Those Guys Have All the Fun

Inside the World of ESPN

By: James Andrew Miller, Tom Shales

Narrated by: James Andrew Miller, Matt McCarthy, Joan Baker

Length: 27 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones, restaurants, video games, and more, while ESPN's personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover.

Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network's soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.

©2011 Tom Shales, James Andrew Miller (P)2011 Hachette

Interesting

I think the book was informative and painted some images I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I think the style of writing takes a bit of getting used to and the narrators are not as good as other books.

Story is ok; performance not very good

This book had a lot of interesting content and background. It got a bit long and rambling towards the end, where they spent more time on more minute details from recent activities vs. the early days (which were more interesting). The performance, particularly parts read by the author, were not very good. The author's voice is very scratchy and hard to listen to. Also annoying was that they couldn't be troubled to pronounce many sports figures' names correctly.

Comprehensive (almost painfully so)

Liked it and recommend it. The early years were populated by a lot of "voices" that were sometimes difficult to keep track of, but the authors covered everything pretty well and (overall) it held my interest. I certainly feel more "educated" about ESPN. Thank you for that.

Learn the names of the people!!!!

The story of ESPN was great but the it was infuriating when multiple names were mispronounced

A must have for sports fans.

A must have for sports fans, indepth, easy to listen to complete history of everything that is ESPN.

Addictive tale of the rise of an Empire

The oral history of the humble beginnings of a regional basic cable sports channel that grew into one of the most valuable media properties in the world. Although the author isnt the best narrator, the two voice talents who read the interviewees' words are terrific. I couldn't stop listening to it.

If you like media history and "inside baseball" (no pun intended), give it a spin.

Good in depth story

Good background on the history of ESPN and the people who built it from the ground to where it is today

Great Story, Terrible Performance

While the behind the curtain story was great, the fact that they couldn't correctly pronounce real people's names and had factual flubs (South Africa to South America in the same sentence, billions to millions) made it annoying to listen to. Choosing the subtle to narrate the interstitial parts was even more awkward, he sounded like he was in such a rush to get out of the booth that he tripped over words on his way out the door

Interesting Story, Awful Narration

Interesting story about the meteoric rise of ESPN from the early, concept/entrepreneurial days to its current status as a behemoth in the entertainment industry. Reveals a lot of the "unique" culture behind the company.

Atrocious narration, though. I've never written a review but this caused me to do so. I presume reading the book would be significantly better and I recognize the difficulty in narrating a book that is largely made up of quotations. However each of these narrators was awful. Their inflection on many of the quotes was clearly incorrect from how the primary speaker had intended. These small shifts are not only annoying to listen to, they can actually change how we perceive someone's entire opinion in certain situations. With so many different personalities I recognize that it would be impossible to get them to each narrate their own quotes, but we could at least have narrators that put some time and thought into what the original speaker might be saying before they record their lines.

Fun if you're fascinated by ESPN

I loved hearing about the cast of characters and incredible twists of fate that created and sustained ESPN, complete with off-the-wall anecdotes and behind-the-scenes looks at so many people I've only known on-camera. The book has a very personal voice, as it consists mostly of material pulled from interviews the author conducted with everybody connected with ESPN over the years. The narration is uneven - ranging from Matt McCarthy's sturdy, archetypal SportsCenter anchor tone for the male voices that dominate the story to Joan Baker's ill-fitting, semi-cloying tone for the women - with some jarringly mispronounced names late in the book. Still, if you've watched a ton of ESPN over the years or you're interested in the business of sports/entertainment, this is a fun, thorough, and revelatory exploration of the company's history.