A strong relationship between sport fans and teams is an essential component for the success of the sport brand. This book provides an in-depth examination of the use of Twitter as a tool to enhance and maintain the fan-team relationship. As social media platforms have expanded beyond purely personal use, brands have had to adjust their strategic communication and marketing efforts. Drawing on research and theory from advertising, marketing, mass communication, and public relations, this book uses a mixed methods approach to better understand how online fan engagement using Twitter can help strengthen the fan-team relationship. Findings from this research has implications for the continued scholarly work on online engagement and relationship building as well as practical applications for effective use of Twitter as a strategic communication tool.
As of 2012, Twitter has over 100 million active users worldwide, generating close to 230 million Tweets per day. Encouraged by sports shows that incorporate social media as a major component of their programming strategies, sports fans and athletes have proven to be some of the most prolific and adept users of Twitter and other social media platforms. Social media has made it possible for fans to cross the virtual barrier that separates them from the teams they love and the athletes they follow, changing the way fans and athletes interact in the world of sports. In Sports Fans 2.0: How Fans Are Using Social Media to Get Closer to the Game, David M. Sutera explores the increasingly participatory nature of contemporary sports fandom and spectatorship. He examines the ways in which digital media has created and facilitated new channels for sports fan engagement, and how technology has enhanced the fan’s perception of participating in America’s sports culture. In addition, Sutera shows how high-profile athletes are using social media to increase their fan base and promote their own celebrity status, creating the sense that they are more accessible to their fans. Social media has forever altered the way sports fans and athletes engage with each other. Covering a wide range of sports and social media outlets, Sports Fans 2.0 is an accessible examination of how technology has changed—and will continue to change—the world of sports. Written for general readers and scholars alike, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the effects of social media on popular culture.
In this long-anticipated sequel to his jarring takedown of professional sports, The Fix Is In, internationally recognized game fixing expert and scholarly authority Brian Tuohy further reveals the truths all sports fans need to know. Based on dedicated research and previously unreleased FBI files, each chapter exposes sports in a manner none of the major leagues’ broadcast partners would dare attempt. No sport or league is spared as Tuohy rips through not only the likes of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and NASCAR, but also the PGA, UFC, eSports, horse racing, boxing, and both NCAA football and basketball. Along the way, championships are revealed as frauds, referees are exposed as accomplices, and legends are demolished. No sports fans should watch another game until they read this book and understand what truly is being presented as “pure” in America’s professional sports leagues.
Goodreads Choice winner for Nonfiction 2021 and instant #1 bestseller! A deeply moving collection of personal essays from John Green, the author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down. “The perfect book for right now.” –People “The Anthropocene Reviewed is essential to the human conversation.” –Library Journal, starred review The Anthropocene is the current geologic age, in which humans have profoundly reshaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his groundbreaking podcast, bestselling author John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale—from the QWERTY keyboard and sunsets to Canada geese and Penguins of Madagascar. Funny, complex, and rich with detail, the reviews chart the contradictions of contemporary humanity. As a species, we are both far too powerful and not nearly powerful enough, a paradox that came into sharp focus as we faced a global pandemic that both separated us and bound us together. John Green’s gift for storytelling shines throughout this masterful collection. The Anthropocene Reviewed is an open-hearted exploration of the paths we forge and an unironic celebration of falling in love with the world.
