From a Pulitzer Prize-winning Sports Illustrated journalist comes a fascinating exploration of what it means to be a superfan, featuring personal profiles and cutting-edge psychology.
George Dohrmann is a contributing writer at Sports Illustrated, where he was formerly the magazine's sole investigative reporter. He is the author of Play Their Hearts Out, winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting and the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports. In 2000, while working at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he won a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories that uncovered a college basketball team's academic fraud. Dohrmann lives in Ashland, Oregon, with his family.
“Well reported and meticulously researched . . . [George] Dohrmann
is a respected, diligent sportswriter and has been so for years—you
don’t get Pulitzers for message-board posts.”—The Wall Street
Journal
“Compelling . . . Being a sports fan means asserting an identity,
connecting to a tribe and a time.”—The Washington Post
“[A] lively, and sympathetic, account of the men and women who
paint their faces, wear crazy costumes and make regular calls to
sports radio shows.”—Newsday
“A thought-provoking exploration of the weird, fascinating, and
wonderful world of sports fans.”—Chris Ballard, senior writer at
Sports Illustrated
“Superfans is utterly hilarious, showing that sports have the power
to turn PhD psychologists into superstitious obsessives, and young
children into statistical savants. It’s also the definitive
anthropological dive into a form of mania that affects someone you
love, if not you yourself.”—David Epstein, New York Times
bestselling author of The Sports Gene
“You’ve seen them screaming at a quarterback, paint covering their
faces. But who are they? Why are they? And what do they mean for
the rest of us? In Superfans, the great George Dohrmann breaks down
the fanaticism with writing that is simultaneously uproarious and
alarming. This is a terrific book.”—Jeff Pearlman, New York Times
bestselling author of Gunslinger
“Vastly entertaining and enlightening . . . Dohrmann treats his
subjects with dignity. . . . By exploring the motivations of the
men and women who display team tattoos and coordinate fan armies
complete with military ranks, Dohrmann gives soul to a much
maligned and misunderstood aspect of sports.”—Publishers Weekly
“A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist turns his attention to those
who identify obsessively with their teams. . . . This is a
fascinating subject deserving of further study, and Dohrmann
provides a good jumping-off point.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Dohrmann here plumbs the deep, mysterious ties that bind
‘superfans’ to their teams. . . . An insightful study that can find
application well beyond the world of sports.”—Booklist
“An inside look at people who draw a sense of place and belonging
from the sports teams for which they root. This book should have a
broad readership.”—Library Journal
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