As the world becomes more spread out, our experiences with our favorite sports teams has shifted immensely. Today there is now wall-to-wall sports coverage of many types through things like ESPN, Sunday Ticket, Extra Innings, and the internet. What this has done is that those individuals who may never have been able to follow their former hometown teams are now able to get up-to-the minute information on any type of sports organization and/player. And for others, they may never actually have had any contact with their favorite team other than what they have seen through the internet, video games, or on television. "It s fascinating there really is a lot of interest in cooperating with each other. It s a lot of big, powerful people� (Bernstein 2005).
Now that sports have become more available it is easier to catch your favorite team anytime. However these advancements do not come cheap. NFL ticket, game days on the internet, sports packages, video games, and various other means of catching your favorite sports team do come with a hefty price tag. Since these advancements do come with a price, for now, you can catch me behind the computer waiting for the football icon to move on the screen to know what has happened in the game. As Dureson says it best in his 2004 article, the most magical place on all of God's green, football-playing Earth.�

My sport community twenty years ago would be considered large. But today it is almost common place for fans to follow teams from all over the country and even the world. Growing up in New York I followed mostly my home teams. Going to school in Baltimore it is hard not to follow the local sports, and stay in tune. However some of my favorite teams are over seas, such as AC Milan the soccer club. With modern day technology and internet at my fingertips basically 24/7, it is easy to feel associated with teams from all over, even over seas. There have been so many innovations such as satellite TV, tivo, professional sporting packages where you can get any game across the world in your living room. With AC Milan I am a virtual fan, I have never been to a game, and the only real connection I have with the team is from television or internet.

In class we discussed local, extended, and virtual sporting communities, for this week s first response please give an example of your sport community membership in any or all of these various forms.


My sporting community definitely consists of Texas and New York sports. I was born in New York but raised in Texas so I identify with teams froom both states. I am a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Knicks. It is great to be able to watch both teams on tv and keep up with them in the local media.

Today there is so much access to sports and entertainment that you can be a virtual fan of any team. Even though there are many local teams in the baltimore area, I think that it is important to identify with teams from the communities where you are from. I am glad that we live in the day and age that we do, because it allows me to remain a fan of the teams I grew up cheering for.

Just like L. McAfee, I am a hardcore Duke basketball fan (always have, always will). The games are amazing...everybody should go to a game. This year I actually get to see one at Cameron Indoor. It is definitely going to be an incredible experience.

Since sports have always been a huge part of my life, I have accumulated local, extended and virtual sporting communities. It began with only local sporting communities but began to evolve to more extended and virtual as I grew up, and as the media became more of an influence.

My local sporting communities include the Washington Redskins, Cecil Community College and Towson University athletics. I grew up being a Redskins fan because it was the team closest to my home and was able to attend many games. With the nationally ranked Cecil CC, I began to follow them when I was at my junior college and was able to begin working with them. I still try to make it to any game possible because they are not that far and the talent that comes from that school is truly amazing. Towson athletics is now a local sport community because it is where I live and go to school. Also, because I am very involved with the sports and rarely miss a football or basketball game. I will always be a fan of all the teams at heart.

My extended sporting communities include an assortment of teams like University of Texas, Fresno State University and New Mexico State University. The reason that I cheer for these teams is because my previous players from Cecil CC now play there. I am not able to attend many of the games because they are all across the country. So, I am only able to go to the games that are played close to home. Also, these schools are temporary in my sport community because I probably will not follow their games as much once my players leave.

Although I tend to follow a lot of teams because of the overwhelming media coverage of the big teams, my main virtual sport community would consist of Duke basketball. My family and I have followed it since I was young because of the great coaching and amazing talent that always comes from Duke. I have only ever been to two Duke games and neither was at Cameron indoor stadium. But I always follow them on the internet and the television. Seeing a game at Cameron Indoor is probably like seeing an Ole Miss game on the most magical place on all of God s green, football-playing Earth: the Grove� (Duerson, 2004).

What the local and virtual sporting communities have in common is that I will always be a fan of those teams no matter what. The extended sporting communities will change as my players go to different schools and professional teams.

Today there is so much access to information about sports. There are sections in newspapers dedicated to sports as well as entire magazines, website, and television and radio stations. With so much availability to sports people are able to follow sports teams outside of their local area. Most people feel they need to support local teams in their area to give a sense of community pride, but with the access to such a large medium, people are beginning to support teams outside of their local region. People are also being exposed to sports they may have never learned about before such as rugby and cricket.
I would not have heard about rugby if it were not for access to internet and television; seeing as rugby is a sport that originated on the other side of the world. Thanks to advances in technology you can learn about and how to play sports from the opposite side of the globe. It s amazing that it s sat undeveloped for so long� (Bernstein, David. 2005), only in recent years has sports media really taken off and fan bases grown exponentially. I live in Maryland currently and many people here are strong supporters of the Baltimore Ravens because they are the most local team. I am originally from upstate New York so my loyalties are with the Buffalo Bills. This is one way people expand the fan network beyond their local communities, the other is through the following teams that are doing well and one likes with no relation to the region from which the team is located, called jumping on the bandwagon.� The expanses in sports media has made it possible for any one to be a fan to any sport, anywhere.

Being a Towson University student has made me a part of a local sporting community. Wherever you go around the town of Towson you will see signs, posters and schedules for the games and the university teams. Being on campus you can see the tiger pride by what people wear and even I participate in this. Even when you go into the local Towson bars you can see the pride by various Towson University posters and jerseys they have hanging on the walls. Also, being able to go to the games and to tailgate with your friends who all have the same common interest for our schools team. We also are supporting our school and the sports by purchasing the merchandise offered to us in the union or even the food and drinks offered to us in the stadium.

When I am home which is closer to D.C. I feel like I am part of a local community for the Washington Redskins but when I am in Towson I become a part of their extended community. For example just the other night I went to a local Towson bar to watch the Redskins game with a couple of my friends who are from the D.C. area. There were other skins fans there as well which made the extended community even bigger. Not only were we part of an extended community but also a virtual one because we were watching the game on television as we often do.

I agree that technology ahs created a more fans. It gives people who may not have access to their home team a way to access them.

I like how exterra03 put how they are involved primarily in games/sporting events that are local and are able to attend. I think it is that way for a lot of fans around the nation. I believe being able to be a part of a sporting commmunity that is local adds a huge element to the sporting/fan experience. When you are able to be involved with pther people that share the same support for a team that you do, it makes the spectator experience better.

I agree with A. Wtimer when she says that our sporting preferences change as we grow up and realize the important things in sport. I can relate to this because growing up as a child I liked teams because of their colors or because they had a good looking player. I have grown to realize just because a certain team has a neat color or mascot does not mean that they will perform well.

I agree with francesca in that new technologies have made it possible for people to follow teams without liveing in close proximity of them. Virtual sport communities are made possible by mass communication and create global sport communities. Affiliation with these global sport societies represents a consumer identity.

