Well, I finally finished the ESPN Book that my wife and son got me for Father’s Day. It’s a long book (about 745 pages of material), and there was still stuff left on the cutting room floor. Anyone who has been in the “inner circle” since my college days knows I love to talk Sports, so reading this book was a natural. With the book now finished, I wanted to share a few thoughts…
Best part of the book: The fact that the narration did not interfere with the first-person accounts. The first person accounts were fantastic. It allowed the reader to hear from the figures involved in ESPN (past and present), as well as a few outside sources. And those accounts showed a lot about ESPN.
Most unaware part: The early years of ESPN. It was fantastic to see behind the curtain in those early days and understand that at any point, ESPN could have fallen apart between 1978 and 1986. Once ESPN got to cover NFL games in 1987, from that point forward, ESPN never had to worry about going belly up. It was also interesting to see the turmoil between the Rasmussen family (Bill and Scott came up with the ESPN idea), and Stu Evey, who used the Getty family fortune to prop up ESPN in those first days. Eventually Stu won out, forcing the Rasmussen family to exit ESPN, and Stu would eventually be forced out as other financial powers took interest and eventually help make ESPN the monster it is today.
One sports story the book missed: The Mike Leach firing at Texas Tech in 2009. It is clear ESPN analyst Craig James was instrumental in the firing on Leach and ESPN personalities at the time were more than willing to support James and his son’s accusations against the coach. Colin Cowherd basically was one of the on-air personalities who led the charge. True or not, ESPN was probably making up for the Big Ben debacle from earlier that year. And yet, nothing was said of it in the book.
Two Biggest jerks (based on their accounts and the accounts of others): Chris Berman comes off as an ass. He’s first-person account shows him for what he is. He’ll praise you if you pay homage to him, but he’ll stab you in the back if you get on his bad side and dance on your grave. And because he’s been with ESPN since the beginning, it’s hard to upend Mount Berman. Not even fellow-lifer Bob Ley could do it (and Ley doesn’t). But an even bigger jerk is NBA Commissioner David Stern. You can tell even in Stern’s comments that he’s a two-faced liar. The incident at the Palace of Auburn Hills and his accounts are disingenuous and the Stephen A. Smith dismissal also shows how that he doesn’t like criticism. He tries to smooth everything over, but anyone who can read between the lines sees the truth.
Most entertaining portion of the book: Any stories involving Keith Olbermann. No one can take away from the fact that Olbermann is brilliant (no matter if you despise his political perspective), and the stories prove how much of a genius he is. One question I would ask Keith, though… When are the Yankees going to call you about being their play-by-play guy?
Most sympathetic figure: Dan Patrick. I think the stories show Dan could have been a life-long ESPN employee, but his willingness to be the company guy eventually forced him to leave ESPN. I think ESPN misses Dan more than they care to admit.
Overall, I liked the book, but I understand why there has been criticism about the book. I’m a Sports fan, so I knew I would naturally like it. But I wonder… Imagine if we could tell the story of the 54 years of South Gwinnett High School in a similar format. Or the Class of 1992 at South. Or the Band of Stars. Can you imagine what accounts we could get out of that book from various people? It would be interesting.
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