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Matthew Berry: The Talented Mr. Roto

Draftkings NFL $5M Fantasy Football millionaire 2016One of the most anticipated books in the Roto World of Fantasy Sports has been released.  Matthew Berry, the ESPN fantasy sports analyst and ESPN columnist who writes under the rightful name of ‘The Talented Mr Roto’ or TMR has released “Fantasy Life: The Outrageos, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who’s Lived it” hit book shelves July 16, 2013.  It is also available on various sites such as Amazon:

While we at Rotoguys have had the pleasure of reading it  (take note TMR .. our readers value our opinion!!) as avid readers of Matthew Berry we can reassure that it is worth reading.  A former screenwriter he later made the transition into Fantasy Sports writing on a variety of websites and eventually creating his own which was purchased by ESPN.

Described as “celebrating every aspect of the fantasy sports world. Brilliant trash talk. Unbelievable trophies. Insane draft day locations. Shake-your-head-in-disbelief punishments. Ingenious attempts at cheating. And surprisingly uplifting stories that remind us why we play these games in the first place”. Written with the same award-winning style that has made Berry one of the most popular columnists on ESPN.com, Fantasy Life is a book for both hard-core fantasy players and people who have never played before. Between tales of love and hate, birth and death, tattoos and furry animal costumes, the White House Situation Room and a 126-pound golden pelican, Matthew chronicles his journey from a fourteen-year-old fantasy player to the face of fantasy sports for the largest sports media company in the world.

“Fantasy will save your life. Fantasy will set you free. And fantasy life is most definitely better than real life. You’ll see.”  How could we go wrong with such an intro!

The reviews are positive, very positive and go beyond the Roto enthusiast as Author Harlan Coben himself a New York Times best selling author states ” “You don’t have to play fantasy sports to enjoy Matthew Berry’s Fantasy Life. You don’t even need to be a sports fan. If you like great writing, if you appreciate irreverent humor, if stories about friendship, family, backstabbing, and regrettable Justin Bieber tattoos warm your heart, you’ll love this book.””

 





 

The best review is from New York Magazine which states “Is there anyone that still thinks fantasy-baseball players are some sort of niche, Trekkie sect? Countless Major League players admit themselves to playing the game, and the web hasn’t only mainstreamed it, it has turned it into a multi-million-dollar business. At this point, we’d say more sports fans know who Matthew Berry is than know most of the players on his team.”

Clearly the book is about more than just fantasy sports but the passion, stories, emotions incorporated into Matthew Berry’s life much like all the rest of us “RotoGuys”.   The last book that dug deep and was able to strike that chord for me was ‘Fever Pitch’ by Nick Hornby.  Although about the football club Arsenal it transcends into every fan’s obsession with his team and its infiltration into every day life be it work and relationships. 

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