Sport, Rhetoric, and Political Struggle (Frontiers in Political Communication)

246 Pages·2019·1.398 MB·English

by  Daniel Grano (editor), Michael Butterworth (editor)

35
Sport, Rhetoric, and Political Struggle addresses a needed next step for advancing sport
as a site of inquiry in rhetorical studies. The book claims that sport is central to contem- Sport,
porary antagonisms over, for example, gender and sexual binarism, queer visibilities,
S
race and labor relations, public health, domestic violence, global institutional corrup- p
o
tion, and posthuman body politics. The authors’ attention to such antagonisms entails
r
a dual focus: they argue (1) that sport does not function in isolation and that, more- t Rhetoric,
,

R
over, relations of power take particular shape within, through, and around sport; and
h
(2) that rhetorical studies of sport are not merely “about sport,” but instead are integral e
t
to larger theoretical and ethical concerns that animate the discipline. The essays col- o
r Political
lected in this book contextualize sport and political struggle, examine the mobilization i
c and
of resistance in sporting contexts, identify ongoing stigmas that present limitations in ,
a
n
and around sport, and attend to prevailing ideological features that provoke questions d

for future research. In short, the authors demonstrate how and why sport is not only P Struggle
o
important, but how it is productive, how it offers understandings of practices or social l
i
t
formations or economies that scholars cannot get in quite the same way elsewhere. i
c
a
l

S
t Edited by Daniel A. Grano
r
Daniel A. Grano (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is Professor in the Department u
g and Michael L. Butterworth
of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is g
l
the author of The Eternal Present of Sport. e

Michael L. Butterworth (Ph.D., Indiana University) is Director of the Center for Sports g
r
a
Communication & Media and Professor in the Department of Communication Stud- n
o
ies in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. He a
n
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is the author of Baseball and Rhetorics of Purity, co-author of Communication and B
u
Sport, and editor of Sport and Militarism. t
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Cover image: ©iStock.com/Mike_Sheridan
35
Sport, Rhetoric, and Political Struggle addresses a needed next step for advancing sport
as a site of inquiry in rhetorical studies. The book claims that sport is central to contem- Sport,
porary antagonisms over, for example, gender and sexual binarism, queer visibilities,
S
race and labor relations, public health, domestic violence, global institutional corrup- p
o
tion, and posthuman body politics. The authors’ attention to such antagonisms entails
r
a dual focus: they argue (1) that sport does not function in isolation and that, more- t Rhetoric,
,

R
over, relations of power take particular shape within, through, and around sport; and
h
(2) that rhetorical studies of sport are not merely “about sport,” but instead are integral e
t
to larger theoretical and ethical concerns that animate the discipline. The essays col- o
r Political
lected in this book contextualize sport and political struggle, examine the mobilization i
c and
of resistance in sporting contexts, identify ongoing stigmas that present limitations in ,
a
n
and around sport, and attend to prevailing ideological features that provoke questions d

for future research. In short, the authors demonstrate how and why sport is not only P Struggle
o
important, but how it is productive, how it offers understandings of practices or social l
i
t
formations or economies that scholars cannot get in quite the same way elsewhere. i
c
a
l

S
t Edited by Daniel A. Grano
r
Daniel A. Grano (Ph.D., Louisiana State University) is Professor in the Department u
g and Michael L. Butterworth
of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is g
l
the author of The Eternal Present of Sport. e

Michael L. Butterworth (Ph.D., Indiana University) is Director of the Center for Sports g
r
a
Communication & Media and Professor in the Department of Communication Stud- n
o
ies in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. He a
n
d
is the author of Baseball and Rhetorics of Purity, co-author of Communication and B
u
Sport, and editor of Sport and Militarism. t
t
e
r
w
o
r
t
h
, e
d
it
o
r
s
WWW.PETERLANG.COM
P
E
T
E
R
L
A
N
G
Sport, Rhetoric,
and Political Struggle
Mitchell S. McKinney and Mary E. Stuckey
General Editors

Vol. 35

The Frontiers in Political Communication series
is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Sport, Rhetoric,
and Political Struggle

Mitchell S. McKinney and Mary E. Stuckey
General Editors

Vol. 35

Edited by Daniel A. Grano

and Michael L. Butterworth

The Frontiers in Political Communication series

is part of the Peter Lang Media and Communication list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Grano, Daniel A., editor. | Butterworth, Michael L., editor.
Title: Sport, rhetoric, and political struggle / edited by Daniel A. Grano
and Michael L. Butterworth.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019
Series: Frontiers in political communication; volume 35 | ISSN 1525-9730
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018048532 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4211-6 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4677-0 (pbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4678-7 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4679-4 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4680-0 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Communication in sports—United States.
Mass media and sports—United States.
Sports—Political aspects—United States.
Sports—Social aspects—United States.
Athletes—Political activity—United States.
Classification: LCC GV567.5 .S78 2019 | DDC 070.4/49796—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048532
DOI 10.3726/b14818

