Week 10 Fortunato and Carroll

Fortunato’s article discusses the effects that fantasy sports can have on fans and the actual game. An estimated 30 million people participate in fantasy football and Fortunato argues that those people are more inclined to watch a football game to see how the players on their fantasy teams do. Obviously, if more fans watch the game that is good for the sport because it draws more money. Academic research and information studying fantasy sports are all still developing. In this article, the study showed that for games on NBC there was a strong correlation between the ratings and a game in which 90% of the players were owned in fantasy football. Teams with a high winning percentage probably will have more players owned in fantasy than teams with a low winning percentage. The teams that are winning are probably more likely to draw higher ratings. In America where fantasy football and the sport in general is so popular I can understand that it might influence people to watch more games if their players are playing. Personally, if I can, I like to watch the players on my fantasy hockey team because it gives me a rooting interest if I do not particularly care for the two teams playing. For more casual sports fans who get into fantasy sports for fun, it might have the same effect. Because they are playing a game, it gives them more interest on the outcome of a game they otherwise might not care about.

Carroll’s article documents the media coverage of the East-West Classic, black baseball’s response to the All-Star game in Major League baseball. Because the mainstream media often ignored the Negro Leagues and African American baseball players early on, the black media covered these events with high interest. Eventually the mainstream press finally gave attention to this league and sport, as the sixth East-West Classic “pointed to the inevitability of integration.” The big crowds at the Classic and at Negro league games proved their credibility. In 1955, after years of decreased attendance at the Classics the league could not put together another one. But it was said that they proved race has nothing to do with one’s ability to play baseball and it “served its purpose.”