An Internet-based survey was posted on the Twitter feed of a retired female athlete to ascertain the demographics, uses, and gratifications of her feed’s followers. Analysis of the data revealed that followers were predominantly White, affluent, educated, and older than prior research into online audiences has shown. The perception of the athlete as being an expert at her sport was the most salient reason reported to follow the Twitter feed, followed by affinity for the athlete’s writing style. Analysis of variance uncovered 5 significant differences in item salience between male and female followers, with women more likely to use this Twitter feed because of affinity for the athlete and men more likely to use it because of perception of the athlete as physically attractive. Factor analysis uncovered 3 dimensions of gratification: an organic fandom factor, a functional fandom factor, and an interactivity factor.

American football has long been central to the construction of masculinity in the United States. Of the multiple masculine scripts promoting professional players' hegemonic masculine status, sacrificing one's body for the sake of sporting glory is a key tenet. Sport journalists have traditionally used their media platform to reify this social script, an act which simultaneously promotes their own masculine capital. However, this article investigates a crack in this hegemonic system. Through a media analysis of the reporting on Aaron Rodgers' self-withdrawal (after hitting his head) from an important National Football League (NFL) game, we argue that increasing cultural awareness as to the devastating effects of concussions, in the form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, combined with a softening of American masculinity is beginning to permit some prominent players to distance themselves from the self-sacrifice component of sporting masculinity. Concerning concussions, we conclude major sport media are beginning to support the notion of health over a masculine warrior narrative.

The essence of global sports has been competition among nations at the international level. For football, arguably the world’s most popular sport, global rivalries are paramount, and every four years since 1930, it has been the World Cup that has provided this excitement. English newspaper narratives about the English men’s national football team competing in the 2006 World Cup were examined to gain insight into how English national identity was portrayed. Using a qualitative textual analysis methodology, this study drew on Anderson’s (1983) theory of the imagined community, Hobsbawm’s (1983) notion of invented traditions, and the Eliasian (1991) concept of habitus codes. Set against the contemporary trends of devolution, globalization, and a post-7/7 discourse the newspapers relied on a reductionist, essentialist construction to elicit an emotional connection with a homogenous form of English national identity. The narratives seemed designed to galvanize support for the English team through references to historic English military victories and speeches. These served to rekindle images of bygone, mythical, and imperialistic eras. The newspapers also reverted to an ‘us vs them’ invective in blaming Swedish manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, for England’s failure to win the tournament with the ‘greatest generation’.

This study examined effects of the sex of sports writers on the framing of athletes in print-media coverage of intercollegiate men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The number of articles by female and male authors and the frames used were analyzed. Descriptors of players, coaches, and both tournaments in articles from CBS SportsLine, ESPN Internet, The New York Times, and USA Today were coded with the authors’ names initially hidden. Results showed that female journalists were more apt to cover women’s basketball, and men predominantly wrote about men’s basketball. The sex of writers also influenced the ways female and male athletes were presented. Male writers were more likely to reinforce gender stereotypes by praising the athleticism of male athletes. In contrast, female writers more often framed female athletes for their athletic prowess. The results suggest that female sports writers can make some difference in framing, but institutional structures minimize their impact.

This study examined print-media portrayals of women’s and men’s basketball teams, players, and coaches during the 2006 NCAA Division I tournaments. Drawing principally from Gramsci’s hegemony theory and Connell’s theory of gender power relations, we analyzed article narratives published over a 26-day period during spring 2006 in four major media outlets: newspapers, The New York Times and USA Today, and online sport publications, ESPN Internet and CBS SportsLine. A total of 508 articles were coded and analyzed for dominant themes. Six primary themes emerged from the data. Although the data revealed shifts in media representations of gender relations, overall these themes mostly supported Connell’s theory about the gender order.