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13 Teams: One Man's Journey with the WNBA
"Well, he said he started, became a fan in 2000. Hes just been a fan of the game ever since." -Carolyn Peck, ESPN Commentator "I think its great to have fans that are that passionate, who care about (the league) that much to invest their time, their energy, their summer vacation to follow the WNBA." -Donna Orender, WNBA President (2005-2010) "Oh, the journey dude? Man vs. Wild, WNBA style!" -Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury My name is Alex Chambers, and I love women’s basketball. Yes, it really is that simple. Now come to think of it, loving the game is that simple; being a fan, well, that’s another story. The difficulty in being a fan of women’s basketball might lie within the struggle to find a televised game, or media coverage you don’t have to dig for. It could mean sifting past paragraphs and even pages of negative comments on message boards or blogs to get to a recap of a recent game. Even still, it could be that when I wear my home team’s jersey, people ask me, “Is that a professional sports team?” It might also have to do with the fact that (drum roll please) I’m a guy. In 2009, I traveled to all thirteen WNBA arenas. Along the way, I was fortunate enough to meet some of the athletes in the WNBA as well as many passionate fans. This is the story of my twenty-eight day, twelve thousand mile journey, filled with adventure and amazing experiences. Interviews Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Lauren Jackson, Becky Hammon, Janel McCarville, Lindsay Whalen, Tamika Catchings, Renee Montgomery, Alana Beard, Erin Phillips, Candice Wiggins, and many others!
- GenresSports
310 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 26, 2017
I read this book because I was interested to know how the WNBA could succeed economically when as a matter of theory I have zero friends or acquaintances who know even basic details about this womens basketball league. To my surprise the first result for a WNBA book search was this biographical piece in which a fanatical WNBA supporter documents his summer visiting every WNBA home game in the country. The description immediately drew me in.
I don't know that I'll keep track of a WNBA season any time soon, but I appreciated the author's devotion to an activity that in his opinion deserves greater attention and respect. I've been in that position my entire life.
As a kid I ran around telling peers to get saved or they would be going to hell. (Excuse the Koolaid-drinking preacher's kid scaring the neighborhood's children.) Later in life I developed a passion for global affairs and foreign languages. People around me didn't seem to care. Some criticized my interests. Can a man (or woman) have a hobby?! (When I ended up expressing support for atheist views, I was nearly stoned to death!) <- hyperbole.
Eventually I would find myself in fanatic-level devotion to things such as: cross country, The X Files, percussion, military service, the band U2, Arabic, Middle Eastern history, Catholicism, Coldplay, immigration law, real estate, and, most recently, the Blues, data science, Facebook and Jimi Hendrix. (I also have landed in hot water on the religion spectrum again. I know I know, I should just make up my mind. Hey, try threatening me with an eternal fire-- that seems to work with some 501.C3 organizations.)
Having noted my arguably quirky hobbies above, and reflecting on how fanatic my devotion was to them, I applaud this author for letting himself free to adore and geek out over an activity that solicits the awkward head-cock from some. If that's not the pursuit of happiness then no one's happy.
I guess my conclusion is that fanning out over the WNBA is basically the American Dream.
I don't know that I'll keep track of a WNBA season any time soon, but I appreciated the author's devotion to an activity that in his opinion deserves greater attention and respect. I've been in that position my entire life.
As a kid I ran around telling peers to get saved or they would be going to hell. (Excuse the Koolaid-drinking preacher's kid scaring the neighborhood's children.) Later in life I developed a passion for global affairs and foreign languages. People around me didn't seem to care. Some criticized my interests. Can a man (or woman) have a hobby?! (When I ended up expressing support for atheist views, I was nearly stoned to death!) <- hyperbole.
