A new book about ESPN mixes a detailed corporate history of the Bristol 24-hour-a-day sports network with off-camera gossip and after-hours tales about the personalities there, The Associated Press reports.
Called “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” the book is due for publication next Tuesday, but some copies were distributed on Thursday.
Weighing in at well over 700 pages, the tome is an oral history, with co-authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales saying in the introduction that they interviewed more than 550 people for it.
Chris Berman, Keith Olbermann, Bob Ley and other on-camera stars join network executives including founding chairman Bill Rasmussen, who initially incorporated his company as the ESP Network in 1978, in chronicling the rise of “the worldwide leader in sports.”
The interviews are published, according to the authors, with minimal editing and provide in-depth looks at many of the key moments that helped propel the network to an international behemoth. Along with the achievements and setbacks, readers get a look at the infighting, camaraderie, creativity and self-congratulation. Miller and Shales say that, at ESPN, “partying is a varsity sport.”
