I recently finished ESPN: Those Guys Have All The Fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. The book is basically a long interview with almost every person that has taken part in the world of ESPN. The authors interview over five hundred people, and spliced their quotations into a chronological order that makes sense. They also provide introductory passages at the beginnings of chapters and give background in between events.

Unfortunately, the book is flawed. First, there are several typos, the sure sign of a sloppy or nonexistent editor. Worse, however, is their aforementioned attempt to divvy up the people’s insights into a logical order. I would often be reading about one aspect of ESPN, and then I would get to a new person who had something completely irrelevant to the subject. For example, in one part I was reading various reviews of the ESPYs from professional athletes. Then, out of nowhere, Chris Berman comes in talking about  “flub ups” during live broadcasts. I understand that all of the characters were interviewed at different times and about different subjects, but that doesn’t mean that their words can be sliced up and tossed in at random points in the book! Still, the book was extremely entertaining.

I will not claim to have read the book the whole way through. As my dad said, “the thing is a freaking tome!” I did read, however, the insights from all of the people I am familiar with from watching ESPN over all of these years. For me, that means people like Steve Levy, John Anderson, Steve Berthieume and Jim Rome. Hearing their stories was so entertaining. Included are previously untold stories about why certain people left ESPN (by choice or otherwise), life on the road, and generally funny stories about all the different shows and mishaps that have graced ESPN over the years. It was a trip down memory lane for me. For example, I was reminded of my favorite show when I was about ten, called Cold Pizza. Another great dialogue was about Tony Kornheiser joining ESPN’s Monday Night Football team and how much of a disaster it was. I love Kornheiser – he’s always pissing people off and burning bridges (reminds me of Larry David).

Anyway, the book is great if you don’t mind the random interjections and poor editing. I would highly recommend it for anyone who watches SportsCenter regularly. I would advise all readers to pick and choose what they want to read, because there’s no point in reading people’s quotes who you aren’t familiar with.

Rating: 8/10 Stars