Resumen de “Just Watching It Again Now Still Gives Me Goose Bumps!”: Examining the Mental Postcards of Sport Spectators

Gerald Griggs, Kathryn Leflay, Kathryn Leflay

• In a highly mediated world, iconic sporting moments are repeatedly relived, with their significance reinforced by a series of media montages. These narratives form the basis of a series of collective, shared memories within a society. Despite the power that collective memories may have, iconic sporting moments may also have private significance for an individual. In this paper, we examine these, what might be termed “mental postcards.” The study was conducted within the West Midlands of the UK, with participants asked to identify their most memorable moment as a spectator of sport. Though respondents’ accounts were idiosyncratic, highly individualized, and covered a range of sports, thematic coding revealed four specific themes: “What a Hero,” “Never Say Die,” “Being There,” and “We Won.”