Matthew Berry

Matthew Berry (born December 29 in Denver, Colorado) is an ESPN fantasy sports analyst and ESPN.com columnist. His writes under the nickname "the Talented Mr. Roto," or "TMR." Berry currently works as ESPN's senior director of fantasy sports.

Biography

Hollywood writer

Born in Denver, but raised in College Station, TX., Berry graduated from Syracuse University. As a stand up comedian, he opened for Dennis Miller at Goldstein Auditorium at Syracuse. After graduation Berry moved to Los Angeles to work in show business. After a few odd jobs Berry got hired as a production assistant for The George Carlin Show on Fox. Berry worked on the show for one year and has fond memories of George Carlin who wrote a recommendation letter for the Warner Brothers Writer's Workshop, to which Berry was accepted and where his first writing job came from. He worked on such movies as Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, and the final year of the TV show Married with Children. Crocodile Dundee was nominated for a Razzie award in 2001 under the category of "Worst Remake or Sequel", but lost to Planet of the Apes.

Transition to fantasy sports

On the July 26th episode of "The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons" podcast, he told the abridged version of how he went from Hollywood screenwriter to fantasy expert. He eventually grew tired of being in meetings with two movie stars he didn't think were funny telling him what comedy was. Even though he was in Hollywood, writing scripts and screenplays for movies and TV shows, he was still miserable. He asked a small fantasy site [RotoWorld.com] if he could do a column for them. He has been playing fantasy sports ever since he was 14; "it's my passion," he said on the podcast. The site did in fact hire him to do a column, because "Married with Children is their favorite show." Berry wrote for Rotoworld from 1999 to 2003, when he was let go after the site wanted to lower his pay from $100 a week to $25 a week

Berry then started two fantasy web sites in addition to his Hollywood writing. He started RotoPass.com, a network of fantasy sports sites, and TalentedMrRoto.com, a fantasy content site. He also appeared on several media outlets as a fantasy expert.

Radio host Steve Mason, of Mason & Ireland on ESPN Radio 710 in Los Angeles, who was working for FOX at the time, was a fan of the column and asked Berry to do a segment, which ended up lasting over an hour. He eventually was asked to do more guest appearances and was soon hired as their fantasy analyst. Mason then left to go to ESPN Radio, where he introduced Berry. He did a two-hour fantasy show there, which led him to spots on Cold Pizza. That grew into doing segments on ESPNEWS, which led to his getting a column in ESPN The Magazine. That allowed him to start The Fantasy Show.

ESPN career

With his relationship growing with ESPN, it purchased TalentedMrRoto.com and hired Berry as director of fantasy sports in February 2007,.

Berry appears on the Fantasy Insider on ESPNEWS and First Take once or twice a week, doing a "Fantasy Minute".

Berry's two columns, "The Talented Mr. Roto" and "TRUM: Thoughts, Ramblings, Useless Info and Musings" appear often on ESPN.com. He also often does several "Love/Hate" articles a year, including each week of the fantasy football season and one at the beginning of the baseball season, as well as rankings with the rest of the ESPN staff at intervals throughout the fantasy sports season.

In June 2007, Berry and fellow ESPN fantasy analyst Nate Ravitz were announced as the full-time hosts of the "Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast". He currently hosts ESPN's "Fantasy Focus Football Podcast" with Ravitz, as well as injury expert Stephania Bell. Berry is also featured in ESPN.com fantasy videos, including on "Fantasy Football Now", "Start 'Em, Sit 'Em", "GMC Pro Grade League", "Working the Wire", a "Fantasy 3:50" segment on ESPNEWS once a week, and the "Fantasy Focus VideoCasts" -- both football and baseball. He co-stars the VideoCasts with Ravitz, Paul Severino, Molly Qerim, Eric Karabell, Christopher Harris, Ken Daube, and Heather Ankeny, just to name a few.

Writing style

Berry is a comical writer and one who more often than not acknowledges his false predictions rather than his correct ones. Berry also is known for his publishing of hate mail emailed in by readers who have taken his poor advice which then cost them dearly during the week.

Berry is a frequent target for criticism because he's vocal about his opinions on players and their projected performance. "You don't see people getting upset about middle-of-the-road guys. I guess that means I'm doing my job well."

Berry frequently emphasizes that a player on the "Hate" list are not players that he believes will play poorly, but instead players that are being drafted too high or started too often. For example, in the pre-season article preparing readers for the draft, a usual first-rounder on the "Hate" list might be thought by Berry to deserve to go about five spots lower than he normally does, while later-round players on the "Love" list are players Berry would draft a round or two higher than expected. In the football articles, he names the players he likes to exceed their expectations for that week, and the guys who he expects to do worse than the fantasy benchmarks for their respective positions. The fantasy benchmarks are as follows:

• Quarterbacks - 175 yards and two touchdowns (15 fantasy points in ESPN standard scoring)
• Running backs and Wide Receivers - 90 yards OR 30 yards and a touchdown rushing or receiving (9 fantasy points)
• Tight ends - 60 yards or a touchdown (6 fantasy points)
• Defenses - 8 fantasy points

His columns include many pop culture references such as comparing the New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick to the Gooch in Diff'rent Strokes. During the course of the 2008 baseball season, Berry has frequently posed the question of who his audience thinks is hotter - Megan Fox or Anne Hathaway - with Berry stating his choice of the latter and defending it both on the Fantasy Podcast and his weekly columns. Berry and Fantasy Focus co-host Nate Ravitz, also often mention their liking of Beverly Hills 90210.

Awards

Berry is a four-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association award winner and is touted by the company as the only writer with wins in multiple fantasy sports leagues, including Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League. Matthew (not Matt) has also recently been bestowed the title of "Emmy Award Winner" for his work on "Fantasy Focus Now".

Hobbies and Interests

Berry enjoys playing with his dog Macy, whom he rescued. He is also an avid fan of Beverly Hills, 90210 and has received numerous criticisms from listeners who complain about the significant time he spends during the daily podcasts discussing the show instead of fantasy football. He has said that he and co-host Nate Ravitz plan to do a 90210-only podcast.

Sources

Matt Berry IMDB page