My sporting experience is entirely of the organic/local community. I basicly support the teams who's games I am able to attend. My favorite teams are the Orioles, Ravens, Wizards, and Capitals because the stadiums and arenas where these teams play are the closest to where I grew up(Pasadena MD). I involve myself with the local comunal identity of these teams by attending every game I am able to, and feel a sense of brotherhood with those who share the same local sporting comunal identity. The camaraderie of tailgaiting or partying at pickles pub for hours before the games make me feel like I am part of a large family of Baltimore sports fans (something like a ravens or orioles nation). I follow every game to the point that it seems like my everday morale is determined by the success of local team (not looking real good recently). I can say that when whichever team or teams you identify with are doing well, it feels like cloud nine. I can not imagine how those who consider themselves a Boston sports fan feel, since their teams in the three most popular sports are making the rest of the teams in the league look bad. I have created such a strong loyalty for the city and the teams, I act as if my actions have some real effect at all on the teams preformance on the field. I tend to believe that I do, eventhough I know deep down that there are other more important factors going into determining the outcome of games. Maybe being part of the twelfth man and disrupting the opposing teams offense is having some effect, but no amount of allegeance to a given team can outmatch the success of a well disciplined and well coached team like the Patriots.

francesca terrano has some really good points. Sports has come a long way and is still growing. It is a major system in the economy and I think t will continue to grow. She has found teams to follow and it has remained in her life for w while and hopefully continues in the future.

J Fewell is a very respectable fan. They may not be the biggest fan but is a very respectabkle fan in trying to keep up relations with the teams they followed. In this case the cowboys. Nowadays its a lot easier to watch but it isa tough quality to find with most people

I sgree with mmaltagliati as i believe in all of his beliefs except that I am a New York Ranger fan. I think you should stay loyal to your teams but you should find someone you relate to, if you dont already have one. My roomate is a big skins fan and i hear some of the same things from him even though he thinks they suck. I just hoped many people down here were more die hard fans as many give up on their team or stop watching the games

In class we discussed local, extended, and virtual sporting communities,

I am a die hard fan of my new york teams. I do whatever it takes to follow my teams. As i have been away at college i have been unable to follow up with day to day operations, and new players i might not know well. I was only able to listen to a few games every year using nba audio, which only tells me about the games. The background and team info i read the bigger stries but have been unable to follow up on the smaller matters which i care about. I saw my teams when my team came down to the area, maybe once or twice a year. Being down here in MarylandI have gone to orioles, and national games. I have worked ravens games, and towson sporting events and get some of the experience of watching their teams about just as much if not more. I am only a fan for my new york tems but get the experience becuase i love sports. I currently now use the device called slingbox which enables me to watch the tv i get from new york on my laptop wherever i took it. It is a one time fee which might be costly but I get to follow up as if i was home. New york has some of the best shows so i get to listen to the teams and information behind the scens i would otherwise miss. I listen to 660 WFAN NY if the reception is clear on the car radio but most of the time it is staticy until night time. I try every way to cheaply follow my team,s and keep up. I also go to bars that televise the games if i cant use my slingbox. I also participate in fantasy sports to keep a feel of being involved in a feun and competitive way to compete versus friends. Sometimes put a little wager on it, but usually for fun. I participate in sports as well, and make sure it stays a part of me no matter where i go.

When thinking about virtual sporting communities, I thought it was interesting how micsongy1 mentioned playing fantasy football as well as keeping track of your team using sites like cbssportsline. I also play fantasy football and understand how it can be thought of as a "virtual" community.

Like I said in last weeks post I'm a Redskins fan, being as how I born in Clinton MD. which is right outside of DC. and grew up in a household where during football season Redskins football was what was on every weekend. I was apart of the local sporting community. Keeping other sports in mind however, I follow Orioles baseball to an extent being apart of that local aspect as well since at the time the Nationals were non existent. I'm a huge Navy football and Wrestling fan.

Those are my local community sports, however. For my extended sporting communities, there's only really one team that comes to mind. The Colts. My dad grew up in the Baltimore region, and was saddened when they left, but never stoped watching and following them since they were his team. He passed that on to me and I've had a chance to be able to go and see them play. But with the advent of new channels, the internet and other media resources, it's been easy to catch plenty of their games.

Speaking to the growing popularity of the channel VS. with the NHL, I'd never really followed hockey until after the strike which is weird considering I believe many lost interest because of the strike. I like to say I'm a Capitals fan because that's my hometown team, but watching the race for the Stanley Cup last year one team I gained alot of respect for is the New York Islanders. I've never had a chance to watch them play in person but I saw every post season game they played last year, and have caught many of the games this year.

I believe the bettering of technology has given really everyone a chance to find a team, they like and want to call their own that isn't just their hometown team. You now have the oppurtunity to find characteristics you like in a teams style of play that differs from any other and really fall in love with how they play the game. Making them your new team. But please just because they have one off year please keep it loyal.

I agree with all of the people like Francesca who said that technology has helped so many people become more avid in the sporting community.

My sporting communities vary in all three aspects, community, virtual and extended. Being that I was born in Dallas I have always had a connection with the NFL team the Dallas Cowboys. Although it has been a very extended relationship between the Cowboys and I, they are my second favorite football team next to the Ravens. I have never seen a game of the Cowboys since I was about four on a visit with my family out in Texas, but that has not stopped me from rooting for them and looking out for the scores every sunday. My local sporting community completely revolves around the Ravens and Orioles. I have been to countless games over the years, far more baseball than football games, but that does not stop me for making sure I see a part of every game on sunday. If I am somewhere, like I was last week where I could not watch the Ravens game on tv, I brought my laptop so I could get up to second play reports and information. Although my teams have not been doing very well the past couple years, I know that I will always stick by my teams through the tough times. Baseball games are a little bit different in the fact that there are two hundred and some games per season so it it so much easier to lose track of a game now and then. So many fridays during the summer have been spent at a five dollar game at Camden Yards. It is always a good time even if we never, ever win. The fact that I have lived in Baltimore since I was three years old has made me appreciate the pride that comes from the city in all aspects of sport.
I believe that all the ways we have to watch and stay attached to sport has made it so much more fun and easier to keep up to date. Like we talked about, all the television stations, the internet and technologyhave helped bring new people into the world of sports and create new fans everday.

I agree with Francesca when she says technology allows fans to get more involved. It brings in new fans and allows fans to show their pride more often in their teams. Technology and virtual communities help develop sporting fans.

Growing up on Long Island, I have experiences two of the three sporting communities. These sporting communities include the local and virtual communities. Local sporting community means you live within close proximity to the stadium and the team represents local identity. An example of my local sporting community would be a New York Met fan. Living on Long Island as a New York Met fan allowed to me to attend their games in Queens. Shea stadium is about half hour by train from my house and an hour by car. The commuter rail s Yawkey Station will emerge as a major hub of the city, as will a rejuvenated and cleaned-up Green Line D Branch stop at Fenway� (Bernstein, 2005). Like Boston the number 7 train takes me straight to Shea stadium. Since I was a teenager and my parents allowing me to take the train I attended as many Met games I could. When I got into the driving age, I attended Met games more often.
Virtual sporting communities are following your teams through mediated relations. An example of my virtual sports community also lies within Major League Baseball. Since I like the Mets in the National League, I also like the Seattle Mariners in the American League. Since I never lived in Seattle, I was unable to watch my favorite American League team. Growing up I idolized Ken Griffey Jr. I always looked up his stats on the internet whiling watching the game play. I always tuned into sportscenter to see the highlights and check espn.com for the scores. Both my sporting communities of local and virtual have helped me developed more as a fan. I know more about my teams and seem more knowledgeable due to my sporting communities.

