I oughta be COMMITTED

I just finished the funny, informative book Committed by Mark St. Amant and I have to say I'm jealous as Hell...

Firstly, the guy related the year he spent completely devoted to Fantasy Football. I'd love to do that. He, like so many other players, has a deep passion for the game, but can't seem to find success (in Fantasy Football, success means winning the Championship). He has just one team in just one league (I've read the average player has 2.6 teams) and has never won The Big One, so his lack of success was disturbing him to no end.

So he quit his job and spent an entire year devoted to "Project Kick My League's Ass".

Interspersed with his intention to decimate his opponents, he travelled to a nearby draft party, and met guys really into the whole Fantasy Football draft (they make a weekend of it). He also went to the World Championship of Fantasy Football held in Las Vegas. This high-end tournament has a $200,000 payout for the champion. In an odd coincidence, the winner of the first WCOFF, was an average guy who lives in the city next to mine: a mere 5 minute drive. I didn't even know it. And he visited online football forums and got to learn how other people got into and what their startegies were.

Now the second reason I'm jealous: the book is fantastically well-written. I don't know what credits St. Amant has to his resume (the job he left was one at an ad agency), but his style of writing is one I'd love to adopt one day (being a 2 decade-long aspiring writer who'll never write anything beyond a blog...). The book is informative, but it's all "hidden" in telling his story. The humor is top-notch-- I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times.

St. Amant took me for a ride. The highs and lows of a single Fantasy Football season are all laid out, and while I've only played one season myself, I could completely relate to his experiences. No matter how much preparation you make, you still have no control over the outcome. Any single team can beat any other single team on any given week. I've been there, so has St. Amant.

Beyond that, he gave a very informative (and entertaining) history lesson as well as stories about other people's experiences. He also told the tale of Fantasy Football as it relates to the "outside world". In the past few years, it's gotten mainstream respect (now that over 14 million people play and shell out tons of money to do so), but as little as five years ago, the whole concept was laughed at by most sports reporters, and the players were considered sports-killing geeks. While I don't have to feel shame about playing now since I'm in the middle of it's popularity upswing, I have been a comic book reader for over 25 years, so I know what the early players went through.

Anyway, this book is a great read for anyone who plays the game. It's also a great read for anyone who's in a relationship with someone who plays the game. And, finally, it's a great read for someone looking for a good time. It's got a breezy feeling to it as if a buddy was telling you his stories. And, yes, he gets specific about players and rules, but they're expplained enough that it's not as if he's writing in a foreign language.

The third reason I'm jealous: he's married, and his wife supported his decision to take a year off. They're not wealthy, but they made it work. He gives his wife the proper thanks all throughout the book, but, My God, she actually let him quit his job to play a game. I'm almost tempted to file this book as a work of fiction...