I hope I never have to do Fantasy Football Now without Tim Hasselbeck next to me. He’s smart, works his ass off, is a great on-air partner and an even better person. Robert Flores, Stephania Bell, and Sara Walsh are awesome to work with and make the mornings fly by.
Chris Berman sat with me when I first got to ESPN, patiently answered all my questions and has continued to do so for seven years. He is beyond gracious and supportive, both on air and off, and I have learned much from him. Thanks for everything, Boomer. Getting to watch football every Sunday with him, Tom Jackson, Mike Ditka, Cris Carter, Ron Jaworski, Keyshawn Johnson, Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter, Trent Dilfer, Merril Hoge, John Saunders, Herm Edwards, Tedy Bruschi, and Eric Mangini is one of my favorite parts of my job. They teach me something new every Sunday and I appreciate all of them sharing with me.
Thanks to my friends Chris Bishop, Heather Cocks, John Cregan, Steve DeMaio, Nando DiFino, Greg Erb, Tucker Max, Chad Millman, Jason Oremland, and Bobby Patton for their early thoughts, suggestions, jokes, and brainstorming.
Thanks to Don Smith and all the Fat Dogs and Lone Star League gang. Tommy Connell, Rick Hill, Woody Thompson, Randy Malazzo, Warren Faulkner, David Hicks, Frank Smith, Carl Jaedicke, David Ellis, David Schrank, Wade Kusler, and the new guys Todd, Tim, and Tanner. Thanks to all the guys in the Doug Logan League, and thanks to everyone, everywhere, that’s ever played in a league with me.
Thanks to Steve Mason for giving me my first shot on air and being a great friend. To the late great Ray Kalusa, John Ireland, and David Singer for going along with it. Thanks to the late Andrew Ashwood and Harry Gore.
There are no thanks big enough for the amazing Adam Silver and the NBA. Brenda Spoonemore, Steve Hellmuth, Steve Grimes, and everyone at NBA.com and NBA Entertainment. FOREVER. INDEBTED.
I don’t know where my career is without having Bill Simmons’s early support and friendship, but it’s not anywhere close to what it is now, I know that much. Thanks, Bill. You’re like Brandon and Dylan rolled into one.
The years we did the TMR site were a very special time to me and I will never forget it. It was truly a labor of love for many people, starting with Pierre and Janet Becquey, who, as I said earlier, basically ran the site, edited everything, handled customer service, were the heart and soul, they worked many late nights. Without them, none of this happens. Big leap of faith for parents of four young kids. Thank you.
The TMR core: Dave Hunter, Shawn “C-Dub” Cwalinski, Brad Evans, Christopher Harris, Andy Behrens, Tom Herrera, Nando DiFino, Heather Cocks, Brian McKitish, David Young, A.J. Mass, Bob Schenks, Guy Lake, Dan Cichalski, Wade Alberty, Shawn Peters, Adam Madison, Ken Daube, Will Brinson, Jim McCormick, John Cregan, Mike Bornhorst, Tommy Landry, Sean Allen, Matthew Greber, Ken Weitzman, Will Harris, Josh Whitling, Pravin Bhandakar, Dale Normanson, Ben Ice, Trace Wood, Jonathan Phillips, Candice McDonough, Victoria Matiash, Chris Cates, Anthony Targan, Bo Levy, Jon Loomer, Todd Whitestone, John Pereira, Chuck Landzdorf, Tim Kavanagh, Neil Tardy, Josh Whitling, Chris Carlson, David Srinivasan, John Hunt, Tyler McLean, Drew Belzer, Dan Sullins, Ian Ferguson, Eric Maltais, Sam Gaines, Robert Poe, Charlie Wilke, Brian Hughes, Brian Sykes, Jon Phillips, Drew Belzer, David Ohayon, Max Work, Mike Thornburn, Dave Gawron, Jim Stechschulte, and many, many others. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I take extreme pride that many on that list have gone on to do even bigger and better things in the fantasy industry. Thanks for keeping the flame alive.