I have always been a local sports fan. I have lived my entire life in Maryland in very close proximity to Baltimore. Without any particular reason other than where I live, I have always been a Ravens and Orioles fan. Whenever I travel, I feel compelled to defend my teams' honor when confronted by opposing team support. Similarly, I find myself degrading other teams that oppose the Ravens or Orioles, even when I have no particular grudge against that team.
Interestingly, I have never felt strong connection to a basketball team, even though basketball is one of my favorite sports. Despite the relatively close surrounding teams like the Washington Wizards, the small separation has always been too much to be able to root for those teams.
As for my attachment to the Ravens, it is nice to know that wherever I go in the country, I will most likely be able to keep up with how the Ravens are doing. Even now, when I have to work during a game, I receive text messages on my cell phone from my friends that know that I am dying to know the score. Additionally, since I subscribe to the NFL network, I am able to see high-definition replays of the Ravens games later in the week. Advances in technology such as these make it very simple for me to stay connected to the Ravens community.

My favorite team of all time is undoubtedly the Washington Redskins. I have followed them since birth, and I am an extremely avid fan. Since the only way I could really follow the Skins when I was a kid was through television, so I only saw them play on Sundays or in the sports report on the local news . The only other way I had any sort of contact with the Redskins was through discussions with family and friends. As I grew older I began to pick up the newspaper and read about them daily. When I graduated high school and went away to college I became distracted and didn t really pay attention to them much except by watching the games on Sunday. However, now I follow them every single step of the way. I am constantly checking for updates on their website, trying to learn everything I possibly can about them. I also devote my Sundays to the Redskins games, I pout on my jersey and make sure to make any other plans during the game. The problem now is that I m living in Towson (I used to live in the suburbs of D.C.), and the Redskin s games arent always broadcasted because it s a Baltimore area. So when the games aren t on in Towson, I go to a sports bar or to a friend s house to catch the game. I haven t really had the chance to attend many games, but when I did the experience was amazing. I also haven t necessarily gotten into an extended� community involving the Skins . And by an extended� community I mean interacting with fans not from the D.C. area, such as chatrooms, conventions, etc.

My sporting community would definitely be described as more virtual than extended or local. This is the result of being a football (soccer) fan in the United States. If you re a football aficionado living in America the majority of your experience with the sporting community will be through watching T.V. or checking stats and stories through the internet. As an avid fan of a team that is in a time zone 6 hours ahead and a few thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean, T.V. and the World Wide Web are the only ways I can keep up. I could argue that I am part of the extended community of the Arsenal Football Club because I have made the trip out to England for a game. It was only a one time thing so it would be a lofty title to claim. Generally, my sporting experience with Arsenal consist of me and my brother turning the television to Fox Soccer Channel on Saturday or Sunday to watch this weeks match or looking through Soccernet.Com for the latest news. I must thank the recent trend globalization for the ability to keep up with my favorite team. About six or seven years ago there was very little access to football games that were played overseas aside from the World Cup and occasionally the UEFA Champions League matches. Now for a few extra dollars a month on the cable bill you can watch games from the various top leagues around the world.

Living twenty minutes outside of Philadelphia I grew up a die-hard Philly fan. As a child I was also introduced to several Eagles players that lived in my neighborhood such as Mike Quick and Randall Cunningham. From this point on, I was taught to bleed green. I think many will agree Philly has the toughest and passionate fans in America; after all we were the fans that threw snowballs at Santa Clause which will never be forgotten. Philadelphia is just not the place to go wearing the opposing team s jersey, unless you want to be harassed all game or beaten up. Growing up my parents had season tickets to the Phillies game so I used to attend games at Veterans Stadium which I was always told was sacred ground. I lived locally to all the stadiums therefore I either attended tailgates, games, or watched on TV pretty much every Eagles football game since I was a child. Due to fact that Eagles tickets are so expensive I usually will not attend more than a game or two per year. Going to school in Maryland, not every game is broadcasted on TV, so the majority of the time I am forced to go to a local bar if I want to see my birds. Therefore, I would consider the Eagles to be in my virtual community because I watch the majority of their games but do not attend them all because of price or the fact that Maryland is two hours from Philly.
Along with the Eagles, I grew up loving Notre Dame Football. I have been attended the 2006 Fiesta Bowl game which was in Arizona and a game in Indiana last year to watch my beloved Fighting Irish. While in Indiana I saw the infamous Touchdown Jesus� which we discussed in class is an excellent example of a college with a topophilic space. Notre Dame is considered to be in my extended community. I love the Irish but not enough to make it to more than one game per year because of their location.
Call me a front runner but I have always been a Duke Basketball fan since I was a child. I have never attended a Duke Basketball game so they are in my virtual community, because I have only ever watched them on TV. I have been able to follow my favorite teams because of all the games that are now broadcasted with the different options available such as Sunday Ticket. Just last weekend my roommate watched the Giants game on game tracker on the internet, which gives one play by play updates because of people s intense love for sports. Today it has been made so incredibly to watch your favorite sports team no matter your relationship to the sporting complex is because of the advances that have been made in technolgy like Francesca mentioned.

I agree with Francesca that technology advancement has allowed people to become more avid sports fans. If I could not see or hear my teams play, or had no visual contact with them. I may lose interest and not follow them. With the growth in sports and technology it has allowed fans to follow their teams wherever they may be.

In today society if you are a sports fan, many different avenues are available to support your favorite teams I agree with Ryan s recent lecture that there are three ways a person can become involved with a sporting community. Local, extended, and virtual sporting community� (White, 2007, 10). The teams I locally support are the Ravens, Orioles, and the highschool I graduated from. I m from Maryland born and raised. I love my home teams will support them forever. I follow them on TV and online. The extended sport team I support outside of Maryland is Notre Dame football. I went to Mt. St. Joseph highschool which has a strong Irish Catholic background.Growing up in a catholic school I feel that has turned me into a Notre Dame fan.When I was in Mexico on vaction. I made it a point to watch Notre Dame and USC play. I found a bar in the resort that had American football on TV. There were a lot of Americans who wanted to root for their team while on vaction in another country. I also participate in the virtual sporting community. I play fantasy football and when I can not see any of my teams play on TV. I follow them on CBS sportsline with live updates. I love sports and how technolgy has made sports more available and so easy to follow. In this day and age I can listen to any team play online or tune in on satelite TV or satelite radio. I can also have live updates on my cell phone.

I have been involved in local and extended communities with sports. My family is from right outside of Pittsburgh, and we all are big Steelers fan, we get a lot of grief from the Ravens fans here. Although, we don't live in Pittsburgh we can only watch the games via television. This is frustrating for my parents because I know they would enjoy watching a game in reality, tickets are pricey though, and the time they have to make it up there is limited. Thanks to the internet and television it makes it accessible for us to be able to watch them and cheer for them. A local community I am involved in would be Towson, since I am here I cheer for them. Television is also helpful because I enjoy watchin soccer overseas and following it online. Without all this new technology we wouldnt be able to follow the teams we like the most.

