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crousecm's review against another edition
3.0
There was a LOT of information in this long book, not all of it was of interest to me.
charles9012's review
3.0
I highly anticipated this book, knowing that it was going to be in the same format as the Saturday Night Live book "Live From New York". This book was a fast and entertaining read, but slightly disappointing. Where Live From New York focused on the personalities of Saturday Night Live, after a while Those Guys Have All The fun bounces from event to event, feeling a little tedious by the end. Part of that is the nature of the personalities, as many of ESPN's faces come off as prima donnas, which wasn't unexpected. I found that I learned more from the earlier part of the book (how ESPN was founded and got off the ground) that the later part (obnoxious personalities butting heads with management and other obnoxious personalities.
creativelifeofliz's review against another edition
funny
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I enjoyed this book and I feel like we got a sense of ESPN's history. However, the audiobook should have been much better produced (why were there random repeated sections and large gaps of nothing?) and I wish we got a bit more beyond the interview clips to connect it all together.
storiesofsilva's review
2.0
The formatting of the book is so strange, using just interview transcripts as the primary text. I got lost often as the author decided to throw so much information at you in a noncomprehensible way and suddenly shift to a new idea or story. The book also runs really, really long, when a lot of the back and forth between interviews can be condensed into a fascinating story. The first half of the book moves so slowly through minute details about the formation and growth of ESPN. Two stars because I'm a huge sports fan and enjoyed hearing from some SportsCenter personalities, but otherwise, very difficult to get through.
ptothelo's review
4.0
ESPN has been around as long as I can remember and after my brother, ESPN: the magazine and Bill Simmons is a big part of why I'm interested in following sports. I really enjoyed reading about how the network grew over time and about the random things that led people to play a part in its growth. I liked how the author had the people involved tell the story, rather than summarizing it in prose himself, and that he included both (or multiple sides) of a story on occasion.
rebroxannape's review
4.0
This is a fascinating, exhaustive, and gossipy look behind the scenes at ESPN. Eye-opening history and juicy anecdotes abound. This was written before the "Me Too" movement. One of the striking things that interested me in this book was the behavior of some of the male sportscasters towards their female counterparts. A few were really guilty of disgusting behavior. And yes names were named. I couldn't help but believe that if this book had come out today, many heads would roll.
The best way to read this book is to go to the index and start with the personalities and topics that interest you the most. Do not read it front to back, because parts a quite dry ancient history. Once you start this way, you will find yourself reading background and going off on tangents as you want to find out more about topics and people that are mentioned while reading about your primary interests. Particularly entertaining is getting multiple viewpoints of the same people and incidents from different eyes. I ended up reading 75% of the book, even though there were really only a few personalities and topics I started off being interested in.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
The best way to read this book is to go to the index and start with the personalities and topics that interest you the most. Do not read it front to back, because parts a quite dry ancient history. Once you start this way, you will find yourself reading background and going off on tangents as you want to find out more about topics and people that are mentioned while reading about your primary interests. Particularly entertaining is getting multiple viewpoints of the same people and incidents from different eyes. I ended up reading 75% of the book, even though there were really only a few personalities and topics I started off being interested in.
https://rebekahsreadingsandwatchings.com/
jimmyg06's review
4.0
Liked the book, but the editing was too poor to make it 5 stars. Misspellings, repeated quotes, redundant sections. Great content, but execution left something to be desired especially after multiple delays of the release date. Pages 608-611 have same quotes as those on 676-678.
patriotmike's review
2.0
Interesting to learn how a small station created to cover Connecticut sports turned into the behemoth it is today. (The answer is satellite time, Getty money, and a bit of luck.) The last 100 pages didn't bring anything to the table.
endless30's review
4.0
3.5 but rounded up. Too disjointed and disorganized to be anywhere near 5 stars. Since it was nearly all quotes, the book lacked cohesion. The stories and characters were interesting enough to motor through over 750 pages.