More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much to So Many [Paperback]

Thad Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001

More Than a Game provides a unique look at both North Carolina basketball and the phenomenon of sports fanhood in the United States. For serious North Carolina basketball fans, following the team is more than just another recreational activity -- it's an irreplaceable part of who they are. Every winter, Carolina fans habitually schedule their lives around the Tar Heels during the season. Many fans say that following the team is one of the most valuable and enduring attachments in their lives.

But is this a good thing? What are the implications of so many people being so in love with Carolina basketball? Are there better and worse 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 also has 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. In Part One, Williamson tells the story of how he grew up in Chapel Hill as a diehard Carolina basketball fan, and how the lessons learned from following the Tar Heels so closely impacted his life, his family, and the very town of Chapel Hill itself. For hard-core Tar Heel fans growing up during the Dean Smith era, Carolina basketball represented not just a winning basketball team, but a powerful example of the right way to do things.

Williamson then turns to a detailed description of his five years covering the Tar Heels as a part-time journalist and columnist. Those five years, 1995 to 2000, coincided with the end of the Dean Smith era as well as Bill Guthridge's tenure as head coach. Williamson provides an insight-packed look at the many ups and downs of those five seasons. This section also discusses the tensions involved when on-the-court struggles coincided with the willingness of some fans to use the Internet and other outlets to voice criticisms of players and coaches.

Part Two of the book examines more directly the pros and cons of being a Tar Heel fan and the role it plays in fans' lives. Williamson combines a theoretical discussion of those questions with two powerful, unique sources of evidence about Carolina fans. The first is the Fan Diaries Project carried out during the 2000-01 season. Fifteen hard-core North Carolina fans from all over the country spent the season recording their behavior, reactions, thoughts and emotions as fans in a diary format. In doing so, these fans combined to provide a telling and often entertaining portrait of how Carolina fans experience basketball season.

The second source of evidence is the North Carolina Basketball Fan Survey. Over 600 fans completed a detailed, 86-question survey about both how they view North Carolina basketball and the role following the team plays in their lives. Williamson carefully examines this evidence to provide a thorough account of who North Carolina fans are, what they think, and how they behave. In the process, he shows how devotion to Carolina basketball can have both healthy and unhealthy consequences.

Throughout the text, Williamson combines his observations with those of some of the hundreds of fans who participated in the book project, as well as observations from coaches Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, Matt Doherty, and Phil Ford. An engaging narrative that asks all the hard questions, More Than a Game provides a powerful look at the phenomenon of North Carolina basketball. This is a book certain to stir the hearts and challenge the minds of Carolina fans everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Economic Affairs Bureau, Inc. publishes Dollars & Sense, a bimonthly magazine that explains the workings of the U.S. and international economies and provides a progressive perspective on current economic affairs. It is edited and produced by a collective of economists, journalists, and activists who are committed to social justice and economic democracy.

The Economic Affairs Bureau also publishes a series of easy-to-understand economics readers for classroom and general use.

About the Author

Thad Williamson is a Dollars & Sense collectivemember and a doctoral student in political theory at Harvard University. Williamson has written on issues ranging from economic policy to disarmament for over a dozen publications, and has completed two other books, What Comes Next? Proposals for a Different Society (National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives, 1998), and Making a Place for Community: A Policy Primer for the 21st Century (Routledge Press, 2002). Williamson has also written about Carolina basketball since 1995 for Inside Carolina, uncbasketball.com, and the ACC Basketball Handbook.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dollars & Sense (December 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 1878585215
• ISBN-13: 978-1878585219
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,326,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Just a Sports Book, December 27, 2001

By 

Ross Rollins (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much to So Many (Paperback)

Mr. Williamson's unique position, growing up in Chapel Hill with close connections to the Carolina program, provide him with a perfect vantagepoint from which to view and analyze the phenomenon that is Carolina Basketball. Part history, part social analysis, part simple fandom, More Than A Game is an extremely interesting and impassioned book which provides the reader with questions to answer for him or herself about extremism vs. a fun hobby. Particularly interesting is the fan survey which gives us a look at the nuances of everyday life from alumni, fans and those who take it to another level altogether (like myself). Reading the book took me for a stroll down memory lane, comparing Mr. Williamson's view of Carolina basketball history to my own. Sports fans, hoops fans and recruiting junkies will love it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learned so much from this book!, April 6, 2003

By 

Teresa M. Cooper "psych grad" (Fayetteville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much to So Many (Paperback)

I'm a student at UNC and when I first got here I didn't know much about our basketball team. I thought this book was really cool because it has so many fun facts in it and I learned so much about the proud tradition of UNC Basketball!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than a Basketball Book, December 19, 2001

By 

Danny Mullis (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Than a Game: Why North Carolina Basketball Means So Much to So Many (Paperback)

It's a challenging (and rewarding) read if one goes from page first to page last, but that's not the only option available. The book lends itself to enjoyment on many levels and, as such, should be appealing to a wide spectrum of readers (beyond that core group--of which I am a member--who must have ANYTHING relating to UNC hoops, regardless of its potential value). And part of the appeal to me, on a comprehensive level, is the very fact that it isn't a "rah rah" book, but instead is more serious and substantive. In other words, I found value in the book beyond merely quenching a thirst for UNC basketball knowledge. I felt smarter in addition to feeling entertained. The book prompted me to think on a grander scale, with UNC basketball as the nucleus for that expansive thought.