Previous
Chapter 31
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fever Pitch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obsession vs. Fandom
Sports, Identity, and Community
Escapism
Sports and Masculinity
Summary
Analysis
Nick thinks that football fans conceive of years in terms of football seasons rather than calendar years. The day before the Cup Final should be a nationally recognized day off work. He thinks of the football season of 1979/1980 as one calendar year. For this year, he doesn’t do much other than smoke, drink, and watch or listen to football. When Arsenal beats Liverpool, reaching their third Cup Final, Nick barely cares at all. He feels listless.
Now that Arsenal is a more successful team, Nick finds it difficult to stay interested in them. As a result, he is forced to pay more attention to his own life. The fact that he takes up smoking and drinking suggest that football played a similar role in his life to substances. He uses smoking, drinking, and football as coping mechanisms.
Themes
