Book Review - Fantasy Life by Matthew Berry

I recently read Fantasy Life and went in to it with the preconception that it was going to be stuffed full of funny anecdotes about Fantasy Sports.  That's all that I needed to know to pick up a copy because if you know me, you know I loves me some Fantasy Football.

I walked away from this book with a pleasant surprise.  It is a book that can not only entertain the passionate Fantasy Sports player, but it may have the power to convert those who are "opposed" to the game or just simply don't understand what the obsession is.  

Not only is it the submitted stories that Matthew asked for while he was writing the book, it is also a well written narrative of the journey that he took from Hollywood Screenwriter from such "popular" hits as Crocodile Dundee 3, the sitcom Kirk and a little known comedy called Married with Children, to the Face of Fantasy Sports for ESPN.  It served as an autobiography of sorts telling stories of his struggles in Hollywood, to the start of his fantasy sports career with his TalentedMrRoto.com page to selling those pages to ESPN and joining their staff as the "Senior Fantasy Analyst", to meeting his wife in Bristol CT and how Fantasy Football brought his family together.

If you have no idea what Fantasy Sports are, you can play fantasy with anything that keeps statistics.  Football, Baseball and Basketball are the most common but you can play with anything from Rugby to NASCAR to a Summer Movie League where you draft the movie you think will have the higher Box Office performance.

There are hilarious stories submitted from people all over the world like the guy that accidentally "hooks up" with another guy at a bar after his draft, and then his league mates had T-Shirts printed with a picture of the lovely couple on it, and the trophy for a league that is made from a busted washing machine.

I want to elaborate on two of my favorite stories from the book.  Matthew Berry's podcast hosts what is called "The Man's League" where they select 15 people to play against the producer of the podcast.  A few years back one of the people selected was a soldier stationed in the Middle East.  He set up for their draft and his base was then promptly attacked by rockets and he refused to leave his barracks because he didn't want to lose his WIFI signal and needed to finish the draft.  You read that correctly, This man refused to seek shelter during a rocket attack to draft a Fantasy Football Team.

There are also heartwarming stories such as the story of the gentleman that joined the "George Braitsch Memorial League":  He joined the league and was upset at their less than enthusiastic approach to preparing for the draft.  Until the league commissioner then explained that the league was named after a guy that was in the league who suddenly passed away and that the league donated the majority of the league fees to that mans daughter for her to use for college.

I feel like this is the most accurate portrayal of the world of Fantasy Sports and if you already play and are looking for some good stories (or league punishment ideas, like the much publicized Tattoo League) or if you are just wondering what all the fuss is about, this book can show you.  You don't even have to watch football to play the game. It is really about the people and the togetherness and having a good time with people that you care about.  While some of the people in this book may take the game a little bit too far for my taste (see the Tattoo League) I applaud the fact that they love the game and hopefully this book will take away some of what Matthew calls the "Nerd Label" and will get the game out there to more people.

Thoughts from an Insomniac

So I sit here, unable to sleep, preparing mentally for my work day today (I have to be there at 7:30 AM on the Fouth of July) and I find myself reflecting.  This time 2 years ago I was doing pretty much the same thing except I was preparing for my Daughter's arrival.  Leah (the wife, for those of you that don't know her) had been in and out of the hospital during her pregnancy and I was worried.  I never told her that, but I think she knew.  I went to work on the Fourth and a little later that week Leah was admitted to the hospital for what would end up being the last time of the pregnancy and they scheduled Lorelai's arrival.  (Again for the benefit of those not familiar with me this is my Daughter)  I spent a lot of sleepless nights leading up to that point and have had quite a few since then but July holds a special place for me since then and Independence Day jump starts my great week.

I'm sure that my journey to parenthood started out like many others.  What I failed to mention above was that Lorelai was born 1 month (or so) early and I was not prepared for that.  I'm sure that nobody is and looking back I don't think I would have been even if she had went full term, but what I can tell you is that I worried, a lot.

Fast forward to today, my little girl is not so little anymore, we just moved her out of her crib and to a toddler bed, she is talking in complete sentences, and is generally acting to old for her own good.   Again, I'm sure I'm not the only parent to ever hit this point, but I'm now hitting a different kind of worry.  Now, I'm getting to the wow my little girl is growing up and I have to worry about the fact that she is interacting with more kids her age, she is all over the place climbing, falling down, and there are always the other people that you have to worry about as it seems like the rest of the world seems to have lost their ever loving minds.

All of this is a roundabout way of getting to the point that despite my affinity to sleeplessness now, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  My little girl is my world and while sometimes she is a lot of work, she is most definitely worth every second (and penny, let nobody lie, kids are expensive).  We will mark her second birthday on Sunday, and are having her party on Saturday and I look forward to seeing family and friends.  A lot has changed since Lorelai was born.  Actually, everything has pretty much changed since Lorelai was born.  I work for a different company, Leah is working as a Substitute Teacher, and our day to day is always changing because Lorelai is a goober (lol).  I have a lot of friends that I don't get to keep in touch with as often as I would like since I changed jobs, and I have made a lot of new friends as well.

