SJ Book Club: The ESPN Book

Great to see a disgrace to journalism still keep his job.

 

From his explanation:

OK, so show the original copy that was turned in and then trimmed. Everyone typically hits "save" repeatedly and today's laptop operating systems typically have autosave. So there should be a copy of the original, uncut with the "attribution" in the lopped portion.

Show it.

 

And be quick about it.

 

Okay, I finally finished. (That's what she said.) My thoughts:

- Some good stuff about the formation of the network, although plenty of it had been covered in ESPN: The Uncensored History. However, I understand that you can't just skip 10 to 20 years just because there is another book out there.

- That being said, a general critique I have about this book and the previous SNL one by Shales and Miller is that it definitely feels like they're telling the story soft at times. In the SNL book, there was plenty of outrage quoted about Bernstein's book about Jim Belushi being a raging, destructive drug addict... except that, you know, he was a drug addict who killed himself. In this one, there is some token stuff about the sexual harassment, and the detailing of an incident or two, but it was much, much better reported in the uncensored history book.

If I was going to put a percentage on it, I'd say the book is 70/30 friendly/investigative. There is some airing of dirty laundry, but I think it's mostly just to give the book the appearance of being balanced.

- Another thing: Definitely wish they sourced in the text better. At times, they made reference to "a blog" in their narration. How about you name the god damn blogs? Given that they went on for 700+ pages, it seems odd that they'd leave it out.

- Chris Berman comes off as a total buffoon and company man; like the Joe Morgan of broadcasting.

- Echoing what others have said, Olbermann, Tony and Simmons all seem cut from the same anti-management cloth.

- I liked the focus on some of the newer properties: Around the Horn, PTI, Dream Job, etc. And while I'm one of the biggest Michelle Beadle fans, I was surprised that she was mentioned in the book.

- I wish they could have gotten more from Kilborn, but from the short snippets they have from him, it didn't seem like he was the most erudite interview subject.

- The one portion about and from Bobby Knight is probably the high point of the book.

 

Fixed.

Alas, the talented brother is dead.

We mourn him, still.

 

Whoops! Wishful thinking on my part...

 

Bobby Knight calling someone a "chickenshit little cocksucker" is the height of projection. That interview was a douchebag crowning moment in a douchebag career. Fitting that he ended up at ESPN, I suppose.

 

I can't really top what sgreenwell detailed. He has it, point-by-point.

I will say that I've been 96% through it on my Kindle for about eight days now, with no great urgency to read that final 4%. I would think that's not a great selling point for a book.

Way too much business-journal stuff for my tastes. It did get me "caught up" on some of the later developments that I haven't really followed so closely.