My Introduction

Hello, my name is Steve McClave, and this is my Sport in Society blog. I am originally from Mayfield, Ohio (about 20 minutes east of Cleveland), and I am in my first year as a Sport Admin grad student at Bowling Green State University. In this blog, I will be discussing the various readings and topics covered in my Sport and Society class; however, before we get into those topics, I will give a more complete introduction of myself.

As a child, I always loved sports, and participated in several- including soccer, tae kwon do, baseball, and finally hockey, which I played all the way through high school, and maintain a strong interest in. Coming from Cleveland, I have seen both highs and lows of what sports can do to a community- from the heyday of the 90s Indians and the dominance of the Cavs over the last few years, to the depression brought on by Art Modell’s relocation of the Browns and LeBron James’ relocation of his talents to South Beach. Still, in all of these situations, I have been fascinated at how events in the sporting world have brought my community together, be it through shared pride or universal outrage. In a community as diverse as Cleveland, sports have been a nearly universal interest, and that has never been lost on me.

Still, despite my interest in sports, I never really considered a career in the sporting industry to be a real possibility. Instead, I chose to do my undergrad work at Bowling Green as a history education major. However, during much of my time as an undergrad I had doubts about the teaching profession, and, after spending a year working as a teacher, I knew that the lifestyle simply was not for me. It was because of this that I became interested in working towards becoming a high school AD, which led me back to Bowling Green and its Sport Administration program.

During my work here, I have become very interested in sport marketing, which is now the kind of career that I intend to approach. This is reflected in my proposed project idea, which will analyze fan motivation in the NHL after the 2004-05 Lockout. Essentially, this project will attempt to find out just what motivates fans to attend hockey games. Additionally, it will examine the changes to the league since 2005 (e.g., the elimination of the “two line offside pass” rule, television coverage, the implementation of the shootout, etc.), and see just what is and is not working in regards to generating fan interest in the NHL through a series of questionnaires and interviews. I have always been interested in just why the NHL is considered such a niche league, and the goal of this project is see just how the fan base has been affected since the Lockout.

It is my hope that this course will help me understand the connection between people and the sports that they love better, and how the two interact. This will certainly help me with my project, as understanding that relationship will give me a better idea of what draws individuals to a sport, which will give me a clear notion of what to look for and ask about when conducting interviews of hockey fans. Because of this, as well as my own interest in how sports affect communities (and vice versa), I very much look forward to this course, and look forward to looking deeper into the issues of sport and society.