Jim Miller Discusses ESPN Book As It Hits Stores Today

Jim Miller and Tom Shales' book "Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World Of ESPN" is being released today, and Miller said one of reasons he and Shales wrote the book was because there "seems to be a genuine interest" in how the network operates. Miller, appearing on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" today, said people want to know "who you are and why you do the things you do and more importantly, how'd you get so big, how'd you get so successful." Miller: "The goal of the book is really to answer some of those questions, give people a sense of what happens behind the scenes for you guys and answer that central question: How did this all happen?" He said the main reason for ESPN's growth is "not a particularly sexy answer." Miller: "There were some really smart guys in the '80s who put together a financial model where you have two strings of revenue. You have advertisers and you also have cable subscribers." ESPN has been on the air for nearly 32 years, and Miller said the "question becomes almost now, are you too big?" Miller: "I think that's a justifiable question that your competitors ask. Is there an unfair advantage? And I think that there's a lot of jealousy or bitterness amongst the competitors because you guys have the kind of dominance that you do." He adds, "In many ways you guys are a big, huge part of any equation. We're a couple of weeks away from Switzerland and everybody's talking about whether or not you guys are finally going to get the Olympics" ("Mike & Mike in the Morning," ESPN Radio, 5/24).

SETTLE IN FOR A WHILE: SI.com’s Richard Deitsch noted "Those Guys Have All The Fun" is a “long book," and younger ESPN viewers "are going to have to stay with it to find moments of relevance for them.” A large amount of the "first quarter of the book focuses on the network's rise from humble origins.” The book also “explores in detail ESPN's foresight in recognizing the power of college basketball and its savvy acquisitions of the NFL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR.” Those who work in the business of sport “will devour the book,” but the casual sports fan “is likely to find certain parts tedious.” The “biggest criticism is the sheer size of the narrative.” Miller gives certain subjects, such as Tony Kornheiser, "far too many pages to whine and dedicates six pages to the horribly conceived ‘Bonds on Bonds’ show where two would suffice.” Miller admitted the book is "schizophrenic." He said that he “found that his best-selling book on ‘Saturday Night Live’ that he did with Shales was read in bursts over a long period.” Deitsch noted that “will likely be the case here, too.” The book “would be sharper if excised by 100 pages or so.” Still, these are “small quibbles, because the reader is ultimately granted the kind of behind-the-scenes access that sports media junkies are rarely given” (SI.com, 5/23). ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's Rob Brunner gives "Those Guys" a B+ review and writes some of the best parts of the book "deal with the early days of cable, when the network invented itself through savvy business decisions and slow-pitch-softball coverage." It is "padded with too many historical footnotes and dull anecdotes," but it also "provides an impressive account of the network's embarrassments and victories" (EW.com, 5/24).

EARLY SIZZLE DOES NOT HOLD UP: BLOOMBERG NEWS’ David Shribman noted “advance tales of the juicy stuff in this volume have been burning up the Internet.” Shribman: “Sex, drugs and play-by-play, you might say. Except there’s not much sex, very little drugs and far, far too much of the play-by-play of how ESPN went from being a network to a brand, from an idea to an ethos.” There are “some intriguing nuggets in this too-high haystack, and most of them have to do with business rather than sports or even the business of sports.” Still, it is “more about the entrepreneurial spirit than the spirited high jinks of the guys who have all the fun by going to games, or talking about games, for a living” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/23).