Fantasy Sports: I'll Make a Hero Out of You

            Fantasy sports are inherently mythological, so it only makes sense that communicative mythologies in sports function in fantasy sports as well. While participants’ motivations for playing differ, there is an underlying desire to win that takes root in human nature. The level of intensity varies among the four fantasy communities established by Billings, Butterworth, and Turman: statistical enthusiasts, fan-first players, the homers, and the “socialists.” Because fantasy sports allow participants to create and manage a “dream team,” their involvement is primarily personal, unlike real sports where involvement is with/for a group. Like a story where fantasy sports participants are the main character with limited control over the plot, there are many opportunities to become the hero of their individual stories, conscious or not. All fantasy sports participants are entangled in the classic mythological powers of heroism, and like their motivations to play differ, so do the plots of their stories.

Equating victory with heroism, statistical enthusiasts want to build their resume. The complexity of their participation shows a strong desire to win. This community typically invests more interest in fantasy sports as opposed to real sports, which suggests superiority over the personnel in head of real teams. Thus, fantasy sports are the job of stat enthusiasts, and the more leagues they win, the more their personal heroic identity is manufactured. When looking at the individual stories of this community, heroism is in positive correlation with number of wins.

Fan first players remain more loyal to their real teams than stat enthusiasts, so there are situations where their desire to win in fantasy sports dwindles. However, these participants root ideally for a situation where both teams succeed. Their chances of reaching hero status double (hypothetically) because participants have interest in both real and fantasy sports. Fan-first players achieve hero status with fantasy wins similar to stat enthusiasts, but real teams, keep in mind, represent participants’ identities, and a real win is much sweeter in their eyes. Either way, this community’s heroic status is based on a ‘W’.

Homers are perhaps the most dedicated to creating a story worth telling. Unlike fan first players, they root solely for the success of both teams by selecting their real team’s players for their fantasy team. This type of involvement illustrates more of an epic journey than the first two communities. Homers believe they become heroic through their loyalty to the team. Every year they don’t win makes the winning year sweeter, because homers have dual interest in their favorite teams.

“Socialists” are only interested in fantasy sports for the social aspect. Their interest in winning is much lower than the other fantasy communities; however, their winning of the fantasy league could lead to increased social life. If the participant is friendly and sociable, increased social life holds hero status because they’re meeting people (a win in their column). If the participant is shy, perhaps winning the fantasy league at work could motivate them to overcome their shyness, a heroic act in itself.

As we’ve seen, fantasy sports offer many opportunities for participants to feel good enough to claim hero status. Although participants may not always be aware of their drive for heroism, it is undoubtedly nestled somewhere in their souls and shows in both real and fantasy sports.

Hosoi: Saving Image and Self

“I went from prison, living in sin and death and on the verge of spending eternity, you know, separated from God, to getting into a prison cell and getting set free by the power of his love and his grace and his mercy and forgiveness.” - Christian Hosoi

At a time when skate culture needed him most, Christian Hosoi couldn’t be there, but that doesn’t seem to mean he didn’t save the sport. When he was arrested for drug trafficking in 2000, his future wife Jennifer turned Hosoi’s life of partying into a celebration of the Lord. Since his early release in 2004, he has become a pastor and speaks the destructive tale of his past around the country. Faith saved Hosoi from not only himself but also the negative image his arrest projected onto the public. Had Hosoi not taken corrective action and bolstered the grace of God, perhaps society wouldn’t have been so forgiving.

            It’s safe to say that in finding the Lord, Hosoi found his method of self-defense: corrective action. Had he not obtained his high school diploma while in prison, became ordained as assistant pastor, and continued his skateboarding career after prison, then he would not have salvaged as much of his image as he did. Taking the steps to graduate high school and becoming a pastor supported Hosoi as sincerely willing to change in a large social context.  By continuing to skateboard, society could add to his willingness to change a keeping of “good” from his past, and hypothetically a loss of the “bad.” The immediate actions Hosoi took after his arrest made his reconciliation with society and himself easier, because they supported his apology as sincere.

If taking corrective action wasn’t enough to salvage his public image, than Hosoi’s bolstering of a new found faith certainly projected his sincerity. “That’s the miracle work of God…that he can take a guy like me, a pro skater who became a drug addict, and turn his life around,” said Hosoi. He made others like this remark, and the fact that he used them so frequently in public and video appearances strengthened his apology as sincere, because he acknowledges his mistakes in opposition to the positive changes his life made after them. He did not evade responsibility nor reduce offensiveness for his crime, and if he had, his apology would have seemed less sincere. By setting his arrest and drug addiction as the “bottom”, Hosoi creates a situation where he can only go “up,” and this bolstering helps reinstate sincerity in Hosoi’s apology.

Listen, Hosoi fans find deep moral connection to his life story, from the top to the bottom and back up, and many respect his talent and perseverance  The proceedings after his arrest, the lowest point of his life, gave Hosoi credibility and trust within the eyes of the public because he took corrective action and bolstered the word of the Lord.

The Griner Effect: Opening Doors for Women in Sports

            Britteny Griner, Baylor’s basketball star, could be crucial for women’s basketball in the media. Griner brings aggression, power, and command to the court. Her intensity is exemplified in her statistics: 14 career dunks and numerous NCAA records; most recently she became the first women’s player to reach 2000 career points and 500 blocks. Her dominance on the court is not consistent with typical views of women in sports, but this is not a bad thing. When an abnormal performance occurs, society reinforces gender views more vigorously, but in the case of Griner, perhaps her masculine play can help bring more viewers to women’s basketball and women’s sports in general.

