Tag Archive for sports

Fantasy Sports and Contemporary Spectatorship

I have a confession to make. This year, some friends of mine and I are playing in a fantasy NASCAR league. I don’t particularly care about NASCAR; I haven’t watched even a portion of a race in at least ten years, and don’t plan on starting now. And yet, as I write this I am…

Professional Games and Spectating

Of particular interest to me in this week’s readings were Huizinga and Parlett’s claims that professionalized play, especially sports, tend to fall outside the definition of play. Certainly simple participation in “ball-games,” as Huizinga calls them, falls under the category of play, but does this change if the game becomes big business and one signs…