Why Fantasy Football Matters: And Our Lives Do Not

Talking Trash, Trading Studs, and Drafting Sleepers — an Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Obsession

U.S. businesses lose $200 million in productivity each football season because employees are managing their fantasy squads instead of working.

In Why Fantasy Football Matters (And Our Lives Do Not), two grizzled veterans revel in the addiction that is fantasy football. From pre-draft hijinx to post-draft trash talk, from tumultuous trades to the perils of free agency, it celebrates the eccentric personalities, absurd rituals, and hilarious superstitions of one of the most fanatical fantasy leagues on earth.

With humor, insight, and a dash of advice, Why Fantasy Football Matters celebrates the thirty-two million Americans who prefer managing their fantasy squads to relaxing with loved ones. And it gives girlfriends, coworkers, and sports purists all the proof they need to accept that this is an obsession that really matters.

He and Max Handelman have won three Bush League Championships, and bickered endlessly while losing the other five. Max Handelman launched Fox Sports's fantasy games division. He is now an independent film producer.

He and Erik Barmack have won three Bush League Championships, and bickered endlessly while losing the other five.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 >> The War Dance

CHAPTER 2 >> The Limbering-Up E-mail

CHAPTER 3 >> The Draft

CHAPTER 4 >> Scenes from the Draft

CHAPTER 5 >> Postdraft Reactions

CHAPTER 6 >> Sowing Doubt in the First-Pick Dialogue

CHAPTER 7 >> Sunday Callings

CHAPTER 8 >> Scenes from the Bar

CHAPTER 9 >> Request for a Rule Change

CHAPTER 10 >> Early Season Strategies

CHAPTER 11 >> I Am Griffin, Hear Me Roar

CHAPTER 12 >> The Art of the Deal

CHAPTER 13 >> A Living Will and the Miami Dolphins

CHAPTER 14 >> The "Who Do I Start?" Fog of War Dialogue

CHAPTER 15 >> Who Do I Start? (W.D.I.S.)

CHAPTER 16 >> The Midseason Awards Ceremony

CHAPTER 17 >> Zen and the Art of Talking Trash

CHAPTER 18 >> The War Chest

CHAPTER 19 >> Free Agency

CHAPTER 20 >> Rage Against the Experts E-mail

CHAPTER 21 >> The Death Maiden Graces the Bump-N-Run

CHAPTER 22 >> Schadenfreude

CHAPTER 23 >> Men Behaving Badly

CHAPTER 24 >> Late-Season Reflections

CHAPTER 25 >> The Dawning of the Play-Offs E-mail

CHAPTER 26 >> Scenes from a Wedding, and the Play-Offs

CHAPTER 27 >> What We Do in January