Personal Identity in Cleveland Browns Fandom Nicknamed the “Factory of Sadness”, FirstEnergy Stadium is home to the Cleveland Browns. This nickname comes from the unique history of the Cleveland Browns and their loyal fans who seem to end every season in disappointment. How do I understand the fans' dismay? Because I am one of the fans in the Browns’ fandom that seems to be let down each and every year. In addition to the Brown’s lack of success, my personal identity, my social connections, and different cultural forces have caused my personal Browns fandom to become what it is today.
Fiske argues that fandom is “a heightened form of popular culture in industrial societies and that the fan is an ‘excessive reader’ who differs from the ‘ordinary’
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Those performances are socially constructed and vary based on the context and audience. Furthermore, fan identity interacts in interesting and important ways with other identities such as gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, and nationality” (Osborne & Coombs 677). My personal identity definitely has an impact on my performance and experience as a Browns fan. Firstly, I grew up in a middle class home with two parents who were both Browns fans. Being a Browns fan brought me closer to my parents and all of my friends who also were Browns fans. In addition to that, being a male, it is considered socially acceptable for me to be a football fan and it allows me to be in situations where my personal opinion about the fandom is never questioned. Lastly, as I grew up in an upper-middle economic class, it has allowed me to afford being able to go to games. Had I never been able to go to watch the game in 2016, my fandom would have been completely different compared to what it is today. In conclusion, my Cleveland Browns fandom has been shaped by my personal identity, my social connections, and by cultural forces in order to become what it is