). This story demonstrates the pervasiveness of the myth that no women like football—and the backlash is equally potent in demonstrating that they do. While the stereotype of the disinterested wife or girlfriend is persistent (and, to be fair, many women are not football fans and are perfectly happy to not pay any attention to the sport whatsoever), we found that the women with whom we spoke rarely are the “secondary” fan in their homes. In fact, a number noted that they were the bigger fan in their relationships, citing levels of expertise, time spent watching and engaging with sports media, and general passion for their team and the overall game. Heather, for example,

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laughs that she married someone almost completely disinterested in football, despite her family’s deep love for the game. When the entire clan comes over for football Sunday, her husband often is found away from the TV screens, working on his computer or laboring in their yard. Her husband, Chris, is comfortable with her role as football expert, making clear to others that Heather is the one in their relationship who can talk sports: Definitely, when we go out places, if it’s Chris’s meeting, or Chris’s friends, or Chris’s co-workers, he always goes, “Talk to her. Go talk to her. She’s the sports fan. She knows it.” Chris doesn’t like it. He’s not into it. He doesn’t understand it. His family wasn’t into it. As Heather notes, she credits Chris’s lack of interest in football to his upraising. His parents did not watch football in the home, and thus he never became a fan. When Heather first started spending holidays with his family, she was appalled to discover that the Thanksgiving tradition she had always enjoyed—watching the game—was not going to happen: The football game wasn’t on for Thanksgiving, and I’m like, “What are you talking about? It’s Thanksgiving! Get the Dallas Cowboys on all day long! I mean it’s football!” Chris’s cousins are all sports fans. They’re all like, “Oh yeah, Aunt Pat doesn’t want us to watch TV during . . . ”. That year was no football. Eventually, the next year or the year after, I opened up the curio cabinet, and I turned on the game. All his guy cousins were, “Yes! The football game’s on!” It was a big deal, because I turned on the football game at Thanksgiving. We finally got to watch (football on) Thanksgiving at the [family name] house. That was a big deal. From that point on, from that Thanksgiving on with his family, we would watch Thanksgiving football. Much like Heather, Courtney drives football consumption in their home, describing a typical game day as such: A typical game day—my husband doesn’t really like watching football. He and I will be in the living room watching TV or doing things, and I’ll be like, “Oh crap, I want to check the scores on the game.” I will check them on my phone. If the game is getting really close or good or whatever, I will turn on the TV. He will go find something else to do, which is funny. I will usually end up watching [the games] while I’m reading or doing things like that. Football is not necessarily always on the TV here. It’s more so that I’m always checking the scores on my phone and doing that kind of thing. Sometimes we will go out to eat on a Sunday night, and the game will be on. He will interact with me when that’s the case, and we will talk about the game and stuff like that. That’s pretty much a typical Sunday. Sometimes we do the typical pizza and watch

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the game, but for the most part I’m just checking on my phone because I don’t want to put the football game on since he’s not really a big fan of football. While it can be challenging for women who are married to non-football fans to maintain their engagement with the sport, our findings indicate that being married to a football fan doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easier to support your team. Women who are married to football fans often report being in “mixed marriages” with men who support different franchises. Amy’s football fandom is characterized by her loved ones being fans of different teams, including her archrival Pittsburgh Steelers. She jokes, “There are many layers to my football. Like my best friend is a Steelers fan, my husband is a Steelers fan, my brother and uncle are Steelers fans. And me and my mom and dad are all Browns fans. So when we get together to watch football, it’s fun.” Kristy is married to a San Francisco ’49ers (and, at the college level, Notre Dame) fan, and they plan to give their twin daughters a choice about which team to follow. Kristy notes that they “are not going to make them choose what team they have to cheer for. But hopefully, it’s Ohio State and the Browns.” Some women acknowledge the role their husbands have played in their life as fans. For example, Stephanie is married to a Philadelphia Eagles fan, and she comments, “He has been influential. I like Philly. I like the Eagles now. That was kind of his home team. He kind of introduced me to Dick Vermeil, who still remains my favorite NFL coach. So he’s been influential.” Rarely did our interviewees cite their husbands as being the bigger fan between the two of them. Kimmy was the notable exception to this, pointing to the differences between her husband Mike and her as fans: I think it’s completely different. I enjoy the game, I enjoy watching it. But I don’t let it interfere with my life. Whereas he will take the next three days, listen to sports talk, try to analyze everything single thing that happened that day, go over and over again, talk to his friends about it, and talk to his friends about it again. Talk to someone else about it, and talk to you about it, I’ll just tune out. Definitely different. For Kimmy, Mike’s Caring performance is a little over the top given the importance of the game. While she admires his cognitive (Knowing) performances, applauding him for knowing a seemingly infinite number of factoids, statistics, and trivia, she is less enamored with his lengthy emotional reaction to the game. Hearkening back to our matrix, Kimmy locates Mike’s Caring performance mode as unrealistically high, affecting his demeanor long past the game’s end. In fact, she cites this as a reason that she doesn’t like football as much as she used to—the toll it takes on Mike, and thus their family, is difficult to overcome. Outside of his family, “The only thing he truly, truly loves in this world is the Cleveland Browns. Unfortunately

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A Family Affair  101 when they lose, which is often, they ruin the month for me. I have winter, and I have winter with sports. It’s terrible [laughs].” Becky represents almost the inverse of Kimmy and Mike’s dynamic. Before she began dating her now-husband Ryan, Becky was an avid football fan and fantasy player. She talks about how it took up so much of her time, “like all weekend preparing and then the day of football I was just watching football all day long and getting upset—I found myself getting upset [slight sigh] and I was like, okay this—this isn’t good.” She didn’t want him to see that side of her, so she cut back on her football fanaticism. Despite the fact that the women with whom we spoke were all fans in their own rights, they frequently recognized and articulated examples of both the Bimbo and Supportive Partner stereotypes: that women often are not legitimately interested in the game and are instead watching to either meet a guy or to make their husbands or boyfriends happy. They describe young women in these molds as wearing tiny clothes, inappropriate shoes, and having a doubtful grasp of the game. These stereotypes were prevalent throughout our research, both during the interviews and our ethnographic work. While women recognized that these aren’t necessarily fair interpretations, it was consistently represented as types of women often seen at football games. To a one, these fans were of questionable authenticity. When talking about the women characterized as fans only in relation to their boyfriends or husbands, our participants often noted that their own fandom is long term—as evidenced by the heritage section at the beginning of this chapter. They note that they are not that unusual anymore—more and more women are football fans, and they can hold their own against male fans as well. Jamie provides an interesting twist on this dynamic, noting that men often lament their own wives are not more interested in football: It can be weird for guys, I think, to date a girl that knows more. I always chuckle because guys always say, “Oh I wish I married somebody that loves sports ’cause my wife gives me a hard time about watching the game or something.” That always makes me laugh because they married the girl that didn’t know that much about sports so clearly it couldn’t have been that big a deal to you. You know what I mean? I just think it’s funny when they say that. Well so why didn’t you find a girl that likes sports because there are plenty. I mean, there are, I’m not that odd. I think it’s an interesting . . . it can be intimidating for a guy. Our participants recognized that football can serve as an important bonding mechanism for couples, akin to how it connects fathers and daughters. Courtney offered this interpretation of her aunt and uncle’s relationship. She characterized her uncle as the biggest fan she knew, living and breathing Steelers football. She discussed his wife—her aunt—as the epitome of the Supportive Partner stereotype in relation to his fandom. As the Supportive Partner stereotype discussion in Chapter 4 tells us, Courtney’s aunt has her

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own type of credibility as fan—much more than the Bimbo or Social Butterfly would, even though she is not considered a ‘true fan’ on her own merits. Her performance is explicitly tied to her relationship, but that does not make her inauthentic. Instead, it provides a specific motivation to engage with the sport. CONCLUSION As this chapter demonstrates, women who are football fans often are such because their fandom is grounded in their childhoods. Memories of watching games at home with their families or, for some of our younger participants, at the stadium itself helped firmly establish their lifelong love affairs with the gridiron. Stephanie reminisced about her father taking their family every summer to the Browns training camp, where she and her siblings would scramble to get autographs from their favorite players. This was part of her family’s deep love of the Browns, a team that dominated their time and attention from the beginning of camp through the end of the season: So that was a very powerful memory, the notion of having [the game] explained and having it be on [our television] every Sunday. In our family, there’s a shorthand code for life that’s just three words: any given Sunday. And we lived that—and then the experience of the summer ritual. We were part of that by going to get autographs. That was really very powerful shaping from a very young age. For almost all of the women with whom we spoke, becoming fans wasn’t something that happened in a vacuum. They shared wonderful moments and built lifelong memories by bonding with family over their teams, and they continue to carry those bonds through to today. While husbands and boyfriends can play a role in maintaining interest (or putting you off), this is not the root of fandom. Rather, it is simply another negotiated relationship that helps inform performances. Despite the fact that generational shifts have allowed women to come into their own as football fans, this chapter demonstrates that women often still take on traditional gender roles during viewing events. While this will be explored in much greater detail in Chapter  8, we would be remiss to not note it here as well. The legitimacy of women as fans is more accepted than ever before, yet women still often take on the role of caretaker and homemaker, evidencing performances contextualized by the setting and negotiated with the others present: cooking food, turning off the game if the husband doesn’t want to watch, or putting the kids to bed before the late game starts. While women are true fans with lifelong commitments to their teams, they also continue to perform the other roles associated with home life as well.

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Heritage is incredibly compelling for these women and nostalgia is a powerful motivation to continue being a fan, but this can be a bit of a double-edged sword for the NFL. The recollections presented by women in our interviews often hearken back to “better days,” before football became commercialized or, as Kimmy called it, “yuppified.” Like others with whom we talked, Kimmy commented on the loss of “old-school football,” saying: Football today has gotten so commercial. . . . I think old school, people truly loved the game and played hard to the best of their ability. I feel today it’s more, “I want to be a star, I don’t want to be an athlete, I want to be a big star.” I just don’t feel like their hearts are in it as much. Stephanie too laments the changes she’s witnessed during her time as a football fan. In her youth “. . . people stayed with teams longer. We didn’t have free agency as a model then. People stayed forever with a team.” Lisa shares this perspective: When I was a kid I remember vividly as a child watching NFL football, especially NFL football with my dad. That was back in the day when it was like Joe Montana with the ’49ers and Roger Staubach was with the Cowboys. You had the franchise players that were there forever. It’s not the free agency that they hop around. I would know every quarterback from every team and who was in the AFC, who was in the NFC, and everything. According to our interviewees, modern-day players can be prima donnas, ready to move on to the next paycheck instead of playing out their careers with one team. As noted in our opening of this chapter, the only thing that stays constant is the fans.

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6 Community Ties, Community Pride

While families are an essential part of becoming and maintaining a relationship with a football team (as established in the previous chapter), this is not the only means of developing or maintaining fandom. Being a fan of a team also makes you part of a community grounded in shared interests and passions. These communities can be defined in a number of ways. At its most basic level, a fan community frequently is geographic—based on where you are from or a place for which you have a certain affinity, such as a parent’s hometown or a favored vacation spot as a child. Furthermore, fan communities can be communities of practice, engaging with each other in shared rituals and routines that establish and communicate membership within a specific fan community. These communities of practice often inform key elements of fan performances, including favored chants and cheers: “Who dey?” is an instant identifier for Bengals fans, whereas “Who dat?” demarcates the caller as a Saints fan. Our research indicates that community related to football fandom manifests across and between three distinct but interrelated dimensions: cities, teams, and other fans (the community of practice). Each of these will be explored within this chapter, along with two case studies of how community as related to fandom is informed by major events: the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore (and then being recreated through franchise expansion three years later) and the New Orleans Saints’ role in reviving the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation. Finally, we will look at three issues that pose a threat to fandom-related communities. FOR THE LOVE OF A CITY For most fans, the team is inextricably linked to its city. Loving a team is not just about the team—not just about the players, the uniforms, or the stadium. Often, the relationship between a fan and a team transcends the functional elements of the unit to link to a beloved city, and thus translates into a powerful representation of geographical commitment. While the women with whom we spoke all loved the game of football, almost all of

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them pointed to the connection the team provides to a particular city as part of the appeal. Amy, for example, explained her fandom this way: It’s weird to think about, because if I watch other games, if there is a Monday night game on with two teams I don’t really like, I’ll watch it, but I really could care less about it. So I guess it’s important because it is something I care about. It’s my community, it’s my stage, it’s my background, my upbringing, it’s always been in my life. So I feel like when it’s my team that I’m rooting for, it matters to me. Unsurprisingly, hometown pride often plays an important role in establishing and maintaining fandom for a particular team. Within this context, supporting your hometown football team is a proxy for supporting the city itself: The team becomes a symbol of a place closely tied to one’s identity. On a plane heading into Pittsburgh, for example, we met a woman who wore a black and gold Steelers bracelet. When asked about it, she talked about her love for Pittsburgh and how the city had changed. The bracelet was a way for her to express city pride; her team fandom was rooted there (Field notes, October 17, 2010). These teams often played an important role during formative years, and several of our participants reflected on how childhood memories inevitably included their team. Becky reminisced about driving around with Browns memorabilia on a family station wagon, providing a visual representation of her immigrant family’s commitment to their adopted hometown: Because, because hometown pride type of thing. . . . I guess [the Browns] were good back then, because I remember my uncle hooking up the station wagon with magnetic Browns paraphernalia, and my cousin turned sixteen and we would drive around in it, she would be embarrassed, but I thought it was cool. But I was eight. Um, so, it, it really was just a—we lived in Cleveland as the closest football, baseball, basketball team, so that’s the team we support kind of thing. New Orleans fan Donna had a similar experience growing up in an environment that emphasized the importance of supporting your home team: “As I said, it’s pretty much been instilled [in] me that I am a Saints fan. I’m from New Orleans, my family roots for the Saints, and the Saints are a team that is very well connected to their city.” For Donna, the Saints provide one of the few ways she connects to her hometown; she plans to move out of state when she can, but the Saints always will provide a link home: I don’t consider myself even a Louisianan. Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to get out of this state, I’m not really a big southerner, and being a Saints fan is that one thing that makes me a New Orleanian, other than that, I’m not really connected to this place. I  mean, I  of course

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want to come back and visit my family because I have family here, but I want to move around, I don’t want to come back here. I want to generally live somewhere else. It is important to note that fandom linked to hometown pride consciously is not about only supporting the team when it has a winning record; in fact, our participants often actively contrasted “bandwagon” fans with their own authentic, hometown fandom. When Kimmy was asked to look back on her memories of the Cleveland Browns during her childhood, she laughed: “I love it. I think that’s the Cleveland thing I talked about. I feel like that’s your home team. You feel proud. Even though you know they are not that great right now, your hope is that they will be great. It brings back loving memories. Fun memories.” When asked why she stays a Browns fan, Kimmy replied, Why? Because my dad was, and his dad was, and my husband is. Because it’s just your team, it’s your home team. I don’t feel I should quit [supporting them] because they are doing poorly. I still love them. I still want to see them succeed. It’s kind of like the underdog. You still want the underdog to do well. Interestingly, while “hometown pride” often is the articulation (and genesis) of this sentiment, this sense of affiliation is not limited to a geographical nexus between a childhood or current home city and a certain team. Talea, for example, is a Cincinnati Bengals fan, even though she grew up on the other side of Ohio. She recognizes the value of fans remaining loyal and supporting a team through thick and thin, and that was part of the appeal held by the Bengals. While she was learning about the team’s heritage and developing her love of the game, she appreciated that the team’s fans stayed with them, even during periods where the team fared poorly: I think the city of Cincinnati definitely has a pride in it. Anytime that you are a diehard fan for a team that just typically does not do well . . . this shows a different level of loyalty to a team which I can always appreciate. And so, when they are doing well, or are being successful, just the small things count for, you know, those fans. And so, that was something I always appreciate, you know, traditions, history behind stuff is always pretty cool so, you know, hearing different stories about people, how they went to games was just always something that kind of stuck with me. While it was not her hometown, that same sense of civic pride appealed to Talea and informed her team of choice. Similarly, during participant observation, a Saints fan described how she had been an Atlanta Falcons fan. Then, as a college student, she interned in New Orleans. She fell in love with the city and adopted the New Orleans Saints as her team. She left New

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Community Ties, Community Pride  107 Orleans to finish college but eventually made her way back. She now bleeds black and gold. Authenticity to being a hometown fan. While we clearly saw these examples of fans that adopt teams from other geographically distant locations, this sort of “fandom by choice” is not always perceived by others to offer the same level of authenticity that is found with being a hometown fan. Adopting a team from a faraway city that has enjoyed success is common, yet those fans often have to face down accusations of being ‘bandwagon’ fans—there for the glory days, but of questionable commitment when times get tough. The Steelers, for example, routinely rank among the top five NFL teams in terms of numbers and degree of loyalty of fans. This is largely borne of the fact that the Steelers have won more Super Bowl trophies than any other franchise. Fans love winners. So when Steelers fans from the Pittsburgh area meet other citizens of Steeler Nation, the native Pennsylvanians are likely to ask if the “distant fans” have a connection to the city. One couple we met in a sports bar in Louisiana was quick to defend their fandom, saying they had both grown up in West Virginia, just south of Pittsburgh. Others would routinely cite the number of years they had followed the team as an indication of their loyalty and credibility. Even before the team won a Super Bowl in 2009, people began claiming the New Orleans Saints as theirs. The team, along with the city, received unprecedented national media attention after Hurricane Katrina. Suddenly the Saints were “America’s Team.” Even though Jamie grew up just outside of New Orleans, her Saints fandom is “a pretty new thing.” Before that, she followed football more generally and tracked favorite players. Jamie said of herself, “The Saints are just such a tremendous story and so much fun to follow now. I definitely got on the Saints bandwagon.” She followed up by discussing her college football fandom at length and referenced her parents’ long-time love of the Saints. She justified taking time to become a Saints fan saying, “They were just so bad then and usually they were blacked out in Baton Rouge so you couldn’t see them anyway. Most of my youth anyway.” For some, supporting the local team from where you grew up is more than a manifestation of hometown pride—it is an obligation that comes with the (literal) territory. This point is illustrated in the following exchange with Kimmy: Kimmy:  I think that when you live in Cleveland, you support the team to the fullest extent that you can. Anything you can do to help them, anything you can do to cheer them on, you always are hoping for them to succeed. Interviewer:  How come? Kimmy:  Because they are your sports team. Interviewer:  That’s just it? Just they are your sports team, so . . . ? Kimmy:  That’s our Cleveland sports team. That’s why I want them to succeed.

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I’m a believer that you have to support the home team, you know? I’m just one of those believers . . . But as far as the Saints, I don’t know, I just, I’m just gonna support them because they were the home team, meaning the team in the state in which I picked. This sort of geographically driven fandom is not limited to those in the immediate environs of the team’s location. Instead, it typically extends to a fairly robust territory—where the team’s reach extends in areas surrounding the geographic base, the obligation to support extends as well. Jamie, for example, expressed a similar experience to what Shelly and Kimmy described, hearkening back to her parents’ influence during her childhood in a city about an hour away from New Orleans. Even though Jamie herself did not fully get on board with the Saints until she was an adult, she was surrounded by Saints fandom in her childhood as part of her south Louisiana community: “A large part of it is being in Baton Rouge. My parents always had season tickets. I think a lot of it is the culture of being in this area.” Several people among the large group of the Saints fans that were regular subjects of our participant observation are from neighboring Mississippi. For many of the fans with whom we spoke, this is an essential point: You support your hometown team, no matter what. It is not about winning records or an expression of pride in the place you are from; it is just what you do. Fandom is part of your heritage, part of your tradition. Much like what we discussed in the previous chapter (“A Family Affair”), community related to a city typically is grounded in childhood memories and fostered by rituals that continue into and throughout adulthood. This dynamic can provide geographically bounded communities that can, at times, extend well beyond the actual territory covered by the team. Still a fan from far away. Fans who move out of the region often find their hometown team becomes an invaluable link to their families and their past. Indeed, football games often provide a reason for those no longer living in “home” cities to return and visit loved ones. On multiple occasions we met such fans on planes, in airports, and at the games. A familiar refrain was, “I try to get home for at least one game a year.” For Rust Belt cities—like Cleveland and Pittsburgh—that often suffer from “brain drain” as the best and the brightest move to other cities that offer more opportunity, sports teams provide a visceral connection to home. Stephanie relocated to Washington, DC, for work, and during that time she found the nature of her fandom changing. Grounded in a childhood that was spent regularly attending Browns training camps with her family and ritually watching (and deconstructing) every game, Stephanie found herself recreating the game day experience as much as possible while afar, including rituals around food and clothing: Because I did not live here for a lot of years, I obviously wasn’t in the ritual of going to the stadium. My husband and I would watch it and

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be very emotional. There was always food involved and always wearing something of the Browns like a talisman. My husband obviously wouldn’t do that. He doesn’t wear any insignia crap, nothing. But I do. And I would always need to replenish that. It would be an emotional rollercoaster. It would be very hard to watch the game. I would never invite groups of people over who were not Browns fans because I could never tell what my mood would be like. Stephanie’s efforts to remain connected to her home and family through a sports team is not unusual for the women with whom we spoke who moved away. No matter where you go, “when you go away, you can watch it. That was always really big for me. . . . Makes you feel a little more at home” (Jamie). For Stephanie and others, keeping the home-team affiliation alive is central to establishing who you are—both internally and externally—when in a new or different city. Being part of a team’s fan base provides a built-in community that reinforces the importance of the Caring elements of fandom. The emotional benefits can be exceptional, and serve both to represent identity-driven bonds (to a city and family) and create affinity with other sports fans, even those who do not support the same team: Absolutely. In fact, for a good portion of my time in Washington, I was a manager. One of the big things you need to do when you lead people is be a storyteller, tell a little bit about yourself, establish your narrative. And I would always introduce myself as a Browns fan as a way to connect with people because it instantly caused derision. People say oh, my God. . . . So it was always a way that I could create early affiliation, create humor, camaraderie. But I always self-identified. And I probably felt it more intensely in Washington than I did for many years living here. Because you’re far from home. And you’re rooted in that. You feel this core root . . . (Stephanie) One element that impacts the experience of out-of-market fans is that information is no longer as readily available. Rather than easily catching game coverage and commentary while in the car or watching television, you have to deliberately seek it out. Women often rely on smartphone apps to serve this purpose, much like women who can’t watch the games while at home. Kristy was living in Wisconsin, and she talked about the challenges of following the Browns from afar: I have to seek it out. I have an app for my phone and it tells me what happened. I read the report. So anything that happens, I get a little blurb from my phone about it. If I want to read more I will, I forget when I don’t. But it doesn’t make me a different fan than when I read [newspapers] in the Cleveland area where people can watch local news.

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It’s nice because we would watch PTI [Pardon the Interruption], and they never talk about the Browns. The routine they do is mock them in some way. But I don’t hear the media coverage. I decide what I want to know, what I don’t want to know. Other women who had moved afar articulated similar experiences. Since they were no longer in their team’s home media market, they had to make an effort to engage with their team. Whether going to the stadium or a sports bar, fans seek out other fans in order to feel a part of something. On one football Sunday in the Buffalo Wild Wings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an unfamiliar face appeared. This brunette who appeared to be in her 40s sat at a back table in a Steelers jersey, jewelry, and socks. When we started talking she lifted the back of her jersey to show off tattoo of the Steelers blue, red, and yellow logo on her lower back. She explained that she travels for work. In each new city she searches out a local bar that hosts Steeler Nation. She proudly says, anywhere she travels a quick Internet search allows her to find “my people.” (Field notes, September 26, 2010) While the women with whom we spoke were willing to expend additional effort to maintain a relationship with their teams when living out of town, those who had returned to their native cities did note an increase in their engagement with the team. Claire, for example, placed herself in different places on a 10-point scale, depending on where she lived. When she first returned to Cincinnati after moving away for graduate school, she rated herself as a six but noted that likely would change: Now that I’m back here I probably see myself getting up to an eight. Being able to be closer to actually have the experience of being home with the family to then going to bars closer to the stadium and then actually being able to go to the games more that will help increase my level of being a fan for the Bengals. Claire’s fandom did not disappear when she was outside of Cincinnati, and she maintained a strong loyalty to her team. Being back in the Bengals home turf, however, gave her increased opportunities to engage with the team and other fans. This day-to-day interaction allowed the Bengals to easily take a more primary role in Claire’s life, thus increasing both the number and intensity of her fan performances. As reviewed in the discussion of the Fan Performance Matrix, women’s fan performances often are negotiated in ways that are most easily integrated into their other life performances. As a Bengals fan in Cincinnati, high-level performances—going to games, watching in public, and actively following the team—became more central to Claire’s identity. Thus, the intensity of her fandom increased.

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BROWN AND ORANGE OR BLACK AND GOLD: BEING A FAN OF A TEAM While football helps create and reinforce a sense of community in terms of a city or hometown, that experience often is limited to fans who grew up in or near a team’s primary market. Clearly, however, that is not the only way fandom is established, and fans follow teams from all across the country. Ohioan Elizabeth, for example, developed a passion for the Seattle Seahawks, despite never having been to the city. Native Clevelander Talea has affection for the Cincinnati Bengals, even though she grew up in the Browns home turf. Natalie was born and raised in south Louisiana but is a Steelers fan. For all of these fans, fandom creates community at a different (and potentially more potent) dimension: a sense of community related to the team itself. The women with whom we spoke often noted that football is the epitome of a team sport. Unlike baseball, football requires that all of a team’s players work together to find success. Katlyn articulated it as such: Football’s kind of a sport that brings you together. The game itself is not a one-man show. If one person messes up, it’s basically the whole team on the line. I feel like it’s more of a powerful sport in that it brings fans together. The teams are also a really a [tight-]knit group. Katlyn went on to try to explain the difference between football and baseball, even though both are team sports: I’m not sure. There might be just because you want to try and get as many people there as you can in the seven, eight opportunities that you have. Baseball, personally, is harder for me to watch just because it’s a longer game. It’s not guys hitting each other. There’s not as much physical action. You can cheer on people at baseball games. It’s just a lot slower. Baseball’s obviously a team sport. There are more individual opportunities there—like you have homerun hitters, whereas if you strike out—like oh, he struck out. It can be like he struck out, whereas football’s kind of a different sport. It’s more team-y. For some, this evident and intrinsic collaboration—the “team-y-ness,” is part of the appeal. The sense that we are all in it together has value, and this helps fans feel like they are on the field with the team itself. Emotional involvement transcends what non-fans typically would expect from fan involvement. The emotional highs and lows are real and are felt deeply because of this emotional connection, engendering a sense that fans are just as important to what is happening on the field as players. When the team is winning, for example: It feels good. It feels like we’re actually doing something. Though I’m not out there on the field it feels like yes, I’m part of a team, I’m rooting for

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them, those are my players, they’re doing well. You feel happy, you feel excited, this could be a big one, this is a win for us. (Talea) Talea chalks this up in part to the nature of competition: “You know, it’s competitive nature, people want to win. You feel like that’s your team, you’re playing, whether you’ve touched a football ever in your life or not.” In other words, you don’t have to have played for the team—or even played the sport—to feel completely invested in your team’s success and failures. Amy echoes this sentiment, noting that the team nature of the sport—and feeling like you are part of that team—is a large part of football’s appeal: “I like that it is a team sport. I like feeling part of something, I think. I love just the game. I like the competitiveness of it. I like cheering your team on, it’s fun, when they do something good. I just enjoy it. Enjoying the sport, watching it.” Being a fan gives you the emotional attachment to feel like you are on the field with the team, basking in a well-timed play or lamenting a missed opportunity. This sense that you don’t have to have played to be emotionally invested in the game itself is important for women. Women’s efforts toward being on the field as referees or sideline reporters or in other high-level, visible jobs in football often are criticized because most women have never played football; if you don’t have actual on-field experience, the argument goes, how can you possibly offer valuable analysis or evaluate the merits of a play? As the women in our study demonstrated, true fandom is not predicated on the player experience. Instead, fandom often engenders a sense of ownership and commitment to a team that transcends on-field experience. Narrative appeal. Part of what makes a team appealing to fans— particularly those outside of the home market—is a sense of its history and traditions. The narratives around an organization help create a sense of community that fans can tap into, strengthening the bonds and loyalty to a team and its traditions and the players themselves. Our interviews were replete with anecdotes about beloved players. Donna said: I watch NFL Network way too much. I will watch anything, even the stories that people don’t like, I will still read just because it’s a little bit of football. Like, Mike Vick recently got a dog. [I] read that, and of course in the comment section everybody’s saying, “Why does this have anything to do with football?” And it’s like, it’s about a player’s life. So, why not put it on NFL Network, maybe it’s not a big news story, but it’s still news. Some people want to know about these things. Older fans would laugh and smile while regaling us with tales of heroes of old, players who stood by their teams through thick and thin and owned their team’s towns. Some did note that these stories are harder to come by in today’s NFL, particularly citing the difficulty some teams—newer franchises especially—have with building these narratives in ways that will

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effectively reach the audience. The fast pace of change—players coming and going—means it becomes more difficult to shape narratives that have long-term impact: The Cleveland Browns don’t succeed because we change so much. Who could the story be about? Are you going to invest in a story on [former Browns quarterbacks] Brady Quinn or Brandon Weeden or any of these stories? It doesn’t take a long time to get that story. You look at Andrew Luck. He’s already got a story. What is he, 22 years old? We don’t develop the story. And then we don’t give the story long enough to really be implanted in anyone’s psyche anymore. In the Paul Brown days, those stories are still very much alive. Even my father in talking about football until the day he died would say something like well, that’s a Joe Willie behavior, meaning Joe Namath. But again, even though that was Jets, working collar, western Pennsylvanian—same kind of roots. So you’ve got to have stories and narratives. And we don’t do that. I think that’s to the real detriment of the Browns and a few other teams that are so free agent driven that no story can develop. (Stephanie) As the quotes throughout this chapter and this book demonstrate, women fans find stories about players and teams to be compelling material. While they appreciate the game for its action and athleticism, these fans often retold and reinforced narratives when describing their relationships with their teams of choice. Narratives about teams and players are important to establish bonds and loyalty, and they offer women fans—and all fans—an opportunity to tap into the Caring and Knowing performative modes of fandom that help establish and reinforce affinity for a particular team or player. Great players and great teams often are appealing not just because of their winning records, but because of the mythology that surrounds them. Natalie frequently talked, often in awed tones, about her beloved Jerome Bettis. Elizabeth provides this example, explaining why she follows the Green Bay Packers: Elizabeth:  Yeah, they’re my second favorite team because I love Aaron Rodgers. Interviewer:  How come? Why do you love Aaron Rodgers? Elizabeth:  Oh, I  think he’s really a (great) quarterback and just his story. He wasn’t recruited by a Division I team. He ended up going to a junior college and then made it to Cal, after two years of junior college. Then, he has to wait behind Brett Favre. Now, he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I think his story is really cool. For the women in our study, these narratives help connect them to a team’s history, future, and fellow fans—the community of practice—and

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114  Community Ties, Community Pride are an essential component of both the Knowing and Caring performance modes. You can’t be a true Saints fan and not know about Steve Gleason’s famous blocked punt that is now commemorated in a statue outside the Superdome. Less optimistically, any Browns fan worth her (or his) salt will be able to tell you about Red Right 88, the Drive, and the Fumble. Steelers fans can easily rattle off the front four that formed the Steel Curtain of the team’s 1970s defense. These narratives connect fans and their communities of practice, weaving a storied past that helps establish authenticity and connection. It is essential to note, however, that stories in and of themselves are not considered a legitimate incentive for fandom, and women fans are conscious of rebutting the perception that they are only there for the stories. In October 2014, Men’s Health magazine ran a short article by Theresa Sabga called “The Secret to Talking Sports with Any Woman,” a primer on how to talk to your girlfriend about sports (as referenced in Chapter 5). The piece noted that most women are not interested in statistics and offered this suggestion, instead: “So while you’re enthusing about Dominic Moore’s scoring record, she’d rather hear about how he supported his wife’s battle with cancer—and even took a season off from (professional hockey) at the height of his career.” The author continues, “Treat your heroes as people and not just players on a field, and you’ll suck her in” (Sagba, October 6, 2014). This suggestion incited immediate backlash, with women sports fans across the Internet lambasting the magazine for misogyny and misrepresentation of women fans. The editors at Men’s Health quickly pulled the piece, and editor-in-chief Bill Phillips offered an apology, tweeting, “It wasn’t meant to suggest that women are in any way inferior to men, in sports, or in anything else. But . . . we’re sorry that it did” (Dicker, October 7, 2014). While the response to this piece was justified (and, in fact, we publicly agreed with the concerns), here’s the interesting part: Our findings actually support the primary argument the author was making—women find stories appealing, and often are more engaged with the compelling narratives around a team than memorizing statistics. Very few of our respondents prioritized learning stats, and almost all of them commented that statistics are not a huge part of what they care about as fans. The difference between what we found and what was written in that article, however, is the implication that “real fans” care about stats, while women (read: inauthentic) fans are only going to get invested if the sport is treated as a reality television storyline. Proffering “tell her a good story!” as advice for getting the little woman to care about a manly pursuit is insulting to women, both fans and non-fans. It also delegitimizes the importance of legend and tradition, essential components of almost any team’s appeal for all fans, regardless of gender. Strong narratives link a team and its fans, and help shape the frames that also help bring new fans into the fold. Being compelled by the Saints’ Super Bowl and its effect on post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans should not be

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Community Ties, Community Pride  115 treated as inferior to knowing Brees’ completion rates throughout his career. Likewise, being emotionally affected by the story of Bengals defensive tackle Devon Still and his daughter’s battle with cancer does not mean a fan is less authentic than one who can rattle off receiver Mohamed Sanu’s stats for the season. As our Fan Performance Matrix demonstrates, fans can and do shift their Caring and Knowing components, depending on the context in which their performance occurs. Women recognize the value of knowledge, but that knowledge is not just limited to memorizing statistics. Knowing, understanding, and sharing key narratives—the stories, the players, the plays, the legends—is another form of knowledge that is valued by fans and helps establish legitimacy. These stories are used as cues to determine credibility when talking to other fans. For the women with whom we spoke, this is not inferior to knowing statistics; it simply is another form of the Knowing performative mode that helps reinforce membership in the team’s community of fans. Favorite players and “second teams.” While these stories can be about the team itself, they often are specific to key players—often quarterbacks who have found great success in the league, such as Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. As Lisa said, “That’s why I like Drew Brees and Peyton Manning so much, and I like Tim Tebow as well. They’re good people, they set good examples, they give a lot back to the community. Drew Brees has done so much for that. It’s incredible. That’s the kind of people I  like.” Lisa’s articulation of the players as “good people” is echoed by other respondents, who look to these player-idols as exemplars for the archetypal American athlete should be all about. Rather than embodying player excess or violence, these men are perceived to be wholesome, dedicated, and hardworking, ready to give 100% on the field and off to be the best possible player on the best possible team. The affection for these players, often quarterbacks, often serves as a driver for a fan’s “second team,” generally an out-of-division team our participants followed with (often considerably) less passion and commitment than their main team. When women talked about these teams, it was with measured emotion, indicating an affinity that led to some element of preference—wanting the team to generally win or tuning into their games on occasion—versus the commitment demonstrated to their primary team. Stephanie explained how her affection for certain players impacted the teams she followed: “I will follow the Mannings a little bit. I absolutely love Drew Brees. To me, that’s a fascinating story. I love him more than the Saints. But I will always cheer for the Saints because of Drew. I don’t even know why.” Saints fan Lisa agreed about Peyton Manning: I guess I want the Broncos to win because of Peyton Manning and John Elway, or he’s the general manager or whatever. . . . I can’t say I’m going to watch their games. If I’m able to watch and it’s on then I’ll watch. I would pull for them in that way. Other teams probably not. I’d vote for the Colts when Peyton Manning was with them, except for when we

116  Community Ties, Community Pride play them. The Broncos now is who I’d vote for. There’s probably not other teams that I want. I want everybody else to lose.

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Courtney joined in the Manning love, noting that her affection for him goes back to watching with her father in her youth: My main team is the Browns of course—even though year after year, there is always the heartache. But I always hold that hope that maybe someday we are going to be awesome. The other team that I enjoy is the Broncos, and that is because of Peyton Manning of course. I’ve been following Peyton Manning for a few years now. Whenever he was with the Colts, I was always watching the Colts. Now he’s with the Broncos, and I  watch them. I  don’t know. I  started following him maybe like when I was in high school, I guess. I think I sort of thought he was cute. My dad and I always watch football together. We would be watching games, and that’s where I kind of get my love for football. He would be telling me about who his favorite team is and who are his favorite players. He would always talk about Peyton Manning, and when Eli started playing, he would start talking about Eli. I guess it just kind of comes from that. Peyton Manning is one of my dad’s favorite players, too. He won’t admit it because he doesn’t like people to think he’s a bandwagon fan. I think Peyton Manning is definitely one of his favorite players as well. I guess him and I have had that favorite player thing over bonding. We’ll call each other—“Oh, man—did you see that play Peyton Manning had last week? That was awesome.” I guess it’s just kind of been instilled in me for years now. And he’s cute, so that helps. While Natalie did not identify a Manning or Brees as her go-to player, she did note that she will make an effort to support a team if a player she likes is on the field: “. . . if there’s a particular player that I like, I would probably follow their team. Like prior to this whole dog-fighting incident I was a huge Michael Vick fan. I love Terrell Owens so I follow him where he goes. But yeah. That’s more of following a player than a team.” As evidenced by Lisa, Courtney, and Natalie’s quotes, the second team affiliation can be and often is transient, particularly when tied to a specific player. While Peyton Manning’s time with the Colts made him a star, his out-of-market fans had no problem moving their loyalties to the Broncos when he took his talents to Denver. And because the Colts were perceived to be the driving force behind that trade, he managed to successfully make the move to a new franchise without being tarred with the “no loyalty” brush that can harm star athletes who are closely tied to one particular team. Players aren’t the only individuals who can inspire second-team-fandom; favorite coaches can be a draw as well, as Donna explains: I think being a Saints fan is what defines me as a football fan. I mean, as I said, there are other teams that I like and generally I would say

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Community Ties, Community Pride  117 I’m a fan of the Ravens now, but there’s nothing like being a Saints fan. Nothing will take me being a Saints fan away from me. I always thought about it, I think that once John Harbaugh isn’t the head coach of the Ravens I may just give up on them. I have no emotional ties to them. There are a few players I really, really enjoy watching, and I like them as a team, but there’s nothing that will really keep me there. I can foresee myself dropping them if there’s another team out there. Like this weekend, a part of me doesn’t know if I’m rooting for the Texans or if I’m rooting for the Ravens because I like both of them, but I will root for the Saints until whenever, even if they’re going up against a team I want to go to the Super Bowl, I will root for the Saints—I have to root for the Saints. As the quotes above indicate, our fans characterized these secondary alliances as being less passionate and shorter-term than their primary affiliations. Because the loyalty often is tied to a particular player or coach, the fan goes with that individual to their next stomping grounds rather than staying with the team. COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE, NOT SOCIALIZING Hometown pride and emotional investment in the team and players provide two important forms of community, but the third—camaraderie with other fans, or engaging with others in your community of practice—might be the most meaningful and robust of the three. Almost all of our participants were particularly animated when talking about fandom providing opportunities to engage with others, make new friends, and feel like part of something bigger than their everyday lives. In these discussions, women often consciously and explicitly extended their definitions of fans to include those who may not be as knowledgeable or informed as they are, intrinsically recognizing and valuing the multiple performances they have seen among friends and family while watching football. The Stereotype is that women go to games to socialize while men go to watch the game (epitomized by the Social Butterfly stereotype). Socializing connotes a fleeting interaction, devoid of much substance. However, as the previous section demonstrates, for women fans, going to a game is often seen as a sacred and meaningful activity. Nonetheless, skeptics often use “socializing” as an accusation that challenges women’s knowledge of (Knowing) and commitment to football (Caring). Among men, on the other hand, the same social activities are characterized, both in popular culture and in research (Davis & Duncan, 2006; Hartmann, 2003; Branscombe & Wann, 1991), as beneficial and important male bonding. Elizabeth said about the stereotype of women fans, “People think that women who are NFL fans are just going because it’s a social event, or they’re just going because their boyfriend or husband likes it . . . I think that most of society

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118  Community Ties, Community Pride thinks that [women] are just there for a party, which is just kind of unfair to women.” More than just being unfair, Elizabeth went on to say that such assumptions are “just wrong.” The connections women make during football games are borne out of Caring performances; they connect with others as a way to express and experience their devotion to the game and their teams. (See Figure 6.1.) Rather than a desire to socialize driving women to the game, a love of the game creates meaningful, albeit often short-lived, friend bonds based in shared experience and passion. The words women most often use to talk about the experience are “friend” and “community.” Katlyn said, “You’re going to make friends because you’re all there for the same reason—‘Go Brownies!’ ” Kimmy echoed this sentiment, “You sit there and talk to the guy next to you like he’s your best friend, even though you’ve never met him before. You guys can have a whole conversation but you’ll never see him again in your whole entire life but you had a great time that day with him.” Jamie loved, “high-fiving and hugging the people next to you even though you probably don’t know ’em.” She noted, “. . . they’ve had the same seats for a long time, some of them, so you do make your own little community.” Amy explained that she “likes the whole social aspect of going to a football game, seeing friends, watching people.” While it is social, she says, “it’s different from other social aspects in [my] life. . . . it’s kind of like a special occasion when going to a football game.”

Figure 6.1  The women in our focus group enjoy snacks and a traditional shot of Fireball brand cinnamon whiskey (from left to right: Heather, Carmel, Patty, Diane, Joyce, JoJo). Photo taken by Danielle Sarver Coombs.

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Community Ties, Community Pride  119 For the women with whom we spoke, the connections they make with others center on the activity on the field. As such, socializing does not drive game viewing. In fact, women fans perceive fans—male or female—who go to a game just to socialize as less devoted. “The casual fan is someone that is more worried about the tailgate than the result of the game or the game itself. So for me, the first criterion would be, do you care what happens in the game” (Jamie). Fans’ passion for the game provides a point of connection—almost a shared mission. Katlyn said, “We’re not always looking for the Browns to win, but it’s still a fan thing. You’re there to support the team no matter how bad the Browns do. People are still together liking the Browns.” Another participant commented about the fans at the game, “They’re always high fiving with each other. Getting happy with each other or getting sad with each other.” The game is the purpose; friendships are the outcome: You are watching the game and enjoying being down there with other people, talking to other people around you, talking about the plays, talking about “what do you think’s going to happen next?” What they should be doing. “Why are they not throwing on fourth? They’re right there just go ahead and make a play. You don’t have anything to lose.” It’s neat. It’s a friendship that you wouldn’t have otherwise. (Kimmy) When the Browns did good, everybody was screaming, everybody was cheering and going crazy. When the Browns did bad, everybody was booing. I’ll never forget the bonding, that community for that moment. We were all on the same team. We were all on the same plane. We were all friends. It kind of felt like we were all friends even though it was a stadium filled with however many thousand people. At that moment, we all felt like friends. (Courtney) Even connections with complete strangers are extremely meaningful, empowering, and memorable experiences: Games in general are just kind of empowering to me. I feel passionate with all the pride and the fans together. Football’s kind of a sport that brings you together. The game itself is not a one-man show. If one person messes up, it’s basically the whole team on the line. I feel like it’s more of an empowering sport in that it brings fans together. . . . Like I said, people are physically putting their bodies on the line. When you’re behind your team, I feel like the fans are really compassionate—it’s for the game, you know. (Katlyn) And it’s people from every demographic: men, women, kids, different races, whatever. Everybody’s just united. And I  guess that’s what makes it so much fun. I was down there [New Orleans] the night of the Super Bowl. I  was in the French Quarter. And after that everybody’s

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just walking around hugging each other. And we don’t care who you are, we’re just excited. It was one of the best nights of my life. It was just incredible. (Lisa) You like your team and your players and your game. The fan is a fan. Everybody comes together on a Sunday and watches the game. It doesn’t matter if you know who is in the AFC North. What matters is you love the sport, you love the game, and you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, you’re definitely not a fan. But you love the game and the sport. You enjoy the community that it brings to people. That makes a fan. It doesn’t matter what you know or who you know or how you know. What matters is you know you like football. (Courtney) Katlyn compares this to family, commenting, “It’s a game with a team. There’s no one person. Your family’s kind of a unit. I feel like fans coming together are kind of a unit. So it’s kind of all united in a group setting.” For Steelers fan Natalie, finding fellow fans of the black and gold in South Louisiana provided a much-appreciated opportunity to watch her team with a community of like-minded individuals. She appreciated this so much that she decided to hold a Super Bowl-watching party at her home when the Steelers made it to the big game: But I guess, regardless if you team is doing well or poorly, it’s nice to be around other people who feel the same way. So I guess as the season progresses, you kind of want that, kind of, you know, someone to commiserate with or a group of people to kind of share with either way. And I  think by the time of the Super Bowl party came around, um, you know we had watched so many games at Buffalo Wild Wings, the momentum and excitement it kind of carried with it. I guess a part of it was I just wanted to make sure there was a venue where we could all watch it together and kind of continue that. So, that’s, I guess that was the thought process behind having the party at our house, because, I mean I couldn’t offer to have it at anyone else’s house. CASE STUDIES The relationship between sports fandom and community related to cities, teams, and other fans can be examined by looking at two relevant case studies: the Cleveland Browns’ move to Baltimore and the eventual return of the franchise to northeastern Ohio, and the New Orleans Saints in post-Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. There you go, Brownies, there you go. Owner Art Modell’s decision to move the Cleveland Browns, one of the oldest teams in football with a large and established fan base, to Baltimore was met with shock and outrage

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Community Ties, Community Pride  121 across Ohio and the United States. The December 4, 1995, issue of Sports Illustrated featured a cover illustration of a cartoon Modell punching a brown-and-orange-wearing anthropomorphized dog (with a dog-bone Browns helmet) in the gut. The headline read “Battle for the Browns: Art Modell Sucker-Punched Cleveland, but the City is Fighting Back.” While owners had moved other teams, the reaction to this move was different. The Browns were an institution, established in the earliest days of professional football in the United States. Despite having never won a Super Bowl, the team’s fans were loyal and legion. Modell moving the team gutted the city and the fans. Amy remembers the emotion of the experience, commenting: I think the city of Cleveland was wronged by that whole deal that they went down and left. I felt like that there is such part of the community, and there is such a history here that to take it away from us, the fans and the area, which is wrong first of all, economically stupid. So I think the mayor, the owner, and the people in Cleveland community, I think they did a really poor job of trying to keep Cleveland Browns. That was just awful. Kristy and her family stopped watching football when the Browns left, despite being rabid fans before their departure: Because it was the identity of the city. They were the Browns, nobody loves the Browns. The Browns crushed our hope. I remember being little, and everybody being super sad about it. We would make necklaces out of dog bones, because it was the Dawg Pound. We were wearing those necklaces and we were watching them play. My brother and my dad and my mom and I, we all had our Browns shirts on. We watched all that. You were kind of living and breathing with the team. When the team left, they left a void in the city that other teams did not fill. When they returned in 1999, fans—including Kristy—were enthusiastic: It was really exciting. It was really exciting to go back to Cleveland, to have big buzz around the city, and everybody was really excited about it. The new Browns could do what the old Browns didn’t [win the Super Bowl]. But they haven’t, but that didn’t mean I’m not a Browns fan anymore. I’d rather not be a football fan than not be a Browns fan. I don’t know how to not be a Browns fan. Despite fan enthusiasm, the Browns have been less than successful on the field. A constant stream of new head coaches, quarterbacks, and players have handicapped the team, and fans, while loyal, are tired of waiting for next year. As Heather says, “My feelings are very mixed. Really. There is one of pure enjoyment and love. And then it comes to anguish and despair, when they were moving and team being sold. After they’ve come back, the

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122  Community Ties, Community Pride team was just not being the same. It’s been hard to love.” No matter how much love fans have for the team, the team hasn’t done much to reinforce or reward that affection. Over time, this has an impact on how willing fans are to invest both financially and emotionally in the team. The benefit of community, particularly in terms of other fans, becomes even more important in this context. Rather than being reinvigorated by a steady stream of wins or even competitive losses, fans have to look to each other for reinforcement. One of the most unexpected outcomes of the Browns’ hiatus was the insurgence of Steeler fans in Browns territory. Separated by only 135 miles, the two cities have one of the longest-standing rivalries in professional football. This storied antipathy was undercut when the Browns left, leaving a vacuum that the Steelers filled. This is particularly true in areas that are between the two cities geographically, including Youngstown and Akron. Even some diehard Browns fans found themselves watching the Steelers during the time without a team. Amy remembers: I can’t even believe I am saying this, but I think it’s very common . . . When [the Browns] did leave, I watched a hell lot of Pittsburgh Steeler games. To the point where I like everybody who is on their team, I was rooting for them. I think that’s why now I don’t think that Cleveland/ Pittsburg rivalry is as big as it once was. Because when Cleveland left, a lot of people that were Browns fans actually found themselves without a football team to root for. So the closest team in proximity is Pittsburgh. So, it changed the way a lot of things people felt about, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Stephanie, a native of Trumbull County in eastern Ohio, was shocked when she returned from Washington to find stores in her area overrun with Steelers merchandise. What had once been a bastion of brown and orange was now awash in black and gold: “And even where I live . . . it’s far easier to find Steelers merchandise than Browns merchandise, which was very shocking to me coming back—very shocking to me that I could go into these stores and find more Steelers crap than Browns. Sad, shocking. Trumbull’s just a little closer to Pittsburgh.” Because the Steelers have found continued success while the Browns face a seemingly endless struggle to find solid footing and produce consistent results, new fans growing up in the region have to decide: Do they align with the team that historically has made it to the post-season and made it to the Super Bowl, or do they cast their lot with the team that considers Draft Day the biggest day of the year? After all, as Heather commented: You want to be a true Brown fan, you really want to love your team and support your team. But when they go 3 and 12, you can’t get a win the whole season, and it’s just mistake after mistake. You kind of wonder why you keep watching and keep coming back every Sunday.

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Community Ties, Community Pride  123 Ultimately, in this context, the community of fans that includes families, friends, and loved ones provides an important factor that keeps many Browns fans wedded to the team. The Saints and post-Katrina New Orleans. Prior to 2005, the Saints consistently were one of the worst teams in the NFL. Jokingly referred to as the “Aints,” the team posted dismal records season after season. Attendance records were poor, and the fans that did attend famously wore paper bags over their heads, hiding in shame. The owner, Tom Benson, had intimated that he was considering options to move the team out of New Orleans, generating controversy among fans that had stuck by a losing team for decades. Then in August 2005, a hurricane nearly erased New Orleans from the map. By January 2006, after much deliberation and public hand-wringing, Benson committed to keeping the Saints in New Orleans. That year, the Saints went on to have the most successful year in the franchise’s history to that point, making it to the NFC Championship game. In 2009, they won the Super Bowl. The resurgence of the Saints is widely mythologized alongside the rebirth of New Orleans after Katrina’s devastation. New fans turned to the team as a way to tangibly support their city, including now-diehard Donna: “Me personally as a Saints fan, I never started really getting into football until after Katrina, when it kind of became important that the Saints were something to hold on to.” Lisa remembers when she and her friends started going to games in 2006. Tickets were easier to get, since the fans had low expectations: Back then, tickets were cheap. I went to a game that season and they were easy to get. Now there’s like 50,000 people on the waiting list or something. They were pretty cheap to get back then. She just said support the city. We turned out to be kind of good so that worked out well. Their motivation was not to watch the best football; it was to support New Orleans by taking up a seat in what had been a primary visual symbol of Katrina’s devastation. As Donna discusses, New Orleanians recognize what the team did for them: . . . but the Saints, when they became good, it came after this time when really when the city was insecure, hopeless, didn’t know what was going well for them, and the Saints came out there and performed for us. And our starting quarterback has such great ties to the city. He would probably win 90  percent of the vote if he ran for mayor, that’s how much people in New Orleans love their Saints, especially their starting quarterback. The Saints’ successful 2006 season was fundamental to the city’s recovery, offering a beacon of hope that New Orleans could recover from Katrina’s effect. It was a powerful narrative that captured the nation’s attention and

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grabbed the hearts of thousands of new fans. This ultimate feel-good story got even better in 2009, when the team won the Super Bowl behind quarterback Brees. Lisa recounted her experience that Sunday, when she went to the French Quarter to watch the game: I was down there the night of the Super Bowl. I was in the French Quarter. Afterwards everyone is walking around hugging each other and high fiving. We don’t care who you are, we were just excited. It was one of the best nights of my life. It was incredible. . . . It’s more of an excitement and unity type feeling. I don’t know if there’s anything quite like that or if I’m ever in a similar environment to that. She remembers the night—and the season—within the context of Katrina: It was amazing. You would just walk up and hug complete strangers for no reason. . . . Absolutely. We’re best friends—it was really an incredible experience. I think had the city not suffered as much through the years of the Aints and especially from Katrina. If Katrina wouldn’t have happened, everybody would have been happy but it wouldn’t have been as meaningful. After Katrina, the city needed something to rally behind. When everything else became uncertain and unbearable, the Saints rose to the occasion to lift New Orleans to victory. They reinforced that they are a fundamental part of the New Orleans community, and the community of fans remains loyal. CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITY As this chapter clearly demonstrates, community—in terms of a city, a team, or other fans—is central to the fan experience and is a core benefit to fandom. Challenges to these communities do exist, however. Both of our case studies reflect the first and possibly most important challenge to community: a sense that, while fans remain loyal, the teams and players do not reciprocate. The Browns left, and the Saints had a foot out the door before Katrina made that move not viable politically. Coaches come and go, and players can use free agency to leverage better deals in other cities. Twenty years ago, fans knew every number and every name of every player. Now, it’s hard to keep track. The women in our focus group reminisced about days of old, when players stuck around long enough to know their numbers: JoJo:  I got to meet him so many times. I can tell you who belonged to all the numbers that many a year ago. I  don’t know anybody now. Others [together]: No.

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Community Ties, Community Pride  125 JoJo:  When I watch that TV today, I still think of the old players, when I see the . . . If I see 34, I think of Kevin Mack. Joyce:  Fifty-seven. Diane:  Fifty-seven, Clay Matthews. Patty [at same time]:  Seventeen, Brian Sipe. Diane:  It just happened to be the year I was born. Carmel:  Nineteen, Bernie Kosar. Joyce:  Ninety-nine, “Big Daddy.” As Stephanie remembers, “People stayed with teams longer. We didn’t have free agency as a model then. . . . But it really wasn’t the operative model. People stayed forever with a team.” Players became icons in a city, and they played out their careers to adoring fans. Now, a franchise player is rare. This is particularly true for marquee positions like quarterback, where consistency is key for a successful team. Courtney laments the Cleveland Browns’ inability to maintain a quality quarterback: Hopefully someday we will get some good players in there and actually keep them. It seems like every time we have a good quarterback, we trade him. I guess people say playing for the Browns is a good gateway to start out for quarterback and that you get traded to a bigger team. It’s good for the quarterbacks then. They get the bigger team that they wanted beyond. It’s not so good for us Browns fans because we lose every Sunday. Cleveland’s rotating door at quarterback has become something of a city-wide joke, with jerseys listing the seemingly endless parade of names now featuring tape all the way to the floor. Fans don’t have time to get to know the players, and teams don’t have time to develop their narratives. This can impact fans in terms of both cognitive and affective engagement with their organizations, undermining each. Related to perceptions of declining loyalty, our participants also lamented the increasing impact of commercialism. While it may feel like an avocation to fans, the league officials, owners, coaches, and players are more candid about it being a business. Players go where they can make the most money. Owners move to more lucrative markets. The NFL—a nonprofit organization until April 2015—makes billions of dollars. For a fan that is being priced out of attending games, this can be a challenge to reconcile. Rather than playing for the love of the game, money is the ruling factor. As Kimmy noted: Football today is got so commercial. . . . I think old-school people truly loved the game. [Players] played hard to the best of their ability. I feel like today it’s more “I want to be a star, I want to be an athlete, I want to be a big star. ” I just don’t feel like their heart is in it as much.

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126  Community Ties, Community Pride Finally, players’ bad behavior can impact the sense of community around a team. The players who inspire second-team-fandom—the Mannings, Russell Wilson, and their ilk—tend to be known as hard workers who play from the heart. Others, however, turn off fans when they treat the game as if it’s not a priority. Going out partying, failing drug tests, or playing dirty can turn off fans, and committing violent crimes (including domestic and child abuse) tarnishes the entire league. Natalie, for example, was turned off from a favorite player when he was convicted for involvement with a dog-fighting ring: “Other than those teams that are pretty consistent, um, if there’s a particular player that I like I would probably follow their team. Like prior to this whole dog-fighting incident I was a huge Michael Vick fan.” Later in the interview, Natalie explained that she has had a difficult time giving him up completely, noting that he is still a fantastic football player: I think the thing with Michael Vick was I was a HUGE Michael Vick fan. I loved watching him play. I mean, just loved the man. So when the whole animal fighting came out I just . . . and I still like to watch him. That’s the horrible thing in spite of . . . you know, and I love dogs and I would you know, I don’t at all agree with that. Part of me wishes they didn’t let him back in. But since they did, he’s still great to watch. At the end of the day he’s, for me, football is entertainment. I like to watch a good player. Natalie’s reaction to Vick—not liking his action but still enjoying his on-field performances—was not uncommon among the women with whom we spoke. This is particularly true for bad behavior from their team’s own players. Whether it’s the Saints’ Bounty Gate, Vick’s dog fighting, or other examples of poor behavior, women often were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to players they admired, especially if their performances helped lead the team to victory. While this was not always the case, we did see that women are more likely to forgive a player on their own team for his transgressions than they might for someone else. Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for four games for violating the league’s personal conduct in 2010, returning on October 17 for a home game against the Cleveland Browns. His suspension was related to an accusation of “sexually assaulting a Georgia college student following a night of drinking in a Milledgeville, Ga., bar on March  5” (Associated Press, 2010). Though he wasn’t charged with assault, the Steelers suspended him for four games. During a Browns-Bengals game on October 3, 2010, in Cleveland, we saw vendors selling fake Steelers jerseys with the name “Rapistberger” on the back above his number 7. Two weeks later in Pittsburgh, during the game in which he returned to play, we saw dozens of women wearing Roethlisberger jerseys, including dressing up their little girls in his replica jerseys as well. When he went on the field, the cheers were deafening. One woman could be heard yelling out, “I love you, Ben!” There was

Community Ties, Community Pride  127 no sign from the crowd that his behavior deserved punishment (Field notes, October 17, 2010).

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CONCLUSION While fans can develop love for a team and the sport for any number of reasons, the communities they build are among the most compelling reasons to stay engaged. Built and maintained around cities, teams, and other fans, these communities contribute to and help support both Knowing and Caring modes of performance for women fans. It is important to note that none of our interviewees described their fandom as isolating or individual. Whether it’s through family dinners, cheering in bars, chatting at the office on Mondays, or screaming in a stadium, fandom was a shared experience. For women, this often provides an essential connection to others that is not replicated in other ways. The significance of bonding among male fans is well supported in literature (Davis & Duncan, 2006; Hartmann, 2003; Branscombe & Wann, 1991), yet women are often dismissed for seeking the same social connections. Although “socializing” often is used in both academic research and popular press as an implicit indictment of women’s illegitimacy as fans, we found that women’s engagement with others around them is specifically related to the football game and the teams they support. Even fleetingly, they develop emotional connections and bonds that provide a compelling reason to go to games despite the costs—both in terms of time and money—associated with going to an all-day sporting event. This is in direct contrast to past research that found that women “watched traditional, mainstream sports because they offered the women a way to connect with the men in their lives; it was not the content driving the consumption, but the opportunity for relationship maintenance and quality time” (Whiteside & Hardin, 2011, p. 136).

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7 The Face Paint, Terrible Towels, and Tutus of Public Performances

It is November 30, 2009. The New Orleans Saints—formerly known to their often frustrated fans as the “Aints”—are 10–0 for the season and about to take on the New England Patriots in front of a raucous 70,000-strong crowd and over 21.4 million home viewers (Cruppi, 2010). It is Monday Night Football in the Superdome. The crowd erupts as the team enters the stadium; the noise level reaches 105 decibels, which is 15 decibels over the dangerous level for extended exposure (Times-Picayune, 2009). Music blasts, fans dance, and cheer, “Who Dat! Who Dat! Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!” This is uncharted territory for Saints fans. The team has never gone undefeated for 10 games and this night has been billed as one of the greatest matchups of the 2009 NFL season. For the fans, it also is time for the Saints to prove they are Super Bowl worthy. The Saints kick a field goal on the first possession of the game to take an early 3–0 lead. The Patriots respond with a long touchdown drive, but in the second quarter the Saints catch fire, outscoring the Patriots 21 to 3. With the Saints’ first touchdown, the crowd noise reaches 110 decibels, the second 111 (an iPod at its highest volume). By the third TD of the quarter, fan noise lags to a mere 108 decibels (Times-Picayune, 2009). Among these screaming fans are Julie and her husband Randy. They are part of a group of 27 friends, self-named “the Gang.” Most have held season tickets since 2001, well before 2006 when the Saints returned to a broken, post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans and, with their unexpected success, became a symbol of the city’s resurrection. Several 30-something fraternity brothers comprise the core of this fan group, but the Gang has expanded to include work colleagues as well as wives and girlfriends. Some are newcomers—but make no mistake, even the new recruits are über-Saints fans. Most have grown up in or around New Orleans and many now live in the city. Others travel from as far away as Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia, for home games. They all remember earlier days when the Saints were decidedly not a winning franchise and these memories make the successes of the 2009 season that much sweeter. On this particular night, no one is more fired up than Julie. Julie, a tall, attractive blonde in her early 30s, sports a Drew Brees jersey and has her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Tonight, fueled by fanaticism and

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  129 alcohol, she runs up and down the aisle yelling at other fans to “Stand up. Stand the fuck up and make some fucking noise!” She points and gestures at those she feels are not showing their full support. When the Saints defense stops the Patriots from making a fourth down conversion late in the third quarter, Julie high-fives fans up and down the aisle and jeers at the lone Patriots fan seated several rows in front of her. As the game approaches its end, the Patriots fan whips off his jersey and tosses it to the usher stationed at the nearest tunnel. Julie runs down and helps the attendant tear the jersey to pieces. She waves a fragment, now her rally flag, over her head before tucking it in her back pocket. The Saints win 38–17 to advance to 11–0 for the first time in the franchise’s history. As everyone trails out of the stadium, one member of the Gang shrugs and smiles as he comments that it will be an interesting ride home for Randy and Julie. Randy, this friend fears, disapproves of Julie’s drunk, aggressive behavior. As detailed in Chapter 3, fan performances are contextual and negotiable. Though a fan may feel the same identification with a team regardless of time or place, how she expresses her attachment will shift along Caring and Knowing modes of performance to fit the setting. People also subtly and often unconsciously negotiate being a fan in relation to other multiple selves—gender, race, sexuality, and so on. In this chapter, we discuss women’s public performances, their performative fandom at the games or watching in sports bars. The data show that public performances differ from private performances of fandom. For the most part, on game days, particularly when outside the home, women enact Caring modes of performance, though Knowing modes can be seen in some of the women’s rituals and sometimes as a means of connecting with other fans. Data also suggest that women’s motivations for attending games and watching in sports bars is informed, in part, by gender. Three themes emerged from the data. First, watching games in public, particularly going to a game, is a special event, and as such it is marked with anticipation and excitement. Second, game days involve rituals and costumes that fans often develop with and for other fans. The stadium or bar is a stage on which fandom is performed for an audience of other fans. Finally, football gives women license to behave in ways that other aspects of life often do not. It can be a great release for women to engage in hegemonically masculine behaviors such as drinking and taunting. The third theme helps to explain what is meaningful and important about public performances of fandom. We should note that not all of the themes found in the data are unique to women; we do not suggest that they are. Our goal is to detail women’s experiences. In some but not all cases, their experiences are shaped by gender. A HOLIDAY EVERY SUNDAY For the women we spoke with, attending a game, even for those who hold season tickets, is a special event. As discussed in Chapter 5, most did not

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130  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels grow up regularly going to games—their families didn’t have season tickets or, if they did, girls only rarely were invited to go—and so they cherish the ability to watch their beloved teams play in person. Lisa now regularly attends games. She began buying occasional tickets from a friend, but eventually got season tickets for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. She remembers the excitement she and her dad felt going to a Saints game when she was a girl. “It was exciting if we could get tickets. My dad would get tickets through work or something. And it was like [with excitement in her voice], ‘We’re going to a Saints game.’ But we hardly ever won. So it was something to go to but you were sad at the end. If we won it was great.” Even though she attends most games now, she still feels that same exhilaration. Participants in the Browns focus group had similar memories. The women reminisced about watching at home as kids. Their families, by and large, could not afford to attend games: Interviewer:  Did your mothers ever attend games? Several women at once:  No. Never. No. JoJo:  You know what, I don’t think our dads did either, well maybe once in a while. They couldn’t afford it, to go to games, even back then. Diane:  I took my dad to game, well it was a preseason game. But I don’t think he ever went to a regular NFL game. JoJo:  I know my father didn’t. Carmel:  I don’t think they could ever afford it. JoJo:  I remember Daddy, my Uncle Rick bought him a ticket one time and the guys all went. My mom, she was crazy for her sports but . . . JoJo’s thought trails off as others talk about their recollections. Implicit in her comment is the suggestion that her mother would have liked to attend games, but in the 1950s and before—and perhaps even well after—football games were reserved for the men. Becky explained that in her family “the women were the ones that were animated”; they were the ones really engaged with football, but because of time and money, they did not attend games. “It wasn’t a normal thing to do.” Becky, now in her 30s, was in her early 20s before she ever attended a game. Kimmy recollected that her earliest memories were “my dad with his big, old hat on, drunk, going down to the game with his buddies” while she stayed home and watched on television with her mother. Amy’s first football memory involved her brother going to a game with their dad. She commented, “I wanted to go, I remember. I was jealous.” Despite supporting the Browns throughout her childhood, Amy noted, “I didn’t go to a Browns football game until I was a junior in college with a bunch of friends to the old Municipal Stadium. It was a Monday night game versus the ’49ers. We had a blast.” Her brother and father have attended many games. “It was kind of something that they did together.” It was something her father and brother shared even though Amy, her mother,

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and father are Browns fans, while her brother, who attended Browns games with their dad, is a Steelers fan. The fact that the women we interviewed did not grow up attending NFL games has meant that they love going all the more now. Asked what it compares to, Lisa said: It’s a very unique thing. I don’t know. Maybe I can think about it and get back to you. It’s not anything I can come up with off the top of my head. I mean, it’s, you’re there with 70,000 other people screaming and rooting for this entity, you know, these guys playing a game. In reality it may sound silly but it’s just so important and it’s such a big deal. And people get depressed if you lose. And cry if you lose. And cry if you win sometimes. So, I don’t know, it’s a very emotional thing. I can’t think of anything that would be equal to that. Courtney, in recalling a particular game she shared with a friend, discussed how attending a game differs from watching on TV: It was January. It was freezing cold. It was raining. . . . It was super exciting. It was interesting because it’s definitely different than on TV. There is a little bit more down time. When there is down time on the TV, you watch commercials. In the stadium, there are no commercials to watch. You see the players interacting with the coaches. You see the players interacting with each other. Whenever the game first started, there were a couple Browns guys that went and hugged a couple Dolphins guys because maybe they played on the same team together before. There were little things that you saw that you don’t see on TV that were really heartwarming. These players are real people. They do have friends. They do get along with each other. They do like their coach. It’s really cool to see on TV—it’s almost like action figures walking down on the field—but in real life you see them interacting with people. It’s cool. It’s heartwarming. Others used the words “unique” and “special” to describe going to games. Kimmy compares the experience to Christmas: I just think it is a special thing to do. You don’t get to do it very often. First it’s expensive. Second, it’s hard to find tickets. We would have season passes if it hadn’t been for the, I can’t remember the extra fee they put on your season tickets. . . . It’s just we refused to pay extra money for them. Yeah, so, it’s just one of those things you don’t get to do very often so when you get to do it, it’s very exciting. You plan for it. I mean, I’m a tailgater so I am already a week before, two weeks before, trying to figure out what am I going to make that day and how I’m going to do it out of the back of the car or truck or whatever we’re taking. Trying to figure out what food I’m going to take and what drinks I’m going to

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take. Yeah so I kind of anticipate it like Christmas, which is ridiculous. But it’s awesome. In the words the women use to describe going to football games, it is clear that attending a game is emotional. When the team wins these women fans feel elation and excitement. When the team loses they feel defeated. How they experience game attendance is marked by Caring modes of performance. The sense of community with other fans discussed in the previous chapter often hits its apex at the stadium itself. The shared experience of even walking to the stadium provides an opportunity to build and witness a community of fans. For Courtney, this was an unexpected benefit of going to a Browns game: I thought that was something that I just felt with my friends. Like “Yes, the Browns are doing good.” I thought that was something that I would expect with my small group of friends—that community of hope and pride in whatever. When we got to the stadium, even before we were in the stadium—we were walking to the stadium, I was looking around like—this is a community. This is a community of people coming together for something that they all believe in. By God, do they believe in it. It was really cool. I definitely did not expect it. We got into the stadium, and we could see all this orange and brown. It was just like—this is just really cool. This is something that I never would’ve expected it to be. Her experience got even better once she got into the stadium and the game was underway: It was really cool. It was really exciting. It definitely made watching the game more exciting because when the Browns did good, everybody was screaming. Everybody was cheering and going crazy. When the Browns did bad, everybody was booing. I’ll never forget that bonding, that community for that moment. We were all on the same team. We were all the same plane. We were all friends. It kind of felt like we were all friends even though it was a stadium filled with however many thousand people. At that moment, we all felt like friends—at least to me it did. Courtney’s experience in downtown Cleveland was reflected in the stories from fans across the country. Claire notes the “electricity” that comes with watching with others: Being at home, it’s nice. You’re in the comfort of your own home and you can relax more, but then when you’re at the bar you do have that sense of camaraderie, you’re connected to other people who are fans so you can build that bond as well, even if it’s only for a couple hours. You’re bonding with someone else who you don’t even know, but you’re

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  133 both cheering for the same team. It’s again that electricity I guess you would call it, that excitement for the game. Being at the stadium it’s more electric, is how you can describe it. You definitely have a bigger crowd obviously, and then you have that excitement because you actually get to see the players, they’re right there in front of you, no matter if you’re high up in the nosebleeds or if you’re down closer to the fields. . . . It just feels more electric. You feel more connected to it, especially because there are so many more fans and the cheering is on a whole other level. Just the whole idea of being there and seeing everything and smelling everything just brings it all to life for you. The women with whom we spoke talked about the excitement and camaraderie associated with spending game day with your sports fan community as something not duplicated in other parts of their lives. In no other contexts do they high-five and hug strangers, and rarely do they find themselves yelling “who dat,” “who dey,” swirling yellow towels around their heads, or woofing in response to a call to action. This shared community created through fandom—in this case, football fandom—offers an inimitable experience in women’s daily lives. The power of these compelling moments also helps draw new fans into the fold, building the fan base of the future. Stephanie talked about the importance of tailgating for “growing the tribe,” citing these experiences as essential for attracting new fans: It’s a whole new subculture. Even if you’re not physically there tailgating, you’re having tailgating parties at your own home. I think it replenishes interest in the game. It makes it new. . . . Tailgating brings a sociality to the game that didn’t exist before when we were—remember, my model is that we’re in our house with our family. And we’re kind of dressed. And we’re having food. But that is not necessarily growing the tribe. Tailgating really grows the tribe. You may go there with the five, six, or ten people you tailgate with. But you become part of a community. If you’re in exile like a Browns fan living in another city, you are going to bring that tailgating mentality to places where you’re going to watch the Browns game in the same sports bar where everybody goes. The Washington Alumni Association sponsors viewing parties. You’re bringing in a subculture that replenishes the brand so the brand isn’t this discrete household viewing experience. It becomes a community of interest. I don’t know how else to describe it. ALL THE RITUAL OF RELIGION Sport is often compared to religion, which is unsurprising: “Both are bathed in myth and sustained by ritual; both reward faith and patience; both thrive on passion tempered with discipline” (Baker, 2009, p. 2). For some participants,

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134  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels football was even more important than religion. “There was no other thing that you could rely on every week that we did,” Kimmy said, “On Friday nights we were allowed to sit in front of the TV and have dinner. We usually had burgers. I remember that. But football was always sacred on Sunday. We didn’t even go to church every Sunday but we watched the Browns every Sunday.” Ritual is the sustaining force and an important aspect of football’s appeal. The tailgate. Stephanie’s quote above also addresses the importance of the tailgate. Fans often plan days or even months in advance for tailgating, the cornerstone of the game day ritual. For the Gang of New Orleans Saints fans, preparation begins before the season even starts. One couple, Tom and Jessie, bought an Airstream trailer largely for tailgating purposes. On the night before each home game, they and the other members of the Gang stake out and clean up their favorite spot under an interstate overpass. They park the Airstream there to lay early claim to the location that will provide a home base and a bathroom—often reserved for women—during the games. Tailgating rituals center on food, alcohol, and friends. Becky had this to say: “Definitely a theme from childhood to adulthood, if I was into sports it was more of a party atmosphere. I mean, obviously, when I was eight I wasn’t drinking but it was that party atmosphere.” She continues, “Everybody got together and it was a fun experience. High school, it was a reason to get together and underage drink. Browns, a reason again to drink at 10:00 a.m., tailgating and barbequing in NFL parking lots.” Food and beer were an important aspect of Becky’s game day: When I had a chance to get season tickets I would go and we would get, oh gosh, it was Subway. We would get foot-longs at Subway because you were allowed to bring food into the game. I would have my first six inches in the first half, or right before the game started. And we’d start drinking then. By half time we’d be hungry again and pretty drunk and want that other half and have another beer. By the third quarter we’d usually be down and out. . . . It was like a whole ceremony. And it was fun to have everybody be excited too. I guess it was kind of like being a kid watching with everybody in the living room. Amy described a typical two or three hours of tailgating with her friends: The group we go with gets there, I don’t even know, maybe 7 in the morning. We go at 10. We park our car and we walk down to this area that is west of the stadium called “the pit.” . . . So our friends set up a spot, bring their grill. We bring food, like sometimes I bring cupcakes or whatever. And B.Y.O.B., bring your own beer. We hang out in the parking lot and chit-chat, and play games. We play left-right-center [a game played with special dice]. And we just kind of watch the people

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because there’s lots of action going on down there: people throwing the football around, playing corn hole [a game involving throwing bean bags], grilling out, having hamburgers and hot dogs. It’s fun. The women of the Browns focus group began their description of a typical game day with drinking. Several said in unison “Fireball, Fireball,” referring to a cinnamon flavored whiskey that they share before each game. Over time, the location of their ritual has changed but the substance has not. Joyce:  I have friends that go to Muni [municipal parking lot] and so I go once or twice a year over there to go party with them and just laugh the whole time because they’re all crazy over there. When I joined [the group of six women who share a block of season tickets], they were doing the Burke [the airport parking lot]. I like Burke because it’s kind of in the middle. And now we go to the seniors’ parking lot [laughs]. It’s relaxing. It’s a beautiful view. The walk to the stadium is a little back door. Heather:  We usually grill out. We have the throw away portable grill. And we’ll do brats and we have, like a salad, or a potato salad. Diane:  We decide on the menu depending on the weather. Joyce:  We start about 10:00 in the morning. Diane:  We sit. We eat. We do a Fireball. Then we take the walk over. Katlyn, a young Browns fan, talked about going to the stadium to tailgate even though she often does not have tickets for the game. She and friends arrive at the Browns parking lot by 8:00 a.m. in a friend’s painted RV. They go simply to be a part of the event. “We’re having a couple of beers. There’s a lot of tents. There’s free hot dogs. You get your snacks and usually play games. A lot of people have TVs actually set up in their camping sites. You’re just talking to people. It’s fun. I like to people watch. You try to pick out who’s dressed the craziest and stuff like that.” When the game starts, they generally go to a downtown bar to watch. As we noted earlier, in describing women’s fan performances we do not mean to suggest that they are necessarily different from those of men. In some cases they are; in many cases they are not. With regard to tailgating, for example, the traditional division of labor around the kitchen and the grill held true. Traditional gender roles assign food preparation and presentation as well as any party planning to women. Setting up and executing the tailgate, however, is a more stereotypically masculine activity, particularly if it involves outdoor grilling. Our data show that, when in mixed gender groups, women often did more of the planning and would prepare food ahead of time. This was particularly true of women in their 40s and older. Men took the lead at the tailgate. Commenting on the masculine nature,

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136  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels Jamie noted, “You know you rarely go to a tailgate where a bunch of women are standing around cooking the food. Did you ever notice that? It’s always these guys around the barbeque pit, being manly, lighting things on fire, burning meat. The whole thing is, yeah, it definitely is [manly].” Tailgating practices were one of the few gender differences we observed between men and women performing fandom in public. Offerings and incantations. Once inside the stadium, rituals continue throughout the game. Diane, or, as she is better known throughout her section, the Cookie Lady, has delivered cookies to people in her section of the stadium for 15 years. Diane:  So usually on Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning if I have time I’ll make a big batch of cookies and put them in plastic bags with little orange and brown ties. At the beginning of the season they might have bone cookies that are frosted with a little football tag that says “game day” but most of the games they’re just a cellophane bag with the brown or orange tie. Interviewer:  And how long have you been doing this? Diane:  Since they came back. Since ’99. I did it for a while and then it got to be habit. They expected the cookies. And I didn’t want to disappoint anybody so I just kept making them for every home game. And people would ask for the recipe but whatever. One game that I brought the cookies to the Browns weren’t scoring. And the tradition was that when they did score a touchdown, I would get up and I would toss the bags, actually throw the bags to the upper level. And they would catch them. They would have their hands up and they’d be yelling for cookies. And I would have probably about 20 bags that I would throw up. The one game they were not scoring. There were no touch downs, no field goals, nooooo nothing. And so I said, “I’m not taking the cookies home.” So I decided to stand up on my own and throw the cookies. Well being the only one standing up, I got the attention of the security department. And as I’m throwing I look over and there are two security, two policeman on either side of the aisle, beckoning me forward to come and have a chat with them. And I did. And the people in the stands were supporting me. “No, not the cookie lady. Please, not the cookie lady.” I was told I could go back to my seat. I could no longer throw cookies but I could pass them out to people. Diane tells this story with great pride. She has a connection with the people around her and appreciates that they supported her. Developing

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friendships and relationships helps define the game day experience for Diane and her group. The rituals women perform during the game at times take on the characteristic of superstitions: things they must do in order to ensure their team’s success. [At a Browns game] two women seated with a male fan between them would high five each other while the man sat stoically. Another woman repeated the referee’s hand signal used to indicate when the Browns earned a first down. She would then point to a male fan a row and several seats in front of her who also repeated the referee’s signal and would turn to point back at her. This appeared to be something they always did in unison. (Field notes, October 3, 2010) Discussing her superstitions, Jamie said: Mine is all attire and where I am. I mean I wanted to be—if I wear a shirt and they lose, I try not to wear it again. . . . Football, I do that. I did wear my jersey for all the playoff games and the Super Bowl. But it’s really all me. My parents aren’t . . . My dad thinks it’s ridiculous to be perfectly honest. My mom indulges me, to be perfectly honest. Mothers are like that though. So if she is sitting next to me and I say, “You can’t get up,” she doesn’t get up. My dad will say, “You’re being silly. I’m getting up. Do you think I’m the only person watching this game who is getting up and it’s me who’s going to cause something to happen?” So yeah, it’s all me. I didn’t learn that from anybody. I have no idea where that ridiculousness came from. It is ridiculous, but I still do it. Indeed, these sorts of ritualized performances provide the basis for a series of popular beer commercials with the tagline, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work.” Each ad features fans engaged in repeated and often unusual behaviors in the belief that they will contribute to their teams’ success. We also saw rituals take on the appearance of prayer or incantations. For example, a Saints fan we observed in a sports bar almost sang her repeated adoration of the players: Seated in front of me was a woman in her early 20s who appeared to know all the players on the Saints as well as numerous players throughout the league. Natalie overheard her talking about fantasy football so she may be in a league. She referred to the players as “my babies, my sweet, sweet babies.” When a player performed well she would repeat, while gesturing toward the screen and waving her hands, “Oh look at him. He’s just such a sweet baby, such a sweet, sweet baby. He’s my baby. Look at that sweet baby.” She obviously was very invested in the

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Saints and paid enormous attention to the game. When Pierre Thomas was injured in the fourth quarter, she visibly teared up. (Field notes, September 26, 2010) This woman appeared to be in her early 20s, but despite her age in relation to the ages of the players she adored, her incantation was highly maternal. Even so, she had no problem cheering for players to play hard and to give and receive hard hits. She was also the most knowledgeable person at her table, rattling off players’ statistics, including facts and figures for players on other teams. We rarely saw such open displays of Knowing performances in the stadia or sports bars. Though many women were very capable of Knowing performances, they tended only to engage in them when asked questions. This young woman simply chattered statistics and facts to no one in particular. Costuming and the politics of flesh. Many fans also ritualize their clothing and accessory choices: the lucky socks, the game day sweatshirt, the talismanic towel. Amanda, a devoted Steelers fan, has a Steelers purse that she only uses on game days. Similarly, on Super Bowl Sunday 2010 in New Orleans, a Saints fan we met at a local sports bar talked about her rituals: When I watched the Giants game in October, I wore this shirt, this pair of jeans, these shoes, and I think even the same underwear if I remember right. I’ve gotten some better jewelry since then. I’ve gotten some even cuter shirts since then that have some of the slogans they’ve come up with since we’re going to the Super Bowl, but I woke up this morning and I said, “You know, I wore the same outfit for the Pats game. I wore the same outfit for the Vikings game.” I even by then had started to do it on purpose so today I got up and I said, “I’m wearing the same outfit to this game.” So that’s as close to a ritual as I probably have. I don’t worry about, do I eat the same food and all that, but the clothing and the jewelry, yeah. There are also super fans who wear elaborate costumes and, because they are often shown during televised games, become nationally recognized. The Cleveland Browns have Big Dawg and the Bone Lady. The New Orleans Saints have Elvis, the Whistle Head, and Sista Soul. The Oakland Raiders have the Black Hole, which includes Blitz Chick and Skull Lady. Many sports teams now feature their super fans on their websites as a way to recognize the extent to which these fans are willing to go each game day to show their team pride. Other devoted fans take a very different approach, choosing to wear less rather than more. Even on the coldest days in the worst climate, it has become commonplace to see a few fans shirtless, wearing only body paint. In the past, these painted fans were exclusively men, and most still are. In recent years we have seen a few women don sports bras and paint

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  139 themselves, but these tend to be 20-something college football fans. A simple Internet search of “NFL fan body paint” might explain why. Body paint on women is almost always sexualized. It would seem that the more flesh a man shows at a football game, the greater the expression of his fandom. Men are not presumed to be flaunting their sexuality when they expose their (often bulging) stomachs and bare chests. Women who expose their bodies, on the other hand, are read as less devoted fans whose interest is in attracting the male gaze not in watching the game. These are the stereotypical Bimbos. This can be said of cheerleaders as well. Commenting on their skimpy cheerleading costumes, Jamie said, “I don’t need to see all that of a person. I don’t really want to see all of that of anybody, to be honest, let alone when I’m watching a football game.” In dressing for a game, women often work to achieve a balance between looking attractive, and for some feminine, without giving off the impression that fashion supersedes fandom. As discussed throughout this book, wearing a team’s merchandise is an essential part of becoming part of and reinforcing membership in a fan community. Whether walking to the stadium, sitting in a sports bar, or watching at home, wearing your team’s colors and insignia carries a powerful cue that you are a member of the tribe and a part of the family. Becky tells us of walking to the Browns stadium in a favorite piece of gear: Oh! Oh, my favorite—one of my favorite—I can’t believe I didn’t even mention this—my dog ears! It looks like a Browns helmet and ears are coming out of it, like dog ears. I loved that. I would get compliments on that all the time, walking to the game and walking back out. People would honk at me and yell at me, “cool hat!” I would get stopped in the street and asked where I got it. They’d be like, “where did you get it from?” I was like, oh, vendor over there. Talea spoke to the importance of wearing and displaying Bengals gear both on game days and in everyday life: I would say if you’re really a fan, it is important to have something just because it affects the game day experience, I mean what’s a game day experience if you don’t have a piece of gear you can throw on real quick. I have my go-to hoodie for the Bengals, I even have my Bengals teddy bear in my office. I  have a teddy bear for different teams that I  love like my school, and it’s definitely up there. People always say ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were a Bengals fan,’ yeah . . . teddy bear’s there, yes it is. I think, at least something, I’m not big on having a lot of stuff anyway, but I do have a few shirts and like some clothing, and some stuff to hang up. This visual representation of a group affiliation provides a physical demonstration of association and loyalty. This is one of the reasons that women’s merchandise, particularly clothing and accessories, is so very important to

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140  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels our respondents. Looking authentic and looking good should not be mutually exclusive, but women find it is difficult to purchase clothing in their team’s colors that is flattering to varying body types and personal styles. This is a subtle reminder that women are still finding their place in the stands; if you can’t even look the part, it becomes much more difficult to perceive yourself as a full-fledged member of the cast. Regional differences. Rituals vary by region, reflecting the cultures of the cities in which teams play. In New Orleans, the culture centers on food, music, dance, and general revelry. According to the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, tourism generated $5 billion in 2010. People travel from all over the world to enjoy New Orleans’ unique blend of cultures and often to go a little wild. As they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bons temps rouler,” “Let the good times roll.” This sentiment carries over into how fans in New Orleans perform. Even during a losing season, Saints fans find reasons to rejoice. In 2012, the Saints opened the season with an 0–4 record, but that did not stop fans from having fun. I actually got tickets to the Chargers game, the game that Drew [Brees] broke the record [for most consecutive games with a touchdown previously held by Johnny Unitas] and they finally won. And it was awesome. It was so exciting. Those people there in the Superdome, you never would have known we were 0–4. Never. It was hilarious. God bless ‘em. They’ve been through a lot worse, I guess. How can you get too upset about 0–4? It’s a football game. So they were jacked up and ready to go. That was great. That was a fun event. (Jamie) Saints fans welcome anyone who wants to join the party, even fans of the opposing team. One group, three men [Browns fans], commented that the atmosphere was nothing like Cleveland. One said it’s so clean and everyone is so nice. He said that someone arriving at a Browns game in an opposing jersey would be heckled and harassed. People in NOLA [New Orleans] asked to take their picture and welcomed them to the city. Two women, one of whom has been a Browns season ticket holder for 28 years, made similar comments. She said the square [Champions Square] was a brilliant idea to get the crowd excited. (Field notes, October 24, 2010) Costuming is a normal part of New Orleans culture, something people do for holidays such as Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day, but also just for a night out in the French Quarter or the Marigny, two old world areas of New Orleans known for bars, restaurants, live music, and throngs of people. When the New Orleans Saints hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers on Halloween night in 2010, the Superdome looked like a 70,000 person masquerade ball. Even for a regular home game, it is common to see women wearing jerseys and tutus (as in Figure 7.1). Women often sport decorative hats, feather

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Figure 7.1  New Orleans Saints fan in game day costume. Photo taken by Anne C. Osborne.

boas, or Saints beads like those thrown from Mardi Gras floats. According to Jamie, “I love the Saints games. I think they’re so fun. It’s like it’s a party. Of course, it’s New Orleans. What do you expect? The get-ups, the outfits.” The party atmosphere tends to permeate Saints fans’ rituals. As Lisa explained, “We might go have a few drinks before. [My friend] would get passes to, like, the Bud Light tent. They would have a band and free little appetizers and then you’d get, like, three free drinks, or something like that. So we might do that. We don’t tailgate because it’s not as good an atmosphere for that, I don’t think, because you’re in a parking lot or on concrete. We have gone to a few tailgates.” Instead, Lisa and her friends prefer to go into the French Quarter, “If it was a later game we would try to do that. It wasn’t like sitting around grilling. It was like going out before the game.” To rival the allure of the nearby French Quarter, Champions Square, a 91,000 square foot outdoor festival area costing $13.5 million, was built adjacent to the Superdome (Vargas, 2010). Before each game, Champions Square hosts concession stands and live entertainment (Superdome.com). Inside the stadium, the carnival atmosphere continues. As the announcer introduce the players, they run onto the field through a tunnel with pyrotechnics and blasting music. At various points during the game the PA system blares “Stand up and get crunk” [a Ying Yang Twinz song

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that became a Saints anthem] as the crowd dances. The Dance Cam pans the crowd for shots of fans dancing. Usually these are shots of women. (Field notes, October 24, 2010) The New Orleans Saints play in a dome stadium in a city that regularly enjoys 60–70 degree days, even in the heart of winter. The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers play in open-air stadia in considerably colder cities. Weather may account for some of the differences in atmosphere and rituals. Fans are far more likely to be adorned in coats, hats, scarves, and mittens emblazoned with team logos than in festive costumes. Cleveland and Pittsburgh are also very different from New Orleans culturally. Both are Midwestern, blue-collar cities. After experiencing considerable economic hardship, both are now enjoying periods of revitalization. In 2012, The Economist named Pittsburgh the 30th most liveable city in the world. Cleveland ranked 45th (CNNGo Staff, 2012). In 2010, Forbes ranked Pittsburgh the 7th best place to raise a family, based on factors such as cost of living, crime rates, and educational opportunities (Levy, 2010). Both have ranked as top cities for young people (Aronowitz, 2013). In other words, unlike New Orleans that thrives on, and indeed roots its identity in, a party culture that is driven by tourism, Cleveland and Pittsburgh are former industrial cities that have rebuilt themselves as places where young professionals and families thrive. Pittsburgh and Cleveland have long histories as sports towns—much of their shared identities and their residents’ pride comes from sports franchises, particularly football. Steelers and Browns fans’ performances bear this out. They are serious about the game and take pride in stoically persevering through freezing cold weather, long periods of poor performance, and for the Browns, the temporary loss of their franchise. Field notes from the October 3, 2010, Browns game against the Cincinnati Bengals stated, “As we walked to the stadium I noted how calm the crowd appeared. This is likely due both to weather (it was in the 50s and rain was predicted for the entire day) and the fact that it is illegal to drink on the streets in Cleveland, unlike NOLA [New Orleans]. We passed an outdoor plaza with food vendors and pumped-in music, possibly from a local radio station.” Similarly, field notes from a Steelers versus Browns game in Pittsburgh noted: “The tone within the stadium struck me as more sedate than I’d seen in New Orleans and even more than in Cleveland. Fans were not standing and cheering, dancing or conversing with those around them in the same way. At most other games, I’ve seen fans good naturedly ribbing opposing fans and high-fiving everyone around them. This was not the atmosphere in Heinz Field” (Field notes, October 17, 2010). Particularly given that the Browns are an historic rival of the Steelers, we had expected a more animated crowd. In general, Steelers and Browns fans seem to be more focused on the game and less engaged in social aspects. Likewise, the match-up between the Steelers and Browns at Cleveland Stadium on November 25, 2012, was characterized by tension and

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  143 animosity rather than celebration. We sat in the Dawg Pound, historically the home of Cleveland’s loudest and rowdiest fans. Directly behind us sat a group of three noticeably drunk men, all long-term ticket holders who were sorely discontent with the team, the coaching, the players, and the front office. They spent the whole of the game actively criticizing every play on the field and decision made by the coaches. Despite the presence of several Steelers-garbed fans in the Dawg Pound (something that would have been inconceivable only a few years before), Browns fans focused their animus on their own team as it wrapped up yet another unsuccessful season. Interestingly (and contrary to the tenor of the crowd in the Dawg Pound), the Browns beat their archrivals that day. Even a victory over the Steelers was not enough to settle down this angry crowd, which appeared to be tired of continual losses and regular disappointment. Rituals, by definition, are regular, repeated behaviors that carry sacred meaning. Rituals can be simply understood as the outward manifestations of one’s devotion but they are also much more than that. In addition to being representative, ritual practices are constitutive of one’s fandom; through ritual, fandom is created. Not all performances of fandom are ritualized nor are all performances shared, but shared, ritualistic performances have enormous power in shaping one’s fandom. Most game day rituals performed outside the home are firmly rooted in Caring modes of performance. PERMISSION TO BE MORE MASCULINE This chapter opens with a story about Julie, drunk, excited, and intent on her fellow fans aggressively cheering on the Saints. Hers was not stereotypically feminine behavior, yet it was typical fan behavior. As already noted, the stereotype of a football fan is the hegemonic male engaged in masculine, often aggressive and drunken behaviors. One might assume that women performing fandom, therefore, engage in more masculine performances. Such an assumption would be both accurate and not. Throughout the data, we find that sport fandom can both erode and reinforce traditional gender roles for women and men. Watching games with friends, family, and strangers away from the home, fandom often becomes an arena in which women are allowed to take on more masculine behaviors of drinking, cursing, and taunting. The inverse can be true for men. Fandom grants men freedom to cry, hug, and kiss one another. In the next chapter, we discuss how watching at home, on the other hand, may tend to reinforce the gendered roles of women as caregivers and homemakers and men as “authentic” sport fans. Football most certainly is hyper-masculine. It is an aggressive, violent sport that, at least for now, only men play. [Football]’s just more manly [than other sports]. There’s a lot more yelling. We sit by a some kids now at [college] games so I try to watch my

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144  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels mouth now but I cuss a lot watching games. I mean, it’s a whole lot . . . everything is more manly. I mean there are big hits. And sometimes I’m kind of, “Ohhhhh!” [she leans forward and smiles approvingly, then immediately retreats as if embarrassed]. I mean that’s not really very feminine. I don’t notice myself doing that when I’m watching women’s World Cup or anything. I think the whole thing is: the beer, the hotdogs, you know, the crappy food, carb-loaded, the hits, the big men. There are some BIG men. It is definitely a more, everything about, it is more manly. (Jamie) The violence on the field carries over to aggressive, raucous, and occasionally violent fan performances. Both the on and off field violence in football is something the league is struggling to curb and many critics blame league changes on the female fans. Efforts to enforce greater player safety, for example, are often characterized as something the NFL has embraced in order to attract a female audience. Critics see it as “feminizing this game” (Isquith, 2014). Our data show that rather than being an obstacle for women fans, many find the aggressive atmosphere appealing. For fans, men and women alike, the aggression is part of football’s allure. Aggression is one of Faye’s favorite aspects of the game. “I just like the tackles too. I really like quarterback sacks, unless it’s my team,” she said. Women enjoy the freedom their fandom allows them to step outside their socially assigned gender roles and be more aggressive. “Baseball has a more calm demeanor about it than football, for sure. . . . I think [in football] it’s more you have permission to be more manly,” Jamie said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have been known to stand up and yell at somebody at a baseball game but I don’t do it repeatedly.” At football games, Jamie yells, cusses, and has been known to get into arguments with those around her. We saw similarly drunken and aggressive behavior at sports bars. One afternoon in 2010, for example, we observed a couple as they watched the Saints take on their division rivals, the Atlanta Falcons. Both the man and the woman appeared to be in their early 20s. As the game progressed—and as she and her companion did tequila shots in between rounds of beer—the woman proceeded to get noticeably drunker. In the epitome of the Guy’s Girl stereotype, the more she drank, the more vocal she became, repeatedly screeching in a high-pitched tone, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuck!” whenever the Saints failed to perform as she had hoped. When the Saints had possession of the ball, she would demand, “Touchdown!” regardless of the team’s field position. She often had to ask her companion what was going on either because she lacked the necessary football knowledge to follow the game or because of an alcohol-induced confusion. She rarely seemed to follow what was happening beyond simply whether the Saints were playing defense or offense. She was highly aggressive in her language, yet in appearance she was petite and feminine. Despite the fact that she was positioned directly in front of the main television in the bar area and her behavior was

