Fantasy Football Origin Stories: Matthew Berry (The Talented Mr. Roto)

The Football History Dude

***This episode was originally aired on Fantasy Football Origin Stories***

Fantasy Football Origin Stories is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this fourth episode, Matthew Berry (The Talented Mr. Roto) rides shotgun in the DeLorean, to take us back in time and learn about his Fantasy Football Origin Story. We talk about many topics, including:

• Matthew's first recollection of fantasy football
• How he used a Hollywood writing career (most specifically Married With Children) to launch his fantasy football career
• The process of writing for Married With Children and how he uses the process of organizing a story in fantasy football
• The origin of his nickname, "Talented Mr. Roto"
• His experience working Avengers: Endgame
• Some of Matthew's most trusted friends in the fantasy space and what they contribute
• Much more

If you’re a fan of fantasy football, there's an almost 100% chance you've heard of Matthew Berry. You have certainly listened to him before your drafts, figuring out how to adjust your starting lineup, and most importantly the laughter you received listening to his shows.

Either way, fantasy football fan or not, this episode will give you a little history into the origin story of one of the most influential people in the industry of all-time. So sit back, relax, and crank that baby up to 88mph!!!

MATTHEW BERRY BIO

***This bio is from the NBC Sports website***

Football Analyst

Matthew Berry, the celebrated fantasy football commentator and industry pioneer, joined NBC Sports in August 2022 as an analyst to provide his unique fantasy football and sports betting expertise. Berry regularly appears on Football Night in America and Sunday Night Football Final, Peacock’s exclusive NFL post-game show.

Throughout the NFL season, Berry hosts a weekly game-day fantasy football and sports betting show on Sundays from as well as “Fantasy Football Happy Hour with Matthew Berry,” a daily weekday show on Peacock and NBC Sports Digital properties.

Berry also contributes weekly articles and video content across Rotoworld on NBCSportsEdge.com and NBC Sports digital properties, including his popular Love/Hate article, weekly fantasy football rankings, and more.

Prior to joining NBC Sports, Berry spent 15 years at ESPN (2007-2022) as the lead fantasy football expert and is universally recognized as one of the pioneers of the fantasy sports industry. While at ESPN, Berry became one of the most popular sportswriters at the company, with his “Love/Hate” columns regularly among the most read pieces on ESPN.com on a weekly basis. Berry hosted ESPN2’s Sunday morning show Fantasy Football Now and The Fantasy Show, which was ESPN’s first daily show devoted to fantasy sports. He also appeared on programs such as Monday Night Countdown, Sunday NFL Countdown, SportsCenter, NFL Live, and ESPN’s annual coverage of the NFL Draft. He also was host of the Fantasy Focus Football podcast, which was one of ESPN’s top podcasts on a yearly basis. It was named best Fantasy Sports Podcast for 2015 and 2016 by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association.

Berry is one of only five people to be named to the Hall of Fame for both the Fantasy Sports Trade Association and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. He wrote the New York Times best-selling book Fantasy Life in 2013 and won an Emmy for his work on ESPN2’s Fantasy Football Now. Constantly aiming to innovate fans’ fantasy sports experience, Berry created and will continue to be involved with the top-rated Fantasy Life app and newsletter. He has more than two million social followers.

Berry was raised in College Station, Texas, and is a graduate of Syracuse University.

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