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

Erik Barmack is a director of business development at ESPN and is the former vice president of fantasy games at the Sporting News. He has written for the Sporting News, the Sports Business Journal, the Atlantic Online, and others.

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.