Chapter 35 Quiz

Multiple Choice

1. "Basking in Reflected Glory" (BIRGing) refers to: - a) The tendency to attend sports events only when the team is likely to win - b) The tendency to publicly associate oneself with a group's success as an identity management strategy - c) The phenomenon of fans giving credit to themselves for their team's athletic performance - d) The practice of ultra groups reflecting stadium lighting with tifo displays

2. Which of the following is NOT listed in the chapter as one of the five structural features that distinguish sports fandom from media fandom? - a) Geographic loyalty - b) Real stakes (unscripted outcomes) - c) Embodied community - d) Superior organizational governance

3. Durkheim's concept of "collective effervescence" refers to: - a) The emotional energy produced by shared physical presence in ritual gatherings - b) The effervescent merchandise culture of sports fan communities - c) The tendency for sports fan communities to produce more creative output than media fan communities - d) The bubbling up of fan discontent when a team performs poorly

4. CORFing (Cutting Off Reflected Failure) is: - a) The act of leaving the stadium early when a team is losing - b) The tendency to publicly dissociate from a group's failure as an identity management strategy - c) The organized practice of fan communities publicly criticizing underperforming athletes - d) A governance mechanism in ultra supporter groups

5. The "fair weather fan" status in sports fan communities is associated with: - a) High subcultural capital, because fair weather fans attend only important games - b) Low subcultural capital, because fair weather fans CORFing during losing seasons demonstrates low commitment - c) Moderate subcultural capital, because occasional fandom is better than no fandom - d) A neutral status that carries no subcultural capital implications

6. Social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner) predicts that sports fans will: - a) Remain loyal to their team regardless of performance, because identity is intrinsic - b) Valorize in-group characteristics and derogate out-group (rival team) characteristics as part of maintaining positive group identity - c) Switch team loyalty when a better team emerges in their city - d) Experience reduced hostility toward rival teams as sports knowledge increases

7. Ultra supporter groups in European soccer are described in the chapter as: - a) Fan communities with their own governance, creative labor (tifo production), codes of conduct, and community traditions - b) Official club-sanctioned supporter clubs run by the team's management - c) Exclusively violent organizations associated with soccer hooliganism - d) Online communities that replace stadium attendance with coordinated social media support

8. The chapter's analysis of the Kaepernick case frames the central conflict as: - a) A dispute between Black and white athletes about the appropriate use of the national anthem - b) A conflict between fans' claim to the athlete's public self and the athlete's claim to use their public platform for political expression - c) A disagreement between team owners and the NFL league about permitted player behavior - d) A fan community debate about whether politics should be introduced into sports fan spaces

True/False

9. Geographic loyalty is typically chosen autonomously by sports fans based on team quality and aesthetic preference.

10. The chapter argues that sports fan hooliganism is produced by intensity of fan attachment — more devoted fans are more likely to engage in violence.

11. Multigenerational transmission of team loyalty is one of the most distinctive social features of sports fandom, creating community bonds across age cohorts that most media fan communities cannot replicate.

12. Research on sports fan experience consistently finds that television viewing produces equal emotional intensity to stadium attendance.

13. Cialdini's original BIRGing study was conducted using college students and football wins and losses.

Short Answer

14. Explain in two to three sentences what "anti-CORFing" means and why it accumulates subcultural capital in sports fan communities.

15. What is the "demographic structure" of major American professional sports fan attendance, and why does the chapter argue this structure is significant for understanding sports fan/athlete racial dynamics?

16. In one paragraph, explain how the geographic basis of sports fan loyalty produces rival team hatred that is constitutive of fan identity in a way that media fan wars are not.

Essay Question

17. The chapter argues that sports fandom is fandom's "oldest and largest form" but that it differs structurally from media fandom in ways that require adaptation of the book's frameworks. Write an essay (600–800 words) that: (1) identifies the two structural differences you find most analytically significant, (2) explains how each difference requires modification of at least one of the book's core frameworks (social systems theory, subcultural capital, parasocial relationships, fan labor, gift economy, platform dependency), and (3) considers whether sports fandom should be treated as a type of fandom continuous with media fandom, or whether it is different enough to require a separate analytical framework. Defend your position.

Answer Key (Instructor Reference)

  1. b
  2. d
  3. a
  4. b
  5. b
  6. b
  7. a
  8. b
  9. False — geographic loyalty is typically acquired through proximity and family transmission, not autonomous choice
  10. False — the chapter explicitly rejects this view; hooliganism is produced by specific social structures, not intensity of fan attachment
  11. True
  12. False — research consistently finds stadium attendance produces higher emotional intensity than television viewing

  13. True

  14. Anti-CORFing refers to maintaining visible team loyalty during losing seasons, when CORFing (distancing) would be the self-protective response. It accumulates subcultural capital because it demonstrates genuine commitment that fair-weather fans lack — loyalty that is costly to maintain signals authentic membership.

  15. Stadium attendance in major US professional sports is disproportionately white relative to both the general population and the player demographics. This matters because it creates a racial dynamic where predominantly white fan communities relate parasocially to predominantly Black athletes, a dynamic shaped by centuries of racialized discourse about Black athletic capacity.

  16. Sports rival hatred is tied to geographic identity — Manchester United fans hate Liverpool partly because this is Manchester vs. Liverpool as communities, carrying class and regional dimensions. This territorial anchoring makes the hostility constitutive of identity (to be a United fan partly means hating Liverpool) rather than incidental (Harry Potter fans' relationship to Twilight fans is not definitional to their identity). Media fan wars lack this geographic grounding, which is why sports rival hatred is more culturally normalized and more persistently experienced.

  17. Strong essays will pick two differences carefully (geographic loyalty and multigenerational depth are productive choices), specifically name and explain the framework modification required, and engage honestly with the discontinuity-vs.-continuum debate. Credit essays that argue either position as long as they provide specific evidence.