$17.95
Craig Calcaterra
April 5, 2022
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. Intentionally tanking a season to get a high draft pick, scamming local governments to build cushy new stadiums, and actively subverting the players have become business as usual in professional sports.
In Rethinking Fandom, sportswriter (and lifelong sports fan) Craig Calcaterra argues that fans have more power than they realize to change how their teams behave. With his characteristic wit and piercing commentary, Calcaterra calls for a radical reexamination of what it means to be a fan in the twenty-first century.
Craig Calcaterra is the writer and editor of the daily baseball, news, and culture newsletter, Cup of Coffee. Previously, he was the lead national baseball writer for NBC Sports, where he launched and edited the baseball blog HardballTalk. Calcaterra’s work has appeared on NPR, Bloomberg News, BBC, and ESPN. He lives in New Albany, Ohio.
Praise for Rethinking Fandom:
"Craig Calcaterra once again proves his status as one of the most insightful commentators on the intersection of sports, culture, and politics. Bringing his trademark blend of clear thinking, righteous indignation, and ironic humor, Calcaterra lays out the case that modern sports fans are captured in a cycle of toxic exploitation. [...] Rethinking Fandom is a vital book for any sports fan in the 21st century." —Mike Duncan, author of Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution
"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, The Athletic
ISBN: 978-1-953368-23-2/paperback/April 5, 2022/228 pages
"For the past five years, a small press called Belt Publishing has been bringing out intriguing nonfiction books about the Midwest; now they've started a new series called Belt Revivals to publish classic Midwestern fiction as well as nonfiction."
"Five years after its launch as a regional press specializing in nonfiction books about the industrial Midwest, Belt Publishing is growing rapidly and gaining visibility in the marketplace."
"Small presses across Appalachia and the Rust Belt consistently publish, to little fanfare, incredibly diverse work — books that are lush, gritty, surprising and so very true. Perhaps the best example, or certainly the best place to begin, is Catte’s “What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia.” This edgy, meticulous work of nonfiction from Cleveland’s Belt Publishing dispels many myths about the region."