I agree with francesca that technology has made a huge difference in sport communities. It has definitely allowed for more people to follow the teams that they want to and even see new teams that they didn't know existed.

Living in Baltimore my entire life, I fall into the local sporting community supporting teams like the Orioles and the Ravens, and also the extended or virtual community in supporting Duke basketball and Michigan football. Throughout my youth, it was not uncommon to go to see around five Orioles game during the summer months, and maybe even a couple while still in school. Obviously there is not much tailgating at baseball games but I thought the most fun, aside from the game, was going early and watching my favorite players hit batting practice and pray that a ball was hit in my direction. The other local team that I identify with would be the Ravens. Going and tailgating hours before the game, filling the area between Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, thousands of fans show thier support for the home team, strenghtening the local sporting community. The activities may not be as intense as showing up as 4 AM for a 6 PM game like at "The Grove" at Ole Miss, but the sense of pride for the team and the community are there none-the-less (Duerson).
My extended sporting community would include Michigan and Duke. Watching some college football when I was younger, I always thought that Michigan had the coolest helmets and so whenever they were playing I would want to watch. I would love to be able to see them play but doubt that I will ever get the opportunity to travel to Ann Arbor and somehow get tickets to the "Big House." Another team that I enjoy watching is the Duke basketball team. The only thing I knew about Duke when I was younger was that my cousin went there. I never really watched college basketball until high school but had a favorite Duke shirt that I wore all of the time whenever it was clean enough. In high school, I did not want to jump on the Maryland bandwagon and had some idea that Duke had a good team so I started rooting for them. What makes it all better is the fact that so many of my friends are die-hard Maryland fans that cheering against them makes it even more fun to root for Duke.

i agree with the post above me (shaw) that states that your high school is part of your extended/local community. My high school is very well known and produces state championships on the regular, so the fan following and alumni relations is huge. Even though I am not home anymore, i still occasionally check to see how their teams are doing and who is winning.

Growing up, I have come to understand the intense affiliation that people take when rooting for a team. Not all poeple are as die-hard and crazy as say the Red Sox fans (even though many just act it - pink hats) (Bernstein,2005) and the Ole' Miss fans (Duerson,2004), but I still have witnessed some pretty out of control and comparable situtations back home (Erie, Pa). My team likings consist of both Organic, Extended, and even virtual communities. My teams range from Cleveland (Organic) to Vancouver to the University of Michigan (Extended Community), but the best example for me and many of my hometown patronage is the Browns-Steelers Rivalry. I live approx. 1 hr 15 min's from Cleveland and 1 hr 30 min's from Pittsburgh, so the rivalry in my hometown consists of either liking the Browns and Steelers with some Bills fans sprinkled in. The rivalry is even sometimes out of control with many fans, even with the semi-extended community in place, feeling as if they are part of the Organic community. The games are intense and the bars are gauranteed to be packed every sunday with these two teams fans, even if they are not playing each other, and dont be caught off guard if there arrises a situation that calls for some physical intervening, it just comes with the territory.

With my age going up and my ability going down it is quite apparent that my participation has changed from participant to viewer. I still compete on an intramural level but it not at the level that I have participated at for ten years. But I would consider this new form of competition a local form of my sporting community due to the fact that I live around the Towson area and I consider my participation as a local community. Another thing that I would consider as a local community is the Baltimore Ravens. I personally have tickets to every home game and consider the Ravens a local community because I am there whenever they play at home. But at the same time they could also be considered an extended community because they have away games that I doubt I will ever attend. The tailgating at the Ravens Games is one of the most exciting parts but the extent of preparation is no where near that of Ole Miss. Don't bother showing up before 4 a.m. Sure, space is at a premium, but for a 6 p.m. game against Memphis? Who would? Apparently everyone, when you consider the masses who actually do arrive promptly at four.� (Duerson, 2004) For a 1:00 P.M. game we typically leave around 10:30 and get to our spot at around 11:00 A.M. This is where the local community of Ole Miss shows its difference to my local community. While on the topic of extended communities I must factor in my high school as an extended community. Due to the fact that I am currently not in the local area I miss most of the events that I would have gone to if I were in the local area. I follow the athletics of my high school through my younger brother as well as teachers and coaches that I have become friends with now that I am not a student in their school any longer. As for my virtual communities I would consider both my high school and Ravens as this due to my use of the internet to keep up with things that I would not know if I was not there. Overall the communities in which I am a part of have been good to me as well as me to them. Hopefully I can extend my communities to reach farther into their backgrounds later down the road.

I agree with Julie Ondrako. I think more schools should have Gametracker. It's a great way to get instant stats on games that you want to follow. I am always on it when my best friend has a game because Maryland carries this technology.

From growing up in Maryland it s hard not to identify yourself with teams like the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles. These teams would definitely be associated to my local level sporting community; both stadiums are located in the heart of Baltimore only 20 minutes from my house. I ve been going to O s games since I was little, when I was older I starting going with all my friends, it s definitely fulfilled the issue of what to do on a summer Friday night. As far as my extended goes, I avidly follow the Maryland Women s Soccer team. Since my best friend plays there I always root for them, unless we end up on there schedule. Seeing as I m busy in my own fall sport it s hard for me to go to attend games, I have definitely been to a couple but not as many as I wish.
The last category of sporting communities is virtual, and it s the most important to me out of the other two. I follow a lot of soccer in the Italian league, not so much the Premier league. The teams that most people identify with are popular ones like Arsenal or Manchester but I follow one that doesn t get the same headlines. Francesco Totti is my absolute favorite soccer players. His club team A.S Roma like I mentioned before is not that popular but I am a loyal fan. The only time I have seen them play is on television. I even made my parents buy GOL t.v and Fox Soccer Channel so I could watch there games. The other team I relate myself to is the Italian National team. They won the world cup this year, but I can legitimately say I was a supporter before. After touring Italy with my soccer team and watching an Inter Milan game I fell subject to there soccer culture. One day I will go back to Italy and take my status from a virtual fan to an extended fan but until now I have to keep on recording those games and watch there standings online.

I agree with Francesca in that television and its advances has connected us with our sporting communities more and more over the years. Its amazing how clear the HD picture is nowadays. Technology today allows us access to almost anything, and usually everything in sports.

I agree with Brandon Nee when he is talking about how today in American society it is so easy to view and cheer on any sporting team you wish. The television and internet allow you to identify with many different sporting communities like virtual and extended. It would be very difficult to follow these two if you did not have the access to them that we all do today.

My sporting community includes local, extended, and virtual. With the ability these days to read about sports in the papers and watch a dozen different television channels with any sport that I wish to see, it s very easy to catch up on all my different sporting communities.
Being from Annville, Pennsylvania I am fifteen minutes away from Hershey. Along with working in Hershey for the past four summers, my dad has had season tickets to the Hershey Bears since before I was born, literally. You could say my family is a hockey family.� Both of my brothers and my dad play ice hockey and I play field hockey. My dad always took us to play pond hockey as kids and we would pretend we were Hershey Bears players while wearing their jerseys. Going to Bears games is part of who I am and definitely a part of my local sporting community. So many of my friends and their families go to the Bears games and a few have season tickets as well. You can also usually find cars throughout town with Hershey Bears hockey logos on the back of their cars.
Another part of me that shows that I am from Pennsylvania is that I love Penn State Football. Even though Penn State is two and half hours away from home, I know just as many people who are Penn State football fans. It is like a community of fans far away from the actual community of Penn State. Since it is an extended community to me I do not get to make it to many games. Football season is in the fall along with field hockey season and the distance adds up to two different factors that keep me from going to the games. Despite this, I managed to make it to two home games this season, the Florida Atlantic game and the Ohio State game. Unfortunately it meant that I had to wake up at four in the morning for one and six in the morning for the other along with not making it home until two-thirty in the morning. Sleep is just one of the things that you sacrifice to see a team in your extended community.
Although I would like to be considered part of Red Sox Nation,� I do not feel that I have the right to, at least not yet. I would consider the Red Sox as part of my virtual community. I followed them this season more than ever before, partially because my boyfriend loves everything that has to do with the red sox so I am somewhat forced to. I could be considered a so called pink hat,� but I would rather not. Before this year I probably could not tell you much about the Red Sox but now I have grown into a real fan. I watched the majority of the regular season and when the playoffs came around I watched every game while wearing my Red Sox hat, with the exception of one or two. I actually made it to Boston this fall, but not to see a game. Our field hockey team arrived there the day after the second game of the American League Division Series against the Angels, and the Red Sox had left town the night before. Although the chances of me ever seeing a Red Sox game are slim I will continue to follow them through television and the internet.
All of my sporting communities affect me in different ways, whether I am at the game, checking up on the score on the internet, watching the game on television, or reading about different teams in the newspaper. Despite my ability to watch the Hershey Bears being more accessible than watching one of the other two teams that I have mentioned, I still love going see them more. It could partially be because of my longer history with the team and the sport, or I am just ready for hockey season to come around.

It is true with what retz23 said when talking about how the internet has helped us get information about team here in america. We have trouble seeing sports from over seas, like the English Premier League, which now with the help of the internet we can follow as closely as if we lived in the city itself.

My sporting membership is close with University of Maryland. I have been going to the basketball and football games since I was about 10 years old with my family. I have always cheered for them in every sport. My grandfather went there and has passed that tradition of the university on to me. I love going to the football games and basketball games the history and excitement of the games have always been the best. However with the addition of Comcast Center and Byrd Stadium expansion on the way, we didn t give enough money and lost our tickets.
Now the expansions of both stadiums are needed with the evolution of the sports in the society we live in. However in doing this I don t think the University or Athletic director took into account the lives they were impacting on the establishments surrounding the campus. It kind of goes along with what is going on with Fenway Park in Boston, which in David Bernstein article states, but they sure think they know what s best for both the city and the state particularly when it comes to the neighborhoods surrounding their headquarters�(Bernstein, 2007). The University of Maryland did the building no thinking about the surrounding buildings and people they would affect in the process. Now it is not to the extent of Fenway Park however it is a change that the university was looking to make without taking into account the other departments around campus or in college park or even the state of Maryland.
Besides Maryland I have one other sporting community that I feel I am apart of. That sporting community is University of Michigan. They have always been my other favorite team with their rich tradition and pride that the school has for both athletics and academics. I would stay I hope to be going to University of Michigan for graduate school which would change the community I fall into. However as of right now I am in a virtual community having only seen them play on television and read about them on the internet.

I agree with Ashley Pirro in the sense that the internet really has made it easy to keep in touch with even local teams. I feel that by being able to look up scores and reading editorials about my local heroes, I have been able to strengthen my interest for the teams I support.

My experience in sports has varied based on the type of sporting community� I have involved myself in. In a local sense, I have been involved with Maryland sports all my life. The Baltimore Orioles, Maryland Terrapins and Baltimore Ravens are all sports teams I follow and that I can identify with. Going to Orioles games is a real enjoyment for myself, for being at the stadium helps make me feel connected to Baltimore City as a whole, which my exposure otherwise would be limited to the Inner Harbor or area bars. In addition, I ve never been to a Ravens game per say, but tailgating outside M&T Stadium or watching the games on television with a large Ravens Purple� crowd really is an awesome experience to be a part of. I think by going to these games and identifying myself with a team that is also supported by thousands of Baltimorean s around me, really helps improve my enjoyment of a particular sport, where winning and losing isn t really everything.
In an extended community, I feel that I enjoy watching a certain team but I do lack the sort of personal connection to the team itself like mentioned above. I have never seen the Washington Wizards play in person, but being so close to Washington D.C, I feel that I support the Wizards since they ve filled the niche the Baltimore Bullets left long ago. I enjoy watching the NBA, and I am proud to have a successful NBA team so close to me.
In all, the virtual sports world has had the most effect on what sporting communities I feel a part of. In the past, I loved to watch the Detroit Red Wings play hockey in the NHL and the Seattle Mariners in the MLB. I remember waking up each morning before school and watching SportsCenter to see last nights highlight s since none of the games were televised locally. I was limited to checking the Baltimore Sun each morning to see if Ken Griffey Jr. would win the home run crowd, or if Detroit could maintain their lead atop the standings. However, soccer has been the sport I ve followed the most over the years. Having limited access to MLS games (which are extremely below the level of play played around the world anyway), I am basically forced to receive all my soccer news/games via the internet and television. Ever since the European Championships in 1992, I ve followed soccer when it has been shown on TV. Since then, I ve identified myself with teams I enjoy to watch and support, such as; Tottenham Hotspur (UK), Real Madrid (Spain), and the Greek national team itself. Though I do feel sort of less of a fan� than a Tottenham fan in London due to their local support for example, my support for these teams is as undeniable as my love of the sport. Eventually, I hope to bridge this virtual gap by moving to Europe, but until then, I am limited to my television and lap top for games and news.
A side note to this is how globalization has affected sports teams themselves throughout the world. For example, the NFL is trying to sell its product to a reluctant European audience, while European soccer superpowers Chelsea and Manchester United are vying to gain more fans than each other here in the U.S. This eventually may have unattended consequences here in the U.S. For example, American billionaire Malcolm Glazer bought Manchester United a few years back, alienating MANU s� local sporting community severely, while gaining a huge virtual audience here in the United States due to increased coverage on ESPN. This type of extended ownership is here in the U.S. as well, such as in Boston where the Red sox have been controlled since 2002 by people from far-flung lands � (Bernstein, 2005). How would Red Sox nation feel if a billionaire investor from Taiwan who has only been a part of a virtual Red Sox community bought the team? The line between virtual, extended, and local communities is quickly becoming thinner and thinner, and only time will tell how this pans out.

I agree with brandon's response abuot technology. It has changed the way people watch and follow their teams. Such as myself, living in Towson, but Im a giants fan, so I would watch the game online. It gives me play-by-play analysis of what is going on during the game. This helps me follow my team whenever it is not available to watch on tv.

I think I would be involved in local and virtual communities. I am a New York Giants fan and a New York Yankees fan because of where I live and grew up. My dad is a Giants and Yankees fan, so I guess I took after him. The availability of those teams is much more abundant, meaning that they re always on television, the stadium is not very far and the merchandise is readily available. When I was about 10 years old, my favorite NFL team was the Miami Dolphins. I don t know why, but I think it was because I liked watching Dan Marino. They were rarely on television or talked about in the news and their merchandise was hard to find. This would be considered a virtual sporting community because the only time I would get to see them play is on the highlight reel. Another example of a virtual community would be being a fan of Notre Dame. My whole family is Notre Dame fans, so then I became one. None of us ever have been there, but my whole family is Irish, so we just became Notre Dame fans.

After viewing many of the preceeding posts, it is evident to see that many people are able to identify with more than one sporting community. This owes much thanks to the technology we have today in expanding sports' coverage. Technology allows any sporting team to be at one's access in the click of a button.

In American society today, it has been made incredible easy to view and cheer on any sporting team one wishes. This can be accomplished by attending games at a stadium or watching them via the television or internet. This allows one to identify with different types of sporting communities including local, extended, and virtual. I find myself identifying with all three communities.
Locally, I identify with the Towson athletics. Currently, I am enrolled as a full-time student at Towson University, so I find it hard not to identify with such a community. I am always reading about Towson athletics in the Towerlight and on occasion find myself attending a football or soccer game. Living only a couple of minutes from the Towson campus places me in close proximity to Johnny Unitas Stadium and surrounding athletic fields. In December, I will be graduating from Towson and will then find myself identifying with the extended community.
The extended sporting community, for me, includes the Orioles and Ravens teams. I have lived in Maryland all of my life, so I find it hard not to cheer for the home team. Although, the way the Orioles have been the last ten years and the current horrible play of the Ravens, suggests I better start looking for new teams to cheer for. I live approximately forty minutes from both stadiums, so I do not see myself being in the local community. It is just far enough a distance away that places me in the extended community. However, I do attend at least one game for each team once a year. In addition, I am always following each on television, the newspaper, or internet. This way I am always up to date on the teams. I can remember attending O s games when M&T Bank Stadium was non-existent. A similar situation is currently taking place with Fenway Park and the Sox Nation. Bernstein states, But they sure think they know what s best for both the city and the state particularly when it comes to the neighborhoods surrounding their headquarters, a/k/a Fenway Park. City agencies, real-estate developers, community groups, and business associations have worked for years on plans to transform West Fenway, even as the previous Sox owners considered moving the team out of the neighborhood. Now that the new ownership has decided to stay, they are making crystal-clear that they want to have the final say on what happens, and what doesn t� (2005, p. 1).
The addition of M&T Bank Stadium produced negative and positive effects. Like Fenway Park, the local community will be directly affected. Housing and businesses are being taken away at the expense of a stadium. However, positively the new addition has united the local sporting community and brought an increase in business for profit-seeking establishments. Although, the Orioles are really bad and the Ravens are getting there, I still enjoy the atmosphere present inside both stadiums.
Lastly, I can identify with the virtual sporting community when I watch and cheer for the English Premier Soccer Team, Chelsea. I have never physically seen Chelsea play a soccer game. Although, I had the opportunity when they came to the United States to play D.C. United, I did not attend the match. Instead, I am able to keep up with their games and key players via the television, FoxSports Net, and the internet. With today s technology, there is no need to go to a game. However, I do not think I will ever watch Chelsea play a game. The luxury of technology allows me to be on a completely separate continent and still follow a favorite team of mine.
Sports play an important role in the lives of many individuals. With easy access to them, I think many individuals can identify with at least two or all three sporting communities as I have.

I am apart of many sport communities. I am a New York Yankees and Indianapolis Colts fan. Although I am not from either one of those places, I am a fan because of the different connections I ve made with the teams. For example, my dad has been a Colts fan even before they snuck out of Baltimore. Although I ve had other favorite teams before, this team has stuck with me the most because it was something my dad and I could bond over and for the past 3 years, Colts games are what we do together. So I would be apart of the third community of sport. The Yankees however I would see myself as apart of the second community we discussed in class. I think I fall into that group because I have seen Yankee and Oriole games here in Baltimore and I follow them pretty regularly each season. Again, I am not from New York but my fan status started with a simple crush on Derek Jeter and grew to an appreciation for the team over the years. Those are my favorite teams but teams like the Baltimore Bayhawks which was my favorite lacrosse team, I have never seen in person, only on TV and had a connection with them because of they were my hometown team and they were one of the first to be apart of Major League Lacrosse. I think this connection with the Bayhawks puts me in the third community again. As we can see, I don t fall into the first community at all. When I was younger I did. I was an Oriole fan and thought that I could marry Cal Ripken and went to every Orioles game I could. But I believe that as we grow and change, our preferences change about sport as well as the other things that we change our minds about.

My sporting community has vastly evolved over the past few years. When I was younger, I experienced sports through my local community. I grew up in New York, therefore, I saw New York sporting teams on television, in the newspaper, and advertised at local establishments. The only way I experienced an extended community was do to my attraction to the New Jersey Devils, which was do to the fact that I was relatively close to New Jersey. Much like my appeal in the NHL, my extended community died pretty fast. I believe that the virtual community has effected my life more that any of the other communities.

Before college, the virtual community was apparent in my life, but it was not dominant. When I was away from home, either on vacation or at summer camp I would have to get my sporting needs via Internet. Now attending Towson University, the virtual sporting community has taken over my life. Being in Maryland, I need to use the Internet for getting all the scores and statistics of my favorite New York teams. Furthermore, I even use the Internet, primarily a Slingbox, to view New York sporting events. A Slingbox, is a device that attaches to your television at home and enables a person to watch any television station that is on in your home. Another instance where I see the virtual community being present is through my dependence on the computer to obtain my fantasy football statistics. Fantasy sports, is something that many people have come accustom to, particularly refreshing a webpage 1000 times in a row to make sure you are getting the most up to date stats. Although, all three communities affected me, presently the virtual community is dominant in my life.

I've always enjoyed sports growing up. Not only playing but watching also. My local community extends as far as my family would take me. My family is just as into sports as I am. We would watch my brother play football in highschool and my family came to watch me play. My sister would always take my brothers and I to Redskins games. I grew up in Montgomery County where they are the home team, so it was always a treat to go see them. My uncle would always take me and my brother to Orioles', Wizards', and Washington Warthogs games when we were younger also. Now, the only local community I have left is Towson sports. I am and have always been, since I was 5, been a 49ers fan. I've never been to a game, watching the games on TV is as far as my extended community goes. My virtual community is made up of looking up scores, watching highlights, and downloading UFC payperviews online.

I also find that it would be extremely easy to keep up with any sport and with any team because of technology. At any bit of information at the click of a button, you can read up and follow on numerous websites like ESPN, or SportsLine. Some may think that because you dont lve in your hometown anymore you may not feel in the mix of everything, but it is just as easy to keep up in an extemded community as it would in a local community.

Like many other Towson students, I am not far from home. My parents live about 40 minutes from campus; therefore, my local community is my extended community as well. I have always made an effort to go to at least one or two football games a year, and several Orioles games. Growing up, my family and I would go to games as a bonding experience. We would go and along with the other fans, we would fit right in with our memorabilia. Going to the games cheering on the Ravens, wearing a jersey, and tailgating is part of my identity. It s something my friends and I will go do together. We go to Pickles Pub after the game and run into many other people we know. It is routine for us to do during the fall and winter season. It is a way of identifying yourself with others that share the same community. My boyfriend is originally from California, which used to have the L.A. Rams. When the Rams came to Baltimore to play the Ravens, we went to the game. Although his team was there, he did not feel welcome because of the massive amounts of Ravens fans swarming the stadium. He didn t fit in, even though he lives here now, he doesn t share the same interests as we do. In an article by Adam Duerson, he explains how he enters a city where he doesn t belong nor does he fit in the sporting community. The way he described it reminds me of how my boyfriend looked/felt.
"You don't look like you work at SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. Don't you folks dress up?" For a tailgate? Not really. Strike two. "You can't just go drinking that in the open." My bad. "You have to hide it -- like this." Cue indiscreet concealing of beer in blue plastic cup. "Much better."(Duerson, 2004).
Although he lives in the area where the sporting community is focused on certain teams, he got bad looks when he went to the game wearing his teams jersey. It is funny to me how people associate themselves in the sporting community. It is also interesting how people bond through sports within these communities.

I agree with francesca terrano when he says It amazes me now to see how much access we have to sports. Compared to how it used to be, in today's socitey anyone any where can basically watch or hear a game.

In today s society many people enjoy watching and following sports teams that are located in their home state and also located out of town. The media today has made it accessible for people to be able to follow a team even when a person cannot make it to a game. A few examples of medium are: television, satellite radio, and the internet. In our recent lecture in class we talked about three ways in which a person can become involved with a sporting community. These three ways include the local, extended, and virtual sporting community� (White, 2007, 10). A local sporting community refers to a person s local team that they follow and can attend games on a regular basis if they wanted to. The extended sporting community refers to attending a few games of a favored. Continuing to follow them, they become part of that team s sporting community. Lastly, the virtual sporting community refers to following a team online or on television, because of being in a distant location, making it hard to personally attend a game. Personally, I fall into both the local and extended sporting communities. The Washington Redskins are considered part of my local sporting Community. This affinity came from growing up in Montgomery County, Maryland. I have been an avid Washington Redskins fan my entire life, and usually attend two to three games a season. On the other hand, the Boston Red Sox are part of my extended community. My father who is from Boston and has always loved the Red Sox. Whether through osmosis or genetics I have loved and followed the Red Sox since I was a little kid. Throughout my life I have attended about ten games at Fenway Park; the highlight was attending game number two of the World Series this year. Although I am not able to attend a game on a regular basis in Boston, the media today has made it more accessible to follow an extended team. The media has expanded the T.V. audience so that all teams can be watched nation wide. For example the sports programs they now have on cable television. Many years ago, it was impossible to follow a team if a person lived out of state. Today, television and other media boundaries are erased and no matter where a person is, mass media has made it possible to follow a team. This actively promotes the audience appeal of teams in the extended and virtual sporting communities.

I completely agree with Retz23. I am from out ot state and it is just not the same watching games in an area where nobody roots for your team. It is just so much more enjoyable to watch the game back home in the area that you are most familiar with.

In the digital age, it is easy to fall under all the categories of a sports fan. Following the Eagles or the Phillies here is easy, but it is not the same as when I m home. Several weeks ago, I went home for a weekend and ended up getting a phone call at 2 o clock in the morning to go to Pat s Steaks. This is was in the middle of the Phillies trying to catch up to the Mets for the division lead and I have never heard so many fans cheering for the Phils outside of the stadium. As much as I love watching games here on television, there is just something about scenes like that make being local the best. Being in Maryland doesn t make me feel like less of a fan, but it does not have that home touch. It is like having someone else s mom cook for you, it is still amazing but it is not just what you grow up with. Since information is readily available, it also makes it easier to experience things I would not have a chance to. Going to Philadelphia for a game is much easier than trying to catch an English Premier League soccer game. Every once and a long while, a game can be caught on television but most of the information that makes it here comes across the internet or every four years during the world cup when national pride is at stake in front of the rest of the world. Thankfully, the internet has allowed information to be available on the web if I want to know how Wayne Rooney is doing or if a game is being televised in the near future.

Marc Ingerman's experiences with communities depends on where he is. That is much how I feel about my local and extended community.

The Hagerstown Suns Baseball Stadium is an example of a local community since it is based in my hometown. Having attended numerous games throughout my childhood, there is a sense of community and identity installed with the team and stadium. Even though it is no longer as close living in Towson, I still support the team and attend a few games therefore pushing it into an extended community now.
Another example of an extended community is my fan support for the Yankees. Since my father was raised in New York and is an avid fan, I was raised the same way. He has attempted to keep us in contact with the team as much as possible by going to the stadium in New York and at visiting stadiums as well. We remain connected with the team and community even though it is not within a local proximity.
A viral community is Maryland s football team. As close as the stadium is, I have only been there once before, however, still follow the team through televised games and internet tracking. There is a connection with Maryland s team since it is my home state causing a compel attraction to the team.
Seeing as how local and extended communities can change depending on location and a person s perception, my viral community has remained constant. All three communities have played a huge role in my sports experiences and loyalties.

I also agree with Francesca, in that sporting communities have been growing with T.V. exposure. With the internet at the tip's of our fingers with things like iphones and espn subscriptions with cell phones the growth seems limitless.

Sports have always been a part of my life. I am defiantly a die hard Raven s fan and will stand by that even though our season is going down the drain. Growing up in Baltimore county we have always been close to the cities and being an Orioles fan some what comes with living here but I do not find them as interesting. For me, the Raven s fall in the local and virtual sporting community categories. More recently the Raven s have been in the virtual sporting community because I have not had a chance to go to a game in a few years. The past few seasons, watching the games on T.V. is when I get to see the Ravens in action. The only time I go see the O s play is when they have the five dollar tickets on Fridays. But maybe next year the ravens will fall back under the local sporting community for me if they decide to get better and then ill be willing to spend the money for some tickets. As for my extended sporting community I would say that Notre Dame s football team is right there. The reason for that is because most of my family comes from a strong Irish decent. I remember always watching the games with my grandfather during the season.

I have been going to Towson for two years now, and this year I attended my first Tigers football game. It was a good time, the tigers ended up with a win for the season opener. After reading the article by Duerson titled Road Trip: University of Mississippi� I wondered what a Towson tailgate was like because I have never been to one. There are different traditions every where you go and fans go about game rituals differently. Don t bother showing up before 4 a.m.�(Duerson) I never knew a tailgate for a 6 p.m. game could start at 4 in the morning. This just shows how Oxford lives and breaths its university. Ole miss has a huge local sporting community and probably a large extended one as well.