Thanks to all my friends in the fantasy sports industry: Matthew Pouliot, Rick Wolf, Rick Cordella, Ron Shandler, Peter Schoenke, Jeff Erickson, Chris Liss, and the whole Rotowire gang, Ryan Houston, Whit Walters, The Huddle and all the current and past sites and owners in RotoPass, Mike Narhstedt, Kenny Gersh, Gregg Klayman, Mike Beacom and the FSWA. Glenn Colton, Stacie Stern, Paul Charchian, Greg Ambrosius, Charlie Weigert, and everyone at the FSTA. Lawr Michaels, Jason Collette, Steve Moyer, Rob Leibowitz, Larry Schecter, Peter Kreutzer, Joe Sheehan, and all the members of Tout Wars, past and present. Joe Bryant, David Dodds, Sigmund Bloom, and the gang at the legendary FootballGuys. Jeff Ma, Larry Tobin, Rick Kamla, Scott Engel, Brandon Funston, Evan Silva, Jason Kint, Nathan Zegura, Cory Schwartz, Mike Siano, Ryan Bonini, Michael Fabiano, Jason Smith, Gregg Rosenthal, Jeremy Ellbaum, Brian Schwartz and the team at DraftStreet.com, Mike Harmon, Scott Pianowski, Mike Clay, Josh Moore, Frank DuPont, Ray Flowers, Louis Maione, Steve Gardner, Howard Kamen, Matt Deutsch, and the gang at SiriusXM Radio fantasy sports, Dave Gonos, Emil Kadlec, Scott Philip, John Hansen, the gang at NumberFire, and the ton of people I am sure I am forgetting because I am writing this late at night and it’s past due so I’m writing quickly. Frankly, everyone who has ever written about, talked about on air, promoted, done business in or with fantasy sports. Thanks for helping grow our game. You know, none of us can rest until every man, woman, and child plays fantasy.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to write up a story, send it in, answer multiple questions. I got way more great stories than I had room to use, so I apologize to those that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another. Hey, there’s always the paperback! Or the column. It’ll get used at some point. But special thanks to Mike Davis, Michael Hepburn, Paul Kangas, Jill Maloney, Dave Windham, Sam Jesse, Ian Thompson, Joe Treffiletti, Michael Treffiletti, and Farhan Zaidi for helping track down certain stories that are in this book.
Thanks to everyone who so graciously gave their time to read an early copy and give me a blurb, including the people who are not mentioned elsewhere in this section, Harlan Coben, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Holliday, Maurice Jones-Drew, Peter King, Seth Meyers, Keith Olbermann, Jeff and Jackie Schaeffer.
THANKS: Patrick Stiegman, Marie Donoghue, the wise and sage-like Marc Horine, the late, great John Zehr, Jason Waram, Kevin Jackson, Aaron LaBerge, and everyone at ESPN digital media, including my dear friends Anthony “Big Man” Mormile, Raphael Poplock, Bimal Kapadia, and Michael Cupo. Salil Mehta and Daniel Chiu for early navigation help, Brian Dailey and Quinn Emmett for keeping Poplock in line. Mike Polikoff, John Diver, Jamie Carlson, Dave Fishel, and the entire ESPN Fantasy Games team. Norby Williamson, John Wildhack, my fantasy tag team partner Ed “The Champ” Durso, Mark Gross, Steve Anderson, Chuck Pagano, Mike McQuade, Traug Keller, Mo Davenport, Scott Masteller, Stephanie Druly, Jay Levy, and everyone else helping fantasy at ESPN TV and Radio. The entire gang at ESPN PR, helping promote our game, with special thanks to Chris LaPlaca, Bill Hofheimer, Mike Soltys, and Kevin Ota. If the ESPN ad sales team isn’t selling fantasy, none of us get paid. Huge shout-out to Ed Erhardt, Eric Johnson, Mike Maguire, Lisa Valentino, Trevor MacArthur, and everyone in ESPN ad sales—way too many to mention. Scott Burton at the Magazine for that first shot and his friendship. Stacey Pressman at the Mag for friendship, advice, and looking at way too many cover options. Laurie Orlando, Tim Scanlan, Maureen Hassett-Lindsey, and everyone in the ESPN Talent office. The SWAN Zach Jones, John Parolin, and everyone at ESPN Stats and Information. Barry Sacks and Pete McConville for carrying the fantasy on TV torch early and Ivy Abrams, Geoff Reiss, and Chantre Camack for opening those doors and fighting to keep them open. The early FF Now crew: Kieran Portley, Anthony Spadacenta, Zach Candito, Gregg Colli. Marcia Keegan, Diane Karagheusian, Molly Qerim, and the people who actually make ESPN run and have saved my bacon way too many times to count: Tina Pagano, Denise Pellegrini, Dominie Dickens, and Pam Chamberlain. Thanks to all the hair and makeup people at ESPN who perform daily miracles on me.
