Leading scholars in sports communication tackle a wide range of subjects in these essays, including the ways in which people root for their teams, the consumption of sports information, and the uses of technology to cultivate fan communities. Taking an interdisciplinary approach through the fields of communication, psychology and telecommunications, this collection explores modern fans, their motives and culture, and their identification with sports and individual teams. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

The disappearance of his soccer team's leading scorer during the championship finals leads sixteen-year-old Matt to investigate and entangles him in a possible kidnapping. If the Mavericks win just a few more games, they'll make it to the national soccer championship. There's only one catch. Their star player, Caleb Riggins, has disappeared. Matt Carr is determined to find his teammate and solve the mystery. He just didn't realize it would involve attack dogs, a mysterious golden bridge, the internet and a family who may not be who they seem. And the big game is only days away.

Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Awards 2022 A close look at how big money and high stakes have transformed youth sports, turning once healthy, fun activities for kids into all-consuming endeavors—putting stress on children and families alike Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits. What happened to kids' sports? And how can we make them fun again? In Take Back the Game, coach and journalist Linda Flanagan reveals how the youth sports industry capitalizes on parents’ worry about their kids’ futures, selling the idea that more competitive play is essential in the feeding frenzy over access to colleges and universities. Drawing on her experience as a coach and a parent, along with research and expert analysis, Flanagan delves into a national obsession that has: Compelled kids to specialize year-round in one sport. Increased the risk of both physical injury and mental health problems. Encouraged egregious behavior by coaches and parents. Reduced access to sports for low-income families. A provocative and timely entrant into a conversation thousands of parents are having on the sidelines, Take Back the Game uncovers how youth sports became a serious business, the consequences of raising the stakes for kids and parents alike--and the changes we need now.

There exists in America a peculiar, fascinating subculture. Its exotic rituals include withstanding subzero temperatures with an upper body clad only in brightly colored paint, shouting arcane statistics at talk-show broadcasters, adopting the graphic images of lucrative businesses in bursts of patriotic fervor, and finding a curious but tangible form of self-esteem in the spectacle of overgrown armored men banging each other into unconsciousness. Hello, sports fans, this is a book about you. In fact, about us! For true fans, sports are close to a religion, a substitute for politics, an outlet for the most violent tendencies, and an excuse to vent primal instincts -- in other words, to act like the maniacs we are. But for the professional leagues and the megacorporations that exploit them, sports is a lot more important than any number of brew-soaked stadium seats. It's a serious business with rules you don't break and customers you don't serve, and it makes a small group of talented and/or connected people very, very, very rich, often at the expense of "home team" taxpayers who never hear the crack of a bat or the swish of a net. In this scathing, passionate, hilarious book, Dennis Perrin, the acclaimed author of Mr. Mike, examines the species Sportus fannus from the point of view of a lifelong member. But his love of America's great games does not blind him to their routine, often cynical misuse by a sports marketing establishment that goes to absurd lengths to glorify, even deify, professional athletes, just to sell a few more pairs of sneakers to awestruck fans at home. With wit and vision, the author leads us on a no-holds-barred journey from a Midwestern high schoolbasketball rivalry to the dizzying pinstriped heights of Michael Jordan, Inc.; from the call-in-show sports "media" to the magnificent prose of legendary boxing writer A. J. Liebling; from the outrage of Dennis Rodman to the courage of Muhammad Ali; from the exultant beauty of sport to its slow desecration on the ever shorter stroll from the locker room to the board room, the one that tramples on sports fans every step of the way. Let's cut to the chase: win or lose, love or hate, rain or shine, one thing's for sure -- this book is about to start arguments in living rooms, bars, and broadcasts nationwide. So check it out for yourself. Grab a snack and a beverage, and dig in!

In the Dallas Cowboys' stadium, the crowd cheers a cowboy with a huge hat who roars onto the field on a four-wheeler. In Kansas City, a big, furry wolf breaks into a rowdy dance the Chiefs' stadium. In the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' stadium, a fearsome pirate stalks the sidelines as if he's protecting the home team's turf. Football fans enjoy the goofy antics of these and many other colorful mascots. Have a good laugh while learning about the funniest football mascots!

This volume of essays examines the ways in which sports have become a means for the communication of social identity in the United States. The essays included here explore the question, How is identity engaged in the performance and spectatorship of sports? Defining sports as the whole range of mediated professional sports, and considering actual participation in sports, the chapters herein address a varied range of ways in which sports as a cultural entity becomes a site for the creation and management of symbolic components of identity. Originating in the New Agendas in Communication symposium sponsored by the University of Texas College of Communication, this volume provides contemporary explorations of sports and identity, highlighting the perspectives of up-and-coming scholars and researchers. It has much to offer readers in communication, sociology of sport, human kinetics, and related areas.

The Second Edition of Communication and Sport: Surveying the Field offers the most comprehensive and diverse approach to the study of communication and sport available at the undergraduate level. Newly expanded to incorporate the latest topics and perspectives in the field, the New Edition examines a wide array of topics to help readers understand important issues such as sports media, rhetoric, culture, and organizations from both micro- and macro- perspectives. Everything from youth to amateur to professional sports is addressed in terms of mythology, community, and identity; issues such as fan cultures, racial identity and gender in sports media, politics and nationality in sports, and sports and religion are explored in depth, and provide useful, applied insight for readers. Practical and relevant, epistemologically diverse, and theoretically grounded, the Second Edition of Billings, Butterworth, and Turman’s text keeps readers on the cutting-edge.

In this entertaining collection featuring themed sections, comic-strip-style stories, and even lengthy monologues, Jon Agee, the prime purveyor of palindromes, offers over one hundred sixty familiar and unfamiliar palindromes paired with all-new masterly cartoons in a treasury for word lovers young and old. “All hail Jon Agee, the ‘Droll Lord’ of palindromes!” – Will Shortz “For Jon Agee, creating palindromes is irrepressible.” – Associated Press “A creative, comedic gem.” –Booklist "For Jon Agee, creating palindromes is irrepressible." --Associated Press "A creative, comedic gem." -Booklist JON AGEE has written and illustrated five previous books of wordplay, includingWho Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? and Other Oxymorons. He lives in San Francisco, California.In this entertaining collection featuring themed sections, comic-strip-style stories, and even lengthy monologues, Jon Agee, the prime purveyor of palindromes, offers over one hundred sixty familiar and unfamiliar palindromes paired with all-new masterly cartoons in a treasury for word lovers young and old. “All hail Jon Agee, the ‘Droll Lord’ of palindromes!” – Will Shortz “For Jon Agee, creating palindromes is irrepressible.” – Associated Press “A creative, comedic gem.” –Booklist

A Companion to American Sport History presents a collection of original essays that represent the first comprehensive analysis of scholarship relating to the growing field of American sport history. Presents the first complete analysis of the scholarship relating to the academic history of American sport Features contributions from many of the finest scholars working in the field of American sport history Includes coverage of the chronology of sports from colonial times to the present day, including major sports such as baseball, football, basketball, boxing, golf, motor racing, tennis, and track and field Addresses the relationship of sports to urbanization, technology, gender, race, social class, and genres such as sports biography Awarded 2015 Best Anthology from the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH)