Browsing by Subject "Sports"
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Item Item Bayesian hierarchical parametric survival analysis for NBA career longevity(2012-05) Lakin, Richard Thomas; Scott, James Gordon; Powers, DanielIn evaluating a prospective NBA player, one might consider past performance in the player’s previous years of competition. In doing so, a general manager may ask the following questions: Do certain characteristics of a player’s past statistics play a role in how long a player will last in the NBA? In this study, we examine the data from players who entered in the NBA in a five-‐year period (1997-‐1998 through 2001-‐2002 season) by looking at their attributes from their collegiate career to see if they have any effect on their career longevity. We will look at basic statistics take for each of these players, such as field goal percentage, points per game, rebounds per game and assists per game. We aim to use Bayesian survival methods to model these event times, while exploiting the hierarchical nature of the data. We will look at two types of models and perform model diagnostics to determine which of the two we prefer.Item Benefits of advertising and marketing during televised sporting events(2013-05) Osborn, John Claiborn; Wilcox, Gary B.This reports main focus is to highlight the benefits of advertising during televised sporting events in an American market. In this report an overview of the current state of advertising and sports marketing is discussed along with historical and cultural analysis of both advertising and sports in the American culture. Among the arguments discussed, a major one will be how in this current media landscape sports is one of the best vehicles to reach a target markets directly without having to compete with many of the new technologies that are on the market today. The central backing for this argument comes from research conducted by interviewing experts in the fields of advertising, sports marketing, and analyzing articles and reports on the subject matter. With a shift in how media is consumed it is important for companies to understand what is the best way to reach an audiences and that some of the rules of advertising are shifting to meet with the changing landscape. Both real-world and academically evaluated examples are given to exhibit the potencies that Advertising during sports events has and how is the current market sports is becoming a more valued asset moving forward. Another issue that is discussed is possible area of further study which would focus on the evolution of mobile advertising and sports.Item Caleb Strawn Sport Marketing and Management Interdisciplinary Studies Portfolio(2013-04) Strawn, Caleb; Massengale, Dana; Karam, Elizabeth P.; Fox, GavinThis master’s portfolio is comprised of three separate papers that were written at the request of the three professors on my interdisciplinary studies portfolio committee. The first paper is an expansion of a research paper written in a Sport Management class for Dr. Dana Massengale. This paper explores the possibility of the compensation of Division I student-athletes and explains the complex situation that the NCAA faces in the O’Bannon legal case. The second paper was written in a Business Management class for Dr. Liz Karam. This paper is introspective in nature and places myself in the position of a business called ‘Strawn Inc.’. This paper explores my personality traits, strengths and weakness in order to fully describe the nature of products that ‘Strawn Inc.’ produces. As the Business Marketing representative on my portfolio review committee, Dr. Fox requested that I write a paper that expressed my intentions upon enrolling in my graduate program, key themes I learned through all three of my areas of study, and what I have learned that will be valuable beyond graduation and into my career. Some major points of discovery in this paper include the importance of both the management of people and relationships as well as the management of planning and processes in sports, business and life.Item Cause-Related Sport Marketing and Its Effects on Consumer Behavior(2010-10-12) Lee, Jae DeockThe objective of this dissertation was to construct a customer-based cause-related sport marketing (CRSM) model and test the relationships among the proposed antecedents, consequences, and moderators. Three experimental studies were executed to achieve the research purpose. Study 1 aimed at examining how customers evaluate cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns of team licensed products. A choice experiment (N=109) indicated that (a) a "social responsible" feature was the second most important attribute for choosing a baseball cap, (b) a low-fit, but familiar, CRM program was preferred to a high-fit, but unfamiliar, program, and (c) fan identification moderated the impact of sport/cause fit on students' choice of team licensed products. Study 2 investigated the impact of personality and gender on consumer attitudes toward CRSM programs. A 2 (sport/cause fit) x 2 (motivation) within subject experiment (N=86) found that (a) both sport/cause fit and motivation engaging in CRSM significantly affected consumer attitudes toward CRSM, (b) females showed more positive attitudes toward CRSM programs, and (c) Agreeableness was positively related to consumer attitudes toward CRSM but Neuroticism was negatively associated. Study 3 centered on the direct and moderating effects of fan identification and organizational identification on consumer attitudes toward CRSM programs using intercollegiate sport as a context. A two-group (high vs. low-fit CRSM messages), between subject, and post-test only experiment (N=309) denoted that (a) respondents showed more positive attitudes toward high-fit CRSM messages, (b) both fan identification and organizational identification moderated the effects of sport/cause fit on attitudes, and (c) positive attitudes increased purchase intentions on the cause-related products. To sum up, the three experimental studies support the relationships among antecedents, consequences, and moderators proposed in the customer-based causerelated sport marketing model. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed. Finally, several limitations and future research directions are also established.Item Children & sports : how parents and the environment parents create lead children to pursue athletic achievement(2011-12) Clark-Mand, Jordan Ellen; Cicchirillo, Vincent J.; Atkinson, Lucinda J.This study investigates parental influence on children's advancement to higher levels of competition (i.e. older age group intramural and club leagues, high school level, collegiate level, professional, etc.) in sport participation. Much past research has been conducted on parental influence, but this study furthered the research by more directly addressing television's role in parental influence among children in school grades four-six. Results indicate that a noticeable amount of parents, regardless of their personal knowledge of sport, often use TV as a teaching tool to help their children advance through their sport experiences.Item Cognitive development's effects on development of loyalty in sports fans(2013-12) Reifurth, Katherine Rose Nakamoto; Todd, JanSport fans develop strong loyalties to their favorite teams, but there has been little research conducted on when this loyalty is formed. Previous research suggests that loyalty can form at very young ages, but it is difficult to classify young children based on age due to their rapid development over short periods of time. This is why it is necessary to use cognitive development stages to classify groups of young subjects in order to accurately group their predictive actions and abilities. Very little research has been done on sport loyalty development, especially using cognitive development as a categorizing tool. It is this report’s suggestion that more research must be done on this subject to truly understand the implications of this measurement tool and its effects on the development of loyalty.Item Dispositional factors related to choking under pressure in sport(2011-08) Melendres, Lauren Therese; McCarthy, Christopher J.; Bartholomew, John; Drum, David; Stark, Kevin; Whittaker, TiffanyThe purpose of this study was to determine whether or not significant relationships existed between dispositional factors (self-consciousness, anxiety, approach coping style) predictive of choking under pressure in competition with factors associated with healthy psychological functioning (dispositional mindfulness and dimensions of psychological well-being). Choking under pressure has been identified as a factor that not only negatively impacts an athlete’s level of success in competition, but also the athlete’s psychological well-being. Despite these negative effects, minimal interventions exist to address choking under pressure. Mindfulness is a construct that has received attention for its positive effect in the lives of individuals, both in daily living and symptom-relief for a host of issues. As such, the relationships between factors associated with choking-susceptibility, mindfulness, and psychological well-being were examined in the current study to determine if the development of a mindfulness intervention for athletes identified as “choking-susceptible” is appropriate. The sample for this study included 95 Division I athletes from large Southwestern and Western universities. The data were analyzed using univariate and multiple linear regressions and correlational analysis. The findings of this study revealed significant negative relationships between two out of the three dispositional choking-susceptibility factors (self-consciousness and anxiety), mindfulness, and psychological well-being. Given the significance of these findings, the development and evaluation of a mindfulness-based choking intervention is warranted.Item A game within the game : an ethnographic study of culture and student-athlete recruitment at a Division I university(2010-12) Stephens, James Edwin, 1977-; Maxwell, Madeline M.; McGlone, Matthew; Dailey, Rene; Browning, Blair; Pfiester, AbigailThe success of a college coach to develop winning teams and a winning culture in any sport largely depends on his/her ability to recruit and strengthen the skill levels of his/her student-athletes. The following ethnography of the Eastern Hawks baseball coaches seeks to describe the culture of this organization during two consecutive seasons including the recruitment of student-athletes and the management of the current players on the roster, and to also detail the coaches’ use of compliance gaining and aspects of communication in their interaction with the recruits and their families. To investigate these issues, an ethnographic study was performed with a Division I baseball team called Eastern University. Numerous individual interviews were conducted with the staff and later transcribed. Team functions, games, and events were also attended for data collection. Results indicate that the organizational culture of Eastern Hawks baseball was initially created through artifacts such as facility improvements, game rituals, and performance requirements. The observed culture is being negatively influenced by espoused values and basic assumptions that run contrary to stated and desired goals. Leader-member relationships were regarded as predominantly low during this study accentuated by unfulfilled expectations of performance. The coaches used various compliance-gaining methods in recruiting student athletes but were most successful when targeting prospects who valued education, had parents who also valued education, and who believed they would fit in with the culture present at Eastern. The coaches implemented strategies that were pro-social and also reduced excessive apprehension. When competing against the professional draft, the staff provided metaphorical statements to prospects and their families that which sought to highlight social identity. Coaches compared the negative effects of turning pro early as opposed to developing personally and athletically at Eastern.Item The games behind the game : the process of democratic deepening and identity formation in Turkey as seen through football clubs(2011-05) Blasing, John Konuk; Henry, Clement M., 1937-; Boone, CatherineThe history of football clubs in Turkey is entwined with the political and economic development of Turkey in the twentieth century. This thesis focuses on the history of soccer clubs and the close involvement of the sport with the formation of modern Turkish identity during the late Ottoman period, the early republican period, the multi-party period, and finally the Cold War era. As this study also argues, in addition to their role in identity formation, football clubs were the building blocks of associational life in Turkish democracy and thus represent a major force in the process of democratic deepening in the country. The thesis addresses both the complex political functions and uses of soccer clubs and their economic relationship to the development of Turkish business. Through the twentieth century, the politics behind soccer clubs evolved from an affirmation of national identity to a reassertion of local identity as a challenge to the centralized state system. Increased localization—as evidenced by the rising fortunes of soccer clubs and businesses from Central Anatolia, Turkey’s Muslim heartland—also indicates the increased Islamicization of Turkish society accompanying the advent of the AKP (Justice and Development Party). The changing character of Turkish society and the challenge to traditional secular elites by a rising class of Islamic businessmen from outside of the metropolitan areas—developing businesses concentrated mainly in Central Anatolia—are presented through an analysis of Parliamentary election results since 1962 along with the concurrent change in the geographical transformation of the landscape of Turkish soccer through this period. The study examines the complex, multifaceted interrelationships and lines of mutual determinations between the changing conceptions of Turkish identity, democratic deepening, Islamicization, and the economic development of modern Turkey. This thesis demonstrates how these forces that shape social, political, and economic life are played out on the soccer field.Item More than just a pretty face? Examining the influence of attractiveness and reporter/athlete congruity on perceived credibility(2012-08) Hahn, Dustin; Cummins, Robert G.; Zhang, WeiwuResearch examining source credibility in mass communication has demonstrated how source’s gender and attractiveness can impact perceived credibility and, subsequently, how well messages are received. This experiment extends these findings to the context of mediated sports by examining them in conjunction with athlete gender. Although source attractiveness and gender appear to have no influence, data gleaned from this experiment demonstrate that these relationships are actually dependent upon incongruity with athlete gender. A 2x2x2 between-subjects, fully-crossed experimental design with 230 participants was utilized. Results indicate that sex of the reporter, level of attractiveness of the reporter, and athlete gender impact perceptions of credibility, such that, in terms of perceived credibility, reporters of the opposite sex of the athlete benefit most if they are viewed as unattractive. Results also indicate that reporters are perceived as more credible when interviewing male athletes as opposed to female athletes. Explanations are offered for these findings in addition to a discussion of the implications for academic investigation in source credibility and pragmatic directions that this study benefits.Item Parent identity and youth sport volunteerism(2012-05) Griffiths, Randall Joseph; Green, B. Christine; Chalip, Laurence; Dixon, Marlene; Bartholomew, John; Harrison, TracieYouth sport relies on parents to volunteer for positions at all levels of the organization. Among these volunteer positions, the volunteer-coach is often responsible for the creation and delivery of most services in youth