Over the last couple of decades, minor league baseball games have shown substantial attendance figures, with more than forty-one million spectators in both 2010 and 2011. With all the high-tech, live-streaming, fast-paced entertainment available to consumers, what is it about minor league baseball that still holds appeal with today's audiences? With access to major league games broadcast on countless cable networks, what draws fans to small stadiums to watch obscure players struggle to make the big time? Sports historian David M. Sutera set out to answer these questions by visiting fourteen minor league baseball parks around the country. In Vaudeville on the Diamond, Sutera discusses the lure of minor league baseball with fans, players, and team representatives, examining how teams have survived and thrived in today's competitive entertainment world. Combining interviews with game-day observations, Sutera argues that minor league baseball's key to survival lies in the creation of on- and off-field attractions that invoke the traditions of vaudeville with their unique and quirky spectacle. From inviting fans to participate in dizzy bat competitions and races against the mascot to featuring Star Wars theme nights and monkeys riding border collies, teams have created a multifaceted form of entertainment that transcends the game itself. Part study and part travelogue, Vaudeville on the Diamond features numerous photographs of on-field entertainment, showcasing the vaudevillian side of minor league baseball. A light-hearted and engaging look at the minor leagues, this book will appeal not only to scholars and students of popular culture, sports and leisure studies, and sports management but to all fans of baseball and minor league sports.

Nonfiction films about sports have been around for decades, but few scholarly articles have been published on sports documentaries. In Identity and Myth in Sports Documentaries, editors Zachary Ingle and David Sutera have assembled a collection of essays that look at the ways in which identity-national, religious, ethnic, racial, etc.-and myth are constructed, perpetuated, or questioned in documentaries produced in the United States, France, Australia, Germany, and Japan. This volume is divided into three sections: American Identity and Myth contains essays on consumerism, religion in sports, and post-9/11 America. The second section, Race and Ethnicity, examines the ways in which African-American, Mexican-American, and Jewish identity are portrayed in the documentaries under discussion. Global Perspectives includes essays about films and TV series produced outside of the United States or that provide perspectives on the international sport scene. Spanning several decades, the landmark sports documentaries discussed in this volume include Hoop Dreams, The Endless Summer, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Olympia, and Tokyo Olympiad.Sports covered in these films include baseball, football, basketball, boxing, soccer, surfing, and the Olympics. Essays in this volume pose such questions as: How are notions of the American dream involved in athletes' aspirations? How do media texts from Australia or France construct Australian and French identity, respectively? How did filmmakers such as Leni Riefenstahl, Kon Ichikawa, and Bud Greenspan infuse their Olympic documentaries with their own national ideology, despite the films also being intended for international audience consumption? By tackling those subjects, the essays in this collection make Identity and Myth in Sports Documentaries an intriguing read for scholars, students, and the general public.

Nonfiction films about sports have been around for decades, but the previously neglected subgenre of the documentary has become increasing popular in the last several years. Despite recent successes such as Senna, Undefeated, and ESPN's 30 for 30 series, however, few scholarly articles have been published on sports documentaries. In Gender and Genre in Sports Documentaries, editors Zachary Ingle and David Sutera have assembled a collection of essays that look at the various aspects of this art form. Some of the essays examine questions of gender and sexuality, specifically how masculinity and homosexuality are represented in sports documentaries. Other chapters focus on the characteristics of the sports documentary, exploring how aspects of aesthetics and narrative shape the form. Besides chapters on basketball, football, baseball, boxing, tennis, and auto racing documentaries, this volume also features essays on such marginalized sports as quad rugby, pro wrestling, live action role playing (LARPing), and bodybuilding. Some of the films examined will be familiar to readers, such as Murderball and Bigger Stronger Faster.Other films discussed here may be less well-known, but they are nonetheless important works worthy of scrutiny. Questions about gender, sexuality, and masculinity remain hot topics in sports discourse, both popularly and in the academy, and this collection tackles those subjects, making Gender and Genre in Sports Documentaries an intriguing read for scholars, students, and the general public.

A fascinating exploration of the most significant superhero films and television shows in history, from the classic serial Adventures of Captain Marvel to the Disney+ hit show WandaVision. In The 100 Greatest Superhero Films and TV Shows, Zachary Ingle and David M. Sutera celebrate over eighty years of superhero cinema and television. Featuring blockbusters such as Black Panther and The Dark Knight, Ingle and Sutera also include lesser-known yet critically acclaimed shows like The Boys, cult films such as The Toxic Avenger, and foreign series like Astro Boy to provide a well-rounded perspective of the genre. All one hundred selections are evaluated based on qualities such as plot and character development, adherence to the original source materials, technological innovations, and social impact. The entries cover both live-action and animated films and TV series, and almost a third of the entries are not associated with Marvel or DC--a testament to the genre's variety in its eighty-year history. The 100 Greatest Superhero Films and TV Shows includes an analysis of the superhero's evolution and its relevance to the feminist movement, auteur theory, convergence culture, critical race theory, and more. Featuring more than 80 photographs alongside the authors' selections, the diverse entries are sure to inspire debate and entertain all fans of superhero movies and television shows.

As of 2012, Twitter has over 100 million active users worldwide, generating close to 230 million Tweets per day. Encouraged by sports shows that incorporate social media as a major component of their programming strategies, sports fans and athletes have proven to be some of the most prolific and adept users of Twitter and other social media platforms. Social media has made it possible for fans to cross the virtual barrier that separates them from the teams they love and the athletes they follow, changing the way fans and athletes interact in the world of sports. In Sports Fans 2.0: How Fans Are Using Social Media to Get Closer to the Game, David M. Sutera explores the increasingly participatory nature of contemporary sports fandom and spectatorship. He examines the ways in which digital media has created and facilitated new channels for sports fan engagement, and how technology has enhanced the fan's perception of participating in America's sports culture. In addition, Sutera shows how high-profile athletes are using social media to increase their fan base and promote their own celebrity status, creating the sense that they are more accessible to their fans. Social media has forever altered the way sports fans and athletes engage with each other. Covering a wide range of sports and social media outlets, Sports Fans 2.0 is an accessible examination of how technology has changed-and will continue to change-the world of sports. Written for general readers and scholars alike, this book will appeal to anyone interested in the effects of social media on popular culture.