Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN - Softcover

Shales, Tom; Miller, James Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 031604301X ISBN 13: 9780316043014

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2011

Synopsis

The inside story of one of the most successful networks in modern television history: ESPN.
In 1979 it began as a mad idea of starting a cable channel to televise local sporting events, and now spans eight channels in the Unites States and around the world. Drawing upon over 500 interviews with the greatest names in ESPN's history and an All-Star collection of some of the world's finest athletes, bestselling authors James Miller and Tom Shales take us behind the cameras.
Now, in their own words, the men and women who made ESPN great reveal the secrets behind its success, as well as the many scandals, rivalries, off-screen battles and triumphs that have accompanied that ascent. From the unknown producers and business visionaries to the most famous faces on television, it's all here.

About this title

About the Author

James Andrew Miller is the author of Running in Place: Inside the Senate and coauthor of the national bestseller Live from New York: An Uncensored History of 'Saturday Night Live.' He has worked in virtually all aspects of journalism-as well as on the entertainment side of television production and development-for more than twenty years.

Tom Shales is America's foremost television critic, having won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1989. His books include On the Air!, Legends and, as coauthor, Live from New York. For twenty-five years, he was film critic for National Public Radio.

Review

Praise for THOSE GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN:

"Those who work in the business of sport will devour the book...[readers are] granted the kind of behind-the-scenes access that sports media junkies are rarely given..." (SportsIllustrated.com Richard Deitsch )

"Those Guys Have All the Fun is a de rigueur read for sports fans who wonder how a fired hockey announcer used a $9,000 credit card advance to start a broadcasting empire that changed what we think about sports and how we view them." (Denver Post Woody Paige )

"Packed with entertaining stories of unpleasant people and awful behavior....[Those Guys Have All the Fun is] offers a nuanced look at ESPN, does some top-notch TV-biz reporting on the early days of the cable industry, and offers compelling behind-the-scenes stories...[It is] a serious, impressive, piece of work." (Entertainment Weekly Rob Brunner )

"A revelation: what goes onto the TV screen turns out to be just the glossy tip of an iceberg of ugly backstage drama. Miller and Shales must be extraordinarily talented interviewers, because their subjects are surprisingly uninhibited and frank and willing to dish and slag....[They are] good at zeroing in on a debacle and getting everybody involved to weigh in...by the end of the book you're amazed at the disconnect between the chaos behind the scenes and the relatively slick end product." (Time Lev Grossman )

"Fascinating and compulsively readable." (Wall Street Journal Tim Marchman )

"A fascinating little-engine-that-could tale of money, power and the early days of cable television." (Cleveland Plain Dealer Clint O?Connor )

"As highly anticipated by sports junkies as a Chicago Cubs championship, [Those Guys Have All the Fun] provides painstaking details on how a nutty idea concocted by a father-son team developed into a brand worth more than the NHL, MLB and NBA combined...Shales and Miller manage to create a page-turning document about the ultimate dysfunctional workplace" (Minneapolis Star Tribune Neil Justin )

"...Perhaps the most anticipated book in sports media history." (Newsday )

"Those Guys Have All the Fun delivers a hell of a narrative...[and] an outstanding work of journalism. Easing interviewees into such comfort that they said what they did on record is an enormous achievement for Miller and Shales." (Fortune Daniel Roberts )

"This treat for sports fans has a cast of characters that is huge and varied." (New York Times Janet Maslin )

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 031604301X
• ISBN 13: 9780316043014
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 832