The Circle of Unity: The power of symbols in a team sport context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v14i1.13367Keywords:
Athlete activism; politics in sport; symbolic interactionism; college football; Old Dominion UniversityAbstract
Modern-day political discord has led to a recent spate of athletes using their platform to make statements about America. One under-researched aspect to modern sport activism is the study of the symbols themselves, such as the controversial kneeling during the national anthem by National Football League players, statement-making pregame apparel worn by National Basketball Association stars, and other political statements. This case study examines a 2016 activist display by Old Dominion University’s football team, known as the Circle of Unity. The display, performed before most games that season, began as a form of protest by team captains, and morphed into a gesture that was celebrated across the political spectrum. Through the lens of both Symbolic Interactionism (SI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the current study seeks to uncover the impetus, meaning, and ultimate impact of the symbol on a variety of stakeholders. Examining the symbol used—players and coaches standing in a circle, facing out, holding hands and raising them to the sky—can further contextualize the challenging role that student-athletes have in finding their voice to speak on issues they care about in a divided America.
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References
Agyemang, K. J. A. (2012). Black male athlete activism and the link to Michael Jordan: A transformational leadership and social cognitive theory analysis. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47, 433-445.
Agyemang, K., Singer, J. N., & DeLorme, J. (2010). An exploratory study of black male college athletes’ perceptions on race and athlete activism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 419-435.
Associated Press (2016, September 30). Old Dominion, Charlotte to form “Circle of Unity” Saturday. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/ sports/ncaaf/2016/09/30/old-dominion-charlotte-to-form-circle-of-unity-saturday/91355018/
BBC News (2017, August 24). Colin Kaepernick supporters rally for unemployed NFL player. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41034851
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Brown, N. A. (2013). 5,535 hours of impact: Effects of Olympic media on nationalism attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57, 579-595.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Breech, J. (2016, August 30). WATCH: 49ers fan burns Kaepernick jersey while playing national anthem. CBSSports. Retrieved from http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/watch-49ers-fan-burns-kaepernick-jersey-while-playing-national-anthem/
Carlos, J., & Zirin, D. (2011). The John Carlos story: The sports moment that changed the world. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
Coakley, J. (2017). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Cooper, J. N., Macaulay, C., & Rodriguez, S. H. (2019). Race and resistance: A typology of African American sport activism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 54, 151-181.
DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there”: Using critical race theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26-31.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed). New York, NY: NYU Press.
Denzin, N. K. (2016). Symbolic interactionism. In K. B. Jensen & R. T. Craig (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication theory and philosophy (pp. 1989-1999). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Dowd, K. (2016, November 9). After years of silence, Steph Curry is finally getting political. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.sfchronicle.com/elections/article/After-years-of-silence-Steph-Curry-gets-political-10604186.php?psid=7hkZN
Dwyer, C. (2019, October 29). NCAA plans to allow college athletes to get paid for the use of their names, images. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774439078/ncaa-starts-process-to-allow-compensation-for-college-athletes
Edwards, H. (2016a, November). The fourth wave: Black athlete protests in the second decade of the 21st century. Keynote address at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Conference, Tampa Bay, FL.
Frederick, E. L., Burch, L. M., & Blaszka, M. (2015). A shift in set: Examining the presence of agenda setting on Twitter during the 2012 London Olympics. Communication & Sport, 3, 312-333.
Frederick, E., Sanderson, J., & Schlereth, N. (2017). Kick these kids off the team and take away their scholarships: Facebook and perceptions of athlete activism at the University of Missouri. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 10, 17-34.
Gardner, S. (2018, July 5). Trump says NFL's new anthem policy 'worse than not standing’. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/07/05/trump-nfl-players-locker-room-anthem-worse-than-not-standing/761900002/
Hays, D.G., & Singh, A.A. (2012). Qualitative inquiry in clinical and educational settings. New York: The Guilford Press.
Hewitt, J. P. (1989). Dilemmas of the American self. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Hsieh, H., & Shannon, S. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277-1288.
Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 335-354.
James, X., & Lombardo, K. (2016, January 6). A history of LeBron James’s activism. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/nba/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-social-political-activism
Khan, A. I. (2012). Curt Flood in the media: Baseball, race, and the demise of the activist-athlete. Oxford, MS: University of Mississippi Press.
Kloberdanz, T. J. (1988). Symbols of German-Russian ethnic identity on the Northern Plains. Great Plains Quarterly, 8, 3-15.
Marston, S. (2017). The revival of athlete activism(s): Divergent Black politics in the 2016 Presidential Election engagements of LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. FairPlay, Revista de Filosofia, Ética y Derecho del Deporte, (10), 45-68.
McAdam, D. (1983). Tactical innovation and the pace of insurgency. American Sociological Review, 48, 735-754.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Miller, E. (2019, December 9). Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne – “hard-charging, energetic coach” will lead ODU. The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/vp-sp-odu-football-rahne-20191209-gi2z66deczcx7hjryxi4zb2hkm-story.html
Minium, H. (2016a, September 25). ODU football players join hands to address shootings in Charlotte, Tulsa. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/odu-football-players-join-hands-to-address-shootings-in-charlotte/article_3695ffbd-bf39-5017-b948-f1634ee4e36c.html
Minium, H. (2016b, September 29). Charlotte 49ers will join ODU in "circle of unity" before Saturday's game. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/article_d26f3de7-0cc9-56d2-9228-ea5257a421ad.html
Minium, H. (2016c, October 5). A Q&A with ODU football players about Black Lives Matter, police shootings and how they’re trying to do something positive. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/article_c123a1f4-1f72-5b25-b855-663a6649e826.html
Morasso, S. G., & Zittoun, T. (2014). The trajectory of food as a symbolic resource for international migrants. Outlines – Critical Practice Studies, 15, 28-48.
NCAA Demographics Database. (2018). Coach and student-athlete demographics by sport and
title. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/ncaa-demographics-database
ODU Athletics. (2016, May 11). ODU athletics history timeline. Retrieved from http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31100&ATCLID=210946687
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Potter, W. J., & Levine-Donnerstein, D. (1999). Rethinking validity and reliability in content analysis. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 27, 258-284.
Reilly, K. (2016, August 27). Colin Kaepernick protests national anthem over treatment of minorities: ‘There are bodies in the street.’ Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4469350/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protest/
Schroeder, G. (2013, October 21). Grambling players provide shocking details, reason they ended boycott. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/ sports/ncaaf/swac/2013/10/21/grambling-players-provide-shocking-details-former-coach-swayed-them-back-out-of-protest/3144353/
Shear, M. D. (2018, June 5). Trump abruptly calls off Philadelphia Eagles’ visit to White House. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/sports/philadelphia-eagles-white-house.html
Snow, D. A. (2001). Extending and broadening Blumer’s conceptualization of Symbolic Interactionism. Symbolic Interaction, 24, 367-377.
Solomon, M. R. (1983). The role of products as social stimuli: A symbolic interactionism perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 319-329.
Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 435-454). Thousand Oaks, C A: Sage Publications.
Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.
Travis, C. (2016, August 29). Colin Kaepernick is an idiot. Outkick the Coverage. Retrieved from http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/colin-kaepernick-is-an-idiot-082716
Wiggins, D. K. (2014). ‘The Struggle That Must Be’: Harry Edwards, Sport and the Fight for Racial Equality. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 31(7), 760-777.
Yan, G., Pegoraro, A., & Watanabe, N. M. (2018). Student-athletes’ organization of activism at the University of Missouri: Resource mobilization on Twitter. Journal of Sport Management, 32, 24-37.
Yan, H., Zenteno, R. & Todd, B. (2016, November 30). Keith Scott killing: No charges against officer. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/us/keith-lamont-scott-case-brentley-vinson/index.html
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Agyemang, K., Singer, J. N., & DeLorme, J. (2010). An exploratory study of black male college athletes’ perceptions on race and athlete activism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 419-435.
Associated Press (2016, September 30). Old Dominion, Charlotte to form “Circle of Unity” Saturday. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/ sports/ncaaf/2016/09/30/old-dominion-charlotte-to-form-circle-of-unity-saturday/91355018/
BBC News (2017, August 24). Colin Kaepernick supporters rally for unemployed NFL player. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41034851
Billings, A. C., Brown, K. A., & Brown, N. A. (2013). 5,535 hours of impact: Effects of Olympic media on nationalism attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57, 579-595.
Blumer, H. (1969). Symbolic interactionism: Perspective and method. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Breech, J. (2016, August 30). WATCH: 49ers fan burns Kaepernick jersey while playing national anthem. CBSSports. Retrieved from http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/watch-49ers-fan-burns-kaepernick-jersey-while-playing-national-anthem/
Carlos, J., & Zirin, D. (2011). The John Carlos story: The sports moment that changed the world. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
Coakley, J. (2017). Sports in society: Issues and controversies (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Cooper, J. N., Macaulay, C., & Rodriguez, S. H. (2019). Race and resistance: A typology of African American sport activism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 54, 151-181.
DeCuir, J. T., & Dixson, A. D. (2004). “So when it comes out, they aren’t that surprised that it is there”: Using critical race theory as a tool of analysis of race and racism in education. Educational Researcher, 33(5), 26-31.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed). New York, NY: NYU Press.
Denzin, N. K. (2016). Symbolic interactionism. In K. B. Jensen & R. T. Craig (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication theory and philosophy (pp. 1989-1999). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Dowd, K. (2016, November 9). After years of silence, Steph Curry is finally getting political. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.sfchronicle.com/elections/article/After-years-of-silence-Steph-Curry-gets-political-10604186.php?psid=7hkZN
Dwyer, C. (2019, October 29). NCAA plans to allow college athletes to get paid for the use of their names, images. National Public Radio. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774439078/ncaa-starts-process-to-allow-compensation-for-college-athletes
Edwards, H. (2016a, November). The fourth wave: Black athlete protests in the second decade of the 21st century. Keynote address at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Conference, Tampa Bay, FL.
Frederick, E. L., Burch, L. M., & Blaszka, M. (2015). A shift in set: Examining the presence of agenda setting on Twitter during the 2012 London Olympics. Communication & Sport, 3, 312-333.
Frederick, E., Sanderson, J., & Schlereth, N. (2017). Kick these kids off the team and take away their scholarships: Facebook and perceptions of athlete activism at the University of Missouri. Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 10, 17-34.
Gardner, S. (2018, July 5). Trump says NFL's new anthem policy 'worse than not standing’. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2018/07/05/trump-nfl-players-locker-room-anthem-worse-than-not-standing/761900002/
Hays, D.G., & Singh, A.A. (2012). Qualitative inquiry in clinical and educational settings. New York: The Guilford Press.
Hewitt, J. P. (1989). Dilemmas of the American self. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
Hsieh, H., & Shannon, S. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277-1288.
Hylton, K. (2010). How a turn to critical race theory can contribute to our understanding of ‘race’, racism and anti-racism in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45, 335-354.
James, X., & Lombardo, K. (2016, January 6). A history of LeBron James’s activism. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/nba/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-social-political-activism
Khan, A. I. (2012). Curt Flood in the media: Baseball, race, and the demise of the activist-athlete. Oxford, MS: University of Mississippi Press.
Kloberdanz, T. J. (1988). Symbols of German-Russian ethnic identity on the Northern Plains. Great Plains Quarterly, 8, 3-15.
Marston, S. (2017). The revival of athlete activism(s): Divergent Black politics in the 2016 Presidential Election engagements of LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick. FairPlay, Revista de Filosofia, Ética y Derecho del Deporte, (10), 45-68.
McAdam, D. (1983). Tactical innovation and the pace of insurgency. American Sociological Review, 48, 735-754.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Miller, E. (2019, December 9). Penn State offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne – “hard-charging, energetic coach” will lead ODU. The Virginian Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/vp-sp-odu-football-rahne-20191209-gi2z66deczcx7hjryxi4zb2hkm-story.html
Minium, H. (2016a, September 25). ODU football players join hands to address shootings in Charlotte, Tulsa. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/odu-football-players-join-hands-to-address-shootings-in-charlotte/article_3695ffbd-bf39-5017-b948-f1634ee4e36c.html
Minium, H. (2016b, September 29). Charlotte 49ers will join ODU in "circle of unity" before Saturday's game. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/football/article_d26f3de7-0cc9-56d2-9228-ea5257a421ad.html
Minium, H. (2016c, October 5). A Q&A with ODU football players about Black Lives Matter, police shootings and how they’re trying to do something positive. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from https://www.pilotonline.com/sports/college/old-dominion/article_c123a1f4-1f72-5b25-b855-663a6649e826.html
Morasso, S. G., & Zittoun, T. (2014). The trajectory of food as a symbolic resource for international migrants. Outlines – Critical Practice Studies, 15, 28-48.
NCAA Demographics Database. (2018). Coach and student-athlete demographics by sport and
title. Retrieved from http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/ncaa-demographics-database
ODU Athletics. (2016, May 11). ODU athletics history timeline. Retrieved from http://www.odusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31100&ATCLID=210946687
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Potter, W. J., & Levine-Donnerstein, D. (1999). Rethinking validity and reliability in content analysis. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 27, 258-284.
Reilly, K. (2016, August 27). Colin Kaepernick protests national anthem over treatment of minorities: ‘There are bodies in the street.’ Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4469350/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-protest/
Schroeder, G. (2013, October 21). Grambling players provide shocking details, reason they ended boycott. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/ sports/ncaaf/swac/2013/10/21/grambling-players-provide-shocking-details-former-coach-swayed-them-back-out-of-protest/3144353/
Shear, M. D. (2018, June 5). Trump abruptly calls off Philadelphia Eagles’ visit to White House. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/sports/philadelphia-eagles-white-house.html
Snow, D. A. (2001). Extending and broadening Blumer’s conceptualization of Symbolic Interactionism. Symbolic Interaction, 24, 367-377.
Solomon, M. R. (1983). The role of products as social stimuli: A symbolic interactionism perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 319-329.
Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 435-454). Thousand Oaks, C A: Sage Publications.
Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.
Travis, C. (2016, August 29). Colin Kaepernick is an idiot. Outkick the Coverage. Retrieved from http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/colin-kaepernick-is-an-idiot-082716
Wiggins, D. K. (2014). ‘The Struggle That Must Be’: Harry Edwards, Sport and the Fight for Racial Equality. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 31(7), 760-777.
Yan, G., Pegoraro, A., & Watanabe, N. M. (2018). Student-athletes’ organization of activism at the University of Missouri: Resource mobilization on Twitter. Journal of Sport Management, 32, 24-37.
Yan, H., Zenteno, R. & Todd, B. (2016, November 30). Keith Scott killing: No charges against officer. CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/30/us/keith-lamont-scott-case-brentley-vinson/index.html
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
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2021-02-26
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Copyright (c) 2021 Brendan O'Hallarn, Craig A. Morehead, Mark A. Slavich, Alicia M. Cintron
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How to Cite
O'Hallarn, B., Morehead, C., Slavich, M., & Cintron, A. (2021). The Circle of Unity: The power of symbols in a team sport context. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.17161/jis.v14i1.13367
