American football and postmodernist theory are both objects of popular and scholarly interest that reveal remarkable sociological insights. Analysis of media-driven commercial football documents how narratives of sportsmanship/brutality, heroism/antiheroism, athleticism/self-indulgence, honor/chicanery, and chivalry/sexism compete and thrive.
Table of Content
1. Introduction – Why This Game, Why This Story
2. America Meets Football, and Football Meets Frank Merriwell
3. Time Runs Out on the Wholesome Warrior
4. Center Stage for Billy Clyde
5. Scenes from the Conundrum in Motion
6. A Postmodernist Theory of Football
7. Life in the Hyper-Mediated Marketplace of Football Narratives
8. A Merriwellean Billy Clyde from a Postmodern Beer a Minute
9. Two-Tiered Gender System Encounters Emotion Work
10. Conclusion – Football, Postmodernism, and Us
About the author
Robert Kerr is Edith Kinney Gaylord Presidential Professor at Gaylord College, University of Oklahoma, USA.