''FeverPitch'' is author Nick Hornby's (''AboutABoy'', ''HighFidelity'') first book and is an autobiographical look at being a sports fan and all that entails in the context of growing up supporting Arsenal FC in England. Each chapter covers a single match attended between the late 60s and the early 90s, and relates to Hornby's own childhood and life experiences. As much a memoir as a sports book, it was extremely well received and won several awards.

It has been since adapted into two movies, both romantic comedies, with one made in Britain and released in 1997 which was written by Hornby himself starring ColinFirth and a second adaptation starring JimmyFallon and Creator/DrewBarrymore which transplanted the story to UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} and replaced football (soccer) with baseball and Arsenal FC with the Boston Red Sox.


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!!Tropes:
* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: How Hornby got started following football. After his parents' divorce, his father started taking him to football to spend time together.
* ComingOfAgeStory: The whole book is one.
* DownToTheLastPlay: Actually occurred in [[RealityIsUnrealistic real-life]] as [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYeIlI3gutk Michael Thomas scored for Arsenal]] in a 2-0 win that won them the league.
** Same goes for the American version. The Boston Red Sox were down by three games in the seven-game American League Championship Series against their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees. In Game 7, the Sox pulled out all the stops and hammered the Yankees 10-3, moving on to the World Series. The Sox then swept the St. Louis Cardinals and won their first World Series in 86 years.
* EveryYearTheyFizzleOut: Hornby was a fan through some of Arsenal's leanest years in terms of trophies won.
** The American version, naturally.
* GretzkyHasTheBall: Thoroughly averted of course, this a book by an obsessive fan about his favourite team.
** The 2005 film plays this straight with its climactic scene: No one would've been scalping tickets in the eighth inning (and virtually every stadium closes off attendance after the first several innings), Lindsey somehow survives a feet-first 30 foot fall from Fenway's "Triangle" wall, is shown on TV running on the field (TV broadcasts are mandated not to show fans running on the field, in order to discourage that type of behavior), and is allowed to carry a brief conversation with Ben before being taken away by security (apparently, TalkingIsAFreeAction at Fenway Park)
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: The American remake was originally written to end on a bittersweet, "There's always next year" note. But then the Red Sox actually won the championship after pulling off the greatest MiracleRally in baseball history so naturally the plot was quickly rewritten to accommodate it. The final scene was actually filmed on the field with the real Red Sox celebrating in the background and you can actually see stars JimmyFallon and Creator/DrewBarrymore in some of the news footage of the on-field celebration (the look on Fallon's face? Legitimate. He's an actual Red Sox fan in real life).
** Naturally applies to the book as well.
* ATouchOfClassEthnicityAndReligion: Explores Britain's class divide and how football can both overcome it and succumb to it.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Both films, especially the British one. Similarly, the American version exaggerates what hardcore Red Sox fans believe and how they act (namely, few Sawx fans actually believed that the supposed "Curse of the Bambino" was actually why the team kept fizzling out year after year).