THANKS: Jamie Horowitz, Kevin Wildes, Jack Obringer, Gabe Goodwin, Peter Coughter for their friendship and professional navigation advice. Whit Albohm and everyone at SportsNation. All the on-air talent I get the privilege to work with at ESPN but special mention to Trey Wingo, Mark Schlereth, Michael Smith, Michelle Beadle, Jemele Hill, Buster Olney, Charissa Thompson, Ryen Russillo, Bram Weinstein, Prim Siripipat, and Michele Steele for their friendship and support. Gary Horton for our weekly lunches.<
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THANKS: My friends Adam “Jellyroll” Shapiro, Melissa Masse, Justin Rosenblatt, Heather Ankeny, Chris and Jeanne-Marie Lindsay, Eric Abrams, especially for carrying the load toward the end, Kevin Mock, John Portnoy, Joanna Lovinger, Andy Wichern, John Bravenec, Brittany Horine, Tory Zawacki, and Erin McParland for their friendship during both good and tough times.
THANKS: Sandy Silver Stutman, Rachel Bendavid, and the late, great Joe Bendavid, for telling me to go for it when they had every reason not to, Les Firestein, Jared Hoffman, super agent Matt Rice, Ryan Hayden and everyone at UTA, Derek Bacon, Darryl Kanouse, and Mark Farris for their help and hard work in the early days of TMR/RotoPass.
THANKS: To the King of all Media, Howard Stern, for over 20 years of inspiration and laughter for a long time. To the Stern Show Fantasy League—Gary Dell’Abate, Jason Kaplan, Jon Hein, J.D. Harmeyer, Will Murray, Steve Brandano, Scott Salem, Ben Barto, and David Heydt—for great stories, much fun, and support.
THANKS: To the makers of Diet Coke, to the late night cafeteria staff at ESPN, and everyone who sat outside my office and waved their hands when the lights would go out every 20 minutes. I spent A LOT of long nights at the office writing this thing.
THANKS: Bruce Springsteen (rockin’), Eminem (angry), Jimmy Buffett (relaxing), and Suburban Legends (keeping me young). You guys were the backbone of my soundtrack while writing this.
THANKS: To anyone I’ve forgotten. You do a list this long and still, I know there are people that should be here but who aren’t, but my brain is fried. Thanks for understanding.
THANKS: To everyone who has ever read my column anywhere I have written, joined the Yahoo group, listened to the podcast, subscribed back in the day to TMR or RotoPass, or even signed up for the TRUM, posted on our message board, followed me on Twitter or Facebook, watched me on TV or heard me on radio. None of this is possible without you. I don’t take it for granted. From the bottom of my heart—thank you.
And finally . . .
THANKS: To my brother, Jonathan, who is, simply, my best friend. He’s read way too many drafts of this book and has always been there for me. Love you, J.B. Much love to him, his amazing wife, Mimi, and my super-cute nephew Jacob. And to my parents, Nancy and Len. Thanks for the love, support, advice, notes on the book (my Dad has written several books), not laughing or yelling when I said I wanted to start over at 35, and you know, the whole giving me life thing.
To David, Matt, and Connor—thank you for barging into my office and telling me it was time to play or shoot hoops, thank you for understanding when I had deadlines to meet, thank you for yelling at each other to be quiet because “He has to write his book!” You’re all great kids. I love you.
To Samantha and Brooke—my little beans. Thank you for never failing to put a smile on my face, no matter how many hours I worked or how frustrated I might get at certain points. I hope I can make you as happy as you make me. You two are magic.
And finally, to Beth—I highly discourage everyone from writing a book within the first year of twins being born unless you happen to be married to a saint. Luckily, I am, as she spent way too many nights putting the kids to bed alone as I was in front of a computer screen. Thanks for giving me a final chapter.
Matthew Berry • March 17, 2013
Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It Page 28