Beer, Babes, and Balls : Masculinity and Sports Talk Radio

by Nylund, David; Anderson, Eric

• ISBN13: 9780791472378
• ISBN10: 079147237X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-04
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Beer, Babes, and Balls explores the increasingly popular genre of sports talk radio and how it relates to contemporary ideas of masculinity. Popular culture plays a significant role in fashioning identities, and sports talk radio both reflects and inspires cultural shifts in masculinity. Through analysis of the content of sports talk radio as well as interviews with radio production staff and audience members, scholar and avid sports talk radio listener David Nylund sheds light on certain aspects of contemporary masculinity and recent shifts in gender and sexual politics. He finds that although sports talk radio reproduces many aspects of traditional masculinity, sexism, racism, and heterosexism, there are exceptions in these discourses. For instance, the most popular national host, Jim Rome, is against homophobia and racism in sport, which indicates that the medium may be a place for male sports fans to discuss gender, race, and sexuality in consequential ways. Nylund concludes that sports talk radio creates a male bonding community that has genuine moments of intimacy and connection, signifying the potential for new forms of masculinity to emerge, while simultaneously reproducing traditional forms of masculinity.

Author Biography

David Nylund is Assistand Professor of Social Work at California State University at Sacramento.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Opening Pitch: Thinking about Sports Talk Radio	p. 1
Sports Talk Radio	p. 2
Theorizing Masculinities	p. 5
Development of Manhood in Twentieth-Century United States	p. 8
Masculinity and the Sports Media	p. 10
Media and Cultural Studies	p. 14
Critical Radio Studies	p. 15
Outline of the Book	p. 17
The Climate for Sports Talk Radio
The Sports Talk Radio Industry: From Rush to Rome	p. 21
Radio Deregulation and Talk Radio	p. 22
Sports Talk Radio: An Extension of Political Talk Radio?	p. 26
Inside the Sports Radio Industry: Ads and Lads	p. 28
Influence of Advertising, Ratings, and Corporate Radio	p. 29
Sports Radio and Public Discourse	p. 33
Romantic Belief in Sports	p. 37
Hanging Out at the Station	p. 43
Reading Sports Talk Radio
The Jim Rome Show: "Myspace.com" For Men	p. 53
Jim Rome: Hip Sports Talk Radio Host	p. 54
Speech Codes and Themes: Learning How to Survive in the Jungle	p. 58
The "Jungle": A Site for the Performance of Masculinity	p. 59
Male Rite of Passage on The Jim Rome Show	p. 61
In-Group Humor on The Jim Rome Show	p. 64
The Contradictions of Masculinity	p. 66
Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the Jungle	p. 68
Gender: Competing Masculinities	p. 69
Gender: Women in the Jungle	p. 72
Queer Eye for the Sports Guy	p. 75
The Race Card	p. 90
Rome Has No Class	p. 99
Jungle Nationalism	p. 102
Hegemony or Hope? Sports Talk Radio's Potential	p. 106
The Audience of Sports Talk Radio
In the Jungle with the "Clones"	p. 111
Interviewing the "Clones"	p. 112
The Entertainment Value	p. 117
Homosociality	p. 118
The Audience Does Social Issues	p. 120
Where Everybody Knows Your Name	p. 124
Cheers to Monday Night Football	p. 125
Lou From Lodi	p. 130
A Community of Callers	p. 136
Among the [Clones] Hooligans	p. 141
A Sports Radio Intruder	p. 148
My Take on the Audience of Sports Talk Radio	p. 151
My Final Take	p. 155
Sports Talk and Civic Discourse	p. 156
Sports and Sexuality	p. 159
Masculinity and Sports	p. 161
Notes	p. 165
Bibliography	p. 173
Index	p. 185
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