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Will Misenheimer
Professor Arnold
UWRT-1101-073
15 November 2015
Ethnography Report First Draft
Forrest Gumps mother once told him, Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know
what youre gonna get. While at most any type of sporting event, I can assure you that you are
liable to be exposed to anything. I once heard profound wisdom from a manager at the Charlotte
Motor Speedway prior to a volunteering stint; he told us, You will see titties, and you will see
drunk men. From managers uprooting and throwing bases, to the drunk, the culture of sports
and its fans is certainly an interesting one, in which you never know what youre gonna get.
To most people, sports are nothing more than games, but to its fans, athletic competition
is a form of war and needed sense of release in which boundaries are drawn and blood is shed. I
can recount several embarrassing, defensive remarks made from the UNC Charlotte student
section while performing the first stage of my research. Would you rather the He literally threw
a punch. He should be ejected!, or the Youre the thundering turds on the bench!; pick your
poison. Since my career as a baseball player on a competitive team has come to an end, Ive had
the pleasure to experience life as a spectator and compare fan behaviors with the nature of the
athlete. During the midst of athletic competition, the athletes are typically respectful towards one
another, while there are the occasional hot-heads or smack-talkers, commonly connotated as the
instigators to a situation. However, I discovered Saturday, October 31st that the same cannot be
said for its fans. As stated by the Youtube documentary, Obsessed- a documentary about

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football and its fans1, sports fans are naturally defensive and territorial. I witnessed this
protective nature during my primary research at the UNC Charlotte football game, with many
defensive comments such as, Your mascot looks like a turd! Following the actions I observed
during my primary research stage, I pondered about the nature of the defensiveness of the fan.
The students in the UNC Charlotte student section, much like any average sports fan, had been
exposed to the stresses and grinds of the previous week, desperate for a release. According to the
Youtube documentary, to sports fans, athletic competition is that needed release. Therefore, when
the score is not necessarily in favor of the sports fan, it is understandable as to why the fan may
lower him or herself to a position of targeting individual players and spiteful chants.
In chapter 5 of Joe Queenans True Believers, Queenan discusses Fans Who
Misbehave. During my study of the UNC Charlotte student section at the UNC Charlotte vs.
Marshall football game, I felt an abrupt, repetitive thump on my left shoulder. As I turn to
identify the source of my annoyance, I heard a student say, Hi, Im plastered! While
plastered is a term used also by non-sports fans, it depicts a high level of intoxication. This is
very similar to Joe Queenans personal experience, in which he witnessed an intoxicated woman
moon, or flash her buttocks, her best friend to get a laugh. This evidence further supports the
notion that athletic competition is a release and an escape from the stresses of reality. In another
chapter of Queenans book, the topic of Fans Who Love Too Much is presented. Queenan
discusses his profound love for sports, yet he feels that his involvement in athletic competition
may have slightly hindered his ability to be the best father that he could be. However, in a study
done by the Seattle Times, avid sports fans are proven to usually be much happier and feel
alienated less3. Just as I witnessed during my primary research study, fans use athletic
competition as a means of release and social facilitation. While the man who approached me to

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inform me that he was plastered was certainly misbehaving, he was also engaging in social
interaction with others, by approaching me, and releasing emotionally with the use of alcohol.
In the same study done by the Seattle Times, domestic violence, heart attacks, and
wreckless driving have all been linked to and connected with the results of athletic competitions.
This statistic is used to display the negative effects that undesired outcomes of athletic events
inflict upon the sports fan. While most people view sports as a side activity, in which not much
dedication is given, but to sports fans, it is tribal. This unparalleled dedication of a fanatic to his
or her team is shown through the negative effects triggered by a poor outcome to an event.
Whether its the surprising welcome of a plastered student at a football game, or the
heave of a beer bottle from a drunk NASCAR fan, when it comes to predicting the specific
actions of a sports fan, you really never know what youre gonna get.

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References
2

Queenan, Joe, True Believers. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003. Print.

Stone, Larry, The psychology of being a sports fan. Seattle Times. 15 February 2014. Web.
15 November 2015. <http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/the-psychology-of-being-asports-fan/>