Is Anyone Else Reading The ESPN Book?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:03 am

I know you NFBC die-hards are knee deep in daily boxscores, so you probably don't have time to read a book on the side. But maybe some of you can do both, still keep a family happy and make a good, honest living!!

If so you are better than I in managing your time.

But I'd be interested to know if anyone else is reading ESPN: The Guys Have All the Fun. I picked it up last week and can' put it back down. For me, the first 150+ pages about the history of ESPN are the most fascinating. To think how this idea between a father and a son in 1979 to produce a Connecticut sports network quickly became this incredible way of life for many of us is simply amazing. The steps that those early developers of ESPN had to go through to get to where they are today was incredible and everything really had to fall right in the early years to get to this point.

Few may realize that it was Getty Oil that financed the early years and without them ESPN never could have survived those early years. They were bleeding money for the first decade and only when they created the second revenue stream -- making cable companies pay them a fee per subscriber to have ESPN -- did they start to become profitable. Of course, by that time Getty Oil had sold ESPN to get some of their investment back and CapCities and ABC profited from the path that had been started. It's a very interesting read and of course the first 10 years are the most interesting.

The insights to the personalities of the announcers on ESPN is also very fascinating. To hear some of the things being said about Chris Berman, Keith Olbermann and others is interesting. It's also interesting to see how so many big sports moments -- like the America's Cup and Pete Rose's suspension and the NCAA tournament -- put ESPN on the map. For me, I remember turning to ESPN for all of that during the 1980s and would have been lost without them during my early years in sports professionally.

Anyway, it's definitely a recommended read as the whole book is written in the words of the ESPN folks who were interviewed for this story. When you have a little time, pick it up, enjoy it and then let me know what you think. I'm diggin' it and I think you will too.

rockitsauce · Post by **rockitsauce** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 11:45 am

I def want to check it out...heard it was very similar to the book about Saturday Night Live, hope there's more about YWML - you're with me Leather

Just came back from Green Lantern (a friend of mine loves that superhero genre, me...meh, it's 104 out, sure lets go) anyway while there I saw a preview for Moneyball. It's a movie that certainly interests me (I did read the book) however it seems rentable, doesn't HAVE TO be seen at the theatre. I also don't get the fat dude as Beane's stat wiz kid, seems like a curious casting choice...I'm probably just jealous :rolleyes:

Speaking of Beane, he's being played by Brad Pitt, who is rumored to have a starring role in another movie due out in December. It's based on a book I just finished called The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Valliant. It is an excellent book, which I'm hopeful will also be a great movie.

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:48 pm

The guy who wrote the Saturday Night Live book also wrote the ESPN book. It's in the same format. I heard the SNL book was FANTASTIC and I'll order that next. Better late than never, I guess.

But maybe I'll soon have less time on my hands if the NFL gets its s--t together and signs a new labor agreement!!

That's the hope here.

I'm interested in the Moneyball movie, too. Brad Pitt playing Billy Beane? WOW. I couldn't put that book down at all and started reading it a second time. LOVED that book. I need to read his Wall Street book next as well. I heard that one was awesome, too.

Glenneration X · Post by **Glenneration X** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 2:24 pm

Greg, I highly recommend the Saturday Night Live book (probably my favorite TV show of all time). The one thing is I'm pretty sure that book is about a decade or so old, so if you're expecting any insights into the latest casts you'll be disappointed. However, being a fan since the Belushi/Ackroyd/Murray/Radner days, it was fascinating reading the inside stories through the years from the people who were actually there.

If the ESPN book is written in a similar format and from similar points of view, it's a book I'll be sure to get.

Sebadiah23 · Post by **Sebadiah23** » Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:13 pm

Greg,

I haven't read all of the new ESPN book yet but I was more interested in the newer stuff because I read "ESPN: The Uncensored History" a couple years ago, which was written in 2001, and it has tons and tons of pages about the early years and the starting of the station from the ground up, with local feeds of local Connecticut sports where they had to rush the physical tape to the studio and all kinds of stuff like that. I haven't read that part in the new book yet so I don't know which one is more telling about the beginnings but just wanted to let you know about that.

The new 700 page ESPN book IS written by the same guy that did the SNL book. I know because I read that one, its the exact same style and format, and also because Bill Simmons interviewed the author a couple weeks ago on his podcast. Each quote, as much as the editor could pull it off, attempts to build on the previous comment, with just very minimal segues from the author to bridge gaps, kinda like scene intros in a manuscript. But he gathers so much material, and I guess people don't want to be the ONE person left out of the book, so he mostly pulls it off.

In the Simmons podcast, the author said he had several hundred pages that had to get cut out and that he would be adding those into the paperback edition.

Its a great bathroom book because you can basically open it up to any page in the chronology and have a quick laugh or uncover something you didn't know. I read the bunch of pages about the start of ESPN2 and it was just rolling on the floor laughing your arse off funny stuff. It was like a 20-page "ESPN2 roast" mixed into an Olbermann character sketch as tempermental and egomanical yet admittedly to ALL quoting GREAT at what he did. Like a typical pampered Hollywood star I suppose. And Kilborn praised but also bashed for treating ESPN like a stepping stone.

Well I don't want to give away too much, but its great stuff just from the little I've read. Its the real deal.

-Craig