sports spectators

Explores the relationship between professional sports teams and their fans looking at how the players, owners, agents, and commissioners have taken the game away from the fans and removed the personal element and what concerned supporters can do to have positive impact on the situation.

Admitted sports addict Joe Queenan profiles various types of fans, such as "fans who love too much," "fans who misbehave, and "fans who walk away," exploring the psychology of each, especially those--like himself--who keep the dream alive throughout years of frustrating losses.

Explores what the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series victory meant to the team's fans, who had endured eighty-six years of disappointment as their team lost series after series.

Discusses theoretical approaches to fan violence drawn from the collective behavior tradition, describes an approach to studying sports fan violence using qualitative strategies, examines the structural and demographic conditions under which fan violence occurs, looks at how fans are socialized to be violent, and provides case studies of two major incidents of celebrating riots following sports victories.