Katie Woodworth
December 7, 2011
Research Project Rough Draft
Wearing clothes is obviously a basic necessity for people every day. We may wear certain brands of clothes from our favorite clothing store/designer, what school we attend or used to attend, or clothes designed by our favorite actor/actress. A lot of people also might wear clothing of their favorite sports team(s). No matter what clothing we wear, it gives each of us an identity of the kind of person that we are and how we are viewed by other people. My paper will be specifically focusing on how these types of clothing, particularly wearing baseball and football team clothing, can characterize the type of behavior we may have while wearing these clothes.
For this project, I will have two subjects, myself as well as my mom’s best friend. I will be a subject when I introduce the method of autobiography. I will also be interviewing my mom’s best friend for this project. The four methods I feel are most useful for this type of research that will be discussed in this paper are autobiography, ethnography, interview, and discourse analysis.
I am a die-hard New York Mets fan, so I like to wear Mets clothing frequently, especially during baseball season. Researcher Robert Fisher perfectly states what myself and fans of certain sports teams are likely to do, “wear team-licensed products, watch and attend games, read the sports page frequently, and talk about the team whenever they get the chance.” (Fisher, 284) For example, when I wear Mets apparel, I identify myself as part of a group of people who are also wearing this baseball team’s clothes. This is basically what Fisher is saying when he says “Identification leads the individual to view the group as an extension of the self such that he or she experiences vicariously the successes and failures of the group.” (Fisher, 284) There have also been fans who “may even participate in acts of vandalism because they believe that it is an appropriate response to a playoff loss (or win).” (Fisher, 284) Because of these actions, other fans may make assumptions on the identity of these other individuals. I have been a fan of “the orange and blue” for my whole life, so over the years I dislike certain teams (e.g. Philadelphia Phillies) and some of their fans because of the rivalry between the two teams. I have also been a New York Giants fan my whole life and will often wear Giants clothing during football season. Both my mom and dad were fans of these two teams growing up, so that is how I became a fan of the Mets and Giants. Just as the case was with strongly disliking certain baseball teams and some of their fans, I have also realized that I dislike certain football teams (Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys) because of the division rivalry that exists between my favorite team and these other two teams. My project is going to be looking at this part of my identity when I wear Mets/Giants apparel and how I look at people wearing clothing of rival teams.
I have probably been to approximately 50 Mets games in my life time, both in New York and when the Mets are on the road. For the purpose of this paper, I would attend a Mets and Phillies game in Philadelphia to observe the behavior of Phillies fans when they are wearing clothing apparel of their favorite team. Although Philadelphia has always been known as “The City of Brotherly Love”, certain actions of their fans over the years may make some people question this nickname. According to an April 2011 article in GQ Magazine, the Philadelphia Phillies were named the number one worst fans in America. Although there have been numerous incidents of inappropriate fan behavior by Phillies fans, the one that in my opinion is the most disgusting is when a twenty-one year-old fan intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl and her father. (http://www.gq.com/sports/lists/201104/worst-sports-fans-in-america#slide=14) Photos of Phillies fans depicting this type of behavior have certainly contributed to my identifying them as a group of people that are rude and inappropriate even though they may not be as individuals.
One of my mom’s best friends happens to be a die-hard New York Giants fan, so I might conduct an active interview her for my research project. I would ask her some questions such as the following: How long have you been a fan?, How often will you wear Giants apparel?, How many games per season will you attend?, Do you act differently when you wear Giants clothing?, What do you do when you see someone else wearing Giants clothing?, and How do you respond when you see someone wearing Eagles or Cowboys clothing? I would then use discourse analysis after interviewing her and carefully examine certain parts of the interview. I might look to see there was a certain tone in the interviewee’s voice and what could have possibly led to this. I am not sure if this would be something to look for, but maybe I could look at her body language too when I ask certain questions, such as the one that includes “Cowboys” and “Eagles”.
I felt that each of the four research methods I chose for this project were the appropriate ones for many different reasons. The first method I chose was autobiography and I felt this was a good one because I thought it was important to introduce myself as a sports fan so everyone would know what made me choose this topic. I also found it necessary to state why I am focusing on certain baseball and football teams in this project. If nobody knew why I disliked certain teams, they could think I am being biased against those teams when in reality, I am not. The second method I chose was ethnography. This was an important method to me because most people wear their favorite sports team clothing when they attend an actual game. Therefore, it made sense for me to actually attend and observe either a football or baseball game. Interviewing was the third method that I chose for my research project. I thought it would be useful and interesting to hear another sports fan’s perspective on this issue and find out whether or not she had the same opinion as me. I might find out some new information about this person that I may not have previously known. The fourth and final method I chose was discourse analysis. Quite honestly, I am not so sure that this was the perfect method to choose. It might help me based on the interviewee’s tone and/or body language to see if she feels the same way that I do about this subject matter.
There could be some possible difficulties I may face while conducting this research project. For instance, going to a baseball game is expensive and I may not be able to afford to attend one to observe fan behavior when they wear their team’s apparel. Not only is it expensive, baseball season is over now, so I could not attend one at this point in the semester. However, I could possibly attend a football game between the Giants and one of their division rivals on the road and observe the opposing team’s fans since it is currently football season. Another difficulty I might face with this project is trying to find a date and time when I could interview my subject. Although I live relatively close to her, we are both busy with school and work, so it might be hard make time for us to arrange for an interview. If I am unable to conduct the interview, I would obviously not be able to use discourse analysis.
This project would certainly take a lot of time and effort to complete. I feel that I definitely have the resources/access to do this project, but am not sure exactly how long it would take to actually complete this project. My guess would be that this project would take approximately five or six months to finish, possibly even longer than that.
Works Cited
Fisher, Robert J. ed. Joseph W. Alba and J. Wesley Hutchinson “Group-Derived Consumption:
The Role of Similarity and Attractiveness in Identification With a Favorite Sports Team
Advances in Consumer Research 25 (1998): 283-288
<http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/display.asp?id=8171>.
Winer, Adam. "The Worst Sports Fans in America." GQ Magazine
< http://www.gq.com/sports/lists/201104/worst-sports-fans-in-america#slide=14>.
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