Journal of Sport and Social Issues

This article examines how the empirical study of football fans can inform contemporary debates in critical audience research, particularly around issues of pleasure and cultural citizenship. In January 2003, West Ham United signs Lee Bowyer; a controversial move, given the accusations of racism surrounding the player. Although football is often championed as a potent arena for debate and negotiation in cultural politics, Web-based responses to Bowyer among West Hamfans demonstrate how these issues can be subordinated within essentially conservative discourses of belonging. This is due, in part, to structural similarities between fandom and populism, stressing negative modes of identification and desire to return to a mythic past. Consequently, pleasure and politics coexist but do not meet in a West Ham supporting vernacular that has little to say about racism.

The commodification of football has been the subject of substantial sociological debate but has received relatively limited scrutiny in terms of sustained comparative empirical research. This article draws heavily on interviews with supporter groups, journalists, and officials in Scottish football to examine a range of issues relating to fan experiences and understandings of football's commodification. The author examines how fans respond to their labeling as customers and considers whether they are alienated or marginalized from football in economic and cultural terms. The author explores how the game's commodification can be at the expense of themost deserving supporters and undermines the future reproduction of fan communities. The author concludes by arguing for a nuanced sociological reading of supporters in regard to commodification, which appreciates both the fans' market pragmatism and their normative critiques of distributive justice in the game.

This study reports on a search for racial disparities in the value of baseball cards for Black and White members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). The study's sample of 51 players was derived from the population of the 96 players elected to the HOF since 1936 by the Baseball Writers of America. Although the authors found that race produced no statistical difference in Black and White players' card values, they did observe that players' career performance plus the availability of a player's card (scarcity) exerted a significant effect on the value of cards. The study concludes with a discussion of possible interpretations of these findings.

Novice coaches made rating judgments concerning factors contributing to the success of Black and White sprinters. Stereotypical judgments under conditions of sparse knowledge, as provided by facial photographs of unknown athletes from disciplines other than the coaches' own, were predicted. Such judgments attribute success of Whites to environmental factors and success of Blacks to biological factors. Rated items consisted of four statements consistent with a Black stereotype and four consistent with a White stereotype. Analyses indicated an interaction between color of target and type of items such that color-consistent items received higher ratings for both Black and White targets. These findings appear to imply that stereotyping persists within the novice coach population, despite its level of sophistication. Implications of this are discussed.