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  145 often disruptive to other fans trying to watch, everyone around seemed more amused than anything else. Other fans’ acceptance of her rowdiness was all the more surprising given that the Saints lost by just three points that afternoon, as tensions often run high during a contested loss. At the time, we wondered how other fans might have reacted had she been a man or a less attractive woman. As a petite, young, attractive, Asian American woman, both her lack of knowledge and aggressive demeanor were treated as amusements rather than a threat. As a point of comparison, let us return to the 2009 Saints-Patriots game, where Julie was not the only fan rallying others in her section to stand up and cheer. Two young men with closely cropped hair, tattoos, and well-muscled arms in graffiti-decorated t-shirts also sat in the section and yelled at people to make more noise. These men were not regulars in this section, and did not fit in. Members of the Gang are all college-educated, young professionals, including lawyers, advertising specialists, and a web developer. At games they are dressed casually but conservatively, often in jeans and a jersey or Saints t-shirt. Elsewhere they are likely to wear khakis and button-down shirts or polo shirts. None has visible tattoos. Judging only by appearances, the newcomers looked like they had skipped college and gone directly to work, perhaps in some blue-collar job. They looked as if they spent much of their free time at the gym, rather than working extra hours on spreadsheets or computer code. The duo informed those around them that they normally sat on the other side of the stadium, “where the fans really know how to make noise, where they’re real fans.” While Julie’s pleas to other fans to be more vocal were taken as encouragement, the men’s behavior was read as trash talking. Julie, an attractive blonde woman, was non-threatening, but these muscled young men were aggressors. A male member of the Gang, who had laughed and cheered along with Julie, got into a verbal altercation with the young men, telling them to shut up or get out of the section. Others in the section glared and later expressed relief when the men did eventually leave. Gender is certainly not the only factor at play here. There appeared to be a clash of socio-economic classes and culture as well. There was also a direct challenge to one group’s fandom, which at least one member of the Gang seemed to take as a challenge to his identity as a fan and perhaps even his masculinity. Gender may not have been the only reason for the different reactions but it certainly appeared to play a role. Women, particularly women who meet hegemonic standards of beauty, are given greater license than even some men to engage the hegemonically masculine behaviors. Aggressively yelling, taunting other fans, and sharing a beer are among the ways that women can demonstrate their authenticity and commitment to the game. We regularly saw women demonstrate their fandom by trash-talking opponents or cursing at referees, coaches, and players. As long as these women appeared to be focused on and knowledgeable about the game (as opposed the Guy’s Girl stereotype introduced in Chapter 4),

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146  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels they could behave in this manner. They also had more permission to engage in these behaviors if they were in mixed gender groups. The mere presence of men in their game circles seemed to afford these women some degree of credibility. On February 7, 2010, Super Bowl Sunday, the one thing you did not want to be in New Orleans was an Indianapolis Colts fan. At a local bar, known for its strong sense of community and love for sports, we saw why. Among the sea of black and gold, one tall, lanky Colts fan was brave enough to dress in blue and white from head to toe. One of the bar’s staff, a woman who appeared to be in her forties and spoke with a slight Irish brogue, took up the microphone and called him out: “I’m sorry, we love you and all but you cannot come in here without humiliation. So please come up, come over here and get your humiliation.” As he walked to the front of the bar she came out of the kitchen area carrying a three-foot-long gumbo paddle used for stirring large pots of stew. Usually I’m fine with a regular spoon but this deserves a fucking mega-spanking. Bend your ass over. If anybody, if anybody owns this person, get a photograph right now. Bend over you fat Freeney-weenie. She then applied four audible whacks to his backside before turning to him to ask, What is your name? Oh yeah, that doesn’t sound convincing, “Uh, yeah, just call me Arthur.” What’s your name? Okay. “Uh, my name’s, uh, Arthur.” We’re going to welcome him here because the Saints fans are loving people. But we especially, we especially want to be because the Saints are going to . . . BEAT . . . YOUR . . . ASS. As she walked off wielding her paddle, the bar erupted in the familiar chant, “Who Dat, Who Dat, Who Dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints!” All of this was done in good fun. Nonetheless, it is worth asking: Could this scene have taken place were any of the gender dynamics changed? Would, for example, a male fan have consented to be spanked by a male bartender or would this have been too threatening to both men’s masculinity by connoting homoeroticism? Could a male bartender have spanked a female fan without connotations of sexual assault? In this case, the woman spanking the man was comic insofar as it flipped gender roles but without truly threatening the hegemony of male power. The woman play-acted at being aggressive and then, literally, returned to the kitchen. In many respects, football fandom, like football itself, is synonymous with hegemonic masculinity. It should come as no surprise then that womanliness is sometimes seen as a negative or even a curse. During an afternoon of watching multiple games at a national sports bar chain, we watched a New York Jets fan use her womanliness as a weapon against the opposing

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  147 team. That day, her team was playing division rival, the New England Patriots. She spent much of the afternoon loudly heckling the Patriots fans around her, and as the day progressed her taunting became less discriminate and was targeted at nearby Steelers and Saints fans. A group of Patriots fans had arrived early and staked out a table near one of the televisions. On their table sat a figurine, a small statue of a football player. At one point in the afternoon, the Jets fan playfully stole the doll. When she was caught, she rubbed it against her chest, saying repeatedly that she was going to “put a titty hex on it.” She later did the same with a Steelers fan’s Terrible Towel, the black and gold towel that Steelers fans wave to support their team. Women’s bodies have long been associated with mystical powers and dangers. This woman drunkenly used her breasts to taint the opposing team’s talisman. In the previous instance, the woman used her womanhood to her advantage. Male fans at times use female fans’ gender against them. Men seem more likely to target women fans, both of the opposing team but also less hegemonically attractive women fans even if they support the same team. For example, the aforementioned dour Browns fans seated behind us in the Dawg Pound in 2012 were quick to criticize the women fans around them. They notably criticized the Bone Lady, a Cleveland Browns fan well known to supporters and the media for her short orange bone-covered skirt and elaborate hair-do: an enormous beehive laden with Cleveland Browns tchotchkes, dolls, and other miscellaneous items. The drunken male fans applauded themselves, saying they “gave her hell” for her “dirty skirt” and for being an obstruction while watching the game. (It is important to note that none of these men excelled in either fashion or cleanliness.) This particular group of fans expressed equal discontent toward men and women as well as toward players and coaches, but when targeting women fans they employed gendered attacks. They told a woman in front of us with a sign to “sit the fuck down” and yelled out “hey fat girl, sit down” when no one around them appeared to be standing. When a young, attractive woman who appeared to be exceedingly drunk stumbled by with her boyfriend, however, the men were remarkably silent. Even when women fit hegemonic standards of beauty, their ability to engage crowds in banter can be limited and criticisms often are gendered. At a Browns game versus the Cincinnati Bengals in early October 2011, a group of women seated near us in one of the upper seating areas on the side of the field yelled out a criticism of the Browns. In response, a Browns fan yelled, “Get back in the kitchen!” to laughs from those around. It is inconceivable that the same response would have been directed to a group of men supporting the opposing team. In other words, these women were reminded that their place was not in the stadium, supporting their team; it was in their homes, making food for the men in their lives. As we noted earlier, women seem to face more hostility to their performances when they are not with men. JoJo related a story about an altercation

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she had with a male fan behind her at Cleveland’s stadium. As a member of an all-women season ticket holder group, JoJo and her cohort were regulars in their section. That did not stop a man from putting his hands on her: JoJo:  I told you about the guy that pushed me down in my seat. Interviewer:  Yes. What happened there? JoJo:  I had to freaking tell him off. Then, I got my husband. Remember Patty, he threw me down in my seat. Patty:  Yeah. You said, “Don’t touch my neck.” JoJo:  Yeah. I said, “I’m getting my husband.” He was nasty. Interviewer:  Why did he push you down? JoJo:  He pushed me down, because I stood up. A big play was going on. The man in front of me stood up. The man in front of him stood up. I said to the guy, “I stood up. The guy in front of me stood up. I stood up. You stand up! Don’t put your hands on me!” . . . Interviewer:  Were you with your husband? JoJo:  My husband was sitting with the guys someplace else, but I did go get him. Patty:  She went and got him. Because she was with a group of women, JoJo felt unprotected against the man behind her. While we don’t have specific evidence in this case, our experience tells us that this incident likely would not have escalated to a physical assault on JoJo if her husband had been present with their group instead of sitting elsewhere in the stadium. While at times women face vocal criticism, often women who try to assert their fandom are simply ignored. We often saw women fans try to initiate group cheers. Rarely were they successful. A few fans seated around her might join in, but it seems that a woman does not have the authority to direct the crowd. Men, on the other hand, routinely started the “Who Dat” chant in New Orleans to the delight of those around them. The group of Steelers fans who met each week in a bar in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was comprised of roughly one-third women, yet when someone called out “Here we go Steelers! Here we go!” you could be sure it was a man. The patriarch of the group, Dan, led most of the cheering, often launching a call-andresponse with “You say, ‘Pittsburgh!’ I say, ‘Steelers!’ ” Occasionally Rick or others took the lead. When the Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens to win the American Football Conference (AFC) North title, one of the men hoisted a woman onto a stool and handed her a Steelers flag to wave in the air. Rather than directing the revelry, however, she was on display. She became one more of the cheerleaders, who, despite being called “leaders,” are largely ornamental. Dan was still very much in charge. He walked around the room high-fiving and hugging people and being congratulated in much the same way that a coach is greeted by fans, press, and players after a win.

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The Face Paint, Terrible Towels  149 Though not strictly related to women’s fandom, it is worth noting that football fandom also provides an arena in which men can engage in stereotypically feminine behaviors, such as hugging and crying. We saw men’s fan performances both enact hegemonic masculinity and contradict it. A member of the Saints Gang shared a video from the 2009 season, the year that for the first time in the franchise’s history the Saints appeared in a Super Bowl. In the video you see a group of men watching intently during what is obviously a crucial moment in a big game, the National Football Conference championship against the Minnesota Vikings. From the video, it is unclear if the Saints are about to score or if the team’s defense must stop their opponent, but it is clear that this is an important play. There is a mix of cheering and an eerie hush. As tension mounts, one of the Gang members says to the other, “Come on, let’s hold hands.” A group of roughly five or six men grab hands and raise them up in the air. In a show of unity they channel their collective energy toward supporting the team on the field. As the play ends—Derek Hartley has just kicked a field goal to send the Saints to their first Super Bowl—the men jump up and down, hug each other, one man tears up. We routinely saw such open displays of “feminine” emotions among groups of men. Football, a bedrock of hegemonic masculinity, is a place in which fans, both men and women, are allowed to transgress socially constructed gender roles. CONCLUSIONS Past research suggests that playing sports socializes boys to be aggressive, often violent, stoic, and competitive (Curry, 1998; Kennedy, 2000; Hartmann, 2003; Connell, 2005) and that sport fandom, by extension, reinforces these same standards of hegemonic masculinity (Crawford, 2004; Davis & Duncan, 2006; Ruihley & Billings, 2013). “Though the increased marketing of sport towards women and the proliferation of sport-related merchandising and media have potentially eroded barriers to sport in the home, it remains the case that most live mass spectator sport audiences are male dominated” (Gosling, 2007, p. 255). Research on UK hockey and Australian football suggests that female fans often choose to stay home in order to avoid traditionally masculine behaviors—violence, excessive drinking, and the objectification of women—expressed at and around sporting events (Crawford & Gosling, 2004; Palmer & Thompson, 2007). Because women are less likely to attend games, men often perceive them as less authentic fans (Crawford & Gosling, 2004). Proof of one’s authenticity as a fan requires more than knowledge about and passion for a team. Authenticity requires that fans engage in culturally constructed rituals of fandom (Back et al., 2001). Our research tells a more nuanced story. As we have demonstrated above, gendered norms (both men’s and women’s) often are loosened when watching games in public. One reason that these transgressions may be acceptable is that children are infrequently present. Women, who often take on more

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150  The Face Paint, Terrible Towels of the parenting duties at home, are free to relax, drink beer, and join in socializing free from other responsibilities. As we discuss in greater detail in the next chapter, women were far more likely to drink to excess when watching games in public than when watching at home. In fact, football games seem to afford women license to engage in more stereotypically male behaviors like cussing, drinking, and yelling. Men, on the other hand, can embrace, cry, and release emotions they may not be as comfortable expressing in other contexts. This freedom is liberating for fans, offering a strong emotional outlet that often has no parallel. The emotional outpourings that we often saw during games also underscores the centrality of Caring modes of performance to how fandom is built and maintained. Violence is not something to be condoned, yet some degree of violence seems to be central to the conception of fandom. There is plenty of literature on hooligan-type behavior around sports, particularly world football (soccer) (Dunning, Murphy, & William, 2014). In the last five years, numerous press articles and news segments have examined perceived increases in NFL fan violence and discussed ways to curb outbreaks of fighting. A news story on NFL.com, for example, discussed measures players take to protect their own families when playing on the road, concluding with, “Fans can be brutal no matter what venue you go to” (Gbajabiamila, 2012). Not all fans, of course, engage in such aggressive fan performance. Jamie noted: Now I have on occasion yelled and noticed that some women around have stared at me but whatever. That is what it is. I can’t figure out if they’re staring at me because they don’t understand why I’m so upset or if they’re staring because they’re thinking, ‘God, I wish I could be so pissed and not really care.” I don’t know why. I don’t know why. I figure the fine line I try to walk is not embarrassing my parents. Finally, it is important to note that women’s game day experiences out of the home are in the midst of a significant generational shift. As discussed in the family chapter earlier in this book, women born in the 1970s and earlier likely stayed home to watch games with their mothers—even if their fathers and brothers went to the stadia. In that era, it was unlikely that women would be welcomed or encouraged to go. Since the 1990s, however, women have increasingly been present at games, spending time in stadia supporting their teams. The NFL now seeks women’s presence as it looks to expand its audience. Similarly, teams are working to create safer and more family-friendly environments to encourage attendance in an era where you can watch almost any game on television. Recognizing the importance of adding value, teams are now actively working to create and support food and events around the stadium to better attract crowds, provide entertainment while waiting for the game to begin, and help ensure the continued tradition of attending games in person, creating an atmosphere of excitement and emphasizing the celebration of the communities in which they play.

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8 Food, Football, and Fun: Watching at Home

Heather shouts for me to open the door. I walk in and drop my bag to hug her mom, Marie, hello. I walk into the kitchen and see Heather, wearing a new v-neck t-shirt with a stylized Cleveland Browns logo. She points me toward the snacks on the table, including a Cleveland Browns chip bowl that I fill with kettle corn. The snack/food area is covered in brown and orange, including colored napkins and plates. The rest of Heather’s family say hi, including her Aunt Patty, Uncle Don, and cousin Carmel. Most are wearing some variation of Browns clothing, ready to watch the away game starting in about an hour. Uncle Don is the only man upstairs; Heather’s husband and young sons are down in the basement playing video games. I grab a drink and a plate, load up on some food, and we start talking football. (Field notes, October 5, 2014)

While some women prefer to go to games as much as possible, the default often is to watch at home. Even for women who are season ticket holders—like Heather in our anecdote above—going to away games is often impossible. Instead, women will tune in to watch their favorite teams on their own televisions. For almost all of the fans with whom we spoke, Sundays are spent watching football—at least while their teams are playing. As Lisa pointed out, “Sometimes you can’t, if you’re at a wedding or something you can’t do that. Yeah, if they’re playing I want to watch the game. I do make a point to do that.” Elizabeth agrees, noting, “I try to watch every game that I can. . . . I just love watching sports.” This chapter will explore key themes related to women watching NFL games at home, including exploring the game-day experience at home, why women watch at home, benefits of watching at home, rituals and routines on game days, and media usage while watching at home. Throughout this discussion, we will examine what women told us in relation to Performative Sport Fandom, particularly in terms of how home viewership highlights the fluidity of performances. We also will continue to discuss our findings in terms of the Fan Performance Matrix, including how Knowing and Caring are at play while watching at home.

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HOW WOMEN WATCH AT HOME As we saw during the previous chapter on game day viewership at stadia and in bars, women’s experiences are not monolithic. Likewise, watching at home takes on different connotations for women. While some prefer to always follow the same routine on game days, others will mix it up, depending on the game, the time, what has to be done, and what other people are doing. The only commonality across all was the importance of tuning in. As you will see from the quotes below, women move across these viewing experiences; they may watch alone one week and then head out with others the next. What is important to note about this, however, is that the make-up of people involved can directly and indirectly affect how they choose to perform their fandom. Who else is in the room. Women who lived alone or lived with spouses who were not as interested in football tended to talk about watching by themselves. Natalie’s husband is not a football fan, and she’s not terribly keen on letting loose in front of him. Thus, “I kind of warn him that I’m going to be watching TV” so that he’s prepared for her reactions. When the game comes on, she is watching “most of the time I’d say, probably by myself.” Natalie does note that this has changed at various points in her life, depending on what else was going on: “I’ve been through phases too where I guess I didn’t have a lot or I wasn’t as busy so I would maybe go watch games with somebody for weeks at a time. So it really kind of depends. It is somewhat of a backseat to real life now but um, I don’t know. I still really enjoy it, though.” Similarly, Saints fan Lisa indicates that, if she doesn’t go to the stadium, she prefers to watch on her own: If I don’t go to the games I don’t get together with people like neighbors or something like that . . . I take that back. I probably have watched some playoff games with people but not just a regular [season] game. I’ll watch it at home with myself or with my ex-boyfriend or whatever. We would watch it. But we don’t have a party, I probably wouldn’t do that. Probably not. For these women, having the game on at home is not a sacrifice; it’s the way they choose to watch. A number of the women with whom we spoke explained that they typically will watch with the family members who live with them. These times often are characterized as laid back and relaxed, with football on in the background as the family goes about its Sunday business, although they often will sit down together to watch their team play. Some will still make special foods (a phenomenon explored in greater detail later in this chapter), but often this is just a time to hang out as a family and engage in a shared interest. This hearkens back to the “Family Affair” chapter earlier in this book; the same memories that established early fandom among so many of

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our participants are being recreated among their adult households. Similarly, women who are married to partners who like football often will watch the game together, either focused intently or, if the game is less interesting, taking care of other tasks. When describing a typical game day with her husband John, Amy says, For the most part, I watch it in my living room on TV. If they are doing well, I’m watching it intently. Might have couple of beverages, you know, adult beverages. Some popcorn, sometimes I’m knitting [while] watching it, reading the paper, or doing the laundry. So that’s typically if I am at home, I am watching the game doing things around the house that I can do while I’m watching the game. . . . John is usually reading. He usually sits over there reading his book. If it’s a good game and we were really interested in it, we will sit there and talk about the game while watching together. For Donna, one of our younger respondents who still lives at home with her parents, she’ll spend the morning watching pregame analysis on her own, with her parents then joining her for the game: “I usually watch Saints games with my parents. My mom will generally go to sleep afterwards and my dad and I will watch football throughout the rest of the day.” Similarly, Katlyn typically will watch with her mom and step-dad: Well, when I’m not going to the game, I’m always watching it at home, usually with my family. I actually bought—it was an impulse buy—but there was a football beanbag that I [bought] and somehow it stayed at my place. I usually park that in front of the TV and just sit in the living room. Since it’s cold now, my mom has fires going. While not an event in the same way that going to a game or even out to celebrate is, it’s clear from these responses that watching at home with family is still perceived to be a valued shared experience. This extends to including family members who are not present. As we saw in Chapter 5, parents and children often use football games as reasons to reach out and connect. For example, Shelly’s children are grown and have their own homes, but they will connect during a Saints game to discuss and deconstruct the on-field action: Well the Saints normally play around noon on a Sunday so I go to church, I come home from church and we plan our meal around the game. And so it’s just me and my husband. My kids are grown adults on their own. Their own families and they watch the game. We all are involved, though. We are all like, “You watching the game? You watching the game?” You know, stuff like that. And that’s just it. It’s just my husband and I. We just sit around and watch the game.

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154  Food, Football, and Fun This is a fundamental part of Shelly’s Sunday routine, just like going to church. They may just sit around and watch the game, but the sport serves as an opportunity to engage and bond with their nearest and dearest. In a similar vein, women reported often heading to the homes of loved ones—typically parents or close friends/family—to watch the game with a small group. A  shared viewing experience can be the impetus for the get-together; as Courtney says when talking about her father, “But sometimes it’s like, ‘Hey, the game’s on. I want to watch it with you.’ ” Whether she and her husband head over specifically for the game or for another reason, the games are always part of the day: Yeah. If we’re over [at my dad’s house], we are definitely watching football all day. Their TV is pretty much on whenever a football game is on. He and I will talk about the plays, and we will talk about, “Oh, man. That was a nice catch” or things like that. It’s just a different atmosphere, but most of the people in that house, they enjoy football. That makes it a little bit easier to communicate and talk about football and stuff like that. As evidenced by this quote, football provides a common ground for communication. While this was explored in more detail in Chapter 5, it’s important to reiterate this point here. Watching games provides a shared experience that provides a framework for discussions and debates on a topic both parties care about, which for parents and their adult children can often be a boon. Parties and events. While women often described low-key events as their typical game day experiences, others preferred larger, more lively parties. For some, like Donna, this was a childhood tradition: My parents used to have all these big groups of parties. They had all their friends over every Sunday. We had two TVs in the front room so they’d watch two different games, but the focus would also be on the Saints game, and it didn’t matter, win or lose, there would always be this big ruckus in the house. Others, however, indicated this was an approach they’ve adopted as adults. Talea, for example, regularly hosts football-watching parties, saying, “I schedule my life around the game.” She is particularly proud of her Super Bowl events, which tend to be large-scale affairs with lots of food, family, and friends. Recognizing not all of her party attendees would be hard-core football fans, Talea included something to help those newer to the sport have a good time as well: My last Super Bowl get together I cooked the food, and then some people might have brought an appetizer or just helped with providing drinks and things like that, but then I also had . . . because I knew it was a mixed group of males and females and I knew all the women had not

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Food, Football, and Fun  155 kept up with the season of both of the teams so I didn’t want it to be one of those like, “Oh, I’m just here for the food,” I really wanted them to get into it so I had two games that we played—and they were on bingo cards. The first game was to pick what team was going to win, and what the score was going to be, and then there was a prize for whoever predicted the closest to what the final score was. And then I had actual bingo cards for things that happened throughout the game, and during the commercials. So, even if you weren’t into the game, you got into the game because you wanted one of the goody bags, and they know that I have pretty good gift bags to hand out so that actually helps. These events are an opportunity to, as Stephanie says, “grow the tribe.” Attendees may come initially for the party, but while there, they have the opportunity to learn about something they might just like. While the aforementioned Super Bowl party is her pièce de résistance, Talea often hosts parties with a fairly large attendance: “I’ve had five and I’ve had thirty-five. It just depends on everyone’s schedule and who I decide to invite. Sometimes I really don’t want the big group over all the time . . . so, every now and then. But there’s a pretty consistent group of about ten of us.” Likewise, Kristy and her husband, Doug, often host events in their adopted hometown in Wisconsin. No longer in the home market for either of their favorite teams, the two used football as a way to get to know their new neighbors and friends: What we have been doing is, since we moved, we have DirectTV Sunday Ticket and we would just watch all day. We’d watch the one o’clock game, we’d watch the four o’clock game, and we’d watch the Sunday night game. We would have people over and [provide food], whether it be sloppy joes or chili or a bunch of dips or whatever. We’d grill out, just have people over, and everybody have a couple drinks, and just hangout and watch the game—[that’s] pretty much game day. As we see throughout this section, football provides an important opportunity to build relationships and bonds, even while watching at home. As we emphasize in Chapter 6, the community building women experience around football should not be mistaken for mere socializing. WHY WOMEN WATCH AT HOME Among the women with whom we spoke, some had never attended a professional football game. Others had ventured to the stadium in the past, but did not regularly attend. Still others went at least once or twice a year, while another group were season ticket holders who rarely missed a home game. We were interested (and somewhat surprised) to learn how many women actively decided to not go to games, even after being occasional or regular

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attendees in the past. For some, the cost of attendance was too high. Reflecting on why her parents and family never went to games in her childhood, Becky speculated, Um, maybe money? I know that kept me because I was like, “You’re kidding me; that’s how much a ticket costs? For what?” So, maybe it was money. And maybe—I don’t know—time? Maybe it just, like, it wasn’t a normal thing to do, [pause], when you could watch at home for free. And they weren’t into the drinking aspect of it, you know, so, who cares if they’re in the midst of it all? As Becky articulated, watching the game for free at home can be just as desirable if the stadium atmosphere isn’t a draw itself. For some, going to games requires not only paying for a ticket, transportation, and food and drinks while at the stadium or tailgating; it also means finding and paying for babysitters. Once those costs are added up, they can be prohibitive. Distance can also be a deterrent, since the time costs in addition to financial costs take their toll. Donna remembers her parents having season tickets to the New Orleans Saints in her youth; now that they live over an hour away in Baton Rouge, regular attendance is too costly, so they have given them up. Kimmy also notes that the structure of season tickets—specifically the Personal Seat License fee charged by the NFL that gives fans right to buy the tickets for that seat—puts off those who would like to go more often: I just think it is a special thing to do. You don’t get to do it very often. First it’s expensive. Second, it’s hard to find the tickets. We would have season passes, if it hadn’t been for the, I can’t remember the extra fee they put on your season tickets. We would have season tickets for it. It’s just we refused to pay extra money for them. Kimmy is not alone, since several of our respondents pointed to cost as a major factor in why they do not regularly attend games. Stadium atmosphere. Other participants pointed to the stadium atmosphere as being something that puts them off going to games in person. Specifically, they cited concerns about drunkenness and violence in the stands, with the hyper-masculinity of the game spilling over to the fans. Many of these concerns were expressed by those with children, who were in the midst of a transition between their lives as single women or childless couples tailgating all day and then celebrating all night. Now, the realities of what their children should and should not be exposed to are top of mind. Kristy, a mother of twin girls, is more critical of game day behavior at the stadium than she was in the past: Sometimes I think I enjoy watching the game at home more than when I actually go to the game. . . . But sometimes there’s just a lot of really . . . there’s just a lot of people there sometimes at the game that aren’t actually interested in watching the game—[people] who

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Food, Football, and Fun  157 are just interested in becoming really drunk and rowdy. And there’s a difference between having a beer or two and having twelve. And there are some people out there who are just looking to get into a fight, and I don’t really have any interest in that. It’s nice to be able to . . . you know, I wouldn’t want to take the girls to a game at the Browns stadium outside of the family area because I don’t trust . . . you know, the Browns fans are rowdy, but NFL fans are rowdy anywhere. It’s just, I wouldn’t want to do that. I would take them to the family area, but that’s it. And we wouldn’t tailgate beforehand. We’d probably go and get something to eat, and then go to the game, and then go home. It wouldn’t be an all-day experience like it would be if I were going with a group of friends. Becky expressed similar sentiments: Um, the ones that annoy me now is just those—those guys who get belligerent drunk and swearing because there are kids there, and the ones that want to start a fight, and it’s like r-really? You know, like, you’re spilling beer all over us, like go sit down and relax and enjoy the game. But yes, you can be—there are all kinds of different fans. Amy agreed with these assessments, echoing concerns about the behavior of people who have been drinking and partying for hours before the game begins. While some focus on celebrating the game and the team, not everyone does: My reaction is that if I have kids, I would never take them to a football game, to be honest with you. Because sometimes you are around people that can be scary. They are belligerent. I’ve seen fights at games. Maybe it’s because I  am tailgating beforehand, and walk in with everybody that’s tailgating for like six hours. Usually when I go to a game, I am going with a group of people who tailgate. So we were walking in, and I am thinking to myself, “all these people are migrating into the game. They’ve all been out at the parking lot like it’s a full-time job.” While we heard these concerns from young mothers or within the context of bringing children, this certainly was not the only perspective from which women expressed an aversion to the rowdy behavior that can easily be found in stadia. Diehard Saints fan Shelly, whose children are grown, finds the stadium to be an uncomfortable place, explaining, “I  don’t like crowds so I don’t . . . I’ve attended one game. I didn’t like the Super Dome. I didn’t like the seating. I didn’t like it. That’s just me. So I’ve only attended one Saints game, NFL game. Ever.” Alice agreed: I typically watch from home. I’ve been to a few games but, you know, the NFL stadium atmosphere is, I don’t know, it’s just [laughs]. It’s just

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full of a bunch of young men mostly or older men who drink too much, swear too much. It’s cold and the game takes a really long time to actually be played. So I find it to be much more pleasurable to watch it on HD just on free TV. Donna also expressed concerns about the stadium, although hers emphasized her ability to actually see the game and engage with what is going on down on the field: “Being a really small person, and having really poor eyesight in general, at a game I feel like I would probably have really terrible seats, in my opinion, and I wouldn’t be able to see everything that I could see [on television] going on.” When she watches at home, Donna can get close-ups and replays from the television coverage, meaning she’ll be able to focus more closely on the game she loves. Interestingly, none of the women with whom we spoke considered attendance at games to be a marker of a “true” or “authentic” fan, even those who attended regularly. They all acknowledged that the financial and time costs made attendance unrealistic for many, while geography—living a substantial distance from the team you support—could make it impossible. As discussed in Chapter 4, for these female fans, being a fan is about the love of the game—enthusiasm, knowledge, passion, and commitment—not about attendance. Watching a game at home often is perceived to be as much an expression of your fandom as actually going to the game. BENEFITS TO WATCHING AT HOME Many of the benefits associated with watching at home are associated with the control that comes from being in your own home (or the home of someone close to you). For some of the women with whom we spoke, being able to modulate or moderate emotions—or, more often, not have to—is tremendously important. These women are fans, and thus often have emotional reactions to what is going on in the game. They want to cheer and yell, and they want to support their team. As Donna says, “I want to watch a game as it’s going on, and I want to feel like my cheering affects the game. I like that feeling. I like that when I’m yelling, ‘Get that guy, get that guy,’ I feel like they’re listening to me.” Talea echoes the idea that watching a game on TV is an interactive experience, explaining, “I’m definitely a very verbal and excited football watcher. I’m not one that just sits there and claps or something like that. I’m usually jumping or screaming. I’ve ran up on the TV before when they messed up, there’s actual[ly] an out-of-body experience when I’m watching the game.” Kristy agreed, laughing: “Yeah. I am yelling at the TV. I am getting excited and getting upset . . . yes, at home.” Courtney also talks about the importance of cheering during the game, especially when she is with her father. Since Courtney’s husband is not a

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football fan, she doesn’t always get the chance to watch while at her own home. So when she’s with her dad, Courtney can really let loose: We are definitely cheering. We actually talk a lot during the game. We will talk about plays, players, the coaches. We will joke about things that we see on the screen—if there’s a fan or something. We’ll be like, “That guy is funny looking.” This conversation and talk of football and understanding of football, and then there’s cheering for like “Oh, crap, guys.” My dad’s actually really vocal about football. If the Browns—let’s say the QB gets sacked. He will be like, “Where was the defensive line?” He’s definitely more vocal about it than I am. I’m more vocal when it comes to cheering, but we are cheering and happy with the Browns. We are sad about the Browns. We are bonding with each other and talking. We’re interacting and laughing. We laugh a lot. We joke a lot. That’s what makes it fun. Not only the bonding time with my dad, it’s also bonding time with whoever else is in the room because we are all talking and joking and having a good time. I think that that is what has been instilled in me—is that football is a good time. I think that’s why I enjoy it so much because every time I watch football, I have a good time. At times, they sense that others might perceive their emotional reactions as being over the top or inappropriate, and being in your own home gives you permission to express these reactions privately. Stephanie told us of various times when she was living in Washington, DC, and watched her hometown Browns lose: I once was so frustrated and upset over the Browns game that I left the living room. Once I left the house completely and went on a drive crying. I once locked myself in a bedroom. Now I look back on it. I can’t even believe that was me but yet I could see me doing that again. I was so upset with them. If you’re going to have people over, you have to continue some modicum of hostessing. I cannot predict that that’s what I will do. I can’t predict that I won’t turn off that game. So if people are there to see a game and want to finish a game and you say I’ve got to turn this off. I’m so tired of them. I’ve had it. I’m done. And that’s one of my famous lines: I’m done. And I might turn off that game. My husband will roll with it. He’ll just turn the channel. Guests aren’t going to do that. And I have literally had times where I’ve left the house or had a crying jag so bad that I’ve locked myself in the room. While Stephanie isn’t proud of these behaviors, she recognizes that this is her emotional reaction to a tough loss. Knowing this, she and her husband limit the presence of others on game days. As she says, “So my husband

