PERFECTIONISM, PROBABIL1SM, AND SPORTS

PERFECTIONISM, PROBABIL1SM, AND SPORTS

FANATICISM Why are some people rabid sports fans, whereas others could not care

less? It does not seem to be particularly related to their personality, because even meek and nonassertive people can be extremely competitive watching sports. The author’s personal theory, completely untested, suggests a possibility.

Like statistics, sports is a very probabilistic venture. One can make all kinds of odds on who will win the game or the race, but they are only that—odds. If Team A is better on most relevant criteria than Team B, it will probably win. Probably but not necessarily. Once in a great while even the most invincible team is knocked off by a lowly challenger. The expansion underdog team Florida Marlins even won the 1997 and 2003 baseball World Series.

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On the one hand, this uncertainty is part of what makes sports exciting to watch. On the other hand, uncertainty is handled very poorly by some people, particularly perfectionists. Perfectionists think in all-or-none terms: either they win (succeed) or they are a total failure. Perfectionists like predictability; if one side is objectively better on all relevant criteria, they should win—always. Unlike most people, perfectionist sports fans may prefer a 55–0 shellacking by their football team to a close victory.

More often, perhaps, perfectionists are not that drawn to watching sports at all. It is too unpredictable and it hurts too much when their side does not win. It may not be that they do not care who wins. They may care too much.

Some major media sports, most notably football and baseball, are virtually male only, without parallel female teams for the media to cover. In other sports, such as pro golf, tennis, and basketball, there are parallel women’s leagues and competition. Only in professional tennis and the Olympics does the media coverage of women’s competition even approach the attention given to the men, however, and both of these cases are fairly unusual, in that competition for both sexes occurs in the same structured event (e.g., Wimbledon or the Davis Cup includes both men’s and women’s matches, whereas the PGA and LPGA or NBA and WNBA are separate and unequal events). In the reporting about female athletes that does occur, the coverage is asymmetrical, with women being described in less powerful and success-oriented language (Duncan, Messner, & Williams, 1990; Messner, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). They are more likely than men to be called by their first names and have their strengths described ambivalently, e.g., “small but so effective,” “big girl,” “her little jump hook” (Duncan, 1992). They are also more likely to be described in terms of their attractiveness, while male athletes are described in terms of their athleticism (Kane, 1996).

The Olympics are an instructive and somewhat atypical instance. Both the summer and winter games are heavily covered by television, often with both live coverage and extended edited excerpts broadcast a few hours later at more convenient local times. Because of this edited nature of the coverage, women’s events receive nearly as much coverage as men’s events, but overall numbers of minutes and quality of coverage still favors the men (Billings & Eastman, 2003). Interest in women’s Olympic sports has been high for many years, and women superstar athletes such as Jackie Joyner- Kersee, Bonnie Blair, Sarah Hughes, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Dorothy Hamill have become genuine heroes and every bit as popular as the men.

Sportscasting and sports reporting is probably the last and most stubborn bastion of male supremacy in the journalism industry. Although female news anchors and reporters, meteorologists, and even editors are increasingly

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common and accepted, the female sportscaster or sports reporter (covering men’s sports) is still highly exceptional. Not until 1993 was the first woman pro baseball announcer hired (Sherry Davis by the San Francisco Giants). Whether this absence reflects the public’s true dislike or distrust of women reporting men’s sports or merely an unfounded industry fear is unclear. Clearly, the problem is deeper than highly publicized but bogus pseudo- issues such as the issue of sending female sportscasters into men’s locker rooms for post-game interviews. (No reporters of either gender are sent into women’s locker rooms after the games; couldn’t that model work for the men as well?)

Although not nearly as dichotomous as in the past, boys are still encouraged to participate in all kinds of sports more than girls are. Less obviously, the same asymmetry applies to media consumption of sports. Boys are encouraged by their parents (usually their fathers) to watch games on TV as well as to play catch and shoot baskets in the yard. Not only the playing of sports but also the watching of sports on TV has become a part of the male socialization role. The boy who is not particularly interested in spending his time this way, but whose father is, often receives subtle or not- so-subtle messages that such lack of interest does not measure up and perhaps even calls into question his masculinity. Consuming media sports together has become a part of the reality of many father-son relationships, and some father-daughter ones.

One advantage for men watching sports is that this is probably the one arena where they are most free to express emotion. Men watching a ball game together, somewhat like the players themselves, may relatively freely express feelings and even touch one another. In mainstream Anglo North American society this is practically the only time when most men feel comfortable publicly embracing. Many heterosexual men probably never in their lives hug another man outside their family, or perhaps inside it as well, except in the context of playing or watching sports. For this reason, if for no other, sports are important.

In the past, girls were often given messages, especially after reaching puberty, that participation in sports was tomboyish and unfeminine and could be a serious liability in attracting a man. In recent decades, however, this has changed considerably, and girls and women are increasingly allowed to be athletic and sexy at the same time. Less and less is it considered surprising or inappropriate for women to watch ball games or to know more about sports than their men, although TV audiences for most sporting events are still, by a large majority, male. Another important variable in effects of media coverage may be whether a sport is “lean” or “non-lean” (Harrison & Fredrickson, 2003). In lean sports such as gymnastics, diving, or cross- country, weight and appearance are more important for success, whereas in nonlean sports like basketball, tennis, golf, track and field, volleyball, or

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softball, they are less relevant. See Creedon (1994) for a collection of readings about women, sports, and the media.

