Religious Rhetoric in Southern College Football: New Uses for Religious Metaphors

Abstract

Southern sports teams embrace the notion that attendance and participation by competitors and fans alike have made the activity, especially collegiate football, the new locus of religious passion. Social media resources on YouTube, home team motivational videos, and professionally produced documentaries use religious metaphors to communicate the notion that college football fills the same function for celebrants as does the local church. These examples of social media have become a “voice” for the fans as they practice this para-religious exercise. This article analyzes the use of religious metaphors and references social media as examples of how the use of such iconic videos can demonstrate the ongoing connection between religious communication and sports to a wider community of sports fans.