I have chosen to narrow down sports fans in general, instead choosing just the sports fans that frequent Buster’s at the Broadway location. I don’t know that this will be a useful study per say, but I do think it will be interesting on varying levels. Unfortunately for my first site visit, there wasn’t a BIG time game or event going on. This instead led to a pretty casual fan type atmosphere. By the time my first site visit (did 2 hours for the first one/two) ended I noticed that a lot of my notes centered on the interactions between the patrons and the scantily clad wait staff.
The first visit was mainly set in the dining area as I tried to gather as much information about the place as possible. I had a friendly waitress who helped gather some information for me around the place as she was moving from table to table. The next time I visit, I plan on staking out the bar area and hoping to see more fan interaction. I also plan to attend on a night when there is some bigger type event. I may choose the NBA All-Star event for tonight, but I’m not sure what type of a turnout that may bring. I know that next week some nights are going to be very good for observations, but they also happen to be during the time I am working. So I guess it looks like I will be getting paid to also watch some sports/fans. This may be the greatest topic I have ever been able to turn into a paper for a grade.
I thought about possibly focusing on the interactions of the wait staff and their seemingly adoring fans, but I decided in the end that may get me into more trouble than it could be worth. I think I will just count it as a nice side benefit of the ethnography and maybe include a few of the best ones in the final paper. Some things I plan on paying special attention to in the future site visits are the differences of an inebriated fan compared to a sober fan. Curious to see how many lushes are “going to town” during a game, opposed to a casual/sober fan. I also want to see if one fans team’s performance, good or bad, affects how much alcohol they decide to partake in.
Some questions about the community that will have to be answered by a regular attendee of Buster’s are numerous. I do want to find out why they choose Buster’s as their desired location to watch sporting events. Is it location? The ridiculously gorgeous hotties that may be there? Maybe they are loyal for some other reason. I also want to find out if there is a bigger fan base of one particular team (or sport) other than the BSU Broncos, which frequents the location.
I plan on doing interviews with at least 3 people at this point. A waitress, a bar keep, and someone that is obviously an insane fanatic (which I have not picked out yet). I will probably end up doing 3-5 short 5-10 min interviews with sports fans that have interested me during observations.
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Great, Robert! You're asking good questions and making reasonable decisions about your evolving research, which is wonderful. It sounds right to keep focused on the group more generally, but stay open to questions about relationships among waitresses/patrons, different kinds of sports fans, and so on. Raising lots of questions is good--and gives you directions for the next unit, even!
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