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160  Food, Football, and Fun would be very reluctant to this day to invite people over for the Browns game. He would know—unlikely to finish well—who knows what shape she’ll be in at the end of the game. So it’s true. It’s not very admirable. But it’s true.” It’s not only women who have these sorts of emotional reactions that make having guests or being around others during game time a dangerous proposition. In Kimmy’s household, it’s her husband Mike’s reactions that limit their engagement with others. She reports, “There is actually a ‘nobody is allowed to come over on Sunday or (during an) Ohio State Saturday’ rule. Nobody is allowed to come over.” When asked whose rule that is, she replied, “His. I’m kind of glad though. Because he is not a nice person during the game. So I don’t want anybody to see that.” While Natalie doesn’t speak of having a “no visitors” rule during games, she does prefer to not have her husband around for viewing. Her anecdote shared earlier in this chapter about “warning” her husband that she’ll be watching television on game day was rooted in her perceptions about her own behavior, where she will “turn on the TV and watch it and try not to yell too loud.” She explains: In the proximity of my own home I’m not very reserved [laughs]. And the expletives fly and I jump up and down. [My husband] slams doors and um, so yeah I think when I’m in my own home I’m probably a lot more, probably express my enthusiasm more just because no judgment [laughs]. Or well there is judgment but he . . . um, yeah. Because she is in her own home, Natalie only has to explain her performance to her husband—she can let loose in ways she can’t other places. She offered a wonderful explanation of the difference for her between watching at home and in public: I guess if you hooked a heart monitor to me in public you would pretty much, you know, you could track that and then watch a video of me at home and it would probably match up pretty well. And as a child I guess growing up in my family, you know, we learned how to . . . keep things inside. Not because I’m trying to . . . I don’t know. With the football it’s not that I’m repressing it. I’m just in public and I don’t do that. But I mean, my pulse is racing, my face gets flush. The, physiologically it’s the same thing even though physically on the outside it’s not. But yeah, on the inside it feels exactly the same. At home, Natalie can let those emotions out and fully express what she’s feeling on the inside. When in public she must negotiate a conflict between her identity as a fan and her identity as a Chinese American woman. I guess when I was growing up—so you know culturally Chinese are taught to kind of be humble or whatever. And not just that you’re sharing

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Food, Football, and Fun  161 what you like, it’s that you were bragging or something. I always grew up being a very quiet child, quiet person. I was always very reserved and um, I guess it’s, well part of it too is I guess as far as, you know, I mean it’s outward expression at a game or something. You know, my parents were fairly, “We don’t behave like that.” So, yeah that’s, that’s definitely just who I  am inherently and how I  was raised. Definitely plays into that. It’s not because I’m ashamed or don’t want to talk to people about it. But yeah I  mean even if there’s a large group I  won’t, I  won’t say that I never, but generally I don’t because I’m also not someone if I’m in a group of people where I don’t know them very well I’ll just try to get into a conversation. So, yeah it has to be dragged out of me. Yeah, I think it’s just who I am. As Performative Sport Fandom tells us, her performances shift depending on where she is and who else is there. At home, she can amplify the Caring modes of performance that reflect how she feels as a committed, passionate fan in a way she can’t in other environments. For women whose emotions can run uncomfortably high during games, being at home also means you can easily walk away. During our field observations at Heather’s house detailed in the introduction, her Aunt Patty disappeared when the Browns were down by several touchdowns to the Tennessee Titans—a game that was expected to be an easy win. When no one knew where she was, Patty’s older sister, Marie, speculated that she had gone for a walk. “She can’t stay here when they’re losing. She can’t watch. I  bet she’s outside.” Carmel, their cousin who grew up with the sisters, chimed in. “I’m sure she’s outside. She can’t take the stress” (Field notes, October  5, 2014). Patty’s disappearing act is not unusual for our participants, several of whom noted that they would have to leave to settle their emotions during a game. This exchange between the interviewer and Shelly exemplifies this dynamic: Interviewer:  Do you get angry? Shelly:  No. I, I don’t. Interviewer:  OK. Shelly:  I’ll walk out of the room [laughs]. But anger, no. I  don’t get angry. It’s like, “[sigh]”. You know. Interviewer:  So frustration and anxiety? Shelly:  Yeah. Yeah. That’s it. And my adrenaline is just, I  mean, it’s really it’s high. It’s like “woo.” I’ve gone to the mall. I’ve left the house and just go to the mall saying “Ok. I’m going to leave” [laughs]. “Text me the score” [laughs]. You know, like that but yeah. I mean, like, oh my God I can’t really. I don’t like that. I don’t like that either. I don’t like that feeling. So I  just, move away from it. It’s just a little too much. Like yesterday was, yeah. You see what I’m saying? Woooooh. Just pull away from it. Me. That’s what I do. I’m not going

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to sit there. I’m going to get away “Oh, I’ve got to put all the clothes in the wash, go to the mall . . .” really. Have to get out. Like many of our respondents, Shelly feels the need to walk away when emotions run too high. This is something much harder to do if in the stadium. Home viewing makes it easier for some female fans to manage their emotions. Others pointed to using household chores and tasks as a way to release the emotions of watching games, including Natalie, who says, “So I have anxiety issues too and um, things are intense and I’ll start vacuuming and cleaning and the house gets very clean . . .” For these women, turning off or turning away from the game is a way to protect themselves from deep emotional reactions that can have a lingering effect once the game is over. As we explored in Chapter 3, women often do not want their emotional reactions to the game to take over their lives or leave a lasting impact. Walking away, doing something else, or turning the channel can be a way to help ensure that doesn’t happen. Taking care of household chores is not presented as an alternative only when trying to escape the pressures of the game. A number of women identified this as a primary benefit of watching at home: You can still get on with your to-do list, even while the game is on. As Amy told us, Literally, if they are doing poorly like some seasons, like last season or the season before, okay, I’d have the football in the background. I wouldn’t like watching the whole game intently. It’s definitely . . . we had a lot of seasons like that. Whereas, okay, it’s Sunday afternoon, I’ll have the game on. I’ll be cooking or doing laundry or doing stuff around the house, and it’s just on the background, I’m reading the paper. But, once it’s doing good, it’s fun to watch, cheer, and get excited. There are definitely some games and seasons I’m like, I’m not wasting any more time watching the stinky team. Because it takes my whole afternoon, and they suck. Similarly to Amy, Katlyn will take advantage of watching at home to decide whether or not she wants to pay exclusive attention, depending on what is going on. When asked to talk about what she does during the game, she replied, “Maybe helping my mom with dinner or cleaning or putting the dishes away. We have an open kitchen. So you can see the TV from there.” She then explained she pays close attention “when it’s close or we score first. Then I’m like okay, there’s hope. I  usually like to watch the end of the game just to see what they’re doing—how it’s finishing out.” For Alice, whose six-year-old son does not like football, she often feels like she’s missing out on time with him when she watches the games. She will turn it on and attempt to perform both roles simultaneously, but they often conflict: Occasionally I do shut it off and I’m like, “All right, forget it,” let me go do something fun with my son. But um, often we’re, you know, I’m

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trying to play with him and have the Browns on in the background and he, you know, is always telling me “Mommy, don’t yell at the TV!” and “Mommy, you’re being too loud!” He hates the Browns. These participants’ experiences reflect those of a number of our respondents, including Carmel. When describing the family watching together, she told us, “When we’re all together, we may watch the first half, and then we drift away if they’re not winning. If they’re winning, we watch the whole game.” As these examples show us, fans watching at home often don’t feel obligated to maintain complete focus on the game if it stops being entertaining. If the game is going well, they’ll choose to tune in and give it their full attention. If their teams are less successful, however, they can keep the game on in the background while completing other tasks. This allows women to maintain the baseline knowledge they need to perform as competent, informed fans, while also being able to perform other roles associated with the home (homemaker, daughter, etc.). Some might read such multitasking as a mark of a less devoted fan. The women with whom we spoke see it as good time management, something we discuss at length in Chapter 3. Related to the importance of watching the game to inform the Knowing mode of fandom, other women reported that they preferred watching at home because it allowed them to focus on the game itself, rather than being distracted by the stadium or other fans. As Jamie told us, “I don’t love going [out to watch games]. I mean I have gone to sports bars to watch and I just can’t do that. That’s too A.D.D. for me. I just need to watch a game and be invested. It’s too hard for me to watch 16 games going on at a time. It’s just too much for me.” For Jamie and other fans, being able to watch the game—to see what plays are happening, hear what calls the referees are making, and listen to professionals provide play-by-play analysis and color commentary—is the benefit of watching at home. This is particularly true for women interested in learning more about the rules and strategies of the game: They can tap into the knowledge of skilled experts to help contextualize the game and provide information. This also allows women to see the action on the field in a way that lets them act as expert and analyst. Donna quite clearly believed this to be a benefit, stating, “I get to focus completely on TV, and I like the vantage point I get from TV.” Rather than not being able to see much as a short person in the cheap seats at the top of the stadium, Donna can see the details in the game she loves. RITUALS AND ROUTINES ON GAME DAYS Watching from home does not mean women automatically check out until the game begins. Often, women bring their own rituals and routines to game days, wearing team-based clothes and preparing certain foods to help mark game days as events.

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164  Food, Football, and Fun Dressed for success. Women reported that they often dress the part while watching at home, even if by themselves, wearing team clothes and colors as a physical representation of their loyalty. Heather was not the only person wearing brown and orange during the field observation detailed at the beginning of this chapter; most of the people in attendance were in full Browns wear to watch the team at home, and this held true across all of our in-home field observations. Wardrobing can be an essential part of performing as a fan, providing an instantaneous visual link between the team and the fan. As Talea commented, “I would say if you’re really a fan, it is important to have something just because it affects the game day experience, I mean what’s a game day experience if you don’t have a piece of gear you can throw on real quick.” Shelly agreed, noting: You know, I’m still, um, wearing my t-shirt on Sundays. Oh I forgot to say that. Yeah. Oh yeah. I put on my t-shirt. I’m black and gold most of the weekend. You know what I’m saying? Let me just say that. I mean, I’m the one that, you know, loves the Saints and everybody knows it. Because she’s wearing black and gold, people around know she is a Saints fan. Again, watching at home often means women are engaging in other performative roles associated with home life, including shopping and running errands. Wearing the colors and insignia for your team lets others know for whom you will be rooting, and creates a shared experience with other fans on game day. That said, women tend to focus on clothing that is appropriate and comfortable to wear. Diane, for example, has an entire section of her closet dedicated to Browns wear: “A  fifth of my closet, of all my clothes, a fifth of it is Browns clothes: sweatshirts, hoodies, t-shirts, pants, jackets, coats.” While Diane wants to look good, she isn’t opting for clothes that will be cute but are not seasonally appropriate—she wants to be comfortable. Diane is not alone in this preference. While game days at stadia are celebrated for costumes with character—tutus, dog masks, etc.—the women with whom we spoke indicate they opt for comfort over style statements. As Kimmy said, “I have a few t-shirts. I have a sweatshirt. I think that’s it. My brother bought us cool hats that you can wear. But we don’t usually wear that, because it’s too hot to wear in the house.” If it doesn’t work in the house for comfort, it probably won’t be worn. The idea of comfort over style is reflected by several of the women with whom we spoke. They want to look like fans, but they don’t necessarily feel the need to get dolled up to watch at home the same way they would if they were attending the game in person or heading to a sports bar. Donna, for example, told us: Well one, when you have to go to a game you actually . . . I mean, you don’t have to look decent, [but] you kind of do have to get yourself dressed up enough where you can go out in public. I have my ritual where I put on everything, but I don’t put on makeup because I don’t

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really wear makeup in general. I don’t do my hair, I don’t wear shoes, I just go barefoot and walk around the house. I don’t have to go outside the house. While fandom literature and popular culture often reference clothing rituals and routines in terms of dogmatic compliance with wearing the same clothes or socks in order to not “jinx” the team, we heard some of that but not a lot from our respondents. Wearing their team’s merchandise was part of the game day ritual, but for most it did not have to be the same item over and over. Most women had a range of clothes that would fit the bill, and they would select their attire based on a variety of factors: weather, what else they were doing that day, and what was clean. The importance was associated with a visual alignment with their team, rather than a superstitious resistance to changing or washing a pair of socks. This wasn’t true for all of our participants, however. In the previous chapter, we heard Jamie, for example, laugh as she described her rituals for watching Saints games. “Mine is all attire and where I am. I mean I wanted to be—if I wear a shirt and they lose, I try not to wear it again. . . . Football, I do that. I did wear my jersey for all the playoff games and the Super Bowl.” Jamie wasn’t alone in her belief that she can impact the team’s play. The members of our focus group, many of whom were family, reminisced about watching games together as younger adults. Carmel described their experiences as such: I remember when we got older, my cousins, everybody, on a Sunday, would take turns hosting the Browns games. We would all get together and go to each other’s homes and watch the games there. It was funny. We were very superstitious. If they scored, and you were out of the room, you weren’t allowed back into the room, because we wanted them to score again. While fans recognize that what they do and say will have little actual impact on the game, these superstitions provide a way for them to feel a little bit more in control—and, often, to have a good laugh with their friends and families. Game day food. Food also plays an important role in watching at home. Sharing a meal often is considered part and parcel of the game day experience while watching at home. For the season-ticket-holders in our focus group, they continue to watch as a group. As Heather says, “We always watch away games together. We always have a Sunday dinner at somebody’s house, and we’ll watch the game together. The whole family. The majority of us are family.” Even if it wasn’t a complex meal, women often indicated they tried to do something that was particular to the game day experience. Kimmy, for example, explained how her family approaches food on game days, even though no one else could come:

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166  Food, Football, and Fun Kimmy:  Yeah. It’s not special, but it always something. We always making something or doing something for the game. Interviewer:  Like what? Kimmy:  Sometimes we make big nachos or chili. The list can go on. Beef stew, who knows. Whatever that it feels like that day, depends on the weather, too. Interviewer:  Is this the kind of stuff you making whether it is not a game day? Kimmy:  No, not the nachos, definitely not. As she explained, nachos aren’t part of Kimmy’s everyday menu because they don’t offer much in the way of nutritional value. But on game days, they make sense—it’s football food. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a common set of foods emerged as being game day constants across the women with whom we spoke: nachos, hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza all play a prominent role in at-home menus, no matter where they live or how old they are. In addition to the staples, regional differences emerged. In the northeast, we often saw chili, spaghetti, and chicken wings served at football gatherings. In Louisiana, a state known for its food, jambalaya and gumbo were near-requirements for game day viewing at home. As Kimmy stated above, the decision often is made on the fly, since these are all fairly easy to make (or order for delivery). Talea echoes this for her parties; even though she’s cooking for a bigger group, many of the same foods are included in her short list. When asked if she has the same foods for all of the various football watching parties she hosts, Talea replied: I try not to, but I do know that there’s certain things that you can never go wrong with, and that’s having some chicken wings, having spaghetti, and having chips and dip . . . that can never go wrong. If I don’t feel like being creative, by all means, that’s my go to, but also because it’s Sunday, every now and then I will try to cook a home cooked Sunday dinner too. But, again, if I don’t feel like it, wings and spaghetti and a veggie tray are just fine with me. As these data indicate, it’s not the difficulty or complexity of the meal prepared that creates the special football atmosphere fans enjoy; instead, it’s the recognition that you are engaging in football traditions that are part of the routine. These foods allow women to deftly manage the intersection of what could be competing performances: homemaker/mother/hostess and football fan. You can provide an event-appropriate meal for your spouse, partner, children, family, or guests, yet most of these can either be ordered in or easily prepped ahead of time. Rather than having to leave the game to make food, you can put it on the table and sit down to enjoy your team.

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For some, the routines of getting the food prepped and ready are an essential part of their game day experience. Party planner extraordinare Talea uses that time to prepare her home for the event and herself for the game: Well, typically, once [I] get the game going, before everybody comes over, I like to just listen to all of the commentating in the beginning [when] they talk about everything before the game happens. That’s usually my time when I’m cooking, or straightening up, or getting some last minute things together, laying things out, and I  guess it’s kind of like my time to compress before everybody gets there. Most people get there right at kickoff or shortly after, but I guess that’s like my personal prep. I especially love the days when it’s like early fall, so not when it’s summer-fall, but like actual fall weather and you can kind of open up a window, it’s kind of hopeful/ nostalgic, I  always say you can smell football in the air, you can smell when the season is coming. Definitely those are the moments that are the best before everybody gets there and the hustle and bustle begins. This experience holds true for a number of women, who use the pre-game prep time to turn on the television and start getting ready for the game to come. MEDIA USAGE WHILE WATCHING AT HOME As indicated above, most of the women with whom we spoke would turn on the television to watch and listen to pregame coverage. This provides an important opportunity for them to hear analysis and predictions from experts, fine-tuning their own knowledge going into the game—an essential element of fandom. For some, this starts at the very beginning of their day, including Donna: “In the morning when I’m getting ready, I  watch NFL AM, the new show on NFL Network. Generally when I’m home and I have nothing recorded to watch, or I heard of they have something interesting, I’ll watch NFL Total Access—I watch the NFL a lot.” Other women will tune in closer to game time, particularly those in home markets where coverage will focus on their team’s match up. Women report they typically will stay tuned to the same channel throughout the game (barring disastrous results that require some to walk away or tune out). Often, they will keep the same channel on to watch the game that comes on next. For women who live out-of-market for their preferred team, they usually are watching just to watch the sport, keeping an eye out for scoring updates during the game. Smartphone and tablet apps. Women who live both in- and out-ofmarket report using apps on their smartphones and tablets to stay abreast of scores, plays, and players. ESPN and NFL apps both were frequently cited

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by women as their go-to resources on game days. This is a useful tool for women whose partners are not fans of the game, as Courtney described: A typical game day . . . My husband doesn’t really like watching football. He and I will be in the living room watching TV or doing things, and I’ll be like, “Oh crap, I want to check the scores on the game.” I will check them on my phone. If the game is getting really close or good or whatever, I will turn on the TV. He will go find something else to do, which is funny. I will usually end up watching [the game] while I’m reading or doing things like that. Football is not necessarily always on the TV here. It’s more so that I’m always checking the scores on my phone and doing that kind of thing. Sometimes we will go out to eat on a Sunday night, and the game will be on. He will interact with me when that’s the case, and we will talk about the game and stuff like that. That’s pretty much a typical Sunday. Sometimes we do the typical pizza and watch the game, but for the most part I’m just checking on my phone because I don’t want to put the football game on since he’s not really a big fan of football. Rather than forcing her husband to watch games he doesn’t care about—especially if her team isn’t any good—Courtney can use her phone to track what is happening. If the game merits it, she’ll turn it on. If not, she can see key plays, keep track of possessions, downs, and yardage, and watch the live feed, all through the NFL app on her phone. This also allows her to track the performance of her favorite player, Peyton Manning: I have an NFL app, and it’s all kind of on there. There’s a section where I can physically check the scores and see whatever the times of games are. I have my NFL app set to Browns. So the Browns are my, quote unquote, team. When I go to that app, the first thing—I click on scores, the first thing I  see is the Browns’ score—whether the game is over, whether the game has started, whether the game is in the middle the game. I will click over there to see how the Browns are doing, and then I’ll scroll through the scores to kinda see who in the AFC North is doing good, who is losing. Then I will also check how the Broncos are doing if the Broncos are playing. I’ll also watch clips. They have clips on there. If you click on that specific game—let’s say it’s Browns versus Bengals. You can click on that game, and you can see who has possession, who did the last play, that kind of thing. I will check on that, and then you can also watch the live feed. I don’t usually watch the live feeds on my phone unless they are in the red zone. It will pop up and say that the Browns are in the red zone. It will pop up a live feed, and I will watch them in the red zone. You can also listen to it over the radio, which is what I  normally do for the Broncos games because the Broncos games are never on TV. When the Broncos are playing, I will listen to it on the radio on my

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Food, Football, and Fun  169 phone for a little bit here and there—just a kind of hear how the scores going and how Peyton Manning is doing and all that kind of stuff. I guess I kind of use it for everything. The majority I  use it for checking scores and checking wins and losses. My friend will be like, “How are the Ravens doing?” I’m like, “Let me check. They are three and three or whatever.” I use it majority for scores on Sundays and checking wins and losses. I also watch the clips in the red zone. I listen to it on the radio. I kind of do everything. Former Clevelander Kristy is particularly effusive about the importance of apps for helping her follow the Browns on game day. She talks about when she started to really follow football on her phone: I think that happened when I [moved out of] Cleveland. I have to seek it out. I have an app on my phone tells me what’s happening. I read the report. So anything that happens, I got a little blurb from my phone about it. If I want to read more, I will, and I’ll forget it if I don’t. Talea describes this as making sure football is “integrated into my life,” commenting, “I have apps on my iPad, and an app on my phone so if I can’t watch the game because I’m at work or something, I’m a least getting updates. I subscribe to all those type of things.” For all of these women, NFL and ESPN apps on their phones allow them to stay involved in the games they can’t watch live, whether because they are being considerate to others, live out-of-market, or have to work. These apps allow them to continue maintaining their knowledge about the team, reinforcing their expertise as fans. As Talea said, football can be integrated into their lives, rather than having to have their lives revolve around football. Other women talk about using Twitter and Facebook to engage with their teams on game days and beyond. When talking about how she doesn’t use the Browns app because it won’t work in the stadium, Heather clarified that it wasn’t a rejection of the team: “But I definitely follow the Browns on Twitter. I follow couple of players on Twitter and the organization itself.” When asked why, she replied, “I just like seeing it. I like hearing and feeling, and hear what they have to say, some of the players and the coaches.” This sentiment was reflected among other women as well. Talea follows her team, the Cincinnati Bengals, on Twitter, explaining how useful it is as a tool while watching the game: Because they give the better updates. One, you can know what’s going on right away, but then two, it’s easier to retweet what they have going on. Like when something good happens. I love watching the game live, and being on twitter live so that when something good happens, it’s just easy. Retweet it. Put something out there, tweet them so they can tweet me and I can feel special . . . whatever.

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170  Food, Football, and Fun Katlyn echoes Talea’s thoughts on being able to easily receive and share content via Twitter during games, noting, “I’m following Twitter feeds of the NFL and stuff like that. If I see an article that catches my eye, I’ll open or tweet it or something like that.” Via social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, relevant and interesting information comes directly to the fans, making it easy to share with others in celebration or commiseration. This allows fans to meaningfully engage, even while watching at home. Interestingly, women rarely report going online via their computers during games. While television, smartphones, and, for some, tablets are primary ways of engaging with their teams, whether via football- or sport-specific apps or social media, few women reported using their desktops or laptops to check stats or scores. Women most frequently talked about using their computers during the rest of the week to read commentary and post-game coverage through sites like ESPN.com or Bleacher Report. Very few went to team sites on a regular basis for anything other than checking schedules; none went into message boards, a phenomenon discussed elsewhere in this book. Representations of women on TV. Since television is a primary medium for almost all of the women with whom we spoke, we asked about their perceptions of how women are represented during game coverage. Feedback was mixed. Some felt the NFL did a good job of finding women in the stands who were familiar. Elizabeth, for example, has this to say: A lot of the time, I see that they do a good job of just finding women who were just in with all their friends, mixed group guys and girls cheering for a team but sometimes they’re, a woman who’s crying in her pink jersey, which I think is always funny. They also hone in obviously on the wife of the quarterback or something. I can remember those a lot but most of the time, it’s just either old ladies probably gone to the games for years or it’s like people my age, 20s, 30s, just cheering along with the guys. Talea shares this point of view, adding her recognition that they are looking for people who will make ‘good TV’: Yeah. I think they do a good job of kind of showing a little bit of everybody, but I have seen people I can relate to. They do show more of the fanatics, I mean, it is TV so they have to keep that in mind, but I will say, you can always find a fan in the stands who you can relate to. Others were more critical of how women are represented within the context of the NFL. Kristy believes “Oh, it’s awful. . . . Well, everything— reporters, in the stands, everything.” She gives the following example to illustrate the difficulties experienced by women who are NFL reporters: Let’s start with reporters. I think there’s a big double standard, I think that guys want someone pretty to look at, but they don’t necessarily

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want them to know what they’re talking about, and are surprised when they do know what they’re talking about. . . . When they send Rachel Nichols to Brett Favre’s front yard for three seasons . . . wondering if he’s going to come back or play or not, that just seemed a little gimmicky. If they would have sent a male reporter to do that, it wouldn’t have been the same. I want them to be treated equally, although, I know that they won’t be. She continues: Men, for example, the “Sunday Morning Countdown” on ESPN hired Ray Lewis and they don’t have any women on any of the countdown shows on any of the major networks. The NFL Network doesn’t even have any female sideline reporters for any of their games, or commentators. ESPN occasionally does, Fox has Pam Oliver, and NBC has Andrea Kremer, but that’s pretty much . . . they’re just on the sidelines, they never . . . as far as I know there’s never been a female color commentator or broadcaster doing an NFL game. They’re just on the sidelines and that’s only been with the last couple of years. They’re just on the sidelines doing puff pieces—interviewing the coach as he goes in for half time or interviewing the coach after the game, or talking to a player who won MVP. They aren’t doing anything great, they’re just kind of there and they aren’t viewed upon as having any real knowledge of the game. It’s just kind of, “Hey, they’re there, they’re pretty.” The women in our focus group tended to be critical of the women working football games on TV: Heather:  My problem is that all the women commentators are literally this big with all the fake little hair. Joyce:  Because the men are watching them . . . Heather:  It is, and I hate the fact that that’s what they have. Carmel:  It’s for the men. Patty:  That’s why I  don’t like them. I  find it hard to believe that they’re fans. This last point from Patty—that it is hard to believe that they’re fans—reflects one of the criticisms often levied against women who work as NFL broadcasters. Their looks—thin, pretty, feminine—lead to questions about their authenticity both as fans and as sports journalists. All women experience this challenge (as explored in Chapter  4). Spectators question them in terms of both modes of fandom, Knowing and Caring. Instead of conferring the same level of legitimacy automatically given to men working in broadcast, regardless of whether or not they played or coached at a high level, women in this industry have to prove their legitimacy—and their looks and appearances make that all the more difficult.

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MULTIPLE PERFORMANCES: CONTEXTUAL, RELATIONAL, AND NEGOTIABLE Performing as a football fan when watching at home on Sundays (or any other game day) does not negate or supplant the other performances required in the context of “home.” In other words, women can’t stop being mothers, wives, partners, and daughters because a football game is on. Instead, they have to negotiate these performances in relation to who is there and what else is going on. We’ve seen examples of this throughout this chapter of women finding ways to have these various performances compliment each other on game days, whether by providing food that still provides for game engagement or using media that will allow her to follow the game without forcing non-fans to watch. This does not mean the roles are without tensions, however. Natalie, who doesn’t have children, joked about how her fandom would translate to parenting: Oh, um, well sometimes I think, when I kind of think about myself when my team is losing, I think I probably have very poor parenting skills [laughs]. Um, and it’s stupid. You know, I start yelling at the television and um, I don’t know, I might try to um, tell [the players] what to do even though they can’t hear me. Uh, usually there’s a lot of cursing at the TV. I just get upset and I’ll yell or whatever. Natalie is articulating a conflict we witnessed many mothers experience. They want to model good behavior for her children, but also want to engage in behavior that would be typical for a passionate football fan. For a female fan in this position, she is attempting to negotiate her performance based on the context (watching at home) and in relation to the others present (her children), her performance can become internally contested or problematic. These dynamics mean performances change throughout the game/ day. Fan performances at the height of excitement—telling your child to wait for the play to be over before you get her drink so you can see what happens—may be different later in the game, when your team is clearly going to lose or you are riding the wave of goodwill following an excellent quarter. Likewise, hosting duties before the game begins—when friends and family are coming over for your watching party—trumps watching the pregame analysis, even if that’s something you would normally do while watching at home alone. You can try to do both, using the pregame time to ready yourself for the game as Talea does, but often that does not work. Being a host requires preparing your home for others, and that may transcend your normal game day routines. In the previous chapter we discussed at length how stadium viewing can offer women an opportunity to cut loose and engage in rowdy, often aggressive, fan behavior. We saw this particularly in the performance of

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Figure 8.1  Women negotiating between their roles as both Saints fans and mothers on Super Bowl Sunday, February 8, 2010. Photo taken by Anne C. Osborne.

Julie, a Saints fan who drunkenly taunted a Patriots fan during a big game. Super Bowl Sunday in 2010 also offers a point of contrast, and underscores how traditional gender roles tend to kick in when viewing at home. (See Figure 8.1.) As has been the tradition for all away games throughout the season, members of the Gang gather at Julie and Randy’s house in suburban New Orleans to watch and cheer their team. By south Louisiana standards it’s a chilly evening as the sun goes down. Nonetheless, as the game begins, two-thirds of the guests huddle around the 42-inch, flat screen television setup outside under the carport. Most stand while a few sit in plastic lawn chairs. The other third of the guests watch from the comfort of couches and chairs arranged in the warm, spacious living room, which is anchored by an enormous television that fills a bay window. Almost everyone watching the game inside is female. Most of the fans outside are men. Julie appears nervous and excited. The boisterous behavior of the Monday Night Football game [discussed in the previous chapter] has been replaced, however, by determined multitasking as she prepares food, welcomes and directs guests, and, first and foremost, attends to her eight-month-old son. The floor of the living room is strewn with baby toys. A baby bouncing seat sits on one side of the room; to the other side is an automatic rocking cradle. These women are informed and devoted fans, but tonight they, even those who are not parents themselves, are also the primary caregivers to the two infants, two toddlers, and one five-year-old in the house. (Field notes, February 8, 2010)

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174  Food, Football, and Fun Stereotypical gender performances were commonly presented in our findings, providing an important reminder that fan performances are not and cannot be considered separately from other performances. For example, Stephanie talked about the responsibility many women have for providing food for game days, noting “the women are really driving the decisions and the decisions on what to consume.” This is not seen as an either/or, nor do women tend to problematize the tensions between and among various performances at play on game days. Perhaps because the negotiation of multiple roles is commonplace, being a woman fan is not considered antithetical to or in opposition to other performances in which they engage on game days or other days. CONCLUSION Women adapt as needed to continue performing as fans within the context of their lives, whether by using media to help accelerate their learning or deepen their knowledge about the sport or by turning off the television to better manage the emotions that can take over their lives and negatively impact other performances. It is important to note that this finding likely would have been different ten or twenty years ago, when women certainly were less commonly acknowledged or recognized and likely were less commonly found within NFL fandom. As the range of acceptable performances for women has grown in recent decades, socially recognized and acceptable fan performances have grown as well. Women consider watching at home to be an important part of their fan experience. Whether it’s because tickets are too expensive, the stadia are too far, or they just don’t like going to games, women don’t consider staying home to watch the game antithetical to “authentic” fandom; indeed, for some this is a better way to experience fandom since they can watch more closely and be more cognitively involved with the game itself while also more effectively expressing and/or managing their emotional reactions to the game. Even while watching at home, women continue to engage in the rituals and routines that are part and parcel of fandom, including wearing their team’s colors and offering traditional football foods for those in attendance to enjoy. In the next chapter, we will examine the NFL’s representation of women through advertising campaigns. Notably, one of the campaigns talks about “homegating,” exploring the NFL’s efforts to help women better prepare for football watching parties at home. None of the women with whom we spoke used a phrase anything like “homegating” to describe their Sunday experiences, even those who host events and provide relevant food and drink on appropriately colored plates and napkins. For the women with whom we spoke, game days at home often are about relaxing and enjoying the game they love with the people they love. Food and clothing are a way

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to connect with others and celebrate their team, but as of yet, they are not in the market for special recipes or party planning tips from the NFL. Instead, they look for comfortable clothes and comfort foods to mark the day. Their clothes and parties—the food, fashion, and fun—is about the football: fundamentally, they are watching as fans, invested in both Knowing and Caring about their teams and their sport.

