Federico Parodi, 31 years old from Genoa, is the author of the sports novel “Chess game with bad luck: the craziest season ever in Fantasy Football”. The volume has become a case among fans of the popular game
Genoa – In his personal and prestigious palmarès, Federico Parodi, 31-year-old Genoese, boasts three Champions League, with unfortunately two lost finals and second place finish, one World Cup victory in 2014 and two championships taken home as leaders. A bulletin board that could be the envy of most professional coaches. But this is not the case.
No, because the football played has nothing to do with it, or rather it has to do with it, but up to a certain point. The glories of “mister Parodi” are only a reflection of what happens in the green rectangle. Federico, without problems, defines himself “a fantasy football patient“.
He, like six million other Italians, is a fantasy coach: one of those who when there is a day dedicated to the auction to virtually buy players can change his mood ten times in the space of an hour, he is one of those for which there are no impossible missions, for this reason he studies statistics, goes to the discovery of new talents to surprise friends and, when there is the match of life, what is worth an entire season, having a fight in the family just to watch him throwing up previous plans, is the least of his problems.
But fantasy football is not just this. His book “Chess game with bad luck: the craziest season ever in Fantasy Football”(Edizioni Porto Seguro, 140 pag, 14 euro), which is becoming a case among fans, tells much more: the magic and beauty that can be behind an obsession.
“It is not a manual, it is a self-deprecating story designed for fantasy football lovers, but also for those who want to read a cheerful sports novel and understand the dynamics that animate all of us players “says Parodi” the book wants to give a different point of view and make people understand, perhaps better, their wives, children and parents because so much energy is spent on this “cursed” pastime ».
Fantasy football is a fantasy sports game, created in the nineties by the journalist Riccardo Albini who, inspired by an American practice based on baseball, proposed the first edition. Participants, taking on the role of coaches, compete against each other by creating imaginary teamscomposed through an auction with the fantamillioni available, which generate a ranking whose final score is calculated thanks to the performance evaluations of the individual athletes chosen.
The count takes place at the end of each competition. There is no money or bets involved, the only real goal is the glory of the final victory. «Between daring defeats, comebacks in extremis and some joy scattered here and there for the championship, the book tells the eternal challenge against bad luck» says Parodi «a misfortune that is not only that of the game. I wrote this book in a dark period of my life. My partner was unwell, she was hospitalized, and my little son had Covid. And just when it all seemed to fall apart, the Fantasy Football has given me something back, he held out a hand to me. Working on the first draft, freeing the mente in the few free moments, I was able to face the problems with more clarity. The final moral of the volume is this: one must never break downbut grit your teeth and fight, in the game and especially in life ».
Parodi works as editor for Sky Sport and in the book, in addition to the follies that take place for Fantasy Football, from sleepless nights to the maniacal study of statistics, he also underlines the warmest and most real aspects. “Not just a game, but a social and custom phenomenon which has an impact on everyday life, modifies its boundaries “, he concludes,” its derivatives also demonstrate: let’s think of the success that Fantasanremo has achieved, generating a flood of surreal situations on the Ariston stage. Fantasy football has always reached its peak thanks to a community of friends and for this reason it strengthens relationships between people and also contributes to generating new knowledge. The greatest satisfaction? Having made my partner read the book and then being told: “I finally understood the reason for some of your delusions“”. Of course, it’s not like a goal in the ninetieth, but we are close to it.
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