Arlo wrote:Funny you should mention this - I'm in the middle of reading this, and a review will be up in the Point of View section in the near future...
Arlo wrote:
LooseCannon wrote:You think they'd have this at a library
Well, it hasn't been released yet...
Advance copy? Lucky man.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
AcidRock23 wrote:Our libraries (Champaign-Urbana, so we have two, really 2.5 as they are building a new one...) usually run several months behind the publishing industry and new releases are on 'rental' status ($1/ week) when they are first released as well. Anything popular like that will end up w/ holds on it for a while too so you are generally better off to buy anything that feeds a sick compulsion like fantasy ball.
Now that I know he dropped $50K to play, I won't feel guilty about buying Forecaster and Prospectus and FantasyLand though...I have been reading baseball books for a month or so now, while planning for drafts. 3 Nights in August is awesome, even if its written from the wrong point of view...
I didn't really like Three Nights in August for some reason. For a book of a similar type I preferred Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez...
I know this is an old thread, but I just finished reading Fantasyland. What a great book; any fantasy baseball nut's wet dream. Has anyone else read it?
Just a quick recap for those who haven't heard of it--the author, Sam Walker, is a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal. Never having played rotisserie baseball before, he decides to compete in Tout Wars, the pinnacle of expert leagues. Along the way, he hires a NASA mathematician and a "scout", spends $50,000 or so (as someone mentioned) and ends up using his press pass to "manage" the actual players on his roto squad and plea to the actual managers to give his guys more playing time.
abstractpoet wrote:I know this is an old thread, but I just finished reading Fantasyland. What a great book; any fantasy baseball nut's wet dream. Has anyone else read it?
Just a quick recap for those who haven't heard of it--the author, Sam Walker, is a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal. Never having played rotisserie baseball before, he decides to compete in Tout Wars, the pinnacle of expert leagues. Along the way, he hires a NASA mathematician and a "scout", spends $50,000 or so (as someone mentioned) and ends up using his press pass to "manage" the actual players on his roto squad and plea to the actual managers to give his guys more playing time.
Highly recommended.
...yeah i finished it in a coupla days...good read w/a few laugh out loud moments..plenty of namedropping about your "favorite" baseball "experts" who participate in the TOUT WARS leagues...the tout wars draft is coming up this weekend and sam walker is now competing in his 3rd season..you will recognize yourself and/or your leaguemates in many of the situations
I got through this last week and it was QUITE entertaining. Having played through the season myself, w/ some very similar issues...eg José Guillen and Sidney Ponson, I could really get into it. Some of his picks made me go 'what the heck is he doing?' but overall it was a very enjoyable read. I hope he does a sequel where he explains how he won the next year. This gets a big thumbs up.
Re other baseball books, I'd suggest Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons as pretty interesting, stuff I was sort of aware of about camera angles and how they broadcast the game I'd not run into anywhere else. The Ted Williams bio that came out last year was very interesting. Also David Halberstam's October 1964 is a pretty interesting read, although it is PAINFUL reading so much detail about the Lou Brock deal...
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by Madison » Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:55 am 
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