The Colonial Rhetorics of Fantasy Football and the Illusion of Control Robert Kyle Kellam Wayne State University
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Wayne State University DigitalCommons@WayneState Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2012 Reading between the numbers: the colonial rhetorics of fantasy football and the illusion of control Robert Kyle Kellam Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation Kellam, Robert Kyle, "Reading between the numbers: the colonial rhetorics of fantasy football and the illusion of control" (2012). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 570. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. READING BETWEEN THE NUMBERS: THE COLONIAL RHETORICS OF FANTASY FOOTBALL AND THE ILLUSION OF CONTROL by ROBERT KYLE KELLAM DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2012 MAJOR: COMMUNICATION Approved by: _________________________________ Advisor Date _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to any “C” student who never thought they would go to college, let alone get a Ph.D. As I have learned, life will always present you with moments to start believing in yourself. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I have to thank my advisor, Dr. Kelly Young, for his incredible work and dedication in helping me write this dissertation. Every time my energy toward this project waned or my focus went awry, he was always available to rejuvenate my ideas and keep me on track. Plus, he patiently answered the hundreds of annoying phone calls I made to him at various hours of the day when I was mentally blocked or firmly lodged in confusion. Ultimately, I have to thank Dr. Young for continually making me better. I also have to show my extensive gratitude to the members of my committee: Dr. Jim Cherney, Dr. Mary Garrett and Dr. Jim Brown. Dr. Cherney was always willing to sit down with me and hash out tough theoretical issues within this project, which were usually scheduled as brief 15-minute sessions that turned easily into an hour or more. Many of the ideas in this dissertation came out of those discussions. Dr. Garrett, as the only member of the committee who has never played fantasy football, was always prepared to ask me tough questions about aspects of the game I took for granted, which of course was instrumental in improving this project. Oddly enough, she was the only member of my committee to seem concerned as to how my fantasy teams were doing throughout the year. Dr. Brown, my outside member, was a constant asset in providing theoretical material and ideas about realms of academia I was largely unfamiliar with, new media and gaming, which became such an integral part of this dissertation. I appreciate him choosing to stay on with the project, despite moving on to a new position, university and state. iii I also want to recognize and thank my wonderful girlfriend Anna Zimmerman, who was loving, supportive and insightful during the course of this project. She was there for me when I needed her most, to make me some soothing herbal tea when I was stressed, to listen to me while I sorted out ideas over and over (and over) and to celebrate with me when I finished. Whether she knows it or not, her relentless curiosity for learning and sheer brilliance in critique were inspirational in my writing and finishing this dissertation. I need to also thank a few friends of mine who played a role in this project. First, my friend Ryan Alvis, who was the first person to ever invite me to join a fantasy football league and got me interested in the NFL in the first place, and my friend Christian Norman, who keeps me interested to play every year with incessant phone calls and conversations about the upcoming NFL season. Also, I need to thank my friend and fellow graduate student Anthony Cavaiani, who would meet with me at various places around the Detroit metro area as we held each other accountable to work on our respective dissertations. Finally, I would be remiss at this point if I did not acknowledge my friend, colleague and mentor, the Reverend Dr. George LaMaster. Not only was George the first person to ever believe in this project back in November of 2009, he is also ironically the person waiting on me to finish it as I move on to Marian University to work under his guidance. What started as a random observation regarding slavery and fantasy football turned into this dissertation thanks to George’s encouragement and wisdom. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..…..ii Acknowledgements…………………………………………………...….…………..…..iii Chapter 1 Joining the League: Introduction and Literature Review…………....…………1 Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 What is Fantasy Football?………………………………..………………..4 The Particular Significance of Popular Culture….………………………..6 Literature Review………………………………………………...………………..9 Colonialism, Slavery, and Civil Rights………………….….……………..9 Colonialism in Sports, the NFL and Fantasy Football……….…………..14 Chapter Outlines…………………………………………………………………25 Chapter 2 Method: Learning to the Rules of the Game……..……………………….…..28 Theoretical Approaches………………………………………….………………29 Postcolonial Theory…………………………………….………………..29 Grossberg’s Cultural Studies……………………………………...……..33 A Nod to Marxism……………………………………..………….……..35 Gaming Studies and Bogost’s Procedural Rhetoric………………...……37 Visual Rhetoric and Racial Representation…………………….………..41 Power and Resistance……………………………………..……………..44 Defining Texts for Study……………………………………….………………..48 Chapter 3 Money, Monsters and Machines: The Colonial Discourses of Fantasy Football…………………………………..….…….…..……………………...52 Player as Money: Merchandise and the Marketplace………………..…………..56 Player as Monster: Big Bodies and Beasts………………………………..……..62 v Player as Machine: Tools, Transportation and Technological Warfare…………72 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...………..82 Chapter 4 Playing With Commodities: Fantasy Football and the Procedures of Ownership……………………………………………………………………..84 Draft Preparation: Evaluating Commodities……………………………………..88 The Draft: Choosing Commodities………………………………………..……..93 The Season: Managing Commodities……………………………………..……..97 What do the procedures argue?…………………………………..……………..103 Conclusion………………………………………………………….…………..110 Chapter 5 Numbers in Black and White: “Seeing” Race in Fantasy Football…….…....116 Leading Approaches in Visual Rhetoric………………………………………..119 Racial Myths in the NFL and the Curious Case of Peyton Hillis……………....126 “Seeing” Race in Fantasy Football……………………………………………..132 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...140 Chapter 6 Conclusions: Understanding Ideology………………………………..……..147 The Articulation of the NFL Player as a Colonial Subject……………………..147 The Illusion of Control: What Do Fantasy Football Owners Really Own?.........157 Minding the Gap………………………………………………………………..169 Works Cited…………………………………………….……………………..………..185 Abstract……………………………………………………………..…………………..196 Autobiographical Statement……………………………………………..….…………..198 vi 1 CHAPTER 1 JOINING THE LEAGUE: INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction When Barack Obama was elected president of the United States in 2008, it caused many pundits to question whether or not racism had finally ended in America (McWhorter). While a black1 individual had finally been elected to the highest office of the country, anyone could examine the social, economic, and material conditions of blacks in the United States and easily conclude that Obama’s election did not end racism. Just as the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the rise of the civil rights movement did much to earn blacks certain policy level changes in the American legal system, neither action actually ended racism. Indeed, colonial practices still persist in the United States and the current material conditions of many blacks are evidence of that oppression. As Claud Anderson explains, “One of the first lessons that free blacks learned was that without money and power, freedom for a black-skinned person was freedom in theory only. They were still bound by their conditions and non-white skin color” (11). Anderson further explicates that the current conditions of black Americans is comparable to those of a developing nation, possessing a marginal percentage of the wealth, power, and resources in comparison to their white counterparts. Thus, while Obama’s election was a symbolic achievement for black citizens of the United States, it still remains that one act of empowerment cannot effectively remove an assemblage of 1 I use the term “black” here instead of “African-American” for two main reasons. First, it aligns with many of the theorists that I use in this study to support my arguments about colonialism and race relations in the United States. Second, I believe the term “black,” as opposed to “African-American,” is more inclusive of non-African-American black peoples (such as African or Caribbean immigrants) who are subject to the same oppression as their self-identifying African-American counterparts. 2 racism that is much more systemic and built on hundreds of years of colonial cultural logics. Part of the reason for blacks’ continued struggle, despite legal emancipation, has to do with the way ideology functions in the United States. Ideology