Eventually I would find myself in fanatic-level devotion to things such as: cross country, The X Files, percussion, military service, the band U2, Arabic, Middle Eastern history, Catholicism, Coldplay, immigration law, real estate, and, most recently, the Blues, data science, Facebook and Jimi Hendrix. (I also have landed in hot water on the religion spectrum again. I know I know, I should just make up my mind. Hey, try threatening me with an eternal fire-- that seems to work with some 501.C3 organizations.)
Having noted my arguably quirky hobbies above, and reflecting on how fanatic my devotion was to them, I applaud this author for letting himself free to adore and geek out over an activity that solicits the awkward head-cock from some. If that's not the pursuit of happiness then no one's happy.
I guess my conclusion is that fanning out over the WNBA is basically the American Dream.
January 13, 2025
The author's excited for the game is contagious is best possible way and it was cool to get a snapshot of league almost 20 years ago. Not to mention being from Arizona I could easily relate to his point of view. I was a little sad though that when I went looking for books about the history of the WNBA this was one of few results Amazon came up with. Considering the league is almost 30 years old that has to change.
March 3, 2022
So I love women's college basketball and the WNBA. I honestly couldn't get past the first few chapters. He acts like the biggest fan but at the same time didn't have the knowledge and instead got to his super fan status due to connections....
April 27, 2015
This book illustrates a journey that I would love to undertake for many of the leagues I follow. The author is a devout Phoenix Mercury, of the WNBA, fan and sets off to visit all 13 arenas in a single season. As he plans his journey the WNBA catches wind of it and opens all sorts of doors for him to allow him to experience what the majority of fans would kill to do.
The book is an adaptation of a blog he kept on his journey. As I only stumbled upon this book on Amazon, I was unaware of his journey in 2009. Thus, for readers of his blog, this may simply be a "dead tree" version of what he had already written online. However, since I had not read his blog, it was a great story and travel narrative.
The story was well written and entertaining. It helps if you are a WNBA fan as it helps that you know the names of at least some of the players and the teams. As he had "media" access to the teams throughout his journey, it is fair to say this is soft journalism. He does not really criticize anything in the book. He makes a single line entry about Diana Tasuri (I can never spell her name right) and her drunk driving arrest. It is apparent that the author is a big fan of hers. I completely understand the downplaying of the incident. Since the WNBA was completely involved with his journey, black marks against the league are likely verboten.
My only knock against this book (and it was so minor it wasn't even a star removal for me) is that the author has pictures to go along with his stories. Unfortunately, the pictures are printed in black and white/grey scale and some of the pictures are nearly impossible to make out.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. The target audience would be any ardent sports fan. Every sports fan has their dream of travelling to see their team play somewhere. For baseball fans it might mean spring training or for football fans it might mean the Super Bowl, but whatever sport you follow you would kill to do what the author did. It is a way to vicariously live out your dream through the author and the WNBA.
The book is an adaptation of a blog he kept on his journey. As I only stumbled upon this book on Amazon, I was unaware of his journey in 2009. Thus, for readers of his blog, this may simply be a "dead tree" version of what he had already written online. However, since I had not read his blog, it was a great story and travel narrative.
The story was well written and entertaining. It helps if you are a WNBA fan as it helps that you know the names of at least some of the players and the teams. As he had "media" access to the teams throughout his journey, it is fair to say this is soft journalism. He does not really criticize anything in the book. He makes a single line entry about Diana Tasuri (I can never spell her name right) and her drunk driving arrest. It is apparent that the author is a big fan of hers. I completely understand the downplaying of the incident. Since the WNBA was completely involved with his journey, black marks against the league are likely verboten.
My only knock against this book (and it was so minor it wasn't even a star removal for me) is that the author has pictures to go along with his stories. Unfortunately, the pictures are printed in black and white/grey scale and some of the pictures are nearly impossible to make out.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. The target audience would be any ardent sports fan. Every sports fan has their dream of travelling to see their team play somewhere. For baseball fans it might mean spring training or for football fans it might mean the Super Bowl, but whatever sport you follow you would kill to do what the author did. It is a way to vicariously live out your dream through the author and the WNBA.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews