Personal Profile: Tom Kessenich
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
Name: Tom Kessenich
Nickname: TK
Job title(s): Managing Editor/National Fantasy Sports Events Director
Full-time in fantasy? Yes
Age: 44
Education: College degree
Family status: Single
Favorite fantasy sport to play: Basketball
Favorite sport to watch: Football or Basketball
Favorite team (any sport): Milwaukee Bucks
All-time favorite athlete: Magic Johnson
Years playing fantasy: 23
I got my start in the fantasy industry when: I was hired by Krause Publications following 10 years as a Packers beat writer.
Since then, my fantasy résumé includes: current positions — The events director duties cover the National Fantasy Football Championship and National Fantasy Baseball Championship.
Three questions
1) How much of a role did fantasy play in your career as a newspaper sportswriter, particularly once you got on the Packers beat? Obviously the fantasy industry is much bigger than it was in the ’90s — when you were reporting — but did it resonate at all for an NFL reporter back then? I wouldn’t say it had much of an impact. I was playing fantasy sports at the time and loved it but I wouldn’t say it made an impact on my reporting or writing. I do think that becoming more tapped into the NFL and all of the teams helped me become a better fantasy football player.
2) How and why did you make the transition from reporter to your roles with Krause Publications? What, if anything, do you miss from your former job, and what have been welcome differences? I made the transition because it was a better job situation. What I miss about being on the beat is the week leading up to each game, breaking down the opposition and the upcoming game. Plus, covering the Packers enabled me to utilize all of my skills as a reporter.
3) Which makes you geekier: Working full time in fantasy sports or having written a book about The X-Files? Can you detail your history of writing about the show, how it started and how it developed? Maybe it’s a tie? I started writing online reviews about the show when the first movie came out. My reviews began appearing on a large number of websites devoted to the show. Because of that, I began to develop contacts with people who either worked on the show or were close to people that did. That enabled me to compile a large amount of “inside” information about the show. I combined the two elements (my reviews and analysis of the show and the inside information I acquired) and put it into a book detailing the final three seasons of the show. The book has done well, all things considered, and continues to generate worldwide sales to this day.
