Popular media culture fandom is associated with a variety of positive psychological, social, and cultural outcomes, but people who participate in these fandoms may be socially stigmatized because of the object of their fandom. A 2 (Fandom Type: Science Fiction/Fantasy; Sport) ϫ 2 (Target Fan Sex: Female; Male) between-subjects experimental design was used to examine the influence of fandom type and fan sex on the 3 dimensions of interpersonal attraction: social, physical, and task. In general, science fiction/fantasy fans were perceived as less socially and physically attractive compared to sport fans, particularly male science fiction/fantasy fans. However, there were no differences between the groups in task attractiveness. Female sport fans were judged as more physically and socially attractive than female science fiction/fantasy fans.

During a 2016 National Football League (NFL) preseason game, former San Francisco 49er quarterback, Colin Kaepernick sat during the playing of the national anthem in protest of police brutality. His actions prompted national outrage: ultimately calling into question his national identity and patriotism towards the United States. The anthem protest continued throughout the 2016 and through the 2017 season. Consequently, the NFL decided to implement a national anthem policy to discipline players who continued to protest. Thus, this study examined individuals’ perceptions of the NFL’s crisis responsibility in handling the anthem protest and how it affected their reputation. Further, this study examined national identity and patriotism as mediators between crisis responsibility and organizational reputation. Results indicated that national identity did not serve as a mediator and that only one level of patriotism mediated the relationship. A discussion was also forwarded.

In 1989, former Major League Baseball (MLB) player John Young created the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program as a way to increase the number of African Americans becoming involved with the game of baseball. Along with this program, MLB created the Urban Youth Academy (UYA) in 2006 as a way to not only teach the game but also provide life skills to youth and adults. However, MLB continues to struggle in developing relationships and increasing involvement of African Americans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to understand why African Americans are not interested or involved in MLB. Corporate social responsibility and relationship management theory were used as the frameworks for this study. Eleven RBI and UYA program managers were interviewed to determine the challenges they face in getting African Americans involved in the game. Results from this study indicated four themes regarding MLB program managers’ challenges: inconsistency in measuring success, lack of parental involvement, and lack of trust. A discussion, implications, and future directions are addressed.

A combined moire´-Sagnac interferometry method was applied for in-plane and out-of- plane crack-tip surface deformation measurement. Based on 2-D and 3-D Jacobian derivative method (JDM), a stress intensity factor evaluation procedure is proposed. This procedure utilizes selected measured displacements around the crack-tip region as input nodal displacements to calculate the stress intensity factor and the results correlate well with the theoretical calculations. The extent of the 3-D crack-tip deformation zone is also discussed.