Fantasyland

[viper]

The word that come to mind to describe Jed Latkin is "crazy". I'm sure there are better choices but that is what immediately to mind. I do think I saw the back of my gray head at the First Pitch Forum in Arizona. I know that is where I sat and that was the year that I attended. If that was Weiters year, then it was me.

[Bodhizefa]

I got to the part where they introduced Jed, and then I simply couldn't take it any longer. I know they picked him because it obviously makes for high unintentional comedy for the film's sake. But to me, the guy is just uncomfortable to watch, hear, or even think about. It's almost that same level of unease I get when I watch Michael Scott in "The Office" -- that rare brand of social awkwardness I have to fast-forward through because some train wrecks are just so awful that you really don't want to stop and look.

Part of the fun of fantasy for me at this point is the social aspect I get in interacting with other owners. The filmmakers couldn't have picked someone further from that element, in my opinion.

[Macca11]

Fascinating how unflappable and unruffled Lawr was no matter what was going on. Must a be a great asset in drafting, as in life. Poor old Ron Shandler clearly couldn't stand Jed, who - let's face it - is not the most likeable man in the world. Quite a few of the scenes made me laugh out loud, though. Especially when he took that baseball on the noggin. Documentary gold. Love the way the film-makers repeated it three times - at ever-decreasing speed - towards the end of the film.
Most leagues have players who you wouldn't want to necessarily spend a night at the bar with. That's when a sense of humour comes in handy.
I'll give Jed one thing, he certainly wasn't intimidated by the great and good of the industry. And while he may have been the centrepiece, Lawr was the undoubted star, just ahead of Sam Walker.
Give it another go, Bod. If nothing else, you'll love the bit where Jed gets beaned

Oh, and I think some fantasy baseball wives/partners should definitely see the film. Then we can point out: “See, honey? You get off lightly. We could be like Jed Latkin!”

[viper]

It is clear that Jed is one of those sharks who prey on getting favorable trades. He would do very poorly in the NFBC - or so it appears.

[rotodog]

I watched it yesterday....the funniest thing I saw was Jed walking into Tout and talking with Lawr I think. Todd Zola is in the background and not paying attention and then looks and sees them filming and makes a quick exit..

I was hoping to see more of a few people like Todd/Grey etc....Lawr is true to form in what you would expect...A go with the flow, cool customer...

I did however cringe when Jed went to Rons house....That was just awkward. Now I do realize they needed some entertaining antics to keep this from being a bore fest of roto owners, but that was over the top.

Jed was likable enough but at the same time I wanted to smack him.. I identified with him a little and hated myself for it...

I loved his interaction with the Baseball players...Every one of them was a good sport, but you can tell that did everything "they could to get the heck away from Jed....And the must of thought, "Who is this dork?" Well, everyone except Joe Borowski and maybe Todd Jones... JoeB was happy someone actually knew and cared about him and I got the impression Todd Jones was just a decent guy having fun...

I think Jed could have weaseled some invites to other contests again if he wasnt such an overbearing, likable ASS. He could have played his cards a little more normal and stuck around in 2009 and maybe others in 2010..

I wish I could play in a league with Jed.....I dont know why. I just do. . Jed, you kooky, overbearing but plenty likable dork, if you read this, I want in on your league!!! You dont know what fun is yet

[lawr]

thank you guys for your thoughts. appreciate it. i hope i was pretty true to me. but, well, i only know me from the inside, so, well, sheez. but, the two scenes (meeting jed and him getting bonked) were both pretty funny.

the director actually told me they were posting a thing on youtube tomorrow called "meet lawr." check that out. i think they have me playing tunes. don't what else. they filmed me a lot.

but, again, thx so much for the nice comments.

[lawr]

btw, i play in two leagues with jed still. he is in my strat o matic league (30 teams) along with jp, dean peterson, and jason grey. he is a pretty good strat player, actually. and, he is also in my scoresheet league now (24 teams) with jeff erickson and derek van riper and brian dewberry-jones.

we are all pretty good friends, even. like all of us, jed has his quirks. and, to be honest, todd, jp, and the bulk of us do this as a job, so it is just not "exciting" or obsessive to us in the way it is to him. it is a hobby for him, so a different mindset (and i am not defending. he is pretty unabashed, but, he is a good guy, and he is not afraid to be himself in front of a camera, and, well, there is something to be said for that, you know?).

and, well, we both have crohns disease, and that always bonds. believe me.

but, as far as tout, a couple of reasons he was not asked back.

for one, it was offered as a one shot thing. period. sam was intived back because sam is a writer and covers baseball and now fantasy.

which, is part two. part of being in tout is you have to be within the industry, and well, jed is not. he does not write or contribute. he is welcome to try his hand, and if he does, and builds a reputation, then he would be considered, if nominated, just like anyone else.

so, those are the actual reasons jed only got one year. and, i know this to be true as i am on the tout board of directors, so i was among those who had to discuss and enforce the decision.

[ssmarsh]

I skimmed through it the other day and found it quite entertaining. I'm as much of a roto nut as the next guy, but never in my wildest dreams would I try and meet real world MLB players to tell them they're on my fantasy team. I wouldn't go to a guy's house to try and make a trade either...but since most of my league works in my office, I guess I wouldn't have to.

[brian]

Don't miss our own JP Kastner! Near the end of the film, he is the person consoling Jed as they walk into the draft room the following spring after Jed competed. Way to go, JP!

[Todd Zola]

Don't miss our own JP Kastner! Near the end of the film, he is the person consoling Jed as they walk into the draft room the following spring after Jed competed. Way to go, JP!

Not to mention a quick glimpse of JP with his son on his shouders as the gang was entering Wrigley Field.

And if you don't blink, you get a good shot of Rob while they are panning the crowd right before the t-shirt presentation at the end.

[JP Kastner]

It seems only fitting that someone from Mastersball gets the last word in Fantasyland, right?

I appear more than a few times in the film. It is almost enough times to make a good drinking game of "Where's JP". By the way, that is my daughter Julia on my shoulder standing in line at Wrigley.

[Todd Zola]

It seems only fitting that someone from Mastersball gets the last word in Fantasyland, right?

I appear more than a few times in the film. It is almost enough times to make a good drinking game of "Where's JP". By the way, that is my daughter Julia on my shoulder standing in line at Wrigley.

My apologies to Julia.

[Jim F]

I watched it over a few days and I honestly agree with parts of just about everyone's thoughts here about it.

Here are the quick hits:

My wife watched it with me a second time and just loved Lawr's attitude, personality and the way he came across. Feel good about that Lawr, she has a PHD in psychology

It was beyond uncomfortable to watch Jed do the things he did. Especially the scene at Ron's house. I know things get edited but he just seemed to top himself over and over again. Almost missing his kids being born was just about to much for me as well.

Todd Jones was by far the funniest player scene of the bunch for me. "Do you use whip and all that crap?" and his comment after he heard the cats of WHIP, ERA, K's and Wins of "Can't help you there" over and over again had me laughing pretty good.

The way Sam Walker kept sayin Jeeeeed LampKIN each time he called was a subtle move that had me rolling each time he said it.

I have more but this is getting long winded, something my wife and I talked about after watching it (my second time) got me thinking though and I wonder what others opinions to this would be:

Less focus on Jed and more on everyone else, We need more LAWR! (I think this line could replace "We need more COWBELL") and the rest of the group would have been better. They could have shown 3 or 4 of the Jed scenes and gotten their point across. I don't need to see him almost miss the birth of his children, not have a clue how to carry his 2-3 month old child, drive 9 + hours to Ron's house uninvited and unannounced etc etc etc to see this guy has issues. My wife actually thought it made fantasy sports look bad just due to that. Fantasyland was such a great book, smart, funny, witty etc etc and this wasn't so much. Due to no fault of Lawr or any of the others, more due to the focus on Jed , his issues and his screen time.

[cwk1963]

I really enjoyed it and plan on watching it again. Jed really is a character. And, like Lawr said, he fit in front of the camera. But some of the things he did made me cringe a bit. The scene where he went to Ron's house actually had me rolling on the floor. The look on Ron's face was priceless. Every time Ron said something it was like Jed didn't hear him. It really seemed like Ron didn't like him at all. When he picked up one of his kids and I thought the baby's head was going to break off because he didn't support it in the back. When he got beaned in the head when Lawr was talking. I wish I could actually hear the splat a lot better. I thought Verlander was very personable and Sheffield lived up to his rep of not being very personable. Overall, I thought it was very well done and really held my interest. I'll have to look for JP and Rob and viper next time around.

[Todd Zola]

I thought Lawr, Sam and Jed's wife came off looking real good.

Maybe because I know Jed a little, I didn't cringe.

There is some discussion on Ron's forum about whether Jed actually drove from NYC. The plate on the rental was VA and Ron pointed out the scene from the gas station was right by the airport -- but you usually don't have to fill a car right after you get it.

