This book would not exist without the support of the following people. In other words, it is entirely their fault.
? Mrs. Drew and the Girl, the two funniest people I know ? My mom and dad ? My brother and sister and their families, all of whom are uncommonly awesome human beings ? My wife’s family, who took me in as one of their own. If you read this book cover to cover, you know what an incredibly charitable act that is. ? Editor Junie Dahn, who gave me the idea to write a book before it even occurred to me (I tend to avoid books altogether) ? Everyone at Little, Brown, who made this process far easier than it had any right to be ? The outstanding Kate Lee of ICM, who helped me develop a stupid book idea into an even bigger stupid book idea ? Matt Smith, Bruce Gifford, and everyone at SmithGifford, the finest ad agency in the universe ? Will Leitch, to whom I owe a great deal. Not financially, but on a much more spiritual level. And that’s good, because I don’t like sharing money. ? Noted combat vet Matt Ufford of withleather.com, for helping to start KSK, and for sharing the expensive scotch ? Brilliant artists Christopher Brand, Kevin Richards, Dan Vail, Greg Kice at kicemetal.com, and Matt Johnson at twoeightnine.com, all of whom made enormous contributions to this book despite being paid only in prestige ? The Spector family ? Jesse Johnston ? Multipurpose Jew Jack Kogod ? Stefan Fatsis ? The incredibly gifted Michael Tunison, whose brilliance more than makes up for the fact that he owns a cat ? Reluctant Southerner Monday Morning Punter ? Spencer Hall at edsbs.com ? Peggy Freudenthal and Shannon Langone ? Joy O’Meara, Dylan Hoke, and dix! Digital Prepress, Inc. ? Fine Kentuckian Reed Ennis ? Dan Shanoff at danshanoff.com ? DJ Gallo at sportspickle.com ? AJ Daulerio, for introducing me to the phrase “bologna hammer” ? Jarret Myer and Brian Brater of uproxx.com ? Wright Thompson ? Christopher Nolan ? Google, for providing imbeciles such as myself with a free, easy-to-use tool for self-publishing. All they ask in return is to scan every word I’ve ever written in order to create a comprehensive digital profile of me to sell to anonymous hucksters and the Chinese defense department without my permission. Not a bad tradeoff. ? Jamie Mottram and Dan Steinberg ? JE Skeets at thebasketballjones.net ? The Nation of Islam Sports Blog ? Chris Mottram ? Sarah Schorno ? Michael Rand at randball.com ? The Mighty MJD ? Finally, a very big thank-you to everyone in the KSK community and everyone in the Deadspin community: readers, commenters, fellow bloggers, etc. You folks are the real men with balls. I salute you. And your balls.