Superfans: Into the Heart of Obsessive Sports Fandom

In this vastly entertaining and enlightening effort, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Dohrmann (Play Their Hearts Out) explores the peculiar behaviors of sports fans. Being a sports fan is about identity, he argues, and also about socializing, because arenas and bars serve as “neutral meeting grounds” for people who love the same team. In his fan profiles, Dohrmann focuses on deeply complex individuals. For example, he interviews a woman who is a Seattle Seahawks superfan who is also a domestic-abuse survivor. In the wake of controversy surrounding the team’s draft of a player accused of beating his girlfriend, she said, “This was the media overdramatizing it.” Dohrmann treats his subjects with dignity—whether it’s the sports psychologist who hexes opposing players shooting free throws or the Colts fan who uses his elaborate game-day getups as a form of artistic expression. 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. (Jan.)