Rethinking Fandom

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What to expect

A fundamental reevaluation of how to be a sports fan by an acclaimed baseball writer

Sports fandom isn’t what it used to be. Owners and executives increasingly count on the blind loyalty of their fans and too often act against the team’s best interest. Sports fans are left deliberating not only mismanagement but also political, health, and ethical issues.

In Rethinking Fandom: How to Beat the Sports Industrial Complex at Its Own Game, sportswriter and lifelong sports fan Craig Calcaterra outlines endemic problems with what he calls the sports-industrial complex, such as intentionally tanking a season to get a high draft pick, scamming local governments to build cushy new stadiums, actively subverting the players, as well as bad stadium deals, racism, concussions, and more.

But he doesn’t give up on professional sports. In the second half of the book, he proposes strategies to reclaim joy in fandom: rooting for players instead of teams, being a fair-weather fan, becoming an activist, and other clever solutions.

With his characteristic wit and piercing commentary, Calcaterra argues that fans have more power than they realize to change how their teams behave.

Critics Review

  • “Modern fandom is rubbish, and Calcaterra explains why, but in so doing, also shows us the way out of our desensitized, corporate, laundry-hugging ways.” 

    Keith Law, senior baseball writer for The Athletic

  • “Bringing his trademark blend of clear thinking, righteous indignation, and ironic humor, he lays out the case that modern sports fans are captured in a cycle of toxic exploitation…Calcaterra provides positive solutions to help us form a healthier and more thoughtful relationship with the sports we love. A vital book for any sports fan in the twenty-first century.”

    Mike Duncan, author of A Hero of Two Worlds

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