This book examines how various American communities create and maintain a sense of collective identity through sports. It explores the complicated, double-edged process of inclusion and exclusion, of rooting for the home team. Looking at different American communities, large cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles as well as small rural towns, suburbs, and college towns, the book considers the idea that rooting for local athletes and home teams often symbolizes a community's preferred understanding of itself, and that doing so is an expression of connectedness, public pride and plea ... More

This book examines how various American communities create and maintain a sense of collective identity through sports. It explores the complicated, double-edged process of inclusion and exclusion, of rooting for the home team. Looking at different American communities, large cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles as well as small rural towns, suburbs, and college towns, the book considers the idea that rooting for local athletes and home teams often symbolizes a community's preferred understanding of itself, and that doing so is an expression of connectedness, public pride and pleasure, and personal identity. The book demonstrates how sport brings people together yet also contributes to separation, misunderstanding, and antagonism. Some of the wide-ranging chapters point out that financial interests also play a significant role in encouraging fan bases, and modern media have made every seasonal sport into yearlong obsessions. Celebrities show up for big games, politicians throw out first pitches, and taxpayers pay plenty for new stadiums and arenas. The book covers a range of professional and amateur athletics, including teams in basketball, football, baseball, and even the phenomenon of no-glove softball.