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The Football Diner Big Interview:
Mark St. Amant
interviewed by Michael E Lawrence
13/12/2007
 Mark St. Amant, without doubt, is the gold standard of fantasy football devotion. His first book, the superb ‘Committed’, details his decision, in 2003, to quit his full time job with a view to concentrating instead on winning his fantasy league.
Now that’s dedication.
Now a fantasy writer for the New York Times (check out his consistently hilarious blog ‘The Fifth Down‘) St. Amant has witnessed the evolution of the fantasy phenomenon from outpost of the geek to fully fledged international past-time, all the while chronicling the twists and turns of his own fantasy fortunes, not least his extremely promising performance in Las Vegas’s ongoing World Championship of Fantasy Football (first prize: $300,000, for which Mark is currently very much in contention). Happily, Mark has also finagled (as he put it) a role as creative director at the marketing agency responsible for all ESPN’s fantasy-related advertising, which is to say, he couldn’t really have it any better.
Football Diner, drugged up to the eyeballs on Lemsip in a failed attempt to outflank the flu, was nonetheless lucky enough to catch up with one of America’s wittiest scribes, and to find out about ‘Committed’, Mark’s turn as a semi-pro kicker for the Boston Panthers, and, uh, solid gold MC Hammer statues, amongst other things.
FD
First up Mark, tell us about the excellent ‘Committed’, which documents your taking a year off work purely to win your fantasy football league
Mark
Well it was borne out of frustration mainly, having never won my league, the Felon Fantasy league. For six years, I’d always felt I was the most prepared owner and yet I’d never won, because of misfortune and fluke losses, and I’d had enough! And in 2003, I figured I couldn’t go on that way, I was going to do something about it. So, I quit my job. Obviously I had to get permission first from my wife, and I couldn’t just march home and say honey, I know there’s a terrible recession and all, but I’m going to resign so I can concentrate on winning my league. But the selling point for her was that I could chronicle it all, turn it into a book, which turned out to be ‘Committed’, and I’d always wanted to write a book, to get published. So that’s what happened from July 2003 until January 2004 I did nothing but obsess all day about my team, trying to make it better, trying to win the Felon Fantasy League.
FD
Wow. How did you stay sane?!
Mark
Well, the madness did start to creep in a little bit! I’d do double takes because I’d swear Plaxico Burress was walking past me in a trenchcoat. I’d spend my days sending barrages of trade propostion e-mails to my league mates until they started not to want to hear from me. But as much as I put into it, the lesson I learned is that there’s only so much preparation you can do no matter how on top of things you are, there’re always huge levels of luck involved.
FD
So would you recommend it?
Mark
Oh, highly. Just make sure you have a good divorce lawyer.
FD
And now, you’re involved in the World Championship of Fantasy Football, in Vegas tell us about that
Mark
Well I discovered it while I was writing ‘Committed’. I found that it was the first and biggest of the high stakes leagues: really it’s a kind of National Championship of fantasy football, based in Vegas. All the fantasy lunatics join you have close to 900 teams across 70 leagues, and you get $7000 dollars for winning your individual league. After that, the top 100 or so teams go into the championship round, where the top scoring outfit in weeks 13 through 16 wins $300,000!
FD
$300,000! Holy moly! How are you doing this year?
Mark
Good! We won our league with a 10-2 record, which means we’ve already won the $7000 the entrance fee is $2000 so we’ll divide that between the four of us that run the team. But even better than that, we’re currently second overall, just 17 points out of first place, in the race for the $300,000.
FD
Sweet Lord! Who’s on this all conquering team?
Mark
We have Brady, Tomlinson, Fitzgerald all the strong teams have those kind of players so it’ll come down to the wild cards like Wes Welker, Dallas Clark and Fred Taylor.
FD
On your New York Times fantasy blog, you wrote that you had a bit of a man crush on Wes Welker and that he was so fast he’d gone back in time, beaten Ronnie Lott and Mel Blount one on one, and caused them to be removed from the Hall of Fame retrospectively!
Mark
Yeah, I love Welker not only because I’m a Patriots fan and I try not to let homerism (the phenomenon of picking players from your favourite team for your fantasy squad) get in the way but also because he’s so instrumental in our Vegas team. In our draft, no-one targeted him, and maybe I knew a little bit more about how pivotal he’d be because I got to read the Boston media. I remember Bill Belichick saying: the reason I signed him was because twice a year we faced him and I had no idea how to defend him. The New England slot receivers have always excelled, and we felt the presence of Moss would help too. It’s just the joy of seeing your own preparation and research pay off.
FD
In ‘Committed’ you describe how every Sunday you hook up several TVs and settle in for an afternoon of football do you still immerse yourself that way?
Mark
Well I’m a tiny bit more relaxed now. I’m turning 40 in nine days time and my wife and I have had a baby daughter, but I’m still a basket case I’ve succumbed to the DirecTV monopoly and watch multiple games that way. It’s got to be said, a 17 month old shouldn’t have to hear cursing and shouting when it goes wrong, so my wife will tend to get her out of the house for the afternoon! I’ve definitely mellowed a bit though I set my lineup now and there’s nothing more I can do after that.
FD
Any tips for dealing with the agony of losing in the fantasy football post-season, as I’ve just done?
Mark
Yep smash your head through a plate glass window. Especially if you lose on a bad last minute lineup decision or some kind of fluke that can be so painful. There are moments when you simply have to acknowledge: you know what? God hates me! So yeah, the plate glass window thing ought to do it.
FD
You also briefly played semi-pro football for the Boston Panthers, which was the topic of your second book ‘Just Kick It’ tell us about it
Mark
After ‘Committed’, I wanted to write another book, and I started to research the semi-pro game. After a while I started interviewing some of the Panthers and before I knew it, I’d joined them as their kicker, since I’d played soccer through college, and they’d never really had a full-time kicker before. I figured: I might die, but I’ll try it! I just quit this year, but I played for three seasons and it was an amazing time. I was the proverbial fish out of water as a soccer player on a football team, as much as I loved the NFL, but it was amazing. There were people from all walks of life on the Panthers the team is based in a pretty dangerous part of Boston’s inner city but we had a lot of fun as a team, erasing those apparent social and economic differences between us. ‘Just Kick It’ documents the whole incredible experience.
FD
And what next for Mark St. Amant will there be a third book?
Mark
I think I will do a third book, though I’m not quite sure what about yet, and for now I’m knee deep in the advertising stuff. And of course, if I win the $300,000 in the WCOFF, I’m going to dip myself in sold gold, or better still do an MC Hammer and get a solid gold statue of myself out the front of my house.
FD
It goes without saying. And as someone who lives in Boston, the cherry on the cake has to be the performance this year of all the local sports teams
Mark
Quite! There’s kind of an embarrassment of riches in Boston sports right now. The Red Sox won the World Series, the Celtics are relevant in the NBA again, and even Boston College was ranked #2 in the country and had a Heisman candidate in Matt Ryan. The Patriots, really, are the most hated team in America after camera-gate etc. And a lot of people look at Tom Brady and think he’s just a pretty boy who dates Gisele Bundchen, but it gives us in Boston a kind of bunker mentality us against them!
FD
And if you win the $300,000 Boston can complete the set! Mark, thanks so much for taking time out in your day to chat with us good luck in the final few weeks of the WCOFF!
Mark
No problem good luck with the cold.
FD
(Self pitying) Thanks!
Grab a copy of either of Mark’s excellent books ‘Committed‘ and ‘Just Kick It‘. Also, be sure to tune in to his New York Times fantasy blog every week.
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