In many ways I could consider myself to hold somewhat of a place in each of these forms of sporting communities. I am from Syracuse, NY and despite being a good five hours away from home I still remain to be a HUGE Syracuse Basketball fan. Supporting Syracuse basketball and local sports around Syracuse makes me part of not only a local community but an extended one at that. I grew up around Cuse Basketball and my family has always been dedicated fans to games. When my town experienced what we call the Labor Day Storm of 1993� we had our power out for over a week. During this time the NCAA Men s Basketball Championship was going on and my family and neighbors invested in a generator, not for heat and cooking purposes, but simply so we could get electricity to watch the game (which Syracuse won). Having a team who has accomplished such a feat as the National Championship brought in a vast amount of supporters in our community. My being so far away from home does make it difficult to see games, because the networking on television here in MD features more local games like the University of Maryland or even UNC. For this reason I have become part of the extended community of fans that supports Syracuse sports and more specifically basketball from far away. Though I am not able to always watch the games I am aware of when they are playing and the internet makes it extremely easy to look up scores. One of the greatest things that many colleges and universities now have on their sporting websites is the use of something called Game Tracker.� This enables you to follow games that are being played that are not being shown on TV. I watched a Towson Soccer game on it once when the boys were playing Wake Forest in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. What Game Tracker did was show me things like any substitutions that were being made, any fouls that occurred (and who the guilty party was), goals, assists etc. Many more schools should attempt to get this and make it available for fans, because someone who may be like me and supporting from far away would love to know that they can always be aware of what is going on in their favorite teams games.

My favorite hobby outside of playing sports would be watching sports. I am a big New York Jet fan and because my hometown is in Connecticut, I have been able to go to a fair amount of games at the stadium in the past. Most of the time though, because the Jets played close enough to where I lived, we got every game on regular cable. Now that I go to school in Maryland though, the games are not televised on T.V. I know one way would be to buy NFL ticket but because it is rather expensive I choose an alternate route. The internet these days allows access to pretty much anything you need to do. I usually will follow the game through gamecast or I can even listen to the radio broadcast of the game on the internet. I know that 10-15 years ago this would have been impossible so I am thankful I am able to follow the games even though I am not close to home. This is also true for baseball as I was able to follow this past seasons games online while in Maryland. Like I said earlier, I also enjoy attending games live, no matter what the sport. I have been to Jet games, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Nets, Miami Heat, New York Yankee, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics games, and more. No matter where you are in the country, if you want to follow your team, technology today makes this possible. It is a great thing. Obviously the more money you have, the more luxurious your watching experience will be, but the important thing is no matter what, it is possible.

My local and extended communities are basically the same because I go to college not too far from my hometown, cheer for local teams. I guess if I had to separate the two Towson would be considered more towards my local community because my friends live here and share the same experience. Communities are different in their traditions in things such as tailgating and enjoying the game. Like Duerson said in regard to tailgating at an Ole Miss collegiate event, ""You can't just go drinking that in the open. You have to hide it -- like this." (Duerson) Everywhere I have been, which is only to stadiums around here, including Fedex field, M&T, Byrd Stadium, and Camden Yards, drinking in public isn t really an issue and cops don t seem to be bothered by it as much as some other places like Ole Miss. It may be just that they have more respect for the rules because I believe drinking from a plastic cup is a rule but people don t abide by it around here. My extended community I would consider to be the teams; Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards, Baltimore Orioles, and the Maryland Terrapins. I meet many of my friends at these events from not only home, but friends from out of state, family out of state, etc. These events tend to be a bigger deal in my life than a Towson Tiger football game. Over the years I have not been satisfied with just being in contact with my teams via TV and internet. I attend Redskins training camp every season at least once, go to autograph signings for the Orioles and Wizards, and obviously attend many of these franchises and universities sporting events.

I, like most people, have a place in all three levels of sport community, those three levels being local, extended and virtual. The teams that I feel close to and go to their games regularly are the Baltimore Ravens and the Archbishop Spalding High School football team. I say the high school team because my brother plays for them so my family goes to the games and tailgates and things like that. And I also have season tickets to the Ravens. Both of these teams are close to me because it is something that my family does together, and not just my immediate family. Some of my cousins also have season tickets to the Ravens. The Baltimore Ravens are important to many people. They have been so important to the local sport community that they have gained a lot of power in the city. Bernstein talks about how the Red Sox owners have final say in what happens around the stadium, and how they control the people that are running the projects. I m sure it is the same way in Baltimore with the Ravens and Orioles owners. That is how prominent these teams have become in the area.
But to continue on with further sporting communities, because of the Ravens games I have entered several extended sporting communities. Those communities are of several NFL teams, being the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. Besides seeing them when they came to Baltimore, I have no connection to those teams. But for some reason, unbeknownst to me, the Texans have become my favorite team. And I just like the players on the Cardinals. I have only seen each of these teams once but I have become a huge fan of both of them. The extent of my sporting communities goes even beyond this situation.
There are teams that I have never seen in person, but feel compelled to follow throughout their season. Two teams that would fall into this category are Barcelona FC and the New York Yankees. I have never been to a game that featured either of these teams but I like to know how each is doing and enjoy watching them on television. For both teams, the thing that draws me to them is the players. Barcelona FC features the best footballer in the world in Ronaldinho. And the Yankees have a palate of All-stars playing for them. These great players are exciting to watch and can do something spectacular at any time, which makes the games more fun to watch. This excitement is why I like to watch their games. Each dimension of my sport community is the way it is for different reasons, but each is as important as the others in shaping my feelings toward sports.

My local Community is also my extended community in a way that, I got Towson and also cheer on the Ravens. The Ravens are my team because I grew up in Maryland, and have liked them since they arrived here. Now going to Towson makes that my local community because I got to tail gate at the football games and, like Smith said in Sports Illustrated things are very different from place to place. You can't just go drinking that in the open." My bad. "You have to hide it -- like this." Cue indiscreet concealing of beer in blue plastic cup. "Much better.� (Smith, 2004) When you go and tail gate at a Ravens game underneath the highway in the huge parking lot in between Camden Yards and M&T Bank stadium, what you drink out of isn t a big deal, you can drink straight from the can and now one cares, but at a Towson Football game, you have to drink out of a cup and you also must now have a wrist band saying your are 21. Towson is my local community it is where I live and go to school, so it is very easy for me to take part in the local sporting events. Ravens are in my extended community, I live close enough to take part but it is not as easy for me to go to a Ravens game, so I more so left watching them on TV.

I agree with francesca becasue the sporting communties have grown becasue of the exposure that the tv gives them. For example you can watch every NFL game if you subscribe to it. Also you are able to wacth almost every game in HD.

I have an example of both an extended community and a virtual community. When I am at home which is Ct I feel as though I am a part of the exteneded community of the new york giants my favorite football team. This is becasue we are relatively close to the stadium and in our town there are lots of giants fans. I wouldnt say though that as a small community my town is totally giants fans and that is why I dont classify myself with the local community. I am close enough to the stadiium where maybe I could be considered local but I do not feel as though the team represents our local identity. So with all that being said I consider myself to be in the exteneded community. When I am at Towson University in Maryland I considerr myself to be in the virtual community for the giants. I feel this way becasue here in maryland we are not close to giants stadium and there are 2 other teams in maryland. I watch the games through the television if they are on here. Otherwise I will follow the game tracker on my computer to see how the team is doing. I could watch the game at my house here in maryland but we do not have the direct tv nfl ticket becasue my roomates are from maryland so they always get the redskins or ravens game each week. So i nthe end I feel I am apart of two of these sporting communities

I agree with Marc Ingerman for the most part and depending on where I am depends on what community I am a part of. I feel as though where I live an