A Fantasy farewell from the cheap seats

In 2003, David Gonos joined the CBSSports.com Fantasy content staff -- and now he's leaving. Here are some of his thoughts on his job as a Fantasy writer, the Fantasy industry and his co-workers in his final column here.

What a long, strange trip it's been.

I'm leaving CBSSports.com this Friday after over five years of service. I'm moving on with another opportunity ahead of me, but I can only hope that it will be as fun as the past five years have been. Reserve me in all Fantasy Writer leagues.

How did you get this job?

I've often said that being a Fantasy writer is similar to being a Playboy photographer -- every man wants to get paid to work with something so enjoyable. And readers have always agreed, considering we get a few e-mails a week asking us how we got such great jobs. Granted, some of those e-mails are in the form of "YOUR AN IDIOT AND DON'T KNOW ANYTHING IC OULD BEAT YOU IN AN EXPERT LEAGUE CUZ I KNEW THAT NATE MCCLOWTH WAS AWSOME! ... HOW CAN I GET UR JOB!!!!11"

Writing about Fantasy Sports is an odd job, to say the least. There's not really a straight career path that gets you here. When I was a kid growing up on the mean streets of Kissimmee, Fla., just after World War I, we never had Fantasy anything. Fantasy Sports meant being able to watch a team other than the Braves of Cubs on television. Even in the early '90s, when Fantasy Sports started to become popular, you never heard people say, "I want to be a Fantasy Sports writer when I grow up!" That sentence was an oxymoron to begin with, and secondly, the only real Fantasy writing back then was done in yearly preview magazines.

The Internet obviously changed all of that.

In the past half-decade or so, many things have changed both at SportsLine/CBSSports.com and in the Fantasy world. The industry continues to boom and writers continue to write, but now fans are starting to get more of a voice.

In the past 10 years, anyone with aspirations could start up a site and deem themselves a Fantasy expert. Really, it was just the fact that you had an outlet for people to read that made you an "expert." That's how it all started for me back in 2001. I started a nothing website called FantasyRef.com before connecting with SportsLine.com's first ever Fantasy writer, Scott Engel. He helped me get a job as an update writer in 2003, to which I'm forever grateful, and then I was spoonfed columns for the next 18 months. Eventually, I became one of the Fantasy Baseball columnists and my life has been envied ever since.

With that said, it's still a tough job -- and always will be. This is a job that, by nature, everyone you deal with believes they can handle with ease. Very few industries have people continually saying, "I can do your job and would absolutely love to, but I choose not to."

I have no doubt there are many readers that know Fantasy Baseball in and out, and there are plenty of out-of-work writers in the world. But finding people with the right combination of knowledge and skill isn't that easy. There aren't college courses teaching Fantasy Sports Writing 101.

But now, message boards and blogs have allowed readers to become the "so-called experts" they've mocked for years, with an audience that will listen to them if they are quality writers. I can understand how someone that makes six figures doing a less-entertaining job would still like to write something as fun as Fantasy Baseball -- but not give up their money-making gig.

Rest assured though, that the Fantasy staff at CBSSports.com will continue to provide great content you can't find elsewhere. We went from five writers when I was added to the crew to nine now, including our managing editor, Peter Madden.

Previewing the Fantasy world

With video and podcasts now, a lot more is expected from anyone coming into the Fantasy industry nowadays. CBSSports.com dared to put me and Emack on video at the same time! Video host Amber Wilson had to play the Princess Leia role to our Jabba the Hutt. We got more comfortable over the past three seasons of doing it, but it was by no means an easy transition. I became a writer for a reason.

The Fantasy industry continues to grow every season too. And when you consider the kids that were born to Fantasy owners in the '90s are now old enough to start running their own teams, it only makes sense that the industry keeps getting better. Think about it: When I was a kid, I would have loved to play in a Fantasy league against my father and my uncles. Get a chance to beat the people that taught me about sports -- I'm in! Now, we're going to have a whole generation of Fantasy fathers and sons (and mothers and daughters), then grandfathers and grandsons.

It's certainly not a fad. It's one of the ultimate tests of saying, "I know more about this sport than you 11 dopes." If people start deciding not to have egos, then Fantasy Sports might be in jeopardy.

This job has by no means been as easy as randomly saying which players will be good and which will be bad. I remember in early 2005, Emack had to talk me off the ledge of predicting a 40-HR season from Rangers OF Kevin Mench. He was coming off a 26-HR partial season with Texas, while dealing with a wrist injury. I expected big things -- and he hit 25 homers. Mench was no mensch for his Fantasy owners that year. Luckily, Emack talked me down to I think just a 35-HR projection, which was still ridiculously off. It happens -- and we get more than enough e-mails to point out when we are wrong.

But my hope, and I think I can speak for the entire group here, is that we have helped you enough to overcome a bad projection here or there. This group does take their jobs seriously and we love to get e-mails from readers that complain we are informing their opponents too much.

The Final Analysis

So it comes down to these -- my final words as a columnist for CBSSports.com. I'm looking forward to my opportunity ahead with zeal and enthusiasm, but I'm definitely looking back with smiles and fond memories -- of the job, my co-workers and the readers. Here I am, leaving the company -- one in which sports talk is inherently common -- and my Tampa Bay Rays are finally playing well. That means I won't be here when the Rays win the 2008 World Series (please see: Kevin Mench projection).

Eric Mack, the newest oldest guy in the department, is one of the most knowledgeable baseball minds I have ever met. You are in good hands with him. He's a workhorse that is determined to make you a better Fantasy player.

I'm proud to say I recommended the hiring of Sergio Gonzalez three years ago. He is a rare multi-sport wizard that can help you in everything, but specifically in basketball.

Jamey Eisenberg and Dave Richard have the most sought-after/criticized jobs in the building -- and they've done a nice job of bringing new ideas into an evolving industry.

Michael Hurcomb is an absolute beast getting updates out. And I think he has developed acumen in several sports -- so he should have many writing opportunities ahead of him.

Ross Devonport, the FSWA's 2007 Fantasy Golf Writer of the Year, is a solid bloke (he's British). And Scott White and Jeff Lippman are the two hungry up-and-comers in the group, with Madden steering the entire ship.

Thanks to all of them for making this a great place to work for these many years.

The programmers and developers here, along with a strong customer service staff and newsroom, are a huge part as to why this company continues to be successful. The Commissioner service, created by friends I once worked with, has often been copied, but never duplicated.

My blog this week breaks down my career here in more of an informal, hopefully comical sense, where I discuss some of my interesting workmates over the years.

I'm very excited about my new job and hopefully it will go as well as this one has for over half a decade. But I do have one question left for both of my faithful readers: Do you want fries with that?

Feel free to send me a question or a comment for my final few days. Here are a few that you can just clip and paste. "Who are you again?" ... "What time will you be by my house to pick up my trash?" ... "Thanks for telling me to pick up Kevin Mench in '04. My family left me after that move." ... "I can't believe you are leaving CBSSports.com -- don't you know how many women find that attractive?" ... Send your comments, hate mail, e-invites to summer BBQ's, and pictures of beautiful cheerleaders to me by clicking on my Columnist page and sending a note through the feedback form.