            The question hinders on the sexuality of Griner, because her performance in the game, as a whole, is so crucial given the current presence of women’s sports in the media, and society immediately tackles the topic anytime a female athlete performs masculinity. There must be at least some pressure on her to keep up image as heterosexual, but she seems not to mind too much. This could be very attributable to her feelings towards the game. She is not one to believe that sexuality and sports mix. Thus,she keeps her performance to the court without pushing the gender boundaries. Some may question, but they more than likely will not find an answer. Griner is regulating societal views of women’s basketball. When people see Griner play, there are too many similarities to men’s basketball that it can be hard not to watch, and these performances gain media attention as well as questions of sexuality.

            So it becomes clear that women in sports are stuck in a paradox when dealing with media attention. When players behave masculine, it is not something society views as pleasing, yet it is precisely masculinity that most viewers want to see. This view of gender in sports eliminates the role of women entirely. If Griner can continue to inspire and lift the players around her to a heightened level of intensity/masculinity while ignoring the negative comments about sexuality, then women’s basketball should see an increase in viewership, provided that sexuality only be questioned with probable cause (similar to testing male athletes for PEDs). I do not doubt that numerous people disagree with what I am saying because I am suggesting that sexuality be ignored, but society has already begun to naturalize this belief, meaning Griner is just another step towards righteousness. Like Caster Semenya who fractured society’s gender lines, Griner’s outstanding performance on the court is picking at the same fragile wound, and the gender lines are dying. As they do so, a new door opens in the realm of women’s sports.

Hosoi vs. Hawk: A Tale of Two Shredders

A classic photo of Christian Hosoi getting
air at Del Mar Skate Ranch in San Diego, CA

Tony Hawk also at Del Mar Skate Ranch

Early in the 1980s, there skated two fourteen year old boys in a bowl. Both could shred, one with pizazz, and the other more bird-like. Such is the tale of Christian Hosoi and Tony Hawk. Who is Christian Hosoi, you may ask? He was as influential, if not more, on the sport of skateboarding as the Hawk, but suddenly vanished.

The epic story of these two shredders ends with Hosoi’s naturally instilled flare, ultimately falling to drugs and skipping the first ever X games, which, without his help, would become the most broadcasted action sports competition ever, and where Tony Hawk’s timeless dedication to his practice would land him the 900 on national television, launching him to a position regarded by most sports savvy fans as, “the best.”

The Hawk is since easily identifiable as a hero in skateboarding. His awkwardness on the skateboard only highlighted his authenticity. This is because  of the universal myth we call, “practice makes perfect,” after Hosoi fell out of contention, Hawk continued to progress tricks and skateboarding in media through the hardships of the 90s, giving the sport a positive image and increased participation. His good public relations off of the board, helped endorse the public’s belief in Tony Hawk as the best skateboarder of all times.

“People saw the way that he skated, and that made them want to jump on a skateboard,” said Hawk, in reference to Hosoi. Through the 80s, Hosoi was, “the guy to beat.” His tricks had energy and swag, leading progression through the decade. He nicknamed himself “Christ,” a religious reference that people knew only he could get away with, because the things he was doing were almost more than human. Hosoi developed his particular story of top shredder since 13 by continuing to do the biggest, smoothest tricks, until his tricks off of the skateboard became more fun than the tricks he did on one.

It was not the public who became uninterested in Hosoi, but Hosoi who became uninterested in the public. Not that he gave up skateboarding, but he focused instead on drugs and ended up getting caught. This loss of dedication to the sport doesn’t fit into the universal theme that Hawk made. People learn from Tony Hawk to work hard and follow their dreams. People learn from Christian Hosoi to stay clean.

Testing the Terrible Towel

Like all Nations, Steeler Nation has its flag: the Terrible Towel. 16x25 inches, golden, and stained with the victories of 6 Super Bowl Championships, the Terrible Towel has a seemingly unearthly and sacred power that can be recognized by any Steeler Nation citizen, and the defilement of said towel has historically and recently angered these citizens, but why?

SteelerNation has great respect for the towel. Fans walking into the stadium wave their Terrible Towels; they wave them during warm-ups; they wave them during the game; they wave them on the celebratory walk back to the parking lot. The playful performance of towel waving at a live game gives Steelers fans a unique experience. The towel is a Steeler’s ritual, if not more. Sport fans’ rituals unite fans everywhere under one identity, so messing with the Terrible Towel is messing with Steeler Nations identity.

The reason opposing teams blow their nose in, rub dirt in, and burn the Terrible Towel is because they want Steeler Nation to get upset. They feel a sense of self achievement in doing so, because they hope those actions might distract Steelers fans (and possibly the players) from the game at hand and could have a direct effect on the outcome. This would be the intentions of focused and vested fans, because they would more likely attend the game, and they want to win, but their interest is in another team, and frankly it is legal for them to do these vile acts.

The Terrible Towel has a different meaning to a lot of people, but Steeler’s fans would agree with Greg Garber when he says, “theTerrible Towel inspires an almost irrational loyalty.” Seeing thousands of towels at an away game is quite possibly one of the greatest sights to a Steeler’s fan. The reason we hate seeing our flag defiled is because it rallied a tremendous population of fans everywhere to wave together for the past 38 years, and it’ll wave for 100 more.