Three academic researchers investigated the idea that, in American sports, there are two segments with opposing views about the goal of competition (i.e., winning versus self-actualization) and the acceptable/ desirable way of achieving this goal.7 Persons who believe in “winning at any cost†are proponents of sports success as a product and can be labeled new school (NS) individuals.The new school is founded on notions of the player before the team, loyalty to the highest bidder, and high-tech production and consumption of professional sports. On the other hand, persons who value the process of sports and believe that “how you play the game matters†can be labeled old school (OS) individuals.The old school emerges from old-fashioned American notions of the team before the player, sportsmanship, and loyalty above all else, and competition simply for “love of the game.†New School/Old School was measured by asking agreement with ten attitude statements.The scores on these statements were combined. Higher scores represent an orientation toward old school values. For purposes of this case study, individuals who did not answer every question were eliminated from the analysis. Based on their summated scores, respondents were grouped into low score, middle score, and high score groups.

Is this form of analysis appropriate?