Whether an individual is actually participating in the sporting event, or watching from afar, sports and games have become the site for the production of meanings (Oates qtd. in Kraft and Brummett, 12). As a sports spectator, "you must perform that identity; you must show it to others. Athletes gamers and fans participate in this performance, the idea of actively and intimately doing sensing and living " (kraft and brummett 19). An example of this can be seen in being a University of Texas Longhorn fan and representing yourself as one by wearing the burnt orange and using the Longhorn hand gesture and shouting "Hook 'Em!" When a fan does this they are not only expressing their identity as a Longhorn, they are expressing that they are NOT a member or supporter of the other team for example, the Oklahoma Sooners. They clearly hope to differentiate themselves from the Oklahoma Sooners and the discourse associated with this type of division and rivalry is very common in sports spectatorship and it is literally visible from the stands.

These identities often turn into rivalries and some are older and more intense than others. One example is the long standing rivalry between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Jersey Eagles. The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles rivalry is one of the National Football League's well known and volatile rivalries. The two teams have fan bases that emphatically support their teams and often fans have a true hatred of the other team. What makes this rivalry more significant than other NFL rivalries? Both teams claim to be more American and patriotic than the other and of course better and both utilize iconic symbols of America and liberty. The Dallas Cowboys were first referred to as "America's Team" in 1978 in a highlight film of that season. The film editor chose to title the film "America's Team" after realizing 12 of the 16 games were televised and regardless of the city, Cowboys seemed to always have a supportive fan base (LaBlanc, 339). Television's Neilsen ratings showed that the Cowboys games have more viewers than their opponents. Year after year the whether they are winning or losing, the Cowboys' fans are always watching (LaBlanc, 328). The Eagles take claim on being America's Team and being the city of brotherly love and the home of the Declaration of Independence. The Eagles are notorious for their aggressive no holds barred approach to fanaticism. When Eagles are upset, they will voice their frustrations at whoever is the source of the distress. It is common for Eagle fans to cheer their quarterback one moment and jeer him the next if they are unhappy with his performance (LaBlanc, 375). They are consistently ranked the NFL's most loyal fans and in 1994 the Eagles were the single most profitable franchise financially in the NFL. Since then, the Cowboys have surpassed the Eagles and are now ranked number one as most valuable NFL team by Forbes, while the Eagles are ranked seventh. These repeated images of division amongst teams, and expressions of aggression and war like body paint and cheering become iconic images of the sports fanatic. Fans of each team generally hate fans of the other based solely on the premise that they support the opposing team. Group identification can be so important to some people that any threat to their group is likely to elicit a strong reaction.

The fact that this type of expression even when out of context no longer raises any questions or concern demonstrates that this type of behavior has become engrained in society and has become part of the hegemonic culture. If you were to see a man without a shirt on and his body painted with a single letter on his chest, one would immediately assume he is on his way to meet other men also in body paint with different letters on their chest. We as a culture know collectively these men will spell out the team's name or a specific player's name. These key rhetorical themes that keep recurring formulate truth claims become accepted and known as truth and accurate representations of what it means to be a sports fanatic.

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