Ratings9
Average rating4.2
Presents the history of sports channel ESPN based on interviews with nearly 500 current and former employees, featuring announcers and analysts and as well as sports stars including LeBron James, Peyton Manning and Jeff Gordon. 200,000 first printing.
Reviews with the most likes.
Star deducted for sexual harassment apologia by the authors, Rush Limbaugh and Tony Kornheiser's self-serving bullshit, and the bizarre paean to Michelle Beadle (of all people) toward the end. Really liked that they didn't ignore race/gender throughout, but got a bit bogged down in all the corporate stuff. The offscreen drama between personnel was the best part.
Though it was a great read about one of the most interesting companies in the world, this book was twice as long as it should have been. Having said that, some of the stories and background about ESPN was unlike anything you'll read anywhere else, this book truly is a fully comprehensive history of ESPN. I would have liked to see more attention given to ESPN.com, and similarly, and idea of where ESPN is headed in the future, but I supposes this was an oral HISTORY. Reads incredibly quickly once you get into it.