Evolution of the Modern Sports Fan

Editors Billings and Brown (both, Univ. of Alabama) have assembled a collection of essays from young scholars exploring various facets of sport fans and fandom. From communication and psychological perspectives, the work includes both reviews and original empirical research. Beginning with topics related to aspects of sport fans, such as the association between team identification (i.e., a psychological connection to a sport team) and personality dimensions, experiences of team identification, and the concept of “Basking in Reflected Glory,” the authors then examine applications of fanship to areas including the relationship between identification and nationalist attitudes. Later chapters explore outcomes of sport fanship such as deviant behaviors, reactions to team and athlete scandals, and possible future areas of sport fan research including uses and gratifications, technology usage, and virtual reality. Altogether the work is a much-needed update and review of empirical fan research for social scientists. Although the book is geared toward sport fans, it is strongly recommended reading for researchers exploring fans of all interests. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and professionals. * CHOICE *
Often maligned for being seemingly obsessed, what drives the sports fan and what it means to be one is surprisingly little understood.  This new collection of original research edited by Andy Billings and Kenon Brown is an important work that explores the enigma of fandom in new and insightful ways, examining key questions behind the psychology of fanship identification, the challenges of measuring different flavors of fanship, and the complexities that sometimes makes fanship dysfunctional or problematic.   -- Lawrence A. Wenner, Loyola Marymount University
By providing an understanding of the key foundations of sports fandom and identification, the perceptions and behaviors fans display toward teams and athletes, and how technology and innovations are impacting the contemporary sports fan, Billings and Brown have created an excellent resource for anyone who has an interest in the fascinating, ever-expanding array of behaviors that sports fans exhibit.  The readings in this book provide thought provoking concepts and findings that will help drive forward our knowledge of sports fans. -- John S. W. Spinda, Clemson University