A Sports Odyssey: My Ithaca Journal [Hardcover]

Grant Farred has long had a passionate connection with sports. InA Sports Odyssey, he weaves together an account of his own sports fandom that is profoundly personal and universal.

As readers of hisLong Distance Loveknow, Grant Farred has been a supporter of the English Premier League club, Liverpool Football Club, for decades. His fandom for that team launched an unexpected connection with a world beyond the limits of the apartheid state of his upbringing in South Africa. However,A Sports Odysseyshows that as Farred’s fervor for Liverpool ended, he developed a new set of sports attachments in Ithaca, New York: to his son’s youth basketball career, to the men’s basketball team at Cornell University and its coach, and even to professional teams like the New York Knicks. Farred’s bemusement at finding himself a sports parent, a New Yorker, and a company man, only underline the sincerity of his affections.

InA Sports Odyssey, Farred writes elegantly and eloquently about how sports and sports fandom create a sense of belonging, but also loss. This is a heartfelt examination of how we find “home” in who and what we love.  

In the seriesSportingForthcoming Spring 2025

[A] narrative of sports capacity to fasten us within unforeseen sets of social relations.... Animating the journey is the rich personal relationships with athletes and coaches that Farred brings to life.... Most striking is Farreds subtle ability to humanize the college athletes he writes about, both within the context of sporting exploits and off-the-court endeavors.Ethnic and Racial Studies

A Sports Odysseygives us a unique glimpse into a father-son relationship through the lens of basketball. Farreds book is a truly wonderful read for any parent who is looking to forge a stronger relationship with their children.James Jones, the all-l“.