Meritocracy In Sports Fans

There are instances where meritocracy is not taken into consideration as of why sports fans like certain players and why some sports fans do not like certain players. When meritocracy is not a factor, fans are often influenced by the persuasive words of sports commentators. The sports commentator is considered to be a legitimate authoritative figure and an expert in the sports world, since that person can provide his/her expertise and voice his/her opinion when analyzing a play or a player. When a member of the audience sees other members of the audience give credibility to the commentator, the commentator builds social proof and the audience sees their expertise as a legitimate resource of sports knowledge. As a result, this will contribute …show more content…
Games that are played in Major League Baseball (MLB) are locally broadcasted, and the audience sees the game within the context of the cultural field, which is the context of the location that the game is being broadcasted in. In other words, the commentator’s view on certain players is shaped by the social context in which he/she is located. For instance, the southern areas of the United States are considered to be some of the most racist areas of the country due to their historical views on minorities. Assuming that the commentator has either been raised or has interacted frequently with friends or acquaintances who are from southern areas, the commentator’s opinions are most likely going to be shaped by the racism that is hard wired into that society. In conclusion, the location and the pre existing institutionalized ideologies of the cultural field plays a major role when determining if sports fans are going to like or dislike a particular athlete without taking meritocracy into account, especially when the location of the broadcast has a historical trend of persistent discriminatory behaviors, and that the opinions of legitimized social agents (commentators) will shape the views of their