sport. The current scope of youth sport would be unattainable without parents’ continuous support; therefore, recruitment and retention of these parent-volunteer-coaches is a critical task for youth sport organizations. Parents, however, do not respond to volunteer service as would be predicted from current volunteer literature (Kim, Chelladurai, & Trail, 2007). Perhaps is the behavior of volunteers in the youth sport setting is due to their identities as parents. The presence of their children in a youth sport setting has always been assumed to be a primary motivator for parents to volunteer as youth sport coaches. This research used narrative analysis (Polkinghorne, 1995), identity theory (Stryker, 1968, 2000) and inductive coding to interpret the experiences of parent-volunteer-coaches in the youth sport setting. The inductive coding analysis yielded two groups of roles available within the youth sport setting: aspirational roles and avoided roles. The narrative analysis yielded seventeen parent stories by identifying the central plot that connected important events to role choices. Five groups of stories--History, Prior Arrangements, Crucible, Right Role, and System--resulted from an examination of the similarities among the plots. Ultimately, the role choices made in response to tension in each plot led to choosing the volunteer-coach role. These results suggest that the experience of youth sport volunteer coaching is not primarily based on a relationship with the organization. These volunteer stories rarely included the organization as the most important influence on their experience; instead, parent volunteer experiences were driven by identities that led to role choices within the parent-child relationship. Role choices were not static throughout the volunteer experience; several parents continued to shift the roles played in response to changes in perceptions of the context. Youth sport organizations that recognize the impact of the parent-child relationship can design volunteer recruitment and retention programs leading to greater satisfaction for parents while at the same time fulfilling the organizational need for dedicated volunteers.Item Retrocession, partition and sporting communities in fractured societies : baseball in Taiwan and Gaelic games in Ireland, 1884-1968(2011-12) Harney, John James; Li, Huaiyin; Chang, Yvonne; Hsu, Madeline Y.; Metzler, Mark; Oppenheim, Robert; Traphagan, JohnThis dissertation examines the roles of popular sports baseball and Gaelic Games in Taiwanese and Irish society respectively between the years 1884 and 1968. During this period, the spread of each sport in popularity and the subsequent increased profile in the public realm highlighted similar challenges faced by the societies of each territory as inhabitants of minor players in a global political system dominated by major powers. The development of Taiwanese baseball and its spread in popularity during the colonial period reveals the extent to which divisions between colonial Japanese and local Taiwanese blurred beyond the parameters of governmental efforts at coexistence and assimilation. Two teams in particular, the Nenggao team of 1924-25 and the KANO team of 1931, give evidence of a colonial Taiwanese sporting culture that featured strengthening connections with sporting culture in Japan. In both cases, baseball displayed potential as an integrating force in colonial Taiwanese society between social groups resident on the island rather than as a source for opposition to colonial rule. This is in direct contrast to Irish society, where the resurgence in popularity of Gaelic Games occurred within the political context of exclusivist nationalism. Gaelic Games existed as cultural markers of an Irish culture defined by a Gaelic ethnic identity and political commitment to an Irish nation state, choosing to ignore the realities of partition and the existence of a sizable Loyalist community in the north of the country. This viewpoint persisted until the late 1960s, when the eruption of paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland irrevocably changed the terms of Irish political participation. At the same time, Taiwanese baseball transitioned from a shared cultural form between Taiwan and Japan to a potent avenue for emerging Taiwanese political voices in 1968 with the widely celebrated success of the Hongye schoolboy baseball team. Baseball’s popularity had persisted in the face of ambivalent attitudes among ruling Guomindang officials following retrocession, but the Hongye victory marked the introduction of specific political overtones to Taiwanese baseball, bringing an end to decades of the sport’s primary role as an act of public participation with limited political connotations.Item Sex, drugs and Barbie : gender verification, drug testing, and the commodification of the black female athlete(2012-08) Brown, Letisha Engracia Cardoso; Carrington, Ben, 1972-Representations of black female sporting bodies, when taken as what Susan Bordo (1997) refers to as “texts of culture,” operate as sites for an interrogation of the production and maintenance of ideologies of race, gender, sexuality and deviance in the context of Western society. The purpose of this thesis was to interrogate these ideologies within the context of sport by focusing specifically on media representations of three black track and field athletes—Florence Griffith Joyner, Marion Jones, and Caster Semenya. Using an ethnographic approach to content analysis this thesis shows the ways in which the bodies of black female athletes function as commodities, as well as they ways in which they become representations of deviance in sport.Item Sex-role stereotypes in sports and games(Texas Tech University, 1979-08) Creel, Lonna RichardsonThe purpose of this study was to develop an instrument which would measure sex-role stereotyping in children through selected sport and game objects. Eighty-seven children (^2 boys and kS girls) aged 6, 8, and 10 were randomly selected as subjects. The instrument which was devised contained 19 pictures consisting of objects used in various sports and games. Subjects were instructed to look at each picture and decide if they thought that boys play with the object, if girls do, or if both boys and girls play with the object. Subjects made their responses by placing an "X" in one of three boxes with the headings "BOYS", "GIRLS", and "BOYS AND GIRLS". If they did not recognize the object, they were to mark their response in the box with the question mark. Information concerning each subject's age, sex, ethnic group, brother-sister status, and parental status was obtained to determine the relationship between these variables and stereotyping. Chi Square was computed to determine if there were significant changes in stereotyping when compared with each variable. Reliability of the instrument was determined by calculating a contingency coefficient and the percentage of repeatability for each activity. A test-retest method was used in which one week elapsed before the second test was administered. The reliability coefficient for the 19 activities ranged from A? to .98. The low contingency coefficient for some of the activities may be attributed to the fact that several subjects did not recognize the activities and resorted to guessing. Findings of this study indicated that sex-role stereotyping does exist in sports and games. Stereotyping diminished with age and was not limited to a particular sex. Sex, ethnic group, brother-sister status, and parental status had little effect on stereotyping by the subjects.Item Sidelined : gender inequality in athletics(2010-05) Hollingsworth, Brian Paul, 1973-; DeCesare, Donna; Burd, GeneThe essence of American women’s struggle to play sports at a competitive level is that for decades the power structure of American professional and scholastic athletics simply didn’t think they should be allowed to play. The various institutions governing athletics of all levels sought first to prevent women from participating in sports at all and later to keep women athletes segregated and barred from playing on men’s teams or competing against them. They have justified this discrimination by citing various outmoded ideas of women’s mental and physical abilities, their perceived frailty, and the erroneous belief that keeping women athletes segregated from men provides a more suitable and more enjoyable athletic experience for both sexes. This report and the accompanying video, Outlaws Rising, examine the legacy of gender inequality in sports and its impact on the Austin Outlaws, a women’s tackle football team.Item Sources of stress, coping, and perceived controllability among Mexican and American tennis players: a cross-cultural investigation(Texas Tech University, 2000-05) Puente, RogelioBased on suggestions from previous related Uterature (e.g., Anshel, 1997; Gould, 1996), the coping styles between Mexican and American tennis players were compared in this study. This investigation also assessed the relationship between coping styles and perceived controllability of the stressful situation. Specifically, the purpose of the present investigation was to examine of coping differences in response to acute stress as a function of culture and gender and to examine the relationship between coping styles and perceived controllability of the stressful situation among Mexican and American tennis players.Item Sport education: examining an alternative physical education instructional approach(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Bohler, Heidi RNot availableItem Stereotyping, stigma, and femininity in female sports(2010-12) Chandler, Clare E.; Smithey, Martha; Dunham, Charlotte C.; Henry, JudiThe purpose of this study is to discuss the experiences of female athletes regarding labeling, the social construction of reality, and feminine identity. Interviews were conducted, along with a focus group, and data were analyzed using the grounded theory method. The findings of this study discuss stereotypes of femininity, stereotypes made by society, athletes, and coaches and administration, as well as the reactions to these stereotypes by female athletes. What this discussion concludes is that appearance is the main factor in all of these areas. While other factors, such as heterosexual behavior and age come into play, appearance is the salient concept across all of these themes.Item Straight out the gait : the writing process of Mallwalkers(2014-08) Reeves, Autumn Rebekah; McCreery, Cindy"Straight out the Gait: The Writing Process of Mallwalkers" documents the writing process of Mallwalkers, a feature-length comedy script about competitive mall walking. The report connects the writer's personal life to the process of writing three drafts of the film.