"I was 35 years old and miserable and the only thing that made me happy was this dumb little fantasy sports website that I had started on the side." Fast forward nearly a decade later, and Matthew Berry's side gig is a thriving full-time dream job. As the Senior Fantasy Analyst at ESPN, Matthew is a leading voice on all things fantasy football and baseball. He's a regular figure on ESPN TV, a columnist and podcaster at ESPN.com, and now a published author—his book Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It came out just last week. We stole a few minutes of Matthew's crazy schedule to talk about workspaces, apps, inspirations, and more.


Location: Bristol, CT

Current gig: ESPN's Sr. Fantasy Analyst, giving fantasy football and baseball advice across all of ESPN's many platforms. I'm also the author of the new book Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It.

Current mobile devices: iPhone 5, iPad 2

Current computers: I use my computer mostly for searching the internet and research and writing, so it's just an ESPN standard issue Lenovo ThinkPad.

One word that best describes how you work: Constantly


What apps/software/tools can't you live without? Doesn't have to be tech.

Twitter is huge for me. Echofon is my current Twitter app. It's an easy place to get breaking news, and to do quick analysis for fantasy owners, where often being the first to pick up the new starting running back or grab a just promoted prospect is the difference between winning and losing. It also helps me interact with fans, seeing what fantasy sports storylines they are interested in hearing and reading about. So my iPhone and iPad are crucial as that's what I use Twitter on the most.

The ESPN Fantasy Sports apps for whatever sport is in season, be it football, basketball, or baseball. [I like the] Scorecenter app and for baseball, I really like the MLB At Bat app. The ESPN.com website, of course, for both managing my teams and all sorts of research. I also like Fangraphs.com and BaseballReference.com during baseball season. Rotowire.com and Rotoworld.com are both terrific news gathering websites that I use. The MLB Extra Innings package to watch baseball at home (I watch all the NFL games at ESPN on Sunday but if I didn't the NFL Sunday Ticket package would be essential). The NFL.com Game Rewind product that allows me to go back and watch all the games.

And simple though it may be, nothing beats a calculator, a pen, and a piece of paper, as I always am making notes, jotting down column ideas, and making lists of players I want to write about or adjust in my rankings.


I love Dropbox and Gmail. When I was writing Fantasy Life, these two were essential because I got over 5,000 stories submitted. So narrowing them down to the funniest 200 or so that make up the book, and keeping track of all the photos ("Ok, where's the one with the guy who lost his league and got a tattoo of Justin Bieber on his leg?") was crucial. Keeping track of what details I needed to follow up on helped keep me organized and I was able to access both of them from wherever I was.

My iPad speaker (I listen to music when I write), SiriusXM radio for car rides (I'm a Howard Stern fanatic), and my car iPhone charger. Finally, they have nothing to do with work, but I love the Flashlight app—on days before a column is due, I tend to write into the night, so I use the app all the time to find my way through a dark house, put on sleep clothes, etc. when rest of the house is asleep in the dark.


What's your workspace like?

I have an office at ESPN, fairly typical, with a desk, printer, and giant framed photo of the original cast of Beverly Hills, 90210. Lotta pictures of family and one wall entirely of photos and items sent in by fans. Lotta funny photo shopped pictures of myself and my podcast co-host Nate Ravitz, etc. It's a little messier than I like but I'm working on it. I have a candy dispenser for when I need a quick sugar burst, and a speaker for my iPad, plus a TV. I either have a game on in the background or am listening to music.


Pictured at left: Matthew's iPhone.

I use my laptop computer but there's a docking station. And I have two screens for the computer. I like having the two screens because I'll often have stats up on one page and whatever I'm writing on the other. There's also lots of magazines for research strewn about and at least one empty Diet Coke can.


I have an office at home as well, and it's a long but very simple desk. No drawers, just a long flat surface. It's built to be comfy. There's a mini-fridge filled with Diet Coke, Apple Juice, and Country Time Lemonade, a TV with cable and all the sports packages, a couch, lots of Redskins memorabilia, and a ton of toys, as my kids love to come in and play in there while I work. It's distracting but it's also the best part of the day.

What's your best time-saving trick?

Closing the door and turning off email. It's just too easy to get distracted by someone popping in or an email coming in. When I need to write or prep a TV segment, just having quiet, uninterrupted time to write makes me much more productive. I also try to respond to email very quickly because otherwise, it builds up, I forget about it, and then I'm spending time trying to track it down.


What's your favorite to-do list manager?

I'm old school. Pen and paper. I am a constant list maker. Occasionally if I am out and about and need to remember something I will email myself a reminder or use the iPhone notepad, but in general, I just write out a list.


Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can't you live without?

My daughter's white noise maker. We just had twin daughters and we have other kids so it's a pretty noisy house. Without that, they never sleep which means I'd never sleep! I also love my music especially when working, so I have a JAM Bluetooth speaker for my iPhone and iPad music. Twitter's not a gadget, but that's like oxygen for me and any fantasy owner.


What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?

Loving my kids. Just be totally present. When I get home, I put my iPhone away and don’t look at it again until kids go to sleep. Also, I make a perfect Totino's frozen pizza, which I'm obsessed with. 14 minutes at 450 in my toaster oven. Perfect every time.


What are you currently reading?

Football stats, baseball box scores, and daily news about both sports. I'm on ESPN.com and news sites like Rotoworld and Rotowire every day. We do a daily podcast for baseball so I'm usually prepping for that, plus we're taping a bunch of football stuff, so I currently don't have time for a lot of non-sports pleasure reading. But when I do it's usually mystery novels. Huge fan of guys like Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, and Robert Crais.


Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?

Complete extrovert. I think anyone in the public eye has to be on some level.

What's your sleep routine like?

I am a terrible sleeper. I toss and turn, mind racing a million miles a minute. I rarely get seven or eight hours straight. I'm a night owl and am at my most creative late at night, when everything is quiet and the deadline is getting close.


What's the best advice you've ever received?

A few things jump out at me (and I actually wrote about them in Fantasy Life).

"Face to face is always better." In this day and age of email and texting and social media it's easy to forget that relationships are still key. Whenever possible, meet someone face to face or at least talk on the phone. Business is about relationships more than anything.


"You get one chance. One." Most people remember what it was like when they were starting out and will give one chance to a young person who seeks them out for advice. But if that person doesn't impress, they’re done. Life's too short and there are too many other people trying to break in, so if you don't impress when you get your shot, they're not wasting more time on seeing attempt number two. So when you get an opportunity to meet with someone or show them your work, make sure you are ready for it. And if you're not, wait until you are. You get one shot. Don't blow it.

And finally, from my late, great Uncle Lester..."Never chase a woman, a streetcar, or a deal."


Is there anything else you want to add?

Just that it's never too late. I get asked all the time if this is my dream job and I always say no—when I was dreaming of jobs this job didn't exist. I was 35 years old and miserable and the only thing that made me happy was this dumb little fantasy sports website that I had started on the side. So I gave up the job on the side and started to pursue this full-time, not worrying about anything other than happiness. Most people thought I was nuts to give up a well-paying career for a niche game that no one was sure you could make a living at, especially at age 35, but in the end, I chased happiness and everything else followed.

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