Noah Cohan, lecturer in American Culture Studies and founding coordinator of the American Studies Association’s Sports Studies Caucus, examines contemporary sports culture to show how mass-mediated athletics are actually richly textured narrative entertainment, rather than merely competitive displays. Cohan's book We Average Unbeautiful Watchers: Fan Narratives and the Reading of American Sports was published by University of Nebraska Press in 2019.
![Fans cheer at a Washington University women's soccer game](https://artsci.wustl.edu/sites/artsci.wustl.edu/files/styles/large/public/Ampersand/23638770435_b3cff1dc5b_o.jpg?itok=n-LAC62s)
Sports fandom
Sports fandom—often more than religious, political, or regional affiliation—determines how millions of Americans define themselves.