Author's note: My writing -- both in and out of advertising -- is mostly sports-themed. So it's only fitting my bio should be (A) in the third person and (B) chock-full of athlete interview cliches.
• Mark is the author of both Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie (the best-selling fantasy football book of all time) and Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place Semi-Pro Football Player, a critical success ("One of the year's best sports books" -- Booklist) detailing his foray into the grittiest level of football as the unlikely, suburban-raised kicker for a mostly African-American team in Boston's inner city. Mark "took it one game at a time" and "just played his game."
• When the New York Times wanted to add fantasy football content to its "Fifth Down" NFL blog in 2006, their first call was to Mark. He always "stepped up" and "gave 110%."
• After two years with the NY Times, Mark brought his widely recognized voice of insight and humor to NBC Sports' Rotoworld.com, cyberspace's largest and most popular fantasy sports site. His "Fantasy Man-Crush Index" column for both football and baseball has rapidly become weekly destination reading for sports fans, and was a finalist for the 2008 Fantasy Sports Writers Association (FSWA) award for Best Article in Major Media. The other guy just "wanted it more." But next year Mark will "bring his A-game."
• Mark has appeared on ESPN's "Cold Pizza", and on ESPN Classic's short-lived but cult hit TV show "Classic Now" as a fantasy football expert (alongside rock legend Meat Loaf), a sports innovations expert, and a best sports movies of all-time judge. He's also appeared on National Public Radio's "Only a Game" with Bill Littlefield and contributed to other NPR programs. And he's written for the Sunday New York Times, Salon.com and Boston Globe Magazine. Mark always "takes what the game gives him" and "plays within himself."
• Mark was selected to contribute to the best-selling The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything and another upcoming anthology, More Than a Few Good Men whose fellow contributors include "Mad Men" creator Matt Wiener and Memoirs of a Geisha novelist Arthur Golden. Mark has "tremendous upside potential."
• Mark's "dayjob" has always been in Advertising -- he's going on 18 years in the business, the majority of those with Arnold in Boston where he was a VP/Creative Director until March of '09, when, thanks in part to Wall Street's drunken, subprime lending orgy, he got laid off. Recently responsible for all of ESPN's fantasy sports advertising and marketing campaigns -- from traditional TV, radio and print to interactive and promotional -- his work has been honored by every industry award show: Clio, One Show, Cannes, Kellys (two finalists), Webbys, Effies, and Hatch. Click here to view his portfolio, which shows he "takes it to the next level" and "leaves it all out on the field."
• Mark's football kicking career was no myth fabricated for literary purposes -- here's video proof of him nailing a 42-yarder, followed by a chip shot 30-yarder later in the same game. (Hint: he's the skinny white dude wearing #6.)
• Mark lives in Boston's South End with his wife, daughter and son-to-be-named-later, and is about to start on his third book, which also has "tremendous upside potential."
For freelance or other inquiries like "Which first-round RB will be a bust this year?" and "Where do babies come from?" contact him at mark@markstamant.com.
2008 Mark St. Amant