| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.3

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Julie Byrne. O God of Players: The Story of the Immaculata Mighty Macs. (Religion and American Culture.) New York: Columbia University Press. 2004. Pp. xvii, 291. Cloth $59.50, paper $22.50.
Religious displays have become a staple of American sports. Fans carry signs adorned with scriptural references to evangelize the unconverted. Athletes make the sign of the cross in the batter's box, pound their chests and point heavenward, and fall to their knees in prayer following a touchdown. Fans and commentators alike pay little attention to these rituals, typically dismissing them as exhibitions of a superficial religious life. Julie Byrne's book, however, suggests that the connection between religion and sports is meaningful and needs to be understood if we are to apprehend how ordinary Americans live their religions.	1
Byrne analyzes the connections between religion and sport by examining the ultra-successful women's basketball program at tiny Immaculata College in the middle decades of the twentieth century. The Mighty Mac cagers dominated local play in the Philadelphia area and became a national powerhouse in the 1970s, winning the first three women's national basketball championships. Although the team's achievements are remarkable, Byrne focuses tightly on the meaning of basketball to Immaculata's players. She has unearthed a world where basketball offered women the opportunity to define their identities as Catholics, women, athletes, and students. Generally traditional in their views, these women used their experiences to both accommodate and resist Catholic doctrines.	. . .

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