Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) 2016 No More Mind Games: Content Analysis of In-Game Commentary of the National Football League’s Concussion Problem Jeffrey Parker Wilfrid Laurier University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd Part of the American Popular Culture Commons, Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, Criminology Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Health Policy Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Public Relations and Advertising Commons, Social Influence and oliticalP Communication Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Sports Studies Commons, and the Television Commons Recommended Citation Parker, Jeffrey, "No More Mind Games: Content Analysis of In-Game Commentary of the National Football League’s Concussion Problem" (2016). Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive). 1800. https://scholars.wlu.ca/etd/1800 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive) by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. No More Mind Games: Content Analysis of In-Game Commentary of the National Football League’s Concussion Problem by Jeffrey Parker B.A. (Honours), Wilfrid Laurier University, 2013 THESIS Submitted to the Department of Criminology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts in Criminology Wilfrid Laurier University © Jeffrey Parker 2015 ii Abstract American (gridiron) football played at the professional level in the National Football League (NFL) is an inherently physical spectator sport, in which players frequently engage in significant contact to the head and upper body. Until recently, the long-term health consequences associated with on the field head trauma were not fully disclosed to players or the public, potentially misrepresenting the dangers involved in gameplay. Crucial to the dissemination of this information to the public are in-game televised commentators of NFL games, regarded as the primary conduits for mediating in-game narratives to the viewing audience. Using a social constructionist theoretical lens, this study aimed at identifying how Game Commentators represented in-game head trauma and concussions during NFL games for viewer consumption, through a content analysis of 102 randomly sampled regular season games, over the course of six seasons (2009-2014). Specifically, this research questioned the frequency and prevalence of significant contact, commentator representations of significant player contact, commentator representations of the players involved in significant contact and commentator communication of the severity of health hazards and consequences associated with significant contact. Observed during the content analysis were 226 individual incidents of significant contact. Findings indicate that commentator representations of significant contact did not appropriately convey the potential health consequences associated with head trauma and concussions to the viewing audience. Instead, incidents of significant contact were constructed by commentators as glorified instances of violence, physicality and masculinity- largely devoid and diffusive of the severity of health consequences associated with head injuries and concussions. iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to my thesis supervisors, Dr. Daniel Antonowicz and Dr. Kenneth Dowler. Words cannot express how much I appreciate the encouragement, mentorship and guidance you have both provided over the course of this academic journey. Thank you so much for your contributions to this thesis; it has been a privilege to have the opportunity to work with you both. To my external reviewer, Dr. Doris Hall: Thank you very much for providing your time and insights all the way from California. Your expertise and feedback has been invaluable. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the entire Department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University Brantford. I truly value the tremendous education I have received during my academic tenure at this institution and it has been an honour to learn from genuinely great minds. To Marg Harris: You are a credit to Wilfrid Laurier University and are the absolute backbone of this graduate program. I want to express my deepest admiration for all of the times you have gone above and beyond the call of duty to support the graduate student experience. I will never forget the genuine kindness you have shown me. To my Mom: I hope to someday possess half of your strength of character and integrity. I am infinitely lucky to have you as my mother; you are the human being that I am constantly striving to become. I could not have accomplished any of this without your love, patience and unwavering support. Lastly, to the love of my life, Hilary: You know exactly how I feel about you without even having to say a single word, XO. iv Table of Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................iii Table of Contents……......................................................................................................iv List of Tables………...…………………………………………………………………..vi Chapter One: Introduction...............................................................................................1 Theoretical Orientation............................................................................................8 Chapter Two: Literature Review………………………………………………….…..14 Commentator Representations of Gender in Sports……………….……………..15 Commentator Representations of Race in Sports………………………….. ……15 Commentator Influence in Viewer Perception of Violence……………………...16 Dramatic Embellishments by Commentator During Competition……………….18 Commentator Influence on Viewer Perception of Gameplay ……………………21 Navigating Masculinity and Cultural Scripts in the NFL………………………..22 Media Representations of Head Trauma in Sports………………………………24 Concussion Research…………………………………………………….………26 Corporate Deviance……………………………………………………………...28 Chapter Three: The Research Design…………………………………………………37 Content Analysis………………………………………………………................37 Data Collection………………………………………………………..................37 How the National Football League (NFL) schedules televised games…………..41 NFL Games Excluded From Sample……………………………….....................42 Variable Construction and Measurement………………………………...............44 Operational Definition for Coding Head Trauma/Concussive Hits.......................44 Coding Sheet Thematic Categories………………………………........................46 Chapter Four: Descriptive Results……………………………………….....................56 Frequency and Prevalence of Upper Body Contact of Significance…………..…56 Commentator Representation of Specific Incidents of Upper Body Contact of Significance………………………………………………………........................59 Commentator Representation of Players Involved in Upper Body Contact of Significance………………………………………………………........................60 Commentator Representation of Health Hazards and Consequences of Upper Body Contact of Significance……………………………………………………62 Chapter Five: Analysis & Discussion……………………………………….................65 Frequency and Prevalence of Upper Body Contact of Significance……………..66 Commentator Representation.……………………………………………………69 Glorification of Upper Body Contact of Significance.…………………………..70 Representation of Upper Body Contact of Significance Penalties………………74 Commentator Representation of Players….…………………………………..…77 Toughness……………………………………………………………………..…77 v Masculinity………………………………………………………………………83 Representation of Severity and Health Hazards…………………………………85 Consequences of Concussions.……………………………………………..……86 Brainwashing…………………………………………………………………….92 Chapter Six: Conclusions………………………………………………………………99 Prevalence of UBCS……………………………………………………………100 Representation of Contact……………………………………………………....101 Representation of Players………………………………………………………101 Representation of Severity and Health Hazards ……………………………….102 Contributions…………………………………………………………………...104 Limitations……………………………………………………………………...106 Recommendations for Future Research………………………………………...107 Appendices......................................................................................................................108 Appendix A: Random Sampling Tables………………………………………..108 Appendix B: SPSS Coding Manual for In-Game Commentary Analysis……...112 Appendix C: Results Tables.…………………………………………………...124 References...……………………………………………………………………………127 vi List of Tables Number of NFL regular season games by television network...........................................41 Position of the player that received the upper body contact of significance…………….56 Season of Game.…………………………………………………………………………57 Network of Game Televised.……………………………………………………….……58 Quarter of Play.……………………………………………………………………..……58 Game Commentators (Play-by-Play Announcer and Game Analyst) provide hyperbole associated with upper body hit of significance……………………………………….….59 Commentary Pairing (Play-by-Play Announcer, Game