Thad will
read selected excerpts, sign, and discuss his book beginning at 11:00am.
During this time, no admission will be charged for entrance into BLUE HEAVEN
provided visitors purchase a copy of More Than A Game at the Museum.
For more information, please call 919.929.5877 or check out our website at
www.blueheavenmuseum.com.
WHAT A GREAT HOLIDAY PRESENT! Read More About Thad’s Book:
“Perhaps the most comprehensive assessment of Carolina basketball ever
published. This is, quite simply, the Carolina fan’s textbook.” – Ben
Sherman, Editor, ACC Basketball Handbook (and, of course, Inside Carolina)
More Than a Game provides an unprecedented look at the impact of North
Carolina basketball on its legion of fans. Drawing on autobiographical
evidence, detailed diaries kept by some 15 hard-core fans during the 2000-01
season, and a comprehensive survey of over 600 Tar Heel fans, author Thad
Williamson shows how Carolina basketball has become more than just a
recreational activity to many fans. Indeed, 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?
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 and often provocative perspective on those questions.
Williamson shows how devotion to Carolina basketball can have both healthy
and unhealthy consequences--and argues that what is most important and
meaningful about Carolina basketball is not simply its winning track record,
but the example it has set about how to “do things right.”
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 will be required reading for serious Carolina fans and all thoughtful
observers of Carolina basketball.