Ron also divulged he, Jed and the cameraman went out or lunch. The visit was most definitely not a set-up in that Ron had no idea it was going to happen. But let's not be naive -- would the scene had the same effect if Jed showed up on Dean Peterson's doorstep?

The other thing people pointed out to be curious is how did they know to have a cameraman with Sam as Jed's twins were being born? I suspect this was more of a set-up. Sam makes sense as the other principle since he was featured a bit and someone like Steve Moyer would have just hung up on him

Though knowing where Steve lives, it may have been interesting if Jed showed up there unannounced.

[rotodog]

Todd, Is Steve Moyer as much of a grumpy, No BS kind of a Whiskey swilling guy as he came of in the movie? He seemed like the kind of guy that was annoyed that they let some regular old Joe into his league...

I am also sure this film had lots of editing....just the facial expressions on Jed and Ron when they interacted were priceless..But I am sure some of the expressions may have simply been from other parts of the conversation...

And in all honesty, Jed was at least entertaining..And much like Reality TV, I am sure the producers helped Jed along with some prodding to make for some interesting and compelling film interactions..

If someone told me that the producer called Jed one week and said, "hey Jed, What are you doing this weekend? We need some footage. Not the same old crap we have already..How about something like this? We hop Southwest down to DC, grab a car and drop in on ROn Shandler.....Sound like fun?"

[Todd Zola]

Steve is actually one of my favorite people. He has his quirks but don't we all.

[Trav The Ump]

Just watched it, most enjoyable. Todd Jones was by far the funniest. Getting the stitch mark's in the head from the ball was pretty amazing too.

Only thing I noticed is it did follow the book along, handing out the tshirts etc. But Jed seemed pretty funny and reminded me of one of the guys in my hockey fantasy league that will send you 8 offers the minute you update your on the block.

Lawr I'd have to say you by far had the best straight man line standing there when Jed got beaned. Lol.

[lawr]

well, first, once again, thank you all so much for the kind words. so strange to see such things written. i told diane, watching all this unfold is like watching me in a movie, except i am in the movie!

anyway, jed, the ball in the head incident was priceless. and strange.

for one thing, a second before he got clobbered, he had his glove in his hand and was yelling, "over here." i said, "dude, when you say over here, you have to watch."

but, that was potentially a poignant moment, as i was talking about crohns disease, and how tough it was. so, talk about a karmic straight man.

got that right. nothing is serious. everything is serious.

[Jim F]

Lawr,

I am curious about Jed's reaction to the movie. Have you talked with him about it seeing as you are in a few leagues with him still? Does he have regrets? Does he feel like he was edited into that personality? Does he care?

I agree with Todd. Sam (I will add Sam's wife), Jed's wife and Lawr came across well.

[Andy]

Oh, and I think some fantasy baseball wives/partners should definitely see the film. Then we can point out: “See, honey? You get off lightly. We could be like Jed Latkin!”

Living in Ireland, I know this to be a very bad plan. The only people that I can talk to here about fantasy baseball are people who actually like baseball and actually play fantasy sports. That subgroup is a small one, and most definitely does not include my very gorgeous, intelligent saint of a girlfriend.

Instead, we had a scene where I'm on the couch watching the film, she walks in and asks what the movie's about. Before I can stop myself, I say... "fantasy baseball". I'd say in about three microseconds she'd reviewed an entire pros and cons list of why she's going out with me, fresh with this new and frightening addition of watching movies about fantasy baseball.

They were nervous microseconds.

She really does love me, I guess...

[lawr]

well, JP and I (along with Dean Peterson) had dinner with Jed and Amy the other night at a great place (five napkin burger).

it was a pretty fun night, actually. strat o matic cards were abundant.

so was some fantasyland talk, and i would say the if jed had a complaint, he felt that the film did not round him out in the EM Forster sense.

Forster, in Aspects of the Novel identifies round and flat characters. uriah heep, for example, in great expectations is basically flat, representing a basic personality characte within one dimension. while Garp, in John Irving's The World According to Garp is a round, full person.

Jed and how he deals with his crohns, the kind of dad he is, how active he is with interests outside baseball were not really reflected.

And, he knew that the filmakers use their media, and editing to make protagonists and antagonists. though we were all unsure which of those Jed is. But, Amy also felt that her husband has a broader vision than might have been portrayed.

i figure, it matters not. as long as they are happy.

i mean, we are all geeks for something, are we not?