1. LECTURE

For six slides per page format (for printing) click : HERE

For one slide per page format (for viewing on computer) click: HERE

2. VIDEO CLIPS

These video clips, unless otherwise advised, will be shown during lecture.  They are made available here for revision purposes.

Video Clip 1: The introduction to ESPN’s coverage of a Texas high school football game, providing a sense of the importance of high school football to Texas communities.

Video Clip 2:  Brief excerpt from “Go Tigers!: A Team’s Fate, A Town’s Future”, documentary focused on the importance of high school football within the community of Massillon, OH.

Video Clip 3:  Clip from Frontline Documentary explaining the pressures of life in the High School Football Factory.

Video Clip 4:  Small-town high school football culture breeds sexual assault and divides Steubenville, OH. (WARNING: explicit content alert!).

Video Clip 5:  ESPN Outside the Lines segment focused on the relationship between sport and the collective sense of belonging and identification among Philadelphia’s inhabitants.  Focused on the trials and tribulations of being a Philadelphia Eagles fan.

Video Clip 6:  A music video titled “We Are LeBron”, featuring various Cleveland “celebrities” trying to persuade LeBron James to stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers; underscoring the importance of James to the Cleveland community.

Video Clip 7:  Archival footage of the April 1954 parade welcoming the Baltimore Orioles back to the city, attended by more than 350,000 people.

Video Clip 8: “Together We Play” 2013 promotion for the Baltimore Orioles, making the connection between the team and its fan community.

Video Clip 9:  Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake speaking at the start of the parade celebrating victory in the 2013 Super Bowl.

Video Clip 10:  NFL Network (2010) feature discussing the importance of the Steelers to the city of Pittsburgh.

Video Clip 11:  A slightly dated (2006) ESPN segment discussing the dispersed nature of Pittsburgh’s population and Pittsburgh Steeler fan base.

3. REQUIRED READINGS

It is expected that you will complete these readings prior to the discussion sections, and that–where appropriate–your engage them within your classroom discussion.

Reading I: Foley, D.E. (1990). The great American footbal ritual: Reproducing race, class, and gender inequality. Sociology of Sport Journal, 7(2), 111-135.

Reading II: Beissel, A.S., Giardina, M.D., & Newman, J.I. (2013). Men of Steel: Social Class, Masculinity, and Cultural Citizenship in Post-Industrial Pittsburgh. Sport in Society.

Reading III: Wentzel, D. (2013, March 13). Steubenville rape trial divides Ohio town. Yahoo! Sports.

Reading IV: McGregor, J. (2013). Only the truth will save us. ESPN.com.

4. THEMATIC REVIEW QUESTIONS

Given the volume of information provided in the classroom, you are strongly advised not to engage the material solely during lectures.

Rather, you are strongly encouraged to review each theme carefully on your own, following which you should test your knowledge and understanding by answering the Thematic Review Questions which can be accessed HERE.

5. KEY CONCEPTS

Spatial and Cultural Dimensions of Community

Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft

Gesellschaft and Sporting Individuality

Sport as Collective (Communal) Representation

Sport as Metonym for Community

Communitas

Communitas and Representative Sport

Face-to-Face and Extended Communities

Sport and Organic/Local Community

The Sporting Performance of Small Town Community

The Socially Cohesive and Divisive Aspects of Organic Community

Sport and Metropolitan/Extended Community

The Symbolic and Imagined Aspects of Extended Community

Phases in the Evolution of the American Metropolis

Collective/Shared Experience and Sport Success/Failure

Sport Stars as Metropolitan Metonyms

Representative Sport as a Serial Civic Ritual

The Political and Economic Dimensions of Sporting Communitas

Manufacturing Sporting Communitas

Community Conscience and Community Self-Esteem

Sport, Community, and the Illusion of Consensus

Representative Sport, Communitas, and Political Conformity

Diaspora

Diasporic Sporting Communities

Communitas and De-Industrializing/Post-Industrial Pittsburgh

The Pittsburgh (Steeler) Diaspora

Sport and the Rememberance of Community

6. DISCUSSION QUESTION/TASK #11

This question/task will be discussed in discussion sections on:

Monday, December 8

Wednesday, December 10

To what extent, and in what ways, did Foley's (1990) classic study of the relationship between high school sport and local community mirror your own observations and experiences? Be sure to discuss the degree to which (if indeed at all) high school sport proved to be a focal  point for community identity and a force of community cohesion (communitas), but also a site for reproducing social division and hierarchies.

7. ESSAY QUESTION #11 (this is an option for the Module 3 essay)

Choose an example of an imaginary metropolitan community or an ‘imagined sporting nation’ and critically examine the role and function of representative sport teams as the “social glue” (Eckstein & Delaney, 2002).

This assignment should be a minimum of 1,500 words (6 double-spaced pages) to answer it comprehensively.

You may find the following academic sources useful in completing this assignment.  You do not have to use these sources, they are simply provided for you as an introduction to the literature, and you should use them where appropriate and/or relevant. Also, be warned, these readings do not count towards the THREE additional academic sources you are expected to use within your essays (however, they may direct you toward additional academic sources you could use).

Clopton, A.W. (2011). Social Capital and College Sport: In Search of the Bridging Potential of Intercollegiate Athletics. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 4, 174-189.

Eckstein, R., & Delaney, K. (2002). New sports stadiums, community self-esteem, and community collective conscience. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 26( 3), 235-247.

Ingham, A. G., & McDonald, M. G. (2003). Sport and community/Communitas. In R. C. Wilcox, D. L. Andrews, R. Pitter & R. L. Irwin (Eds.), Sporting dystopias: The making and meanings of urban sport cultures (pp. 17-34). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. 

Ingham, A.G., Howell, J.W., & Schilperoort, T.S. (1987). Professional sports and community: A review and exegesis. Exercise and Sport Science Review, 15, 427-465.

McCollester, C. (2005) The Glory and the Gutting: Steeler Nation and the Humiliation of Pittsburgh. Monthly Review, 57(7).

Schimmel, K. S. (2001). Sport matters: Urban regime theory and urban regeneration in the late-capitalist era. In C. Gratton & I. P. Henry (Eds.), Sport in the city: The role of sport in economic and social regeneration (pp. 259-277). London: Routledge.

Smith, J., & Ingham, A.G. (2003). On the waterfront: Retrospectives on the relations between sport and community. Sociology of Sport Journal, 20(4), 252-274.

Swyers, Holly. (2005). Community America: Who Owns Wrigley Field? The International Journal of the History of Sport, 22(6), 1086-1105.

If you choose to complete this essay, and in addition to the sources provided on this page, you need to identify and use (either through paraphrasing or direct quotation) interpretations, insights, or information from a MINIMUM OF THREE appropriate academic sources (in addition to those provided for you on this website).

The deadline for submitting your Module 1II Essay is before class on Sunday December 14.  In order to receive feedback from your TA, you can submit a draft version of your essay up to and including Sunday December 10.

Important: The ELMS/Canvas website will not accept essays after the due time and date.

Be sure to review the details on the module essay page.   On that page you will find the EVALUATION CRITERIA for module essays (which you are strongly encouraged to read), you will also find links to the appropriate academic sources you should use when researching and writing your module essays, and the style and format guidelines you need to follow when completing module essays.  All this information needs to be read, understood, and closely followed for you to succeed in this course.