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9 Who Do You Think You’re Talking To: NFL Representations of Women

Throughout our research, we asked women to talk about the NFL’s efforts to target them. Women’s first reactions were universally positive. They appreciate the NFL’s recognition that women love football. Shelly said, “I’m glad that they did [decide women are an audience] because we are.” Natalie echoed her sentiment saying, “It makes sense. It should have been done a long time ago.” Jamie commented, “I think the NFL especially has done a great job of marketing toward women. I think they’ve finally figured out that we’re a whole 50 percent of the population that they were kind of writing off.” With further reflection, however, the women often turned to aspects of the NFL’s marketing and programming that they found problematic. In particular, the women we interviewed felt the NFL failed to appreciate the depth of their fandom. The idea that women would be attracted to the sport by cute clothes and flashy jewelry or recipes and party-planning tips is insulting to women who consider themselves devoted fans. Natalie explained: But I think at the end of the day, though, if you’re really . . . football has been around for a really long time; the NFL’s been around for a really long time, so if you have female fans, they probably would have been there. I  don’t think [the NFL is] doing anything that, at least I  can’t tell that they’re doing anything that, for a woman who’s never, or who rarely watches football would say, “My god, this is . . .” You know a pink jersey isn’t going to suddenly . . . I don’t know maybe a pink jersey will make somebody want to follow the NFL more, but just because you have more female sportscasters. . . . I don’t think what they’re doing is either effective, or, I  don’t know, it’s also based on the assumption that women aren’t fans to some extent. And if they’re not fans I don’t know what [the NFL] is doing that they’re suddenly going to become fans. To become a football fan you need much more than pink jerseys and some female sportscasters. What it is I don’t know. Interviewer: What about breast cancer awareness month? I think it’s gimmicky. And I think it’s a little insulting too because it just . . . So, okay, this is one thing too, when I was younger along with the football players there were the cheerleaders. The way TV was you

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  177 always saw the cheerleaders in their little outfits. Even when you go to sports games, when you go to games themselves they want to showcase their cheerleaders and they are very attractive women. So you know, you establish the tradition that women and football, women’s association with football is we’re the cheerleaders and the pretty blonde or brunette, the perky types so [exasperated sigh]. I guess I appreciate the effort but I guess part of me just doesn’t understand. I don’t feel like they understand women. None of it seems to make any sense to me I guess. In some senses it’s kind of the stereotypical thing. I mean you start letting women play football, put a woman on an NFL team, that’s a different story. I  think that would generate female fans. Everything else just seems kind of superficial.  .  .  . I  don’t necessarily go buy my yogurt because they’re going to donate to breast cancer. At the end of the day, I have to like that yogurt. I’m not going to buy horrible tasting yogurt for that. Shelly expressed similar, albeit less critical concerns: It’s a good thing but even without the, whatever, the advertisements or gearing it toward us, we were fans anyway. It’s just an add-on for me. You know, it’s like, that’s good but I’m a fan anyway, you know what I mean. The shoes, and the everything, the jewelry and everything, it’s good but I’m just a fan anyway. That’s my thought. Someone else might have a different thought. Throughout our research, women commented on facets of football experience beyond just the game, including but not limited to the telecasts, that were “not there for them.” In particular, women talked about attractive female sportscasters, cheerleaders, and advertising featuring “bimbos” as aspects of the overall fan experience that made them uncomfortable as participants. Jamie commented, for example: “Now if we could only get rid of the skimpy cheerleading outfit. [laughing] I’m just kidding. . . . I just think they’re kind of ridiculous. I don’t need to see all that of a person. I don’t really want to see all of that of anybody, to be honest, let alone when I’m watching a football game.” Women fans are engaged in a push-pull relationship with the NFL. They are glad for clothing that fits; sponsorships such as breast cancer awareness month, which resonates with many of them personally; and marketing that acknowledges their existence. Nonetheless, women fans feel the NFL often misses the mark. Asked if the NFL was doing a good job reaching them, the women in our focus groups said: Several together:  No, not at all. Heather:  I don’t want to use the stereotype of bimbo but they’re showing the blonde hair, skinny lady with her little jersey on. She’s like [in a cutesy voice], “Oh, here I am at the game.”

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178  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To Diane:  And they’re trying to change the teams’ colors. The Browns are brown and orange. They’re not pink. [General agreement from the other women.] Carmel:  Their women’s clothing is pink. They have pink jerseys, pink little shirts that have Browns on it. Diane:  That’s not right. Heather:  [Dismissively] I  mean, that’s for breast awareness, but all the sports, they’ll have the women’s jersey in pink. Yeah, I’m sorry, the Browns are brown and orange. Don’t change it. Joyce:  I’ve yet to go into a store and see a nice jacket for females that says Browns on the back. Carmel:  Plus, when they market for women, they only market in very petite sizes. They don’t market for all sized women. Heather:  You never see a large or an extra large. Carmel:  Or a plus size. You have to go into the men’s. Joyce:  They don’t market to us. They’re targeting the young person who wears a size 0. Diane:  And with the v-neck down to here, that kind of thing. Carmel:  That’s about this big [holding fingers close together]. It is clear from our data that the NFL has left room for improvement in how it communicates with its women fans. To better understand the criticisms we heard voiced by our participants, we decided to add to our ethnographic data. In this chapter, we examine how the NFL constructs representations of female NFL fans through its advertising. We chose to focus on the league’s advertising because ads are carefully constructed messages with a particular target audience in mind. As such, ads offer the greatest insight into how the NFL views its women fans. We narrowed our focus even further by looking specifically at NFL women’s apparel ads. Advertising also plays an important role in constructing our social realities. Advertising can provide scripts for particular identity performances and, as such, can act as a tool for women to better understand how they are expected to perform their roles as fans of the NFL. In the following section, we first provide a brief overview of research on how advertising both reflects and constructs gender identity for women. SYMBOLIC ANNIHILATION OF WOMEN We now have over three decades of research that suggests that the media, at best, tend to underrepresent women and, at worst, feed a culture of objectification of and violence toward women. Early research on women’s relationship to media focused on the absence of women, explaining that “representation in the fictional world signifies social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation” (Gerbner & Gross, 1976, p. 182). In other

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  179 words, media signal which groups of people are valuable; failure to exist within mediated representations means failure to exist within the power dynamics of society. Tuchman (1978; 1979) later expanded on the concept by differentiating three levels of symbolic annihilation: omission, trivialization, and condemnation. In doing so, Tuchman drew attention to the quality as well as the quantity of media portrayals. Mere visibility is not enough, particularly if the representations that media offer portray women in a demeaning or damaging manner. According to Tuchman, even though women have achieved visibility, media continue to symbolically destroy them by presenting women in trivial and derogatory roles. Media, for example, condemn single women and women who work outside the home (Tuchman, 1978, p. 13). “Others are trivialized: they are symbolized as child-like adornments who need to be protected or they are dismissed to the protective confines of the home” (Tuchman, 1978, p. 8). One of the earliest analyses of women in advertising, Goffman’s (1979) Gender in Advertisements, found the same dynamic. Goffman (1979) concluded that advertising largely portrayed women as childlike in their dependence on men. In the past, ads have reinforced gender roles for women as housewives and caregivers, and furthered their inferior status by positioning women below men, quite literally at times on the floor. Goffman (1979) was one of the first to advance the idea that advertisements can be read as symbolic representations of social norms and structures. As such, advertising reflects but also perpetuates social dynamics. In other words, advertising often provides cues or scripts for how groups should perform within society. Our textual analysis looks at the signs within the ads produced by the NFL and targeted to women and asks what these ads can tell us about the roles of female fans in relation to male fans and in relation to professional football as an institution. Though the work by Tuchman and Goffman is now nearly 40 years old, it is worth discussing insofar as it laid the foundation for more current research that shows little has changed. ADVERTISING AND OBJECTIFICATION More recent research has shown how advertising has shifted from representing women in subservient roles to showing highly sexualized images (Ferguson, Kreshel, & Tinkham, 1990; Stankiewicz & Rosselli, 2008). Over time, sexualized images of women in advertising have increased (Soley & Kurzbard, 1986; Reichert, 2003; Reichert  & Lambiase, 2014), making sexualized representations the well-accepted alternative to the wholesome housewife of the 1950s. “The sex object is a mannequin, a shell. Conventional beauty is her only attribute. She has no lines or wrinkles (which would indicate she had the bad taste and poor judgment to grow older), no scars or blemishes—indeed, she has no pores. She is thin, generally tall and long-legged, and, above all, she is young” (Kilbourne, 1990). Such

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180  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To portrayals of women are doubly problematic. First, sexualized images in advertising create impossible standards of perfection and beauty, toward which women nonetheless strive. More over, the reduction of women to mannequins means that they can be treated as utilitarian objects rather than autonomous individuals. The objectification of women formed the cornerstone of early studies of gender and advertising and remains a central tenet of feminist criticisms of advertising today. Critics contend that dehumanizing images of women create a culture in which violence toward women is expected and acceptable. “Ads don’t directly cause violence . . . [but] objectification and disconnection create a climate in which there is widespread and increasing violence. Turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person” (Kilbourne, 1999, p. 278). Though much of the early criticism of gender portrayals in advertising came from feminist scholars, a schism within the feminist movement may have set the stage for more subtle yet still problematic forms of advertising. During the 1980s, female sexuality, how it should be considered, and when and how it should be employed became heated debates among feminists. The feminist pornography wars of the late 1970s and 1980s positioned anti-pornography feminists against sex-positive feminists who felt that the feminist movement had become as oppressive as the patriarchal structures that the movement sought to challenge. This group eschewed the idea that pornography and sex work are necessarily exploitive (Levy, 2006, pp. 62–63). Third wave feminism, born in part out of this ideological divide1, embraced female sexuality as a means of free expression and stressed the need to avoid demonizing or patronizing the women who work in sex industries and any other woman who embraces and freely expresses her sexuality. Since then, marketers have adopted the rhetoric of third wave feminism to create advertising that sells products to women in the guise of their liberation. According to some recent feminist authors (Gill, 2009; Goldman  & Smith, 1991; Levy, 2006), these new forms of marketing—termed commodity feminism and midriff advertising—continue to limit women’s power to two roles: consumer or sexual object. Commodity feminism is advertising that preaches female advancement and equality. Whereas earlier advertising showed women as passive, childlike receivers of the male gaze, these ads feature women working, owning their sexuality, and striving for success. The means by which they advance, however, is through the accumulation of products. “Commodity feminism declares that control and ownership over one’s body/face/self, accomplished through the right acquisitions, can maximize one’s value at both work and home” (Goldman, Heath,  & Smith, 1991, p.  349). In the process, these advertisements depoliticize feminism, turning it into just one more tool in the marketers’ arsenal. As a result, the only empowerment women achieve is the power to shop, the power to define themselves through the accumulation of the right stuff.

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  181 A subset of commodity feminism is called “midriff advertising” because of its focus on the area of women’s bodies below the ribcage and just above the pubic bone (Gill, 2008; 2009). “Midriff advertising has four central themes: an emphasis upon the body, a shift from objectification to sexual subjectification, a pronounced discourse of choice and autonomy, and an emphasis upon empowerment” (Gill, 2008, pp.  12–13). It is the change from objectification—the passive and unempowered object of sexual fantasy and desire—to subjectification—voluntarily placing one’s value in in the ability to appeal to men—that makes midriff advertising most troubling. The “discourse of playfulness, freedom, and, above all, choice” (Gill, 2008, p. 14) suggests that women have escaped the male gaze and are able to seek pleasure for themselves on their own terms. As with commodity feminism, advertisers want us to view midriff advertising as the fulfillment of feminist ideals; they position these ads as instruments of female liberation rather than objectification. Gill (2008), for example, points to a bra advertisement with the slogan “wear it for yourself” as well as another with copy that reads “if he’s late you can always start without him” as examples of subjectification. While the copy of the ads conveys one message, the imagery mirrors that found in pornographic magazines targeted toward heterosexual men. As a result, a woman’s value continues to exist only in her sexual appeal. It does not matter that the woman is an active subject, rather than a passive object in these ads, because her actions are still defined by the male fantasy. “Sexual subjectification, then, is a highly specific and exclusionary practice, and sexual pleasure is actually irrelevant here; it is the power of sexual attractiveness that is important. Indeed, the two are frequently and deliberately confused in midriff advertising” (Gill, 2008, p. 20). Midriff advertising continues to reinforce a woman’s worth as solely based on her body. Indeed the very definition of femininity shifts from “woman’s work” as caregiver and homemaker to the woman’s form. The very meaning of feminine is to have the proper womanly shape in the proper size. With the growth of commodity feminism and midriff advertising, we see marketers adopting the rhetoric of third wave feminism in order to sell women products and to constrict women’s value to their sexuality. “Midriff advertising involves a shift in the way that power operates: it entails a move from an external male judging gaze to a self-policing narcissistic gaze. In this sense it represents a more ‘advanced’ or pernicious form of exploitation than the earlier generation of objectifying images to which second wave feminists objected” (Gill, 2008, p. 18). We wish to underscore the point that we are not criticizing female sexuality or suggesting it has no place in media representations. It is problematic, though, when employed for commercial purposes and/or for the titillation of male audiences to the exclusion of all other representations of womanhood. Unfortunately, the feminist rhetoric of female empowerment has provided cover for marketers to exploit and objectify/subjectify women. Writing about the prevalence of such marketing

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182  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To techniques, social critic Levy (2006), asked, “Why is this the ‘new feminism’ and not what it looks like: the old objectification?” While researchers have expressed concern about the pernicious effects of female sexualization in advertising, audiences often do not (Zimmerman & Dahlberg, 2008). A survey of 94 women, who were asked to assess a print advertisement chosen because of its objectifying image of a naked woman, found that young, college-aged women agreed on the sexual nature of the ad, but did not find the ad offensive, unethical, or bothersome. Even the majority of those who themselves considered the ad offensive or unethical thought it was culturally acceptable. Young women, it appears, have grown to expect sexualized images in advertising and, likely, fail even to pay attention to them. Considering advertising generally, respondents believed advertising presents unrealistic images of women and that advertising tends to objectify women. Unlike past research, which showed that such negative assessments of advertising were likely to drive down purchase intent, women in this study said they would still buy from companies with offensive advertising. The researchers concluded that, “College females were raised in a very sexualized world. Sexual content dominates the media, and new feminists see female sexuality as power. It would only naturally follow that advertisements portray women as sex objects. These portrayals apparently do not offend young, educated women because of this culture” (Zimmerman & Dahlberg, 2008, p. 77). Though young women may expect and even accept objectifying images, they are not immune to them. Additional research shows that women who were recently shown objectifying images are more likely to engage in self-objectification and use more negative terms in assessing themselves (Aubrey et al., 2009). Moreover, such self-objectification results in lower self-esteem, depression, sexual dysfunction (Kilbourne, 1999, p.  133), and can lead to eating disorders (Tiggemann, 2013). The extensive body of research clearly shows that media, particularly advertising, tend to exclude women; to place men in positions of authority and power over women; and to sexualize women. Our analysis looked specifically at how the NFL’s advertising targeted toward women portrays power relations. Based on existing literature, we were particularly interested in the extent to which NFL women’s apparel advertisements objectify women, how the ads position women fans in relation to men fans, and how the ads characterize women’s interest in football. METHODS This chapter looks at how the NFL, through its advertising of women’s apparel, constructs messages for and about women fans. We chose to focus on advertisements because they are scripted and carefully developed with a particular target in mind. As such, ads can reveal a great deal about the

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  183 NFL’s perceptions of its audience: who they are, how they behave, and what products interest them. We conducted a textual analysis of representative ads produced by the NFL (in partnership with its advertising agency) that are targeted specifically to women. We began with the 2010 campaign as it marked the NFL’s earliest concerted effort to target women. Since then, the NFL’s marketing to women has received considerable attention and praise from the popular press as well as advertising trade journals. Looking at ads across four years from 2010–2013 also allowed us to consider how the NFL’s approach has evolved over time. We began with a progressive theoretical sampling. Rather than analyze all or a random sample of the NFL’s advertising, we first looked at the media coverage each campaign received. We did so by conducting a simple online Google search using keyword search terms “NFL,” “women,” and “advertising.” This generated 32 articles, blogs, and NFL posts about the league’s marketing toward women. We then were able to do more targeted Google searches for articles and posts written about each campaign by searching for the campaign’s tagline. After reading the bulk of the media analysis of the NFL’s apparel campaigns, we carefully selected particular print ads and television commercials that were representative of each campaign and allowed us insight into how the NFL genders its marketing messages (Altheide  & Schneider, 2012). With the exception of the 2013 Marie Claire spread, we viewed all ads online through image searches or on YouTube.com. The ads we chose for analysis are paradigmatic and our analysis is interpretive. “Every straightforward description is also, necessarily, an interpretation. We must always try to understand the variety of possible interpretations, and the most likely ones for various communities and not just repeat our own interpretation (description) of the text” (McKee, 2003, location 922). The interviews we conducted with women fans, in which we asked them to comment on the NFL’s efforts to market toward women, necessarily informed our interpretations. Below we present a thick description and analysis of the ads we selected. Where relevant and to provide support and richness to our analysis, we have included quotes from our interview data as well as information and quotes drawn from NFL communications and press coverage of the campaigns. 2010: FIT FOR YOU In 2010, the NFL set out to attract women fans with a $10 million campaign that included the launch of a new microsite, nfl.com/women; a beefed-up social media presence; and a series of magazine and television ads (Vega, 2010; Weprin, 2010). All of this was to introduce its new line of women’s clothing and accessories. Though the NFL had long before offered clothing for women, the 2010 campaign offered a new direction and represented the

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184  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To league’s greatest effort targeted specifically toward women. Capitalizing on fan fervor in New Orleans following the city’s first Super Bowl win, the NFL even opened a “pop-up boutique” for women on Magazine Street. The shop remained open for only one month, but in its first weeks, women lined up down the block to buy everything from yoga mats to maternity wear emblazoned with the Saints colors, fleur-de-lis, and name (Langenhennig, 2010). The NFL had come to recognize both the devotion and, perhaps more importantly, the buying power of the women’s market. One media report on the NFL’s targeting of women quoted Tracey Bleczinski, vice president of consumer products and apparel, explaining that, “Sales have doubled since 2004 in our women’s business and grown by a factor of 12 since 2001” (Langenhennig, 2010). The New York Times quoted the NFL’s chief marketing officer, Mark Waller, saying, “Obviously we’ve got a large and passionate female fan base already. As we get more sophisticated in our marketing approach, we get to dive deeper and develop more targeted and appropriate messaging” (Vega, 2010). This was a new approach borne out of missteps from its past. Like many products that have tried to move from a male market to a female market, the NFL initially used a “pink it and shrink it” strategy, but quickly learned that women fans know and, more importantly, want to wear their teams’ colors just like their male counterparts. Jamie explained her feelings about pink jerseys: I think that the NFL, you know, does a lot to include women. I’m fundamentally opposed to pink jerseys, though. I have to say. I just think, “Why do you need a pink jersey?” If you’re a Saints fan why do you want a pink jersey? Now if it’s a breast cancer awareness jersey then that’s one thing. But I don’t really understand the pink. How do you know it’s your team? What makes one jersey different from another if they’re all pink? The thing that makes them different is the colors. So if you make them all pink how do you know who you’re a fan of? Actually one of my friends . . . sent me an article probably six or seven years ago and it was, “Girlfriends shouldn’t let girlfriends wear pink jerseys” and it was a whole article basically about that. I mean, if you need to be cute to the game then wear some cute outfit to the game. That’s fine. But why are you paying $50 for a pink jersey that looks like every other team’s pink jersey. So I  am fundamentally opposed to those. Moving on. I do have a women’s cut jersey. They do that now so I really don’t understand the point of the pink jerseys. The NFL moved away from the “pink-it-and-shrink-it” strategy quickly. Nonetheless, almost all of the women with whom we spoke still referenced (and derided) pink jerseys. This is how the NFL made its first impression with a lot of female fans; that impression has proven to be a lasting and unfavorable reminder for a lot of women that the league just does not

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  185 understand them. With the 2010 Fit For You campaign, the NFL appeared to move in a new direction in order to fix past mistakes. The television commercial for the 2010 Fit For You campaign first appeared during kick-off weekend in September and marked the launch of the campaign. The commercial, titled “Women’s Apparel: Fit For You,” featured actress and sports fan Alyssa Milano and her NFL line of women’s apparel. In 2007, Milano, recognizing a need for women’s team apparel that still looked like team clothing, launched “Touch”: feminine-cut but sports-team-themed clothes. She began with Major League Baseball apparel but expanded to the NFL in 2008 (Vega, 2010; Weprin, 2010). The commercial opens with a shot of the NFL logo superimposed on the scene of an Asian woman—hair pulled back in a ponytail and dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and hoodie—as she knocks on the door of what appears to be a suburban home. A smiling, attractive White man answers the door only to be confronted with a Miami Dolphins jersey tossed in his face as the woman, hand on her hip, shoots him a glare before turning and storming away. Next we see a similar scene played out in an upscale restaurant between a well-dressed White couple, the Washington team’s owner Dan Snyder and his wife Tanya Snyder. Tanya Snyder tosses a Washington jersey on the table as she shakes her head and mutters. A befuddled Dan Snyder looks on as she gets up and leaves. In the third vignette, a Black woman pulls three Cincinnati Bengals jerseys from a closet and throws each at her Black male partner before walking out of the room. The song “You don’t own me” accompanies the action in the commercial. The lyrics tell us, “You don’t own me. I’m not just one of your many toys. You don’t own me. Don’t say I can’t go with other boys.” It appears to be the classic break-up scene—one we often see played out in movies and on television—a disgruntled woman angrily returns a man’s stuff to him, indicating closure on a relationship that has gone bad. In the final vignette of the NFL commercial, however, we see Milano, as she opens the door to her home and flings a New York Giants jersey at a White gentleman caller. A voiceover says, “Finally NFL women’s apparel fit for you. Get it at select retailers and NFL shop dot com. You want the NFL. Go to the NFL.” The NFL and Touch logos appear on the screen as, in the background, April Smith sings, “Don’t tell me what to do and don’t tell me what to say.” Milano strikes a pose with her a hand on her hip, head cocked to the side and the flash of a flirty smile, showing off her form-fitting, scoop-neck Giants t-shirt with cut-out shoulders. The women featured in the commercial are not choosing to part with the men in their lives but rather the men’s oversized, unflattering jerseys. This commercial works on several levels. It draws the viewer in with a catchy, classic song. It shows a familiar scene and sparks the viewer’s curiosity. It plays with all the cinematic tropes of a breakup, but with a lighthearted air that from the beginning suggests the potential for an unexpected twist. We want to see how the drama resolves. The age and ethnic diversity of the women represented allows a wide array of women to identify with

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186  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To the characters in the commercial. Even the use of celebrities like Milano and the Snyders plays off of plot conventions made popular by reality television. Audiences seem to enjoy watching the trials and tribulations of the rich and famous. Most importantly, the commercial offers a message of female empowerment—men don’t own women. The women are shown taking control of their lives, their relationships, and, as it turns out, their wardrobes. In this respect, the commercial clearly fits the constructs of commodity feminism. By choosing to wear tailored and shape-enhancing NFL clothes, women can demonstrate their power. Milano’s posture at the end of the commercial and her suitor’s appreciative response further reinforce the message that a woman’s true power lies in her ability to attract men. In this way, the commercial, though outwardly espousing female independence, fails to undermine traditional male-female power structures. The commercial manages to speak to women seeking empowerment at the same time that it employs the male gaze to appeal to the traditional male football fan. Indeed, several male viewers of the commercial on YouTube.com, where we watched the commercial, commented (often in sexually explicit terms) on the attractiveness of Milano and Tanya Snyder. Although the campaign began with the television spot, it centered on a series of print advertisements that launched in October. The print campaign included seven ads that ran in women’s fashion magazines such as InStyle and Marie Claire. With the exception of the ad featuring Milano, each woman has some personal tie to an NFL team. They are wives and daughters of NFL coaches, players, and executives: • Christy Cooley, then-wife of Washington player • Linda and Hope Del Rio, wife and daughter of Jacksonville’s head coach • October Gonzalez, wife of Atlanta Falcons’ player • Michelle Ryan, wife of New York Jets head coach • Laurie Schaub, wife of Houston Texans player • Tanya Snyder, wife of the Washington owner • Lena Ward, wife of the Indianapolis Colts COO (Weprin, 2010) Each ad shows the woman wearing her team’s colors and logo on a t-shirt, sweatshirt, bedazzled jersey, or some other top paired with fashionable jeans or slacks, shoes, jacket, and hairstyle. She stares directly into the camera as she stands casually against a plain grey background with a white headline superimposed over her. Headlines include: “Who says football isn’t pretty,” “Finally. NFL wear with a competitive edge,” and “Style is the best defense.” The ads include the NFL logo, identifying information about the woman and what she is wearing, and the name of a retailer that carries the clothing. Like the television commercial, the ads emphasize a sense of the women being in charge. Each has a comfortable, authoritative stance. The headline

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  187 conveys the message that being stylish is a woman’s goal; indeed, it offers her a competitive edge. It is worth noting that, while physical appearance is central to the message in these ads, the women in the print and television ads are not presented in an overtly sexual manner. Even so, the ads reinforce hegemonic standards of beauty. Alyssa Milano, a well-known celebrity, has acted and modeled since her teen years. Laurie Schaub, an Atlanta Falcons cheerleader before marrying Matt Schaub, was named “Football’s hottest wife” in 2010 and 2011 (Fantasy Football Sideline, n.d.). October Gonzalez posed naked with her husband in a 2009 PETA anti-fur campaign (Barnett, 2009). Producers of the NFL’s campaign undoubtedly chose these women for their attractiveness and likely for their potential for cross-over appeal to a male audience. This includes the decision to feature Christy Cooley, then-wife of Washington player Chris Cooley. The two met when she was a cheerleader for the team just out of high school. Before she took part in this campaign and soon after her tenure ended as a Washington cheerleader, Christy Cooley posed nude for Maxim magazine (sussman, 2007). In the Maxim photo shoot, Cooley was pictured nude (except for shin guards) with soaking wet hair, sitting spread-legged with a football nestled between her thighs and an arm draped across her breasts. Her shot for the NFL’s campaign was much more subtle and far less sexualized, but the message still focused on her looks, with the headline reading, “Who says football isn’t pretty?” So while the 2010 “Fit For You” campaign does not objectify women, it does reinforce hegemonic beauty ideals through its choice of celebrity women who are tall, thin, and curvaceous. The ads reinforce commodity feminism through their message that women can gain an edge through the acquisition of the right clothes and the proper style. To some degree, this campaign also perpetuates the subjectification of women insofar as, while the copy in the ads speaks of independence, the subtext communicates that a woman’s power is her sexual power. 2011: RIVALRY AND HOMEGATING In 2011, the NFL offered a slight variation on the 2010 campaign. Adding to the roster of NFL wives and daughters, the new campaign showcased NFL rivalries. One example is a print ad that pits Suzanne Johnson, wife of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, against Gwen Reese, wife of New York Giants General Manager Jerry Reese. Reese stands leaning slightly to her right as Johnson leans similarly in front of her. Reese appears to be reaching around Johnson in an effort to wrestle a football from her grasp. Both are stylishly dressed in lace-up neck jerseys and adorned with expensive-looking jewelry. As is the norm in high fashion layouts, their professionally styled hair appears to blow in the wind though their flawless

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188  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To make-up tells us they’ve not endured poor weather recently. The headline reads, “The match-up you wait for all season.” As an NFL press release featured on its website explained, “The campaign celebrates NFL rivalries with ads featuring women of the NFL family alongside some of their biggest rivals (geographic, championship, divisional, and sibling)” (NFL Communications, 2011). The NFL received praise in the popular press for this strategy. As quoted in ESPNW, Heather Zeller, founder of AGlamSlam.com, a website dedicated to the intersection of fashion and sports, said, “The NFL has done a really good job realizing wives and daughters of coaches are some of the best ambassadors of the game. They could have used Victoria’s Secret models, but these are the women actually watching the game, so they’re much more relatable” (Dosh, 2012). These women are not lingerie models, not all of them at least, but they are far from your typical fan. As with the 2010 campaign, the “Rivalry” ads position women fans as mere extensions of the more active and engaged men who do the work of coaching, playing for, or managing NFL teams. The women are simply fashion accessories. One might read the women in the ads as the trophy wives of rich, powerful men. The ads further suggest that for women, their only point of entry into football is through a husband or father. Our interview data show, for older women in particular, their love of the game often did begin with Sundays spent watching with their fathers. At that time, it was far less common for young girls to attend games. Today, however, many women are the driving force of their families’ fandom. They are the ones who watch religiously and teach their sons and daughters about team and family traditions. They are not connected to the game solely by the men in their lives. Again with this campaign, we see a disconnect between what the NFL hopes to communicate and the implications of choosing women who are not fans just because they love the game but because their husbands and fathers work for the institution. The focus on wives and daughters of men, who by virtue of their positions within the NFL are powerful and affluent, suggests that a woman’s place in relation to both football and men is on the sidelines. Of the 30 women featured in the Rivalry campaign (NFL Communications, 2011), only four women held any type of position within NFL organizations. Two of those women were daughters of owners; one was a cheerleading director; the fourth, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, is part of a family sports empire. None of the ads featured a woman who, without family connections, worked for the NFL, even though there women in such positions when the campaign launched. At the time, Amy Trask served as CEO for the Oakland Raiders. Dawn Aponte was senior vice president of football operations for the Miami Dolphins (Bechta, 2010). By limiting women’s role to looking stylish and pretty while standing next to a man who does the work rather than promoting its own powerful women, the NFL perpetuates the

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  189 symbolic trivialization of women described by Tuchman more than 35 years ago. Tuchman (1978) warned, “television [and by extension media] most approves those women who are presented in a sexual context or within a romantic or family role” (Tuchman, 1978, pp.  13–14). The women featured in the NFL’s 2011 Rivalry campaign are both sexy and fulfilling a familial role. Traditional gender roles, in addition to contextualizing women in relation to a male-female relationship, also relegate women to the roles of caretaker and homemaker. The NFL’s 2011 campaign does the same. To offer women who do not attend games a more complete NFL experience, the NFL introduced “homegating.” A link from NFL.com/women took users to the “Party Section” of the league’s website, where users could find tips for throwing football parties as well as recipes for the event. Fans could also enter the “NFL Recipe Showdown” by submitting and voting on their favorite NFL recipes (NFL Communications, 2011). Though the idea of homegating is not necessarily gendered, the way NFL executives talked about it to the press certainly was. According to Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s vice president of fan strategy/marketing, “NFL Party was coming together with licensees to make it easy for families and people hosting parties, and certainly women are largely driving that in the home” (Dosh, 2012). Another executive went even further explaining how “homegating” would appeal to women. AdAge quoted Johanna Paretzky, licensing manager for the NFL, saying, “The idea was to turn your home into NFL headquarters. [Women who watch football] are sometimes more passionate about the food, family and planning [aspect of the game]” (Baskin, 2011). In other words, women do not really care about the game but just like an excuse to cook, decorate, dress up, and throw a party. For these women, football is nothing but pageantry and an opportunity to showcase their Holly Housewife skills. Football Sunday is on par with princess birthday parties for Suzy and holiday cookie exchanges. Certainly, the NFL does not see all its women fans in this light and, as will be discussed, it later changed its messaging around homegating. Furthermore, as we discuss throughout the book and particularly in Chapters 5, 7, and 8, our data show that food is an important part of game day rituals and that many women do relish the ability to provide a festive environment for friends and family. Even so, the aforementioned quotes from top NFL executives dismiss women as purely social fans and relegate them to the kitchen, thereby reinforcing the gender positioning Goffman (1979) found in advertising from the 1950s through the 1970s. Moreover, such comments reinforce a stereotype that many female fans actively struggle to negate. Jamie said, “I don’t want to go to the football game and act like I’m just there to socialize with the woman next to me because I’m not. She’s nice and all but, ‘Let’s talk during time outs.’ ” Rather than reveling in recipes and party napkins, many of the women we interviewed make a choice to watch games at home but not because they

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want to bake football-shaped cakes or show off their team-embossed punch bowls. As explained in earlier chapters, women sometimes prefer to watch at home because they are able to pay full attention to the game in the comfort of their living rooms. As Donna said: I’d rather be at home. I feel more free at home, where I can just be by myself and be into the game. When you go to a game you have to, well you don’t have to look decent, but you do kind of have to get yourself dressed up enough that you can go out in public. I have my ritual where I put on [my team jersey] but I don’t put on makeup. I don’t really wear makeup in general but I don’t do my hair. I don’t wear shoes . . . I get to focus completely on the TV. Natalie made a similar observation, saying that watching at home, often by herself, allows her to avoid the judgment of others when she gets loud and yells for her team. Others feel tethered to the home. They would rather attend games but because of financial, health, or family reasons, they cannot. These women lament being unable to engage in the rituals and camaraderie that can only be experienced in the stadium. Two of the Browns fans who participated in the focus group, for example, no longer hold season tickets because walking to and from the parking lot has become too difficult for them. On occasion they still go to the tailgate so that they can enjoy the company of their friends before going to someone’s house to watch the game. And even when watching from home, they want to capture the feeling of being there. For this reason the term “homegating” is clever and captures many fans’ desire to recreate a game day experience even if they cannot be in the stadium. The early messaging around “homegating,” however, fails to recognize that whether at home by choice or necessity, women fans who watch from home are fully committed fans of their teams. In 2013, the league announced the release of a homegating app for smartphones. In its press release found on the NFL website, the league appears to have realized its mistake and changed its messaging accordingly. Nowhere in the press release are women mentioned as the target for this new app. According to Natara Holloway, the NFL’s vice president of consumer products, “While there is no place better than watching an NFL game at a stadium along with 70,000 other screaming fans, most NFL fans watch games at home with family and friends. Homegating provides the perfect opportunity for fans to bridge their personal passions—food, family, friends and their favorite team—to bring the excitement of the stadium into their home in a way that’s authentic to them” (NFL Communications, 2013). Visiting the homegating portion of the NFL website on July 6, 2014 (now found at nflshop.com/homegating), we found what appears to be a middle class, White family of four: mother, father, son, and daughter. The father and daughter are decked out in Washington gear while the mother and son sport Dallas Cowboys wear. The site now focuses on home wares such as

Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  191 wine glasses, grilling utensils, and beer mugs, rather than recipes and party planning. More importantly, nowhere on the site did we find the gendered implication that maintaining hearth and home is “woman’s work.”

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2012: IT’S MY TEAM For the 2012 season, the NFL launched a revamped clothing line with a new advertising campaign titled “It’s My Team.” This campaign featured stars as diverse as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, music artist and fashion model DJ Kiss, singer Juliet Simms, and Dancing with the Stars dancer Kym Johnson all modeling their favorite teams’ clothing (Andrews, 2012). The new line of clothes featured limited edition t-shirts created by the high-end fashion brand Marchesa (Osterhout, 2012). The most remarkable aspect of this new marketing approach may have been the amount of press, almost entirely positive, that it generated. Everyone from leading business magazine Forbes to the gold standard in news New York Times to gossip blogger Perez Hilton commented on the campaign. Much of the media’s coverage referenced the league’s shift from a pinkit-and-shrink-it strategy to the approach of producing tailored clothing in team colors. League executives acknowledged that they had made mistakes along the way in marketing toward women and that they were still figuring out what products would be most appealing and what message would best speak to female fans. The NFL had conducted its own research and relied on women within the organization to shape its messaging. “Leading the helm of the NFL’s women’s apparel revolution were four women with a variety of backgrounds in fashion and business: [Rhiannon] Madden, NFL Vice President of Apparel, Tracey Bleczinski, NFL Vice President of Retail Strategy Natara Holloway,  and NFL Director of Consumer Products Johanna Paretzky” (Jessop, 2012). The clear focus in 2012 was to position NFL wear as a fashion statement. According to Paretzky, the league’s research and high-fashion approach paid off; sales of women’s apparel grew by triple digits in 2012 (Jessop, 2012). While sales tell one story, our research shows that many women fans cannot relate to the celebrity women in the NFL’s marketing. Suzanne Johnson, wife of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, appeared in one ad “sporting what she normally wears to the stadium: a fitted New York Jets top, Jimmy Choo shoes and her favorite handbag.” She explained, “I am a Hermès girl so my bag will be in the shot. [My husband] leaves the fashion to me and I definitely leave the football to him” (Osterhout, 2012). Comments like this from an NFL wife feed the stereotype of women fans as frivolous and uninformed. Many of the women we interviewed, who consider themselves die-hard fans, look on fans like Johnson with derision. Becky said, “It’s, you know, whatever. You can be the token girlfriend who wears high heels to the games and is all cute in her tight jeans and has her cute little jersey on and the big Gucci purse walking up those stairs. I mean, I don’t care, you can do that but when

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I was a die-hard fan I was like, oh, God look at this dumb girl. She’s probably on her first date. She probably knows nothing about football.” She goes on to say, “there’s room for all sorts of fans,” but it is clear from her comments that women who are clearly more interested in fashion than football reinforce stereotypes that a lot of other women fans try to avoid. During the focus group, the women discussed the typical Bimbo stereotype: Diane:  There was one girl, remember, she didn’t know anything about football. Heather:  Ugh, she annoyed the hell out of me. Diane:  She knew nothing. Heather:  It was one of the last games of the season. It was a guy and his girlfriend and she’s like, [in a high-pitched screechy voice] “Oh, this is so fun. What’s going on? What’s a touchdown?” And I’m, like, I’m going to, I’m going to freakin’ shoot her. I’m going to go crazy. [Again in a mocking voice] “Who’s that? Oh, those pants are cute.” I  was, I  kept looking at Diane, and I was like “I’m losing my mind!” Patty:  Was she dressed for winter? Heather:  She was not dressed for winter. She had no idea. Diane:  She had no idea where she was going. Joyce:  Typically you can tell the girls that come to the games that are not really into sports because when it’s like two degrees outside they come dressed with like shorts or whatever. Carmel:  Like fashion. [In a disdainful voice]. They’re freezing! Joyce:  Like high heel shoes and everything. And I’m like, “Give me a break.” We’re sitting there with our sweatshirts and our blankets. Heather:  I was so happy because I  think they left by like the third quarter because [in a whiny voice] she got cold. In the comments section of a news article about this campaign, a reader echoed the sentiments expressed by the women with whom we spoke. He wrote, “My wife and I are huge (control the puns please) Ravens and Eagles fans. We are already somewhat dismayed to see that there are no plus-size women in the apparel campaign. Will the clothing be available in large sizes also, or will these avid fans and their money be ignored? NFL are you listening?” (Andrews, 2012). Admittedly, some women may consider the celebrity spokeswomen in the NFL ads to be aspirational. For others, the NFL campaign simply represents the league’s failure to know its female fans. Claire talked about what she looks for in Cincinnati Bengals clothing. Some of it is a little bit too . . . I wouldn’t want to go that feminine to wear to a game. There are just some things that are very, they have a lot

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of the bedazzled and stuff on it. I mean it’s very cute stuff and there are some things that have cute sayings and things like that on stuff on it. I’m like, you know what, I do like it but I wouldn’t want to wear that. Me personally, it’s not the kind of look, I guess, that I would want to wear. I would just want to be a little more comfortable. Wear something that’s a little more casual, just like a nice t-shirt and jeans to a game. I wouldn’t want to have all the extra bedazzled things on there. The women to whom we spoke are conscious of how the more feminized clothing makes them appear to other fans. Claire went on to explain, “There’s a time and a place for that stuff. But I just want it to be, ‘Hey, I’m here to enjoy a game.’ . . . I don’t need to be as stand out or as bedazzled as maybe some other opportunities that it would be more appropriate for, like going out with some friends for an evening out.” Like others, Lisa thought the clothes are targeted to a younger female demographic and that they are designed more to be sexy and appealing to men than to appeal to women. My personal take on the merchandise is, I  have a kid’s jersey and a woman’s jersey and a little sparkly shirt. And the woman’s jersey is fine. And the sparkly shirt is fine. A lot of the women’s stuff is cheesy, like see-through and stuff. They had an NFL shop on Magazine St. that opened for just four weeks or whatever. I stood in line forever to go in there and shop around. When I got in there some of the guys’ stuff they had was nice but most of the stuff they had for women was really tight, inappropriately tight and kind of see-through, like splotchy, see-through kind of fabric. Like I said, I have that one sparkly shirt but I don’t normally wear that kind of stuff. It seems like all the stuff for women is way too frou-frou and girly so it was kind of like this stuff really isn’t for me. My friend that I go to the games with wore some of that stuff and I was like, ‘You shouldn’t wear that.’ I guess if you’re 20 or something that’s fine. I don’t know, I’m not a really a big fan of a lot of the women’s merchandise. I think they could make it less slutty-looking. But I guess that’s the appeal. I don’t know. Whatever. I think they can do a better job with that. That’s my opinion.

2013: TOGETHER WE MAKE FOOTBALL AND HEARTS OF LIONS In 2013, the NFL stuck with its high-fashion appeal. One of the most notable components of the NFL’s 2013 marketing toward women was an insert in the September issue of Marie Claire magazine. On its website, Marie Claire defines itself as “the most relevant media brand for the modern woman . . . Through forward thinking fashion, culture-defining opinions and inspirational points of view, Marie Claire is always challenging millions of women

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194  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To to up their game” (Marie Claire, 2014). It is no surprise, given the nature of the magazine, that the pull-out relies on all the stereotypical appeals to women: fashion, party tips, and celebrity gossip. The cleverly designed 16-page insert, which appears on page 265 of the magazine, opens with a page that looks like a normal Marie Claire cover. Minka Kelly, well known for playing a cheerleader on the television football drama Friday Night Lights, stands with hands on her hips wearing a high-fashion cropped tank top and a black skirt. The top includes lacing that mimics that on a football. The cover promises features on how to select a fantasy football team, the dish on player drama “on and off the field,” and an “A-to-Z playbook for rookies, homegaters, and hard-core fans.” Inside the pages are labeled as part of Marie Claire’s regular feature section titled @Play: “Your guide to going out, staying in, and getting away.” Much of the insert focuses on fashion and entertaining. One section, for example, offers a game-day playlist of “songs for the four-quarter emotional roller coaster.” Another highlights homegating and offers “peppy details” such as a Pittsburgh Steelers ice cream scoop, Seattle Seahawks straws, and Cincinnati Bengals salad utensils. Other pages offer information on the game, its players, and fantasy leagues. “Gridiron novice?” asks another section. “Don’t sweat it. All you need to know about how the game is played.” Football 101 sums up the sport with explanations such as “Kicker: A player who tries to kick field goals. He’s also responsible for the kickoff.” Three “power fans” are also showcases: Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks Studios; Jackie Marcus Schaffer, co-creator and executive producer of the television show The League, about fantasy football; and Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader of the House of Representatives. The NFL’s partnership with a high-end fashion magazine garnered considerable media buzz. Advertising industry trade magazine AdAge explained how the insert was a win for both parties. The guide represents the increasingly collaborative relationship between the editorial and business sides of publishing. The editorial team at Marie Claire produced the content . . . on its own. But the magazine wouldn’t likely have dedicated so many pages to football without a sponsor. . . . Marie Claire’s September issue . . . is the largest in the history of the publication with 246 ad pages (excluding the six from the insert), a 13.5% increase over last year. Through August, ad pages were essentially flat for Marie Claire, slipping 0.5% from 2012. (Sebastian, 2013) Of the insert’s 16 pages, five are clearly women’s apparel advertisements (a sixth women’s apparel ad follows immediately after the insert). Each full-page ad within the insert shows a smiling, attractive, White woman in an urban setting wearing NFL gear. Below her is the NFL logo and the tagline “Together we make football,” along with retailer information. Interestingly, one other obvious ad within the insert features a young boy in

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  195 football pads and a jersey. The boy is accompanied by an adult man and woman, perhaps parents but more likely a mother and football coach. The boy looks up at the mother with affection. The ad reads, “Together, we help make football safer because it’s more than just a game. The NFL is a proud supporter of Heads Up Football. Learn more at usafootball.com & make sure your coach is Heads Up Football certified today.” The ad is co-branded by the NFL and USAFootball, the NFL’s nonprofit tasked with promoting youth football. Fearing that women, particularly mothers, are turned off by the inherent violence of the game as well as the increased concerns about the long-term impact of concussions, the NFL has made ads like this another key feature of the league’s efforts to reach women. Not everyone agrees with this strategy. Katie Baker, a contributor to the popular sports blog site Deadspin, wrote in a column for the New York Times that “to assume that most women would take one look at the league’s violence and sexual mayhem and slowly walk away betrays a misunderstanding of football’s place in our culture, and also of women” (Baker, 2011, p. MM11). Our interview participants agree. When asked what she loves about football, Faye said, “I think some of it is just the aggression of the sport. I mean I don’t like watching MMA [mixed martial arts] or stuff like that. . . . I just like the tackles too. I really like quarterback sacks, unless it’s my team.” Comparing the aggression of football to watching violent films, Faye added, “It’s not necessary but that’s what I like about sports.” Donna explained that football can provide an emotional release for her own aggression, “It helps me get out some of the emotions, like, that I hold inside. Like just yelling at the TV, like, I’m not even sometimes yelling at the game. I’m just yelling at things that are bothering me in my own life.” Even mothers we interviewed said that they love the game and would not want to see it altered in any way. Diane, the mother of two boys, commented, “It’s almost like you want to send them out there in skirts. They can’t hit the quarterback anymore and they can’t do this and they can’t do that. It’s almost like they’re pussying up the game.” Another woman chimed in, “They’re softening the game. They might get rid of kickoffs because of it.” It is clear from our data that women fans, just like the men, care about players’ well-being, but they love the game as it is. The stereotype of the sensitive, nurturing, motherly caregiver must be read alongside the understanding that women love football as it is. They acknowledge that it is an aggressive game and celebrate the toughness of the players. The last advertisement we examined, a television commercial for women’s apparel that first aired during the Baltimore Ravens 2013 season opener, takes a much edgier approach to speaking to and for female fans. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh’s 2009 speech to his team supplies the voiceover for the spot. It opens with the words, “You’ve got the hearts of lions.” We see a young, White woman with short auburn hair as she walks two enormous dogs through what appears to be a urban construction site. She wears capri pants, ankle boots, and over her number twelve Aaron Rodgers jersey

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196  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To is a trench coat with sleeves casually pushed up. Cut to a scene of professional skateboarder Lorena Lima skating in a Minnesota Vikings jersey as Harbaugh says, “Good things, bad things. It doesn’t matter.” Music builds in the background. The commercial quickly moves through a number of jump cuts: a tall blonde, White woman dressed in a red, flowing mini-skirt and Houston Texans jersey walks through a revolving door while a crowd of photographers snaps her picture; a close-up of a Latina woman’s face in the side mirror of what may be a motorcycle; the same Latina woman, actress Lina Esco, in a medium shot showing her shoulder length dark hair and Baltimore Ravens jersey under a leather vest blows a bubble with her chewing gum; another woman appears to breathe fire. Harbaugh’s voice continues over these visual vignettes, “That’s who you are. That’s what carries us from here to where we’re going.” The ad continues to jump among various shots of women: White fashion blogger and Eagles fan Lindsey Calla sports a DeSean Jackson jersey under a bright blue, metallic tailored blazer while walking among racks of clothing; an Oakland Raiders fan rides a scooter through downtown streets; again the Packers fan walks across an urban landscape; Black DJ Kiss, dressed in a New Orleans Saints jersey, pencil skirt, and heels spins music and dances at a nightclub. Each woman joins in the voiceover. “And everybody’s talking about what we couldn’t do, and what we wouldn’t do, and what we shouldn’t do, right? You did it week after week and day after day.” The women look directly into the camera and deliver their empowering message. A young, woman of color with long, natural hair, sporting a New York Giants jersey and team jacket while riding in the back seat of a car points to the viewer then herself as she says, “No matter what somebody said about you or us.” Cut to a slightly older White woman carrying a baby. She adds, “It doesn’t matter what they say.” In the last series of quick jump cuts, we return to the Texans fan strutting through the throng of photographers, the fire breather exhales another plume of flames, and finally actress and Ravens fan Lina Esco glowers at the camera as she strikes Ray Lewis’ signature arm flex. A tattoo peeks out from under the sleeves of her jersey. “Find your look at the NFL shop dot com.” With the exception of two vignettes—one of a White brunette wearing a San Francisco 49ers Kaepernick jersey while climbing a sunny staircase possibly to a West coast condo and another of Michelle Witten, wife of Dallas Cowboy Jason Witten, kissing her baby girl—the commercial appears shrouded in grey and the entire thing is shot in soft focus. This ad is a departure from previous commercials in that the message is one of strength and resilience rather than style and appearance. Like previous campaigns, the commercial features notable celebrities and relatives of men within NFL organizations. Unlike earlier print advertising, however, this NFL commercial does not identify the women in the ad as stars. Without prior knowledge or some research, the viewer would see them simply as hegemonically beautiful women of diverse ethnic backgrounds, ages, and possibly even, as can best be discerned from the commercial, socio-economic

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  197 status. The one thing they appear to share is a love for the NFL and knowledge of how to “dress for success” in whatever way each defines her success. Unlike the 2010 Alyssa Milano campaign, this NFL commercial strikes a powerful chord with its message of self-expression. The 2010 commercial offered a similar message in the lyrics to “You don’t own me,” but resolved its comical conflict with a flirty nod to the men in the commercial. In 2013, we see women joining in the inspirational speech delivered by Harbaugh, literally raising their own voices. The only men to appear in the ad are the photographers swarming the Texans fan. These women are active, engaged, and ready to flex their muscles. Though the commercial can be accused of employing commodity feminism—exploiting the rhetoric of empowerment in order to sell NFL products—the power it offers does not come from the women’s ability to attract men, but rather their ability to express their uniqueness. CONCLUSION In this chapter, we set out to examine whether the NFL’s marketing toward women over the four years between 2010 and 2013 objectifies women; how the ads position women fans in relation to men fans; and how the ads characterize women’s fandom. What we found is that the NFL’s basic strategy has remained the same: to position women’s apparel as fashionable. The league’s messaging can be read as problematic in that it reinforces women’s value as ornamental, but this is hardly surprising given that the product offered is clothing. Insofar as the ads suggest that attractiveness and stature can be achieved by wearing the proper clothes with the right sense of style, the all four of these campaigns engage in commodity feminism. Additionally, all of the women in the ads fit a hegemonic ideal of beauty. Again, this is not surprising. Advertising rarely presents reality. Rather advertising offers an idealized reality. Finally, the ads do not objectify women to nearly the extent that we often see in other advertising, particularly high-fashion advertising (Stankiewicz & Rosselli, 2008). With regard to how the ads represent women’s relative positioning as fans, all of the campaigns position women outside the action. The NFL’s marketing to female fans relies on two well-worn stereotypes of women: the young fashionista that spends her nights clubbing—our interviewees term this woman the Bimbo—and the happy homemaker, whose role is to put on a good party and to stand by her man—the Supportive Partner. Neither woman is a devoted fan of the game. The league’s effort to showcase “real” women—wives, daughters, and celebrity fans—of the NFL instead of models appears to be an effort to communicate authenticity. Our data show, however, that the size 0 woman in high heels and carrying a Hermès bag or the cheerleader-turned-model do not speak to the lived experiences of women fans. According to a New York Times report, this is no accident.

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198  Who Do You Think You’re Talking To The NFL’s marketing efforts knowingly speak to women who do not count themselves as devoted, informed fans. “The NFL’s goal is to convert casual fans, a category that describes the majority of female football watchers, into die-hards” (Kitroeff, 2013). At the same time, one can hardly presume that the marketing is meant to alienate the die-hards. Bloomberg Business noted, “With every campaign and product, the league seeks to target women without condescending to them. ‘That’s something that we really, really try never to do, never to patronize,’ says Rhiannon Madden, the NFL’s director of consumer products. ‘The Marie Claire article wasn’t at all condescending. It was, ‘You know the X’s and O’s. Football is coming up. Let’s get excited’ ” (Boudway, 2013). This is a precarious line to walk and one the league has not maneuvered well. Like so many politicians who, in their effort to court new voters, alienate their base, the NFL’s messaging positions women primarily as fans of clothing, shopping, and homemaking. As such, the NFL campaigns’ messaging reads as a cynical appeal to women as consumers with little interest in truly developing or appreciating them as devoted fans. By far the most interesting and troubling aspects of the print ads and television commercials we examined is that none, not one image, shows a woman at an actual football game. Nor do the ads show women watching football at home, in sports bars, or online while working. What does this tell us about how the NFL views its women fans? Symbolic annihilation tells us that the absence of women fans like those with whom we spoke—the ones who go to games and watch games and study games—means that those women are not important (Tuchman, 1978, 1979). They have no power or standing with the NFL. The women shown in the ads do not represent the women who don layer upon layer upon layer to sit through freezing cold snow and rain to cheer on the Cleveland Browns; or the women who tailgate under an interstate overpass then hike over highway embankments to watch their beloved New Orleans Saints in the rebuilt and restored Superdome; or the women in far away cities who gather with strangers just because they all share a passion for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The women in the NFL’s advertising are not the blue-collar women who sacrifice vacations and meals eaten out so they can afford season tickets nor the women who revel in football Sundays and the chance to teach their children the chants they learned as girls. If the NFL wants to speak to its devoted female fans, it needs to do so with images of and in a voice that resonates with those women. Even for the casual fan the NFL seeks to target, one must ask, how can the ads cultivate a love of the game when they in no way include the game? The performances reserved for women are as consumers; fan performances are absent. It is worth noting that other companies have done a better job of seeing and representing women as fans. Take, for example, two commercials in Verizon’s “Fear of missing out on football” campaign that features women as devoted fans. The campaign promotes Verizon’s app that allows users to watch football on their mobile devices anywhere. In one commercial, a

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Who Do You Think You’re Talking To  199 woman dressed in a New Orleans Saints woman’s-cut jersey stares into the camera and says with disdain, “I’m missing kickoff for this.” The ad cuts to the other women, all attendees of a baby shower, as they coo over baby clothes. Another commercial in the Verizon campaign features a woman stuck in holiday traffic with her soon-to-be-in-laws. As she realizes that her new family does not share her love of the NFL, she begins to reconsider marriage if it means missing football games. Both commercials speak to women’s commitment to and love for football in ways that the NFL’s own marketing targeted specifically to women does not. Verizon, unfortunately, counters these positive representations of women fans by also featuring an ad in which the wife drags the husband away from football in order to go apple picking and another in which a father must suffer through watching his daughter’s (notably a daughter, not a son) princess show rather than watching football. In the end, some readers, and quite likely NFL executives, may be inclined to respond that the NFL’s campaigns have worked. Apparel sales among women are up. More women are watching the game than ever. Undoubtedly, the ads appeal to some. Moreover, the campaigns raise awareness that there are more feminine options for women looking to buy products. Our research shows that the products themselves are welcomed. As Shelly said, “There was a time that I couldn’t find a v-neck tee. Just this weekend I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so much out here.’ I was at a festival in New Roads [Louisiana] and you know everything NFL, everything New Orleans Saints geared toward women in these little boutiques, these little booths that they had around the fair. So I noticed that but just, um, we are. . . . You know we’ll spend the money. The jewelry and whatever that’s out there. We’ll spend the money. We love the caps and everything. And I’m glad that they’re gearing toward women. But it didn’t matter to me. I was going to be a fan. I just love [the Saints] anyway.” When the group of Browns fans was asked, “If the cheerleaders aren’t for you, and the advertising isn’t for you, and the pretty sideline reporters aren’t for you, what is?” They, without hesitation and in near unison, said, “The game.” The marketing is about fashion. The women are about the game. NOTE 1. Third wave feminists also contend that second wave feminism fails to articulate concerns of women of color and of lower socio-economic status. The third wave moves away from the polarizing essentialism of male-female gender designations and seeks to adopt a more diverse understanding of gender and sexuality.

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10 Conclusion

We were inspired to start this project after spending years observing and interviewing women fans in Barclays Premier League (United Kingdom). As part of that experience, we began to realize that women fans are not adequately represented in the world of sport fandom, neither in the stands nor in academic literature. During the five years we have specifically worked in the United States, we have been thrilled to see more and more academic research focusing on understanding the experiences and perceptions of women fans. Unfortunately, that work typically continues to focus on how women can be measured and categorized as fans, often using the same instruments and scales created by—and for—the archetypal male fan. By retheorizing fandom as Performative Sport Fandom, operationalizing PSF through the Fan Performance Matrix, and exploring the performance modes of Knowing and Caring, this book helps reconceptualize how we understand sports fans. Moreover, it contributes to how we understand women negotiating their place in hyper-masculine environments, something women routinely must do in and outside sport culture. The FPM and, more specifically, Knowing and Caring as modes of performance are instrumental in allowing for research into fan performances that recognize and celebrate that fandom is flexible and changeable over time. Static definitions and typologies do not sufficiently address the ways fans perform fandom, and we believe our approach will help scholars, pundits, sports journalists, football representatives, and media commentators better understand how and why fans perform as they do. In this conclusion, we will review and reiterate key findings from our research, including the Knowing and Caring modes of performance, current stereotypes of women fans (and why they do not fit the self-perceptions of the women in our research) and how women fans use media to inform and support their fan performances. We then will explore challenges to fandom, including both issues that have been introduced in this book and ones that emerged after our data collection was completed. We will review the importance of narrative in connecting with fans and address opportunities to better reach female fans. This book has been a labor of love, and we feel strongly that the material presented here offers a more accurate and dynamic view of fandom

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Conclusion  201 than extant literature provides. This text is in many ways a celebration of the female fan, although we explicitly do not want that celebration to be conceived or perceived as an argument against male fans and their experiences. From our perspective, pitting fans against each other is a fruitless and frustrating exercise. As the women with whom we spoke clearly articulated, there is room for multiple fan performances. We hope that this book helps make the case for why this breadth of performances should be recognized and valued, even if they are not reflective of the hegemonic fan. KNOWING AND CARING The two modes of performance—Knowing and Caring—are central to understanding how Performative Sport Fandom works in practice. Because fandom is relational, contextual, and negotiable, fans can turn up or down each mode depending on the situation: who is there, how they are being treated, and what response feels most appropriate or necessary at that time. Being able to demonstrate high levels of Knowing—sharing informed thoughts about the current lineup, weaving in references to the team’s past, and being able to offer assessments of the team’s chances to make or succeed in offseason play—develops a deeper quality to one’s fandom. Such Knowing performances also earn respect from other fans. This does not require being completely and thoroughly versed in all types of knowledge, however. The women in our research were clear that they did not feel compelled to learn and recite statistics on every player and team in order to prove they know their stuff, even if they recognized that the ultimate football fan can do so. Nor did they always feel like they were completely knowledgeable in football strategy and play calling, and this was okay. Instead, Knowing was a means of communicating that they are invested in the team and the game outside of football Sundays. Being a fan means knowing at least a fair amount about what is going on; you do not have to be an expert, but you do have to be well versed enough to understand what is going on and why it matters. Because Knowing is so important, women often mentioned the desire to learn more. Interestingly, for some adult women this meant finding ways to learn that did not require reaching out to men for information, implicitly recognizing that admitting gaps in knowledge could undermine their credibility as fans. While some women acknowledged they could turn to those who were present during their developmental years as fans (often fathers and brothers), others mentioned using library books, talk radio, and Internet searches to teach themselves more about the tactics and strategies of the game. Caring, on the other hand, is a mode more easily adopted and demonstrated. Nonetheless, Caring is the essential mode to fandom; one cannot be a fan without Caring on some level. New fans or those who tune in and out depending on the success of the team can employ Caring modes

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202  Conclusion of performance, even if they have little to no knowledge about the team or the sport. That said, fans pride themselves on Caring, recognizing that their passion is an essential component of their performances. Even at home, fans scream at the refs for bad calls, stand up in celebration when their teams score, and shed tears at a failed Hail Mary in the end zone as the clock ticks down to the end of the game. These feelings run deep, and women report having to turn off the TV and walk away when games are tense rather than continue to bear the stress of watching. This is not a mark of not Caring enough; instead, it is a reminder that the emotions associated with the team can be too potent to endure. While the ultimate fan they describe will let a loss ruin his week (or at least until the buildup for the next game commences in earnest), women fans consciously voice that this is not something they want to emulate. As this last point reminds us, while women fans share a fairly common understanding of the ultimate fan—someone who lives and breathes his team year round, wearing branded merchandise and decking out his house and car in team colors, Knowing everything and Caring passionately for days after the last second ticks off the clock—this is not something to which they aspire. Women see themselves as having to perform multiple other roles on game days or during football season: They are still wives, mothers, partners, employees, and employers. While football is a beloved pastime, they cannot live fandom to the point where it imposes or harms the other roles and relationships that constitute their lived experiences, nor do they want to do so. This is the fundamental difference between men’s and women’s fandom. For men, sport fandom is expected; hegemonic football fandom is compatible with hegemonic masculinity. Indeed, it can be a way to prove one’s masculinity. Women, on the other hand, often find that hegemonic fandom conflicts with their other identity performances, requiring that their fandom be more nuanced. Because the women with whom we spoke during this research project recognize that all fans constantly negotiate their multiple roles, balancing life in relation to football, they tend to profess tolerance toward various fan performances. For them, there is no singular “right” way to be a fan; you do not have to go to games on a regular basis (or really, at all), know everything, or be the loudest person in the room. If they perceive that you truly love the game, these women typically will welcome you into the fold. This does not mean that women do not judge other fans and other women. As we saw, women often were quite critical of those they did not consider to be true fans, including the stereotypical Bimbos or Social Butterflies. If women felt that other women were watching the game just to meet guys or to socialize and have a good time, they did not consider them authentic. This is in part because women believe that others who embody the “inauthentic” stereotypes make it harder for women with a true love of the game to be accepted. Our women fans perceive that they regularly have

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Conclusion  203 to demonstrate Knowing and Caring performances in order to earn credibility and status among other fans, often dealing with microaggressions that undermine their credibility as fans. Despite widely publicized data that women make up a substantial proportion of NFL fans, knowledgeable, caring women fans still are considered a rarity. As we saw, there is a real sense that women continuously represent the entirety of their gender when it comes to football. The women we interviewed, without using the words, clearly articulated the Ultimate Attribution Error, which posits that “ingroup members seeing someone doing something bad will be more likely to attribute that behavior to internal causes if the person is from an outgroup. But if it’s an ingroup member doing it, they’ll attribute the same bad behavior to external factors” (Gorham, 2004, p. 97). In other words, a drunken, belligerent man in the stands is judged on his own terms; a drunken, belligerent woman represents all other women fans. The women with whom we spoke did, however, indicate that there are advantages to being underestimated as fans. They commented on the “thrill” that comes with demonstrating their expertise, and they valued the goodwill and sense of community that came after they were accepted as authentic fans. BEING A FAN, BEING A MAN While women could easily identify stereotypes of women football fans, they almost all had great difficulty locating themselves among those constructs. This was because all of the stereotypes they articulated are of women who are not perceived to be authentic fans invested in both the team and the sport of football. Instead, the stereotypical women fans were vapid Bimbos who were there to look cute and meet a guy; Supportive Partners who wanted to share something with their spouse or significant other; Football Widows who waved goodbye to their husbands in August and greeted them again in the winter; Guy’s Girls that eat, drink, and belch with the best of them, often to excess; and Social Butterflies who are in it for the scene. Most of these stereotypes are located in relation to a man, and none relate to the game itself. For women with a deep love of football, there is no commonly understood way to perceive themselves as football fans that is not tied to male performances. There simply is not a stereotype of a Knowing and Caring female fan of the NFL. This leaves a vacuum for women, particularly those who see themselves as embodying the male archetypal fan—demonstrating higher levels of knowledge related to plays and strategy (deciphering the game, calling plays, predicting referee decisions, etc.) and a sophisticated understanding of the game. While these women typically do not see themselves as masculine overall, they cannot see any other way to talk about and comparatively frame their type of fan performance. Indeed, in some cases, they feel they must downplay their femininity—drinking, cursing, being sure not to dress too provocatively, etc.—in order to be taken more seriously.

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204  Conclusion Because women recognize the importance of growing the tribe of women fans in establishing greater overall credibility for women fans, several of our participants noted that they mentor other women who are newer to the sport. In part, women appreciate other female fans because they have more permission to perform fandom differently when speaking with other women. For example, our interviewees and observations (as well as our own personal experiences) remind us that women often are accused of only liking a player because he is physically attractive. With men, admitting that a player is “cute” makes it much more difficult to be taken seriously as a fan. With other females, however, a woman can talk about players’ looks and physiques without the same risk of being dismissed or derided. Women conversing with other women about football also are less likely to feel like they have to justify or explain their ways of being fans. Within this context, women often can be more vulnerable than when speaking to men. Instead of working past microaggressions and negotiating a performance strategy that will establish credibility, women can ask questions, discuss possibilities, and express emotions without the same level of concern that they are delegitimizing themselves as fans. CHALLENGES TO FANDOM As we clearly establish throughout this book, women NFL fans are passionate about their team and the sport. This is particularly remarkable because, as we see in Chapter 9, the NFL did not start making a concerted effort to reach women fans through advertising and merchandising outside of “pink it and shrink it” until 2010. While these women developed and maintained a love of the game through their families and communities long before the NFL recognized them as fans, that does not mean their fandom will continue to grow unabated. There are real threats to football fandom generally and for women specifically. Some of these we touched upon at various points in the book, but they are important enough that we want to pull them together here. Other recent events within the league have presented themselves after our data gathering was complete, but are worth discussing in light of what our data would suggest. While we do not have specific data from our participants for those instances, we believe they merit inclusion in this discussion. Cost, finances, and a lack of loyalty. Being an NFL fan is not an inexpensive proposition. Tickets to games often are outside of an average family’s budget—let alone season tickets. Add on the cost of travel to and from games, parking, food, and drinks, and suddenly a game day out can break the bank. Even without trying to go to games in person, expressing your fandom can be pricey. Replica jerseys retail well over $100, and other branded merchandise often comes at a high cost, as well. Meanwhile, the NFL, which enjoyed tax-exempt status as a nonprofit organization until April 2015, was expected to haul in profit of over $1 billion in 2015, benefiting

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Conclusion  205 from higher-than-average attendance, despite increases in ticket prices, as well as renegotiated TV and sponsorship deals (Isidore, January 20, 2015). Furthermore, “the league’s 32 franchises are worth $1.43 billion on average, up 23%, and owners are pocketing record profits to the tune of $53 million per club last season” (Badenhausen, August 20, 2014). Despite the influx of money enjoyed by the league and owners, NFL franchises continue to place the burden for building new and bigger stadia on cities and, thus, taxpayers. When the Browns moved to Baltimore, owner Art Modell was “grabbing the most lucrative NFL stadium deal in the country: a rent-free, $200 million stadium; all proceeds from parking, concessions, and advertising signage; and permission to charge as much as $80 million in one-time ‘seat license’ fees to fans wishing to buy season tickets” (Babington & Denlinger, November 7, 1995). As we saw in Chapter 6, New Orleans likely would have lost the Saints if Hurricane Katrina had not made that politically impossible. The tradition of strong-arming communities into putting millions of dollars into new or rehabbed stadia through threat of relocation continues to this day. As a number of teams vied for the opportunity to move to Los Angeles for the 2015 season, the Vikings only opted to stay in Minnesota once they had approval for a new stadium. This plan is expected to cost the taxpayers $498 million, with “food service provider Aramark in for $10  million and stadium operator SMG paying $2 million” (Staff Reports, March 27, 2015). The Vikings are putting up $551 billion, for a total cost of $1.061 billion. While some fans are willing to pay expected prices and continue to support their teams, others cannot or will not, opting instead to stay home and watch from afar. We heard rumblings among our participants about the costs, and while observing in the field we overheard more than a handful of fans complaining about the toll a day at the stadium takes on their wallets. For now, many fans are willing to put aside their concerns due to love of the game. As teams continue to move to new markets for higher profits and the league generates billions in profits while for years enjoying tax-exempt status as a nonprofit, however, we expect more discourse around the disconnect between what they (the teams and league) make and what we (the fans) pay. In 2015, Congress made moves to reassess the NFL’s tax-exempt status. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked the NFL to defend its status, with committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) quoted as saying, Was that a nonprofit event going on or was that a for-profit venture? It’s a for-profit venture. You tell people that the NFL is a nonprofit entity and they just start laughing and giggling. But it’s not fair. If there’s another side to that, then let the commissioner come in and make that case. (McCalmont, March 26, 2015) While this is not yet a crisis for fans, it is not inconceivable that the tremendous sums of money made by the teams and the league coupled with

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206  Conclusion continually rising costs that price the game out of range for an average family will eventually generate more concern. This is further exacerbated when fans focus on those they see as the primary money machines in the NFL: the players. Favorite stars moving to new markets to make more money is frustrating for fans, many of whom lament the days of old when you knew all of the players and their numbers—they did not change very much from year to year, which allowed for a sense of loyalty. Now, players are perceived to be more interested in big paychecks and being stars than playing for the love of the game. While this is not necessarily different—in reality, it is likely that players have long sought out the highest paychecks they can, much like most people do in their work lives—the amount of money made by NFL players can be staggering. In 2015, the NFL salary cap will be $143.28 million, which “has ballooned in recent years as the effects of the new bulging television deals are being figured into the amount. The total has jumped $10 million each of the past two seasons” (Patra, March 2, 2015). That has not necessarily translated into massive salary leaps for the average NFL player, however. Interestingly, “the average player salary of $2.1 million has barely budged over the past four years,” although stars are still cashing in: “You can look at the leader in guaranteed money (Colin Kaepernick: $61  million), base salary (Jay Cutler: $17.5 million in 2014), average annual salary (Aaron Rodgers: $22 million), total contract (Calvin Johnson: $132 million) or endorsements (Peyton Manning: $12 million)” (Badenhausen, August 20, 2014). Clearly, it is good to be a quarterback in the NFL (or, in the case of Johnson, a talented wide receiver). It is interesting that far more of the fans we heard from focus on overpaid players when criticizing the money in football, rather than condemning the league and franchise owners. Increasingly, medical professionals and retired players are noting the substantial risk associated with repeated head contact, which will be discussed in the next section. Despite taking the physical tolls associated with playing an aggressive, often violent sport, players are criticized for their perceived lack of loyalty to the city in which they play and the fans that support them each and every game day. Meanwhile, the owners and the league continue to control salaries through caps that are designed to maximize their profits while minimizing costs by blackmailing cities into footing the bill for new facilities or risk losing their teams to a city willing to pay. Players’ health concerns. For years, discussions around players’ health and wellness focused on what happened to their mobility after years of trauma to knees, backs, etc. In recent years, however, more and more attention has been paid to the long-term impact on players’ brains, culminating with a lawsuit brought against the league by former players who claimed the league had concealed “the dangers of concussions and rushing injured players back onto the field while glorifying and profiting from the kind of bone-jarring hits that make for spectacular highlight-reel footage”

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Conclusion  207 (Associated Press, August 29, 2013). This concern is not unfounded; in a 2015 editorial lauding San Francisco ’49ers player Chris Borland’s decision to retire at 24 “in the face of mounting evidence that the game’s repetitive head trauma could leave him gravely and permanently damaged,” the New York Times’ Editorial Board noted, “Degenerative brain disease was found in 76 of 79 former pro players whose brains were posthumously studied by federal researchers, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs a research brain bank and studies head injuries” (Editorial Board, March 21, 2015). Borland, named rookie of the week twice and defensive rookie of the month in November, had a stellar season and was expected to be a major contributor in 2014. He was earning the league’s minimum salary— $420,000—and had a bonus of $154,000 (Belson, March 17, 2015). While his retirement is not expected to generate a sea change among other players, there is concern with the NFL that Borland’s decision will help convince parents already questioning whether or not to let their sons play football that it is not worth the risk. Youth participation in tackle football “has declined in recent years,” and “the NFL needs vibrant youth leagues to ensure that it can continue to have a stream of talented players and grow the devoted fan base that has helped turn the league into a $10-billion-a-year business” (Belson, January 28, 2015). To help mitigate the potential fallout from parents of future players as well as fans concerned by the health risks associated with repeated concussions, the league has poured millions into USA Football “to combat the toll that concussions have taken on the sport,” (Belson, January 28, 2015. Partnered with their Heads Up Football campaign as well as official rule changes intended to minimize head injuries, the NFL clearly is taking at least some steps to mitigate the effects of head-impact-related harm. The women with whom we spoke were clear that they did not want the NFL to “pussy up the game.” This explicit reference to female genitalia speaks to the perception—a perception that our female fans clearly expressed—that these changes are being made to mollify moms (and, more broadly, women), rather than a sense that the NFL is trying to create a safer environment for its players. In this conceptualization, changes made to ensure the game is safer for its players are nothing more than window dressing to ameliorate criticism, with the unfortunate side effect of making the game less exciting. Football, after all, is a violent sport, and players know that from the time they first strap on gear in their Pee Wee years. Violence is part and parcel of the football experience, and fans recognize that it is core to the game. The unfortunate side effect for female fans is that they are blamed for the changes. Violence against women. While fans understand and appreciate that violence is integral to the sport, the NFL came under heavy criticism in 2014 and early 2015 for multiple incidences of players’ off-field violence, particularly violence perpetrated against women and children. In one of the most

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208  Conclusion egregious examples, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught on video in an elevator “knocking out his future wife with a punch in February” (Martin  & Almasy, September  16, 2014). The story first came to the public’s attention soon after the incident initially occurred when TMZ Sports, a paparazzi-esque media outlet known for its shock videos of celebrities, released footage of Rice dragging his unconscious fiancée out of the hotel elevator. At that time, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a two-game ban. It was only after the elevator footage showing the actual physical altercation was released in September that Rice was released by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the league. While his case by far received the most publicity, Rice was not alone. In July of 2014, Carolina Panthers Pro Bowler Greg Hardy was found guilty of “assaulting a female and communicating threats” (Associated Press, July 16, 2014). Arizona Cardinals running back Jonathan Dwyer was released from the team in September after his arrest and indictment on felony charges for aggravated assault on his wife (Almasy, September 29, 2014). Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson was indicted in September for reckless or negligent injury to a child after allegedly beating his son with a switch; he took a plea deal in November to avoid jail time (Prisbell & Schrotenboer, November 4, 2014). San Francisco ’49ers defensive end Ray McDonald was released in December 2014 after “allegations of sexual assault” (Martin, December 17, 2014). These incidents all occurred after our primary data collection concluded, so we did not have an opportunity to investigate how the women in our study reacted to these events. Based on our review of press coverage at the time, however, there was real speculation that particularly the Rice situation would push women away from the NFL. In this scenario, Goodell’s and the Ravens’ initially weak response to Rice’s assault on his fiancée would be interpreted by women as insufficient for the magnitude of the situation, reiterating the perception that women are not valued by the NFL as anything more than a market. To help deal with this crisis, the NFL brought three women on board to work, according to Commissioner Goodell, “as ‘senior advisers.’ They will help ‘lead and shape the NFL’s policies and programs relating to domestic violence and sexual assault’ ” (Associated Press, September 15, 2014). Commonly referred to as the Domestic Violence Task Force, this group included former New York sex crimes prosecutor Lisa Friel; Jane Randel, founder of a campaign against domestic violence and sexual assault; and Rita Smith, former executive director of a group working to end domestic violence. At the same time, NFL’s vice president of community affairs and philanthropy, Anna Isaacson, became vice president of social responsibility (Associated Press, September 15, 2014). Soon after, another woman, Cynthia C. Hogan, was named vice president of public policy and government affairs (Bloom, September 18, 2014). While the league was making a clear effort to help work toward more proactive and consistent policies, for many, it was too little, too late. Calling for Goodell’s resignation, the National Organization

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Conclusion  209 for Women called it a “ ‘step in the right direction—but it’s not enough.’ On the new role for Isaacson, NOW said in a statement that ‘the fact that Roger Goodell is assigning a current member of his leadership team to oversee new policies shows once gain that he just doesn’t get it’ ” (Associated Press, September 15, 2014). As these hires show, the NFL recognizes the very real threat that women will be turned off by both these situations and the league’s actions, alienating a significant portion of their current and potential market. As we discuss how these issues and others impact women fans, it is important to note that there is not a “woman’s position” on this or any issue. Media coverage during the time demonstrated that some women were turned off by the players’ actions and, perhaps more importantly, the league’s response, opting out or reducing their NFL consumption as a result. Others, however, were less likely to give up their fandom, viewing these as isolated incidents. As we saw with Roethlisberger’s return to the Steelers after accusations of sexual assault, fans are all too willing to give their players a pass when it comes to off-field violent acts. This is particularly true if there are few to no consequences in a court of law. In fact, in the wake of Rice’s well-publicized assault of his wife, multiple media outlets ran stories featuring women who maintained that the NFL and Ravens had done Rice wrong. They often included quotes from women who felt that the punishment was unfair and unjust, particularly since the league upped his punishment only after the video was released. USA Today, for example, quoted a female Ravens fan: “I think whatever happened in that elevator happened in February and should have been done in February,” Pirovolikos said. “I’ve met the guy. He’s such a sweet guy. He never said no when I asked for pictures or an autograph or anything. And it’s their business. His wife obviously forgave him, why can’t we?” (Litman, September 11, 2014) ESPN (Brown, September 12, 2014) offered this vignette: She stood between two cars beneath an underpass outside of M&T Bank Stadium, but Christina Burke wasn’t hiding early Thursday evening—far from it. The Bel Air, Maryland, resident and Baltimore Ravens season-ticket holder displayed the Ray Rice jersey she wore not so much as a matter of pride but as a show of her belief in fairness and redemption. “I  still support Ray Rice,” Burke said at a tailgate outside of the stadium. “I  just don’t believe one action or mistake should define a person.” While fans are willing to forgive players—particularly if they play for their favorite teams—it is reasonable to assume that women who are just

210  Conclusion beginning to forge their fandom, having not yet developed team or league loyalty, will be turned away by the perception that the NFL does not care about domestic violence and protects men who perpetrate violence against women and children.

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OPPORTUNITIES TO BETTER REACH WOMEN FANS While the NFL has been successful in attracting women fans almost despite itself, the organization and its supporting players, including the media, have several opportunities to better engage women fans. Media. Author and activist Marian Wright Edelman once said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” The dearth of women in significant analytical roles in media coverage of NFL football, including both media partners and the NFL Network, reinforces the perception that women are not knowledgeable about or experts in the sport of football. While the NFL, ESPN, and the broadcast networks often tap former players to be in these roles, there are a number of examples of non-playing men who have made careers as football commentators and analysts. By integrating more women into roles that involve strategy and analysis, perceptions that women cannot be experts either because they have never played—a commonly held trope—or simply because women do not know football will be undermined. Eventually, the presence of women in these roles will no longer be notable. Furthermore, we encourage the NFL and its media partners to consider bringing in women representing a range of body types and appearances. The stereotype of the tall blonde bombshell is prevalent, and—as we saw in our earlier discussions—these women often lack credibility, perceived to be in the role because of their looks as opposed to their expertise. Looking over the NFL Network’s links for on-air talent (www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/ onairtalent) in spring 2015, a few immediate concerns are raised. Of the 60 people listed as on-air talent, only 11 were female—less than 20%. Of those, nine are clearly White, and seven have blonde hair. All appear to be young and hegemonically attractive. Most of the men are attractive as well, but not all. Finally, only one of the women—Jaime Maggio—is described as an Analyst. The rest are hosts, anchors, or reporters (or some combination of the three). While this list includes Andrea Kremer, a notable presence in football coverage, it is clear that women play a very different role on the NFL Network’s coverage than men. Organizations: teams and the league. More broadly, however, the league and its constituent teams continue to appear as mostly closed shops. Few women are in visible roles within the organizations. Those that are tend to be brought forward when “women’s issues,” such as domestic violence, are at the forefront and the league is in damage control. Having more women in leadership roles within team structures and the league itself will help break down perceptions that those posts—requiring expertise and authority—will

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Conclusion  211 be (and should be) only filled by men. We encourage the NFL and its franchises to consider placing more women in visible positions throughout their organizations, reinforcing that the sport is now accessible for all who love it. This also will help offer credibility for the NFL when addressing issues it perceives as relating specifically to women, whether they be domestic violence or, from the Pee Wee football recruitment perspective, the potential long-term damage from concussions. While we applaud the NFL’s establishment of the domestic violence task force and the addition of more women executives, it can feel a bit disingenuous to suddenly have women in front of the cameras when they are so rarely seen in day-to-day operations. Having more women out front and in the boardrooms will help reinforce that the NFL cares about women year-round, not just in times of crisis. Dance with the ones who brung you. As the NFL’s marketing efforts targeting women over the past few years have shown, their marketing seems to be predicated on the assumption that no women are football fans—instead, they need to completely introduce the sport to new women who are blank slates with zero knowledge about the game, its rules, or its traditions. This clearly is not the case. Rather than focusing solely on those who might be interested in football because of their boyfriends or husbands or because it is a good social scene, the NFL would be well served to remember to take care of the fans it already has. As the old saying goes: Dance with the ones who brung you. Better outreach to current fans will reinforce their existing ties and help ensure they continue to grow the sport by raising their children to be fans and recruiting from their own social networks. When engaging with women fans, it is important that the NFL remembers to treat them as authentic fans that engage in both Knowing and Caring modes of performance. Not all women need to be taught about football or sold on happy homemaker kitchen gadgets or recipes. Engage with women in terms of the game—that is what their fandom is all about. Show women watching football or talking knowledgeably about the sport while cheering along. Treat women as experts. The more that women are visible and presented as credible fans, the more women will be able to see themselves as welcome members of the football community. Clothes for all. Our data clearly show that women are not going to become NFL fans just because they can buy cute t-shirts or bedazzled sweatshirts in team colors. We found that women fans are grateful that the NFL now offers more products targeting women, but even so, there is considerable room for improvement. The NFL has moved away from the “pink it and shrink it” agenda, but that strategy continues to permeate women’s perceptions of the merchandise offerings. This almost universally unpopular strategy left a lasting impressing and is still one of the first things women discussed in relation to clothing options. Criticisms often went beyond color choices. Women also resent the lack of options and inappropriate sizing for women. They characterize plus-size women’s clothing as “we got our sweatshirts and muumuus.” Women crave clothing that is designed to flatter, not

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212  Conclusion just look more traditionally feminine. Many of the women with whom we spoke still shopped in the men’s department, either because they wanted something comfortable and functional or because they could not find clothes they felt made them look and feel good among the women’s options. Finding pieces that are age- and body-appropriate while still being flattering is important to women. Visual representations of fandom—the costuming that helps support and reinforce performances—often are a priority, and women hope to find pieces that will help fill out their wardrobes as fans. In other words, the NFL’s focus on making football fashionable, as explored in Chapter 9, is an effective message. Now, they need to expand their definitions of the audience to include women of various shapes and sizes. When women have the opportunity to visually represent their fandom, this can help support the benefit of being a member of a shared community of interest. Diane, for example, tells the following story: Diane:  Anyhow, let me tell you a quick story. A real cute story. I’m a nurse, and we see patients every now and then. During the fall, I’ll be wearing my Browns lanyard, my Browns pin, I’ll maybe have something else on, and that sometimes causes a conversation, usually with the gentleman that I’m speaking with. I got this older gentleman. He was an older Black guy. I was sitting down talking to him, and we had a very good conversation about the Browns. I  don’t know what year it was. I don’t know if they were doing good. I don’t know if they were doing bad. The only thing we were talking about was Browns and our favorite players, and blah, blah, blah. I spoke with him, and he would tell me about his wife, and how they used to go to Browns games. Then, she got sick, and she couldn’t go anymore. They would have to go to the 500 section. It would just be too hard for her to walk. She still liked to watch it on TV, but she wasn’t able to go to the games anymore. He was telling me, and then she got very sick, and she passed away. He was going to the games, and this and that. He left. We were done with our assessment, and he went home. I believe he lived in Euclid. Maybe four or five hours later, still early in the day, the girls at the front window said, “Diane, there’s a gentleman here for you.” They said, “I  think he was here before, but he’s holding something.” I said, “OK,” and went to the front window. Here, he had his wife’s jacket with him. It was the Brownie jacket with the elf on the back. It was a cotton jacket. He said, “I didn’t know what to do with this jacket. I kept it, but after hearing you talk, I knew I needed to give it to you.” Patty:  I’ve heard that. That’s the one you wear. Diane:  I still have her jacket. JoJo:  That’s a beautiful story. . . .

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Conclusion  213 Diane:  He said, “Because of your love for the Browns, you deserve this.” . . . He didn’t throw it away. He kept it. It was in a plastic bag. He cherished it. He gave it to me. It was my size, too. I mean it was . . . Carmel:  Oh my God. Diane:  I forgot his name over the years. It probably had to be ten years ago now. [But] I’ll never forget him. JoJo:  Priceless. Priceless. Diane:  That’s my Browns story. This jacket, a treasured possession for a patient in memory of his wife, is an excellent representation for how powerful shared symbols—the brown and orange and the Brownie mascot—can be. By tapping into their shared love of the Browns, Diane created a lasting bond with her patient. By passing on his wife’s favorite coat—something she wore to games when they went together—he was ensuring that her Browns fandom lived on, represented through another passionate fan’s costuming and lived performances. WOMEN ARE FANS Throughout this book, we have focused on the experiences and performances of women fans. Fundamentally, however, our participants made clear that they do not want to be treated differently—ultimately, they just want to be seen as fans. They love the game, and that is what has kept them invested over the years. Time and money—limited resources for most of the people with whom we spoke—are perceived to be well spent on football, and women are proud that they are part of this tribe. One of the most interesting observations during our research was how hesitant women often are to criticize the NFL. When they would levy a critique, participants regularly conditioned it with some equivalent to “just kidding”—but then restate their original concern. Our interpretation is that women negate and invalidate their initial criticisms because they see themselves as members of the community and thus are loyal to the NFL and their teams. But, faced with years of microaggressions that have established the questionable status of women fans, they are not quite sure if they are completely welcome into the fold. Thus, their legitimate concerns are softened in order to minimize the cognitive dissonance that comes with being a female fan of the NFL. MOVING FORWARD As we have seen throughout this book, women fans are not monolithic. Data show complex performances that are contextual, relational, and negotiable across two modes of performance, Knowing and Caring. While regional differences exist in terms of the specifics around food and costuming and

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214  Conclusion differences based on team traditions, we overwhelmingly found consistency across women’s experiences as fans regardless of age, race, geographic area, or socioeconomic status. These commonalities include the importance of family and community, regardless of how it is defined, as well as the joy women take in experiencing football fandom at home and in public. Performative Sport Fandom, the Fan Performance Matrix, and the Knowing/Caring modes of performance allow scholars new ways to examine how fandom is understood and experienced. While we have focused on women in this work, we strongly believe that PSF and the matrix can be useful in the study of all types of fan groups. Furthermore, while we initially dubbed our retheorization Performative Sport Fandom due to the discipline in which we work, our experience with the research for this book indicates it has application far outside of sports. Similar research using the Fan Performance Matrix and Knowing/Caring modes will be useful to understand fan communities related to anything for which a passionate group of supporters exists, including such areas as music, comics, and/or religion. We do not claim that PSF provides an absolute means of understanding sports fans, but we believe this approach breaks us out of the need to measure and categorize supporters based on criteria primarily established by and relevant to male sports fans. By giving voice to women who Know and Care deeply about football, we now have a much greater understanding of how these contextual, relational, and negotiable performances create meaning for NFL fans and help shape their performances across various roles.

Appendix A

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Interview Guide

  1. What football team do you support?   2. Have you always supported that team? Why or why not?   3. Why did you choose that team?   4. What are some of your first memories of watching a football game? a.  Where was it? What was the setting? b. Who were you with? c. How did you feel?   5. Has there been any person or group in your life that you think has influenced you as a fan? How so?   6. Tell me about a typical game day. a. Do you attend games or watch on television? (Differences) b. What do you do? c. Are there things you always do? d. What do you wear? e. Who do you watch games with?   7. How do you feel when your team is winning?   8. How do you feel when your team is losing?   9. Is there anything else that you do that gives you a similar feeling to the one you have following your team? How so? 10. Who’s the biggest football fan you know? a. How would you describe him/her in relation to his/her team? b. What makes him/her the biggest fan? c. How would you rate your fandom in comparison to the biggest fan? 11. Describe the ultimate fan. 12. Describe the typical fan. Male and female. 13. In your experience, are there differences between women and men as football fans? Explain. 14. Are there any ways that men treat you differently when it comes to football?

216  Appendix A 15. Outside of watching the games, how do you follow your team? a. Online b. Sports analysis on television or just the games c. Sports talk radio

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16. Do you ever visit fan message boards or comment? a. How would you describe the atmospheres of message boards (welcoming, competitive, rude)? b. What’s your user name? Do you have an avatar? c. Do you ever feel that you’re treated differently because you’re a woman? 17. Have you ever played fantasy football? Tell me about that. 18. Do you buy team merchandise? What sorts of things do you normally buy? 19. Recently, the NFL has made a push to market toward women. For example, it opened a boutique exclusively for women in New Orleans. a. What do you think about such efforts? b. Would you shop at a women’s boutique? c. Would you prefer that over a general sports store? 20. Are you familiar with the NFL’s campaign during Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Do you have any thoughts or feelings about it? For Steeler Fans 21. What do you think about the controversy surrounding Big Ben? Does it change your attitude about him at all?

Appendix B

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Interview Participants

Name Alice Amy Becky Claire Courtney Donna Elizabeth Faye Jamie Katlyn Kim Kristy Lisa Natalie Shelly Stephanie Talea Carmel Diane Heather JoJo Joyce Patty

Race

Approximate age

White White Asian American Black White White White Asian American White White White White White Asian American Black White Black White White White White White White

mid 40s early 40s late 30s mid 20s mid 20s early 20s early 20s mid 20s late 30s early 20s early 40s late 30s early 40s early 40s mid 50s mid 50s early 30s early 60s late 50s late 30s late 60s late 50s late 60s

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Index

advertising 145, 179, 205 “Aints” 7, 123, 128 alcohol 14, 71, 129, 134, 144; drinking 21, 27, 49, 129, 134 – 5, 141 – 3, 149 – 51, 155 – 8, 172, 174; drunk 11, 49, 129 – 30, 134, 143 – 4, 147, 156 – 7 appearance 137, 144 – 5, 210; cute 49, 58, 68, 116, 138, 164, 177, 211 bandwagon fan 23, 32, 106; fair-weather fan 23, 25 BIRGing 48 Bleacher Report 170 boyfriend(s) 10, 45, 58, 61, 67 – 8, 75, 117, 147, 211 Breast Cancer Awareness 1, 147, 176, 178 Butler, J. 18 – 20 cheerleaders 36, 139, 148 childhood 10, 12, 38, 49, 104, 106, 108, 130, 154, 156 children 31, 47, 149, 153 – 4, 157, 166, 172, 211; daughter(s) 17, 163, 172; son(s) 151, 207 commentators 40, 163, 171, 200, 210 commodity feminism 180 – 1, 186 – 7, 197 – 8 communities of practice 10, 104, 114, 117 Connell, R. 2, 3, 149 CORFing 48 costume/costuming 11, 26, 129, 138 – 42, 164, 212 – 13 Crawford, G. 13, 15, 23, 48, 149 culture (sport and) 2, 3, 5, 108, 133, 140, 142, 145, 200 Dawg Pound 121, 143, 147 Deadspin 195

draft 33 Draft Day 122 empower 119 ESPN 40, 209 – 10 fair-weather fan see bandwagon fan Fan Performance Matrix 10 – 11, 25, 45 – 6, 51 – 2, 60, 66, 200, 214 fantasy football 42 – 3, 45, 61, 137 fantasy sports 5 fashion (fashionista) 48, 139, 147, 175, 192 feminine/femininity 1, 3 – 4, 19, 139, 143 – 4, 149, 203 feminist 4, 18 gender: definition 3, 20; hegemony 2, 4, 143, 145, 202; performances 18, 26, 129, 145 – 6, 203; roles 3 – 4, 10, 14 – 15, 21 – 2, 57, 135 – 6, 143 – 4, 149, 173; stereotypes 30, 35, 53, 147 Gerbner, G. 178 girlfriend 13, 49, 58, 114, 128 Giulianotti, R. 13, 23 Goffman, E. 18, 179 Gross, L. 178 hegemonic beauty (ideal) 145, 147, 210 hegemonic masculinity 2 – 3, 5, 9, 61, 129, 143, 145 – 6, 149, 202 hegemony 2, 4, 146 heritage 81, 84, 108 homegating 174, 187 homemaker 143, 163 hometown (pride) 10, 12 – 13, 104 – 10, 117 Hurricane Katrina 7, 107, 114, 120, 123 – 4, 128

228  Index

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husband(s) 10, 20 – 1, 26, 30, 34, 43, 49, 51, 61, 69, 75, 106, 108, 117, 128, 148, 153, 160, 203, 211 hyper-masculinity 2, 9 – 11, 143, 156, 200 identity 23, 47, 51, 109, 145; gender 10, 20 – 1, 51; social construct 16 – 17; theories of 16 – 22 identity theory 2, 16 – 22 journalists see reporters Kremer, Andrea 171, 210 loyalty 16, 24, 26, 106 – 7, 110, 112 – 13, 116 – 17, 125, 139, 164, 210 male fans 4, 5, 14, 21, 27, 34, 44, 48, 62 – 4, 64 – 7, 71, 73, 119, 145 – 6, 150, 200 – 1, 203, 214; criticism of (challenges to) women 35 – 6, 53, 59, 73, 147 – 8; interviews with 8, 29 – 30, 35, 62, support of women 61 male gaze 139 masculine 4, 135, 143 – 9; see also hegemonic masculinity; hypermasculine Maxim 187 media (sports media) 46 – 7 media usage: apps 41, 47, 109, 167, 169 – 70; computers 170; Internet 23, 41, 47, 110, 114, 139; radio 31, 40, 47, 116, 168 – 9; smartphone 109, 167, 170; tablet 167, 170; television 16, 18, 23, 47, 56, 70, 109, 114, 130, 144, 147, 150 – 1, 158, 160, 167, 170, 173 – 4, 206; see also social media merchandise 26, 47, 122, 139, 149, 204, 211; accessories 15, 138 – 9; apparel 18; appropriate clothing 59, 68, 164; jerseys 13 – 14, 16 – 17, 27 – 8, 49, 110, 125 – 6, 128 – 9, 137, 140, 145, 165, 204, 209; pink 184 – 5; plus-size 211 – 12 message boards 5 – 6, 41, 170 Messner, M. 2, 4 Microaggressions 10, 53, 55, 61, 67, 203, 213

midriff advertising 181 – 2 Milano, Alyssa 185 – 7 multitasking 4, 30, 153, 173; chores 162; housework 4 NFL apparel see merchandise NFL programming 11, 112, 210 objectification 149, 179 – 82 Oliver, Pam 171 online forums see message boards 41 partners 8, 19, 163, 166, 168, 172, 202; supportive 68 – 70 performative gender theory 18 – 20 Performative Sport Fandom 10, 13 – 14, 18, 20 – 2, 200, 214 politics of flesh 138 – 40 rally flag 12, 129 recipes 150 regional differences 6, 140 – 3, 166, 213 religion (sport as) 26, 133 – 43 reporters 62, 210; sideline 171; see also commentators Rice, Ray 77, 208 – 9 ritual 5, 10 – 11, 17, 104, 108, 129, 133 – 43, 149, 163 – 7, 174 rivalry 15, 21, 48, 122, 142 – 4, 147, 187 – 91 Roethlisberger, Ben 126, 209 sex (versus gender) 3, 18 sideline reporters see reporters social (aspects of fandom) 5, 49 – 50, 53, 68, 71, 117 – 19, 127, 133, 142, 150, 155, 202 social identity theory 14, 16 – 17 social media 170; Facebook 170; Twitter 41, 170 spouse(s) 19, 152 stadium 7, 127 – 8, 131 – 3, 136, 142, 145, 150, 156 – 8 statistics 5, 14, 24, 40 – 2, 46, 114 – 15, 138, 201 Steeler Nation 6, 12, 15, 107, 110 strategies (negotiating fan performances) 10, 36, 45, 60, 72 – 5, 79 Super Bowl 6, 13, 107, 117, 120 – 4, 128, 137 – 8, 146, 154 – 5, 173 Superdome 7, 114, 128, 140 – 1 super fan 23, 138 symbolic annihilation 178 – 9

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Index  229 tailgating 27  –  8, 35, 47, 119, 131, 133 – 6, 141, 157 talisman 109, 138, 147 team colors 11, 26, 28, 53, 139, 151, 164, 174, 202, 211 Terrible Towel 133 tradition 6, 11, 13, 106, 108, 112, 114, 118, 127, 135 – 6, 150, 154, 156, 214 Tuchman, G. 179

Ultimate Attribution Error 203 violence 115, 144, 149, 150, 156; against women and children 126, 207 – 8, 210 Wann, D. 14 – 15, 17, 23, 127 weather 26, 68, 135, 142, 165 – 6 wives 13, 128, 172, 202