I'm very happy with my life right now and wouldn't trade it for the world.  I have a great group of friends, and a solid family structure around me that make my life manageable and Leah and Lorelai make every day at work worth it.  I have a job that I enjoy (as long as you ask me while I'm reflective like this, ask me while I'm there and I may not say the same) and I have a lot of interests that keep me busy in the couple hours a day that I'm not occupied with Lorelai or Leah.  So you may see one of these posts pop up once and a while and it is really just me trying to clear my mind before I can finally get to sleep.  I'm feeling pretty centered right now, so I'm gonna go ahead and be done now, but I'm going to end with a big Happy Birthday to Lorelai.  I love you.  Have a good night everybody.

Reflective

So, I am sitting and thinking about all of the things that I would like to do with my life.   I'm watching a DVR recording of Austin City Limits with John Legend and the Roots and all I can think about is how much I miss being involved with music and my desire to go back to school so I can teach it.  Prior to this I watched Monday Night Raw, which brings out the writer in me (hence my writing) and makes me want to write my coverage of the show and also makes me want to go in to journalism (so I can cover it professionally or just start writing for one of the wrestling companies and be done with it).   A few days ago I was watching Bar Rescue and remembered how I had always wanted to open a sports bar, and all of this reflection is while I currently am on vacation from my job at Multiband where I recently got a promotion and enjoy the heck out of my job and the team that I work with, and am preparing to leave current job number two at Kroger where I have worked part time since last June and am sad to be leaving a good team there and a lot of friends.

This may sound like complaints and I really don't intend it that way, I am very happy with my life, I am very happily married to my wife Leah and have a beautiful daughter that will be turning two in July name Lorelai (yes, after the Gilmore Girls before anyone has to ask) and I wouldn't have life any other way, but one can not help but wonder how life would be if things had turned out differently.  For example, where would my life be now if I had finished college instead of failing out in my first year and giving up.  I'm an intelligent guy (if I do say so myself) and I feel like I could be doing pretty well for myself had I gone strait through and got my degree, but I guess we will never know.

To those of you who know me personally you will understand that I get this way sometimes and I tend to get a bit carried away so let me get to the point.  I am a person who is never satisfied with anything less than what I want in life.  At this point in my life I have everything the way that I want it personally, I have a great family and support system and a great group of friends.  So now, I will be focusing my attention in keeping my successful personal life, and expanding that success in to my professional life.  I will not settle, I will not quit (except at Kroger because...well....I've already turned in my notice), but I will not stop until I have reached all of my attainable goals in my professional life as well.  Now I just need to decide what area to focus on.  Are you reading the blog post of the first call center supervisor, pro wrestling journalist, sports bar owner operator, music teacher crossover....maybe, but stay tuned and you will find out.

Signing off - thebrandoncampbell

ps: I am seeing scenes from the Boston Marathon bombing today and am upset with Humanity.  I don't fathom the thought process that could lead someone to take an action like that and I don't want to.  I do want to send my thoughts and prayers to Boston as a whole.

It's Been A While

I have been a little out of the loop on this blog for a while now.  I am back on here and will be posting to this blog regularly going forward.  Stay Tuned and Thanks for Reading.

Whoa There Glenn Beck

So, I’m reading on my phone (because until today our PC was out of commission, I’m now christening the new one) and I see the Jack Swagger, Zeb Coulter videos online and I’m thinking, this is the most solid use of Social Media the WWE has managed to accomplish.  Z! True Long Island Story changed the game but this has been really effective because the “We the People” movement has garnered mainstream media attention and has drawn ire from Glenn Beck.  Beck was asked about the controversial videos and proceeded to call wrestlers their fans “stupid wrestling people” and drawing the outrage of Fans, Wrestlers, and WWE Officials, including Chairman Vince McMahon.  

McMahon issued a press release and sent a personal invitation for Beck to speak on Monday Night RAW and present his side of the argument.  Beck declined and via a public statement said he would not appear because he was “busy doing anything else.”  

Mr Beck, needs to understand that WWE alone reaches Millions upon Millions of homes, that is not including the homes reached by TNA, ROH, NWA and local promotions that air and have very passionate and devoted fan bases.  Insulting Millions of people, a good deal of which may have been fans of your show is pretty short sighted in my opinion.  WWE has created a response video where Zeb and Jack address Beck directly and out of character to explain their actions.  All in all I think the thing to remember here is going to be to slow down and remember that they are actor/athletes playing a part and telling a story and the product has always been one to push the limits of what is “politically correct.”   Developing a grassroots character to push the immigration issue that the country is facing is a brilliant move from the creative team to get people talking about the shock value of the statement.  I would much rather them use a political story as opposed to having three Japanese men kidnap a “porn star” and try to use a sword to cut of his “pee pee” only for the lights to go out and the porn star to get saved by John Wayne Bobbit.  Just Sayin.