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Popular Culture Review
them regardless of what happens. I guess I expect other people
to be that way too and, in this case, especially, where it really
and truly is a win or lose situation, you have to stand by the
people you, you know, care about. And, I really care about
these guys.
Good girls’ loyalty reflects and reinforces the “hometown” atmosphere
of the ballpark. Good girls want acceptance in this environment, especially with
respect to players’ wives, to whom the good girls want to seem non-threatening.
Consequently, good girls often sublimate their own desires to the good of the
team. Such deference reinforces the hierarchy of the ballpark, of which the
players are the most celebrated elements. Katie describes the scrutiny of players,
management, and wives as a positive aspect of social life at the ballpark:
It’s kinda like a Neighborhood Watch program, but the
neighborhood’s a baseball team! There’s a lot at stake here.
The guys, well some of them, have great futures ahead of
them, and the wrong type of girl can really screw that up, I
think. You know, if she only wants to exploit him.
When asked how she responds to that scrutiny, she replied:
I guess you’d say it’s an exclusive organization and the people
in i t . .. you know, players, wives, and all are concerned with
who’s around and what’s going on. If you want to be part of
the group, you have to play by their rules. I have no problem
with that.
Ortiz (1998) concludes that such behaviors implicate female groupies
in their own subordination in this world, because they protect the
hypermasculine world of professional sport. While their actions may perpetuate
systematic female subjugation in and through professional sports as Ortiz
suggests, the Coyotes’ good girls concern themselves with individual upward
mobility in and through sports. They do not blindly adhere to social standards
because they venerate professional sports. Instead, they integrate themselves
into the world of professional sports because players offer opportunities for
individual upward social mobility. Instead of nostalgically protecting
professional sports, good girls