Stefan Fatsis, author of A Few Seconds of Panic, joins the show to talk about his life as a member of the Denver Broncos.

Yes, Stefan Fatsis is my hero.

In his new book, Fatsis chronicles his time with the Denver Broncos as, “a 5-foot-8, 170-pound (ed note: soaking wet) 43-year-ld sportswriter.”  Yes, what we all dream about, Fatsis lived to write a book on.  He was a member of an NFL team.  And not just any NFL team.  My favorite NFL team.

And he was a KICKER.  As I write this, and trust me this will never be surpassed, my greatest athletic achievement is kicking a 35-yard field goal in the closed end zone of the Orange Bowl.  Barefoot.  I consider that the third greatest event to ever happen in that demolished football haven...right behind Flutie and Joe Willie Namath. 

Well Fatsis got to live my dream for an entire pre-season, even suiting up for road games and warming up on the field before the game.  The brass in the NFL offices wouldn’t let him kick during the contest (No Fun, indeed).

Ah, my hero. (Just for the record, I’ve been in my fair share of locker rooms to say that my dream in life is not to be a football player, but man alive, this is still pretty freaking cool).

We talk about the book, what it was like infiltrating an NFL training camp as a kicker and what he learned about the league, and himself, in the process.

Fatsis has an illustrious career in print journalism and radio, having worked for the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, NPR and having written for countless other publications, websites, and blogs.  We talk about his time at the WSJ and how a paper like that covers the world of sports.  We assume it’s not full of Yankee box scores every morning.

We also talk about the Olympics, if he wishes he was covering these games and the responsibility of MSM to send reporters to an event that big when nobody is making any money.

We talk NPR and spin that to a talk on new media and if we are the new NPR.  We ask him if he thinks, being in his mid forties, he’s caught in the middle of the information wave and does he understand the sentiments of someone like Mike Wilbon, or does he reject them.

Oh yeah, he’s also written two other books, one of which was a New York Times bestseller....about the world of Scrabble.  We talk about that, and the guts it takes to leave everything to immerse yourself in a foreign world to the point of near perfection.

Really a smart, interesting and fun interview and I promise, you will learn a lot from this man. As I state on the show, I almost didn’t want to put his book down to call him for the interview, that’s how well written it is, and that’s how enjoyable it was to talk to him.

Link to this:

| | | | | |