Research Catalog

Title

Fallen sports heroes, media, and celebrity culture / edited by Lawrence A. Wenner.

Publication

• New York : P. Lang, [2013]
• ©2013

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Wenner, Lawrence A.

Description

xi, 381 pages; 23 cm

Summary

This book focuses on the increasingly ubiquitous phenomenon whereby notable figures from the sporting world fall from grace in full public view on the main stages of media. While such falls are of remarkably varied character, they fuel questions about the role of the sports hero, the co-mingling of sport and celebrity culture, and the changing nature of moral fault lines in contemporary society. In examining the "hero to villain arc" of sport celebrity, this volume features leading scholars from the fields of media, sport, and cultural studies who bring diverse vantage points to understanding how contemporary sport celebrities become heroes and gain fame and then fall precipitously from grace through a variety of "sporting offenses." The sagas of star athletes as well as coaches and sportscasters run the gamut from substance abuse (from performance-enhancing and recreational drugs to alcoholism) to sexual "improprieties" (from bad sexual manners to sexual assault to sex addiction to homophobia to questions over verification of sex) to routine thuggery (aimed not only at opponents but seen in extracurricular gun play and dogfighting contests) to questionable politics (demonstrating loyalties ranging from "good" nationalism to "bad"). The intriguing analyses featured here make us think about our cultural preoccupation with sports, the prospects for finding heroes in celebrity culture, and the moral complexities that are engaged as sport heroes fall and sometimes rise again redeemed. -- Publisher description.

Subject

• Sports > Social aspects
• Sports > Moral and ethical aspects
• Athletes > Social conditions
• Athletes > Public opinion
• Mass media and sports
• Fame > Social aspects
• Celebrities
• Sporters
• Reputatie
• Massamedia
• Sports > Aspect social
• Sports > Aspect moral
• Sportifs > Conditions sociales
• Sportifs > Opinion publique
• Médias et sports
• Célébrités

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• pt. I. Framing fallen sports celebrity. The fallen sports hero in the age of mediated celebrityhood / Lawrence A. Wenner -- Exposing celebrity sports / Toby Miller -- Athletic heroic acts and living on the moral edge / William J. Morgan -- From coverage to recovery: mediating the fallen sports celebrity / Bryan E. Denham -- pt. II. Fallen individual sports celebrity. Tiger Woods lands in the rough: golf, apologia, and the heroic limits of privacy / Andrew C. Billings -- Andre Agassi and the tides of tennis celebrity: image, reconstruction, and confession / C. Lee Harrington and Kimberly S. Schimmel -- On track, off track, on Oprah: the framing of Marion Jones as golden girl and American fraud / Lindsey J. Mean -- The ups and downs of skating vertical: Christian Hosoi, crystal meth, and Christianity / Becky Beal -- Wrestling with extremes: steroids, traumatic brain injury, and Chris Benoit / James L. Cherney and Kurt Lindemann -- Bad landing: charting the gold and criminal records of Finnish ski jumper, Matti Nykänen / Pirkko Markula and Zoe Avner -- Traitor on high seas: Russell Coutts, Kiwi loyalty, and opportunism in international yachting / Alistair John, Toni Bruce, and Steven J. Jackson -- Running down what comes naturally: gender verification and South Africa's Caster Semenya / Cheryl Cooky and Shari L. Dworkin.
• pt. III. Fallen team sports celebrity. Dog bites man?: the criminalization and rehabilitation of Michael Vick / Michael D. Giardina and Mar Magnusen -- Guns are no joke: framing Plaxico Burress, Gilbert Arenas, and gunplay in professional sports / Katherine L. Lavelle -- Interrogating discourses about the WNBA's "bad girls": intersectionality and the politics of representation / Mary G. McDonald and Cheryl Cooky -- Liquid Beckham: inoculating a star against falls from grace / Oliver Rick, Michael L. Silk, David L. Andrews -- No gagging matter: John Terry plays centre back from Dad of the Year to (alleged) debauchery / Bill Grantham -- "Wayne's World": media narratives of downfall and redemption about Australian football "king", Wayne Carey / Jim McKay and Karen Brooks -- Spinning out of control: Harbhajan Singh, postcolonial cricket celebrity, and the "revenge narrative" / David Rowe -- pt. IV. Fallen sideline sports celebrity. The "bully" and the "girl who did what she did": neo-homophobia in coverage of two women's college basketball coaches / Marie Hardin and Nicole M. LaVoi -- Coaches gone wild: media. masculinity, and morality in big-time college football / Michael L. Butterworth -- Faking it: Dean Richards, rugby union, and harlequins at the bloodgate / Kevin Young and Michael Atkinson -- Who's sorry now?: sportscasters falling from grace, saving face / Heather L. Hundley -- Don Cherry and the cultural politics of rock'em sock'em nationalism: complicating the hero-villain binary in Canada / Jay Scherer and Lisa McDermott -- pt. V. Afterward. Beyond the failed sports hero: where we all fall down / Scott Tinley.

ISBN

• 9781433112997
• 143311299X
• 9781433112980
• 1433112981
• 9781453908501
• 1453908501

LCCN

2012016211

OCLC

• ocn794306382
• 794306382
• SCSB-1759018

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library