"A compelling origin story of a time that really wasn’t so long ago but through the lens of tragedy feels like forever. Kobe-ologists will devour this book, reveling in the anecdotes about his intensity & the engaging game recaps." —Associated Press “Every superhero needs an origin story.” –Jeff Pearlman The inside look at one of the most captivating and consequential figures in our culture—with never-before-heard interviews. Kobe Bryant’s death in January 2020 did more than rattle the worlds of sports and celebrity. The tragedy of that helicopter crash, which also took the life of his daughter Gianna, unveiled the full breadth and depth of his influence on our culture, and by tracing and telling the oft-forgotten and lesser-known story of his early life, The Rise promises to provide an insight into Kobe that no other analysis has. In The Rise, readers will travel from the neighborhood streets of Southwest Philadelphia—where Kobe’s father, Joe, became a local basketball standout—to the Bryant family’s isolation in Italy, where Kobe spent his formative years, to the leafy suburbs of Lower Merion, where Kobe’s legend was born. The story will trace his career and life at Lower Merion—he led the Aces to the 1995-96 Pennsylvania state championship, a dramatic underdog run for a team with just one star player—and the run-up to the 1996 NBA draft, where Kobe’s dream of playing pro basketball culminated in his acquisition by the Los Angeles Lakers. In researching and writing The Rise, Mike Sielski had a terrific advantage over other writers who have attempted to chronicle Kobe’s life: access to a series of never-before-released interviews with him during his senior season and early days in the NBA. For a quarter century, these tapes and transcripts preserved Kobe’s thoughts, dreams, and goals from his teenage years, and they contained insights into and told stories about him that have never been revealed before. This is more than a basketball book. This is an exploration of the identity and making of an icon and the effect of his development on those around him—the essence of the man before he truly became a man.
The University of Alabama boasts one of the nation's most storied football programs, and the recruiting acumen of coaches like Bear Bryant and Nick Saban plays a major role in that. The Road to Bama is a wild ride into the competitive world of college football recruiting, revealing how many Crimson Tide players found their way to Tuscaloosa.
The Business of Sports, Second Edition is a comprehensive collection of readings that focus on the multibillion-dollar sports industry and the dilemmas faced by todays sports business leaders. It contains a dynamic set of readings to provide a complete overview of major sports business issues. The Second Edition covers professional, Olympic, and collegiate sports, and highlights the major issues that impact each of these broad categories. The Second Edition continue to provide insight from a variety of stakeholders in the industry and cover the major business disciplines of management, marketing, finance, information technology, accounting, ethics and law. In addition, it features concise introductions, targeted discussion questions, and graphs and tables to convey relevant financial data and other statistics discussed. This book is designed for current and future sports business leaders as well as those interested in the inner-workings of the industry.
In the 1960s and 1970s, America experienced a sports revolution. New professional sports franchises and leagues were established, new stadiums were built, football and basketball grew in popularity, and the proliferation of television enabled people across the country to support their favorite teams and athletes from the comfort of their homes. At the same time, the civil rights and feminist movements were reshaping the nation, broadening the boundaries of social and political participation. The Sports Revolution tells how these forces came together in the Lone Star State. Tracing events from the end of Jim Crow to the 1980s, Frank Guridy chronicles the unlikely alliances that integrated professional and collegiate sports and launched women’s tennis. He explores the new forms of inclusion and exclusion that emerged during the era, including the role the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders played in defining womanhood in the age of second-wave feminism. Guridy explains how the sexual revolution, desegregation, and changing demographics played out both on and off the field as he recounts how the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers and how Mexican American fans and their support for the Spurs fostered a revival of professional basketball in San Antonio. Guridy argues that the catalysts for these changes were undone by the same forces of commercialization that set them in motion and reveals that, for better and for worse, Texas was at the center of America’s expanding political, economic, and emotional investments in sport.
Stop standing still. Start standing out. Whether in school, factories, or corporate offices, people are in a mad rush to the middle, going about their business and fitting in. The problem is, while you may feel as if you're doing your own thing, you're not-you're doing what's expected of you. To stand out, take whatever you think is normal, and do the exact opposite. In Find Your Yellow Tux, Jesse Cole, in-demand speaker and baseball ringleader, shares how you can achieve amazing things by doing the unexpected. Using examples from his life and the lives of his heroes-P. T. Barnum, Walt Disney, and MLB owner Bill Veeck-Cole shows how to reinvigorate your goals, reignite your passions, and excel in business and beyond. The time to break the mold is now-with Find Your Yellow Tux, you'll discover how to find joy and success in everything you do.
