More Than a Game

From the Back Cover:

Carolina Basketball. The very words evoke a passionate response among the countless thousands of fans who follow the Tar Heels. For serious North Carolina basketball fans, following the team is more than just another recreational activity - it's a fundamental, even irreplaceable part of who they are. Every winter, Carolina fans habitually schedule their lives around the Tar Heels during the season - and many say that following the team is one of the most lasting and valuable attachments in their lives.

Is this a good thing? What are the implications, both personally and collectively, of being in love with Carolina basketball? Are there better and worse ways, more healthy and less healthy ways to be a fan? And why exactly does North Carolina basketball have such a hold on its loyal followers?

Thad Williamson, a lifelong fan who has also covered North Carolina basketball as a journalist, probes his own fan history and those of hundreds of others to offer a unique perspective on those questions. A powerful blend of autobiography, journalism, and social science, More Than a Game is a book certain to stir the hearts and challenge the minds of North Carolina basketball fans everywhere.

Reviews:

The Independent Weekly (N.C.)

Sociology of Sport

Brown Alumni Monthly

Reader Reviews at Amazon.com

Archive of appearance on WUNC radio program "The State of Things," November 2004 (Briefly discusses "More Than a Game," but the rest of the conversation is interesting as well.)

Lecture on "More Than a Game," as given at UNC, November 2003

Excerpts:

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Part One

I. The Socialization and Education of a North Carolina Basketball Fan, 1976- 1988