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Grano, Daniel A., editor. | Butterworth, Michael L., editor.
Title: Sport, rhetoric, and political struggle / edited by Daniel A. Grano
Contents
and Michael L. Butterworth.
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2019
Series: Frontiers in political communication; volume 35 | ISSN 1525-9730
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018048532 | ISBN 978-1-4331-4211-6 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4677-0 (pbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4678-7 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-4679-4 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-4680-0 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Communication in sports—United States.
Mass media and sports—United States.
Sports—Political aspects—United States.
Sports—Social aspects—United States.
Athletes—Political activity—United States.
Classification: LCC GV567.5 .S78 2019 | DDC 070.4/49796--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048532
DOI 10.3726/b13547

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Rhetoric, Sport, and the Political: An Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Daniel A . Grano and Michael L . Butterworth

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability Section I: Contextualizing Sport and Political Struggle
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.
Chapter One: Curt Flood, Confrontational Rhetoric,
and the Radical’s Constellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Abraham I . Khan

© 2019 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York Chapter Two: “Change Starts with Us”: Intersectionality
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
and Citizenship in the 2016 WNBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
www.peterlang.com
Katherine L . Lavelle
All rights reserved.
Chapter Three: The New Rhetorical Space for Political Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited. Karen L . Hartman

Printed in the United States of America
vi | contents
Section II: Mobilizing Resistances
Chapter Four: Diving into the Past: Greg Louganis, Queer Memory,
and the Politics of HIV Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Jeffrey A . Bennett
Chapter Five: Touching Ali: Rhetorical Intimacy and Black Masculinity . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Lisa M . Corrigan
Chapter Six: Spirits in the Material World: The Rhetoric
of the Iroquois Nationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Mike Milford
Chapter Seven: (Re)Articulations of Race, Sexuality, and Gender in
U .S . Football: Investigating Tyrann Mathieu as Honey Badger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Daniel C . Brouwer and Katrina N . Hanna
Chapter Eight: Richard Sherman’s Rhetorical Witnessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Anna M . Young
Section III: Confronting Stigmas
Chapter Nine: Ableism and Paralympic Politics: Media
Stereotypes and the Rhetoric of Disability Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
James L . Cherney and Kurt Lindemann
Chapter Ten: Athletes and Assemblage: Political Struggle at the ESPYs . . . . . . . . . 159
Meredith M . Bagley
Chapter Eleven: “I’d Just Like to Let Everybody Know”: Pete Harnisch
on the Disabled List and the Politics of Mental Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Raymond I . Schuck
Chapter Twelve: When Sport Facilitates Saying the Unsayable at the
Boundaries of Race and Sexuality: Jason Collins and Michael Sam . . . . . . . . .191
Barry Brummett
Section IV: Future Provocations
Chapter Thirteen: “My Whole Life Is about Winning”: The Trump
Brand and the Political/Commercial Uses of Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
Thomas P . Oates and Kyle W . Kusz
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Mary Stuckey and Mitchell McKinney, the editors of the
Frontiers in Political Communication series, for supporting this work and for
creating a space for the expansion of studies in rhetoric and sport. We also appre-
ciate the time, effort, and talent of each author who contributed to this volume.
Our goal was to bring together scholars who have focused their programs of study
on sport, and scholars who are leaders in areas of thought that relate centrally to
sporting contexts, in order to offer the broadest sense of what a study of rhetoric
and sport might include. We believe we have succeeded thanks to each author’s
insightful work.
The timing for this volume is fortunate, both because of current events that
make plain the connections between politics and sport and because of the steady
growth we have seen in the emergent field of communication and sport. It is no
longer unusual for sport to be featured in communication scholarship—including
within the more narrow confines of rhetorical studies—and our major disciplinary
organizations now embrace the kind of work found in this volume. This was not
always the case, and we offer our sincere gratitude to the scholars of this and pre-
vious generations who have legitimized the critical study of sport. Their work has
made this book possible.
Dan continues to benefit from the mentoring of Ken Zagacki and Andy King.
He is also grateful for the encouragement of colleagues from the Department of
viii | acknowledgments
Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, includ-
ing Margaret Quinlan, Ashli Stokes, Jon Crane, Jason Black, Cris Davis, Min
Jiang, and Richard Leeman.
For Mike, work on this book overlapped with a move and a transition to a new
job. He is grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the School of Com-
munication Studies and the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio Univer-
sity. Midway through the project, he left small town life in Appalachia for the big
city life in Texas. He is consistently impressed by the quality of the work and the
commitment of the people at the University of Texas at Austin, and he thanks all
of his colleagues in the Moody College of Communication and the Department
of Communication Studies.
Finally, we are thankful for our loving families, especially for the uncondi-
tional support of our partners and our children.