Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie

Synopsis

Fantasy football is America's fastest growing obsession, and sports humorist Mark St. Amant is among the obsessed. Entering the 2003 season--utterly fed up with never having won his league championship--St. Amant decided to embark on a quest for fantasy football knowledge and glory. He abandoned his advertising career and made fantasy football his new full-time job, setting out on a sprawling reconnaissance mission to discover what really makes this game -- and its players--tick. He stalked industry experts and gained access to leagues from all over the country, from private local leagues to the biggest (and richest) league on the planet, the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) in Las Vegas. Wading through the game's history, from its humble beginnings in a New York hotel in 1962 to the serious business it is today, Committed takes readers on a wickedly funny, deeply informative descent into the underbelly of an exploding national pastime. St. Amant provides an all-access, sideline pass to his entire season, and this world, as he strategizes, plots, trades, rants, and chases his league championship. For longtime veterans and newbies, hardcore sports nuts and casual sports fans, Committed reveals the truth behind the unique attraction of fantasy football."Mark St. Amant quit his job and dropped out of life in order to concentrate on his fantasy football team. Obviously, he is the smartest man who's ever lived." --Chuck Klosterman, author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs "Dude, I get more f***ing e-mails from you than from the girl I'm seeing!" This was the exasperated, fourteen-word e-mail that told me once and for all, like a bucket of freezing-cold water to the face, that I had officially become a fantasy football junkie. It was December 2002 and I was desperately trying to make a deal before the trade deadline cut me off. My target was my friend, former coworker, and Felon Fantasy League-mate, Mark "Big Dog" Moll, co-owner of the eponymous Big Dogs. You see, my team--Acme Fantasy Football, Inc., named in honor of the perpetually frustrated cartoon character Wile E. Coyote--was 6-4 and tied with three other squads for the last of four coveted FFL playoff slots. But I was way behind in total points, our league's first tiebreaker. I knew I couldn't pull ahead and make the playoffs without acquiring a total stud and having an absolutely huge final four weeks. Enter Mr. Total Stud, Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes. I sent Big Dog approximately sixteen e-mails within the span of, oh, three minutes, frantically trying to get him to trade me Priest for near-stud Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry--whom I didn't really need now that Saints RB Deuce McAllister had emerged into a weekly stud--and Quincy Morgan, the Cleveland Browns receiver who had just had a not-a-chance-in-hell-will-he-do-it-again 118-yard, 2-TD game against Jacksonville. Sell high. Henry and Morgan for Priest was a very fair deal. And by very fair, I mean that I was trying to rob my friend blind--

Copyright:

2004

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

294 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780743267564

Publisher:

Simon & Schuster, Limited

Date of Addition:

01/17/12

Copyrighted By:

Mark St. Amant

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Sports, Biographies and Memoirs

Submitted By:

Natalie Barrett

Proofread By:

Martha Rafter

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.