THE DAILY has received an excerpt from the much-anticipated book "Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN" that deals with NBA Commissioner David Stern's relationship with ESPN's former programming head Mark Shapiro. The following is an edited transcript from the James Miller and Tom Shales book, which will be released officially next week (THE DAILY).
Shapiro: David Stern was by far the best and most intimidating negotiator I'd ever faced. No one stands up to David, and to have me standing up to him, not just once, but multiple times over the course of the relationship, especially given that "who the hell is this kid versus me" thing of his, never went well. I tried to be respectful, but I wasn't afraid to push back. David would just scream and yell. Scream and yell. He'd even scream and yell at George [Bodenheimer]; he didn't care. We got off on the wrong foot over the WNBA. He wanted the WNBA on the air. I told him the WNBA stinks, it doesn't rate, and I didn't want it. No one watches it. Men don't watch it. Women don't watch it! My goal was to get this off the air. Stern: I can say this for the record: Mark Shapiro was strong-willed and quite opinionated, and we had some differing views with respect to the presentation of our brand. Shapiro: Even after the WNBA situation had been resolved, he never liked me. You might think it was because he saw me as wet behind the ears, but in reality it was because I pushed back -- pushed back on using Brad Nessler as our first play-by-play announcer over Marv Albert in order to establish our own identity (I was wrong), pushed back on scheduling, pushed back on Stephen A. Smith when Stern didn't want us to put him on, and pushed back when he tried to disadvantage ESPN against Turner, or treat us like the ugly stepsister to ABC. Stern: We are a league, but we are an active brand manager as well. We have learned a great deal through our relationships with CBS, NBC, Turner and ESPN. … In the case of talent, we have a right to ask, "What does your research show about this person?" I don’t think it’s a secret that we had hoped arrangements would be made for Marv Albert to work at ESPN, but Mark was very open and honest and told us he had somebody who he thought was better -- Brad Nessler. And we said, "Okay, if you think so, fine." Shapiro: We as a network weren’t used to a league being so involved in production matters. By contract, they couldn’t tell us what to do, but they certainly carried a heavy stick and they knew what they wanted from a production and marketing perspective. Bottom line is that Stern usually got his way. He’d scream and scream and we’d cave. It was exhausting. One day, he was yelling at George, and I actually witnessed George hang up on him. He said, "I can’t take this," and he slammed down the phone. I couldn’t believe it. George actually hung up on someone. |
: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s Rob Brunner wrote the book is a “serious, impressive piece of work, if a little too long and padded out with less-interesting material.” It gives 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 about a number of big events.” The book also is “packed with huge egos and bad behavior.” Brunner provided several excepts from the book, including one in which former ESPN general counsel Andy Brilliant said, “The company would have Christmas parties up at some horrible place in Bristol. A couple of them were drunken orgies. … It became like a big frat party. There were a lot of drugs being done in the bathroom.” Brunner wrote the “biggest villain in the book” could be the town of Bristol, which is “apparently so isolated and dull that it drives ESPN execs who work there to all sorts of boorish behavior.” Former ESPN Chair Steve Bornstein says in the book, “I think part of the sexual harassment stuff was location. It’s one hundred miles from real civilization, and you got the kind of testosterone, jock mentality, frat house approach that’s pretty much a recipe for stupid decisions being made.” Former ESPN exec Bill Creasy added, “What a s---hole. I mean, what were they thinking (locating ESPN HQ there)?” (
EW.com, 5/17). Meanwhile, EW's Jeff Labrecque referenced Miller and Shales' earlier book on the history on "Saturday Night Live" and wrote early book excerpts show that it is "becoming clear that former 'SportsCenter' anchor Keith Olbermann is this story's Chevy Chase." Olbermann "wasn't the network's first breakout star -- that would be Chris Berman -- but his on-air brilliance was unrivaled." However, when Olbermann and partner Dan Patrick "inevitably ran into trouble," with ESPN execs, Olbermann "did not come to heel" (
EW.com, 5/16).
GOSSIP OVERSHADOWS INTERESTING STORIES: HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Andy Lewis writes the details of "Those Guys Have All The Fun" are "as shocking as many anticipated." Betting on games during ESPN's early years "was rampant among both the on-air talent and the behind-the-scenes staff." Also, a mailroom employee "used a Getty corporate apartment in NYC (Getty was ESPN's first owner) so secretaries could turn tricks." However, the "gossipy parts have swamped the interesting stories of ESPN's rise to cable giant." Lewis: "Like how Don Ohlmeyer turned a $2.5 million consulting contract into a 20% stake in the network. Or how Disney CEO Michael Eisner pulled the trigger on the acquisition of ESPN parent ABC/Cap Cities when he realized he could get 20% compounded fee raises from cable companies for ESPN if it had the NFL" (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 5/19).