Racial Bias. Although a majority of American players in the NFL (60%) and NBA (80%), as well as lesser but substantial numbers in other sports and the Olympics, are African American, their numbers are far smaller in administration, for example, 7% of front office personnel in the NFL and NBA, 1 out of 28 NFL head coaches, 6 out of 27 NBA head coaches (Lapchick & Rodriguez, 1990; J.Stein, 1997b). In 1997–1998, 7.8% of NCAA head football coaches were black, in contrast to half the players (Suggs, 1999). Basketball was slightly better, with 16.4% of head coaches for men’s teams and 10.6% for women’s being African American.

A few content analysis studies of play-by-play broadcasting suggest that racist stereotypes are being at least subtly reinforced by sportscasting. For example, in a content analysis of 12 NFL games in 1976, Rainville and McCormick (1977) found that White players, as compared to African Americans, were more often described in terms of positive physical characteristics, as causal agents, and in terms of past positive accomplishments. Jackson (1989), looking at NFL and NCAA men’s college basketball commentary, found that 65% of comments about African American football players pertained to physical size or ability, compared to 17% for White players. On the other hand, 77% of comments about White football players stressed their intelligence, leadership, or motivation, and only 23% of comments about African American players did (63% vs. 15% for basketball players). Similar findings occur for European sports media, where athletes of African, Asian, or Latin American descent are often admired for their “natural athleticism” but more often than white Europeans are described in terms of group stereotypes, such as “Latin temperament,” “Pakistani religious fanaticism,” or “superior African muscularity” (Blain, Boyle, & O’Donnell, 1993).

In light of such figures, it is interesting and particularly disturbing that sports are apparently widely perceived by young men of color as a route out of poverty and the urban underclass (Edwards, 1987), although research has shown no relationship between participation in sports and subsequent educational or occupational mobility for African American males (Howell, Miracle, & Rees, 1984).

Hero Worship. Media coverage of sports has enhanced, or at least altered, the perceived reality of the hero. Sports stars have long been heroes emulated by youth, but the age of television, and to a lesser extent other media, has changed this role somewhat. On the one hand, Michael Jordan may be seen by many more people on television than was previously

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possible. On the other hand, the close scrutiny of television shows the faults as well as the nobler aspects of a potential hero.

Children emulate their TV sports heroes in some very traditional ways, but also in some new ways. A child may imitate not only his hero’s great shooting but also his temper tantrums or drug use. Nor is emulation of athletes limited to children. Long-time golfers report that play on golf courses slowed noticeably after major golf tournaments began to be televised in the 1960s. This occurred primarily because amateur golfers started lining up their putts and imitating other behaviors they saw the pros do on TV, no matter that the amateurs may not have understood what they were looking for when lining up that putt.

Fans develop significant parasocial relationships with sports figures. Sometimes this can be very traumatic, as seen in the outpouring of grief following the crash death of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt in 2001. Half the country was dumbstruck with grief and could barely discuss it; the other half said “Dale Who?” Rapidly expanding from its Southeastern U.S. base to become one of the fastest growing North American sports, NASCAR adherents are very loyal, especially to their favorite drivers. Earnhardt was a true hero, and his death was a troubling loss to many.

One particular area of concern in regard to hero worship has been the use of drugs by sports stars and the resulting effects on youth (Donohew, Helm, & Haas, 1989). The widespread cocaine use by baseball and basketball stars in the 1980s seemed somehow worse than such use by other citizens, even by other public figures, because sports figures are heroes to youth. This has caused persons and institutions like the commissioner of baseball, the NCAA, and the NBA to be tougher on drug users among their athletes than they might otherwise be. The hero status is often used more directly to discourage drug use, as when Earvin “Magic” Johnson was hired to do an antidrug testimonial PSA, several years before he tested positive for HIV and became a spokesperson for AIDS awareness and safer sex (see Box 6.9).

A substantial benefit of hero status is lucrative product endorsement contracts for the major stars. For Olympic athletes this is often the critical part of their financial support, allowing them to pursue their amateur career. For wealthy professional athletes it is more like the icing on the already rich cake. These endorsement campaigns lead to an even greater media presence, as that person becomes familiar as a spokesperson in advertising for that product. Sometimes a single individual may endorse several different products in different classes. A certain wholesome and unblemished status is required, however. After NBA star Latrell Sprewell assaulted and threatened his coach in December 1997, he was immediately dropped from his Converse shoe endorsement contract (J. Stein, 1997b). When former Romanian Olympic gymnast hero Nadia Comaneci emigrated to the United States, the fact that she was openly and unapologetically living with a man

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married to someone else apparently rendered her worthless to advertisers for endorsements.

Another aspect of emulating athletic heroes is seen in the area of fashion. Thanks to the influence of television, we not only want to act like the stars but we want to dress like them also. Dress of different sports becomes chic at different times and places. Jogging clothes became high fashion, not only for nonjogging adults, but even for infants who cannot even walk! Clothing manufacturers make large sums selling high fashion clothes for tennis, skiing, or bicycling to folks who have never played those sports and who have no intention of ever doing so. Some people wanting to learn to ski first buy the latest ski fashions and only later the skis and poles.