Ritual in the “Church of Baseball”: Suppressing the Discourse of Democracy after 9/11

Yearning for a Past that Never Was: Baseball, Steroids, and the Anxiety of the American Dream

“…We might think of nostalgic imagination as creating an imagined cohesive worldview whose characteristics act as implicit suggestions for how the world ought to look. As Butterworth (2005) argues, baseball as an anecdote about American idealism suggests normative statements as to what constitutes the values emblematic in baseball.…”

American Football, Flags, and “Fun”: The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and the Rhetorical Production of Militarism

“…In the wake of 9/11, the blurring of sports and war has found additional strength. The past several years have brought near-constant reminders of the American military through baseball stadium rituals (Butterworth, 2005), NFL ''kickoff'' ceremonies (King, 2008), NASCAR (auto racing) displays of belligerent patriotism (Kusz, 2007), and an almost endless list of military appreciation events at college football games.…”

Do You Believe in Nationalism? American Patriotism in Miracle

“…Indeed, sports became one of the primary arenas for healing and patriotic celebration. Quite quickly, however, the discourse of sports, both at the games and through the media, affirmed a presidential rhetoric of war (Butterworth, 2005;Stempel, 2006). Embedded in this discourse was a belligerence and hostility toward dissent or difference, characterized by a rigid construction of "us" and "them."…”