Living in Bristol? Drugs, whores, and sexual harassment will get you through the boredom.

MITCH BLATT

ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun is a detailed 745-page history of the network, from its start in 1978 until today, as told by the anchors, personalities and executives who helped contribute to its three decade and counting history. The title “Those Guys Have All the Fun” is apparently referring more to the perception of the network than the reality. Stop and think for a moment if living in Bristol, working regularly past midnight, and obsessing over Joe Paterno’s medical condition (after getting knocked down again during practice) sounds like a fun life. In Bristol in the 1980’s, there were stories of employees and executives occupying their time in apartments with whores, drugs and excessive amounts of alcohol told in first hand accounts.

Inside the studio, sexual harassment was alleged–most famously by Karie Ross in 1989 at an ESPN meeting. According to the book, it was frequent that male employees turned on the Playboy channel when women were sitting in front of the screens.

Naturally the ESPN folks have a lot of stories to tell from throughout their history working at the Worldwide Leader, and they are given the opportunity to tell their tales in the book’s format; A format which mostly consists of direct quotes and stories from one person after another. There is scant original writing by the authors, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales which they themselves acknowledge early on: as their voice is only used to clarify specific situations and important details. The format obviously gets everyone’s voice heard as well as their viewpoints, but sometimes the stories would be conveyed better if told through the author. Some of the interviewees ramble or become too self-focused in addressing their feelings. There’s also some talk about the business side of things from executives early on that might not be particularly interesting to non-ESPN diehards.

However the style works well in explaining what people were thinking at certain points during ESPN’s most entertaing moments: like Rush Limbaugh’s comments on Donovan McNabb and Jim Rome getting owned by Jim “Chris” Everett. They’re not contextualized by event, rather by periods of years that make up short eras, so you might have to search the index to find specific moments or people. Stephen A. Smith, Dick Vitale, Keith Olbermann, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chris Berman and a host of other well-known ESPN personalities past and present chime in with their words. You’ll also hear from many people you have probably never heard of. Comments by athletes and managers like Emmitt Smith and Joe Torre, along with celebrities like Spike Lee make for interesting reading material.

Ultimately it’s among the most comprehensive history books on ESPN, and it has a lot of interesting tales to tell. The format wasn’t to my liking, but that’s an issue of personal preference rather than an objective criticism.

Details:
ESPN: Those Guys Have All The Fun
Authors: James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales
Pages: 745
Price: $17.45 at Amazon

Graphic: Scott Jacobs

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