Sports provide us with some incredible (and incredibly ridiculous) examples of sport identity. This term is defined as “those aspects of an individual’s self-image that derive from the social categories to which he perceives himself to belong" (see book Examining Identity in Sports Media, edited by Heather Hundley and Andrew Billings)
In other words, this is just a fancy way of academics understanding the fans’ and athletes’ selves in the realm of sports and our society.
The development of identity comes from a feeling of belonging within a group, which in this case would be a specific sport or sports team: Fans view themselves as “fans of ____” and athletes view themselves as “players of _____.”
The identification is directly linked with fandom, which explains how individuals can go overboard in their identities—they scream at the referees and other players, adorn themselves with expensive team gear or name their children after favorite players and coaches.
Being a fan...
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