Book Log 2012 #34: Those Guys Have All the Fun by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales

Miller and Shales were behind Live From New York, the oral history of Saturday Night Live, and on the success of that book came up with this one, an oral history of ESPN. It's a natural subject, given how its become this cultural behemoth that crosses the lines of sports, journalism, entertainment and celebrity. But I don't think this book is nearly as successful as its predecessor, for two reasons.

First, for all of the photos of ESPN talent and sports stars on the cover, the book draws heavily from the executive ranks. It's not that what they contribute isn't interesting - it often is, especially on the early days of the network and the reign of Mark Shapiro - but there are times where one would like to hear more from someone who was in front of the camera. Most of these executives also seem to be the type of person I wouldn't trust as far as I can throw them, but I suppose that's TV for you.

The other problem is that, given the book's title, it's often hard to feel like these folks were having any fun. Almost everyone says they love(d) it there, but with the long hours, low pay and often difficult working environment (especially for women), I wonder how much nostalgia and time have smoothed over the day to day annoyances.

The book itself was a little uneven for me, as all of the interesting bits were bogged down by the ongoing saga of the boardroom and the often clunky transitions between subjects. One thing I did appreciate is that the book did give me what I think is a reasonably good idea of how ESPN transitioned from plucky little cable station to Worldwide Leader in Sports (for all the good and ill that entails). I'll also admit to not having read the last 100 pages or so, as at that point it was entering the period where I'd stopped watching ESPN for anything other than live sports, so the people and events they were talking about weren't familiar and, honestly, not that interesting.

I'd suggest reading Live From New York over this. I'd also suggest reading Miller's book Running in Place before this one. It's a book about the US Senate based on his time as a staffer for Howard Baker, so it's a bit of a historical piece at this point but well done from what I can recall.