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ESPN: The Uncensored History
"ESPN: The Uncensored History" traces the first 24-hour sports network from its inception through its evolution into a slick media outlet reaching more than 60 million homes via more than 26,000 cable providers. "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network," "ESPN," has blazed a stunning path of achievement with its expansive coverage of broa...more
Paperback, 340 pages
Published
January 25th 2002
by Taylor Trade Publishing
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New York Times sportswriter Freeman has delivered exactly what the title promises: an uncensored history of a media phenomenon of the cable TV era, ESPN. When ESPN was formed 20 years ago, television sports reporting was limited to snippets on local newscasts. ESPN changed that and, in so doing, also changed the way sports was covered, society's viewing habits, and sports itself. Freeman traces the history of the all-sports network from its inception as the brainchild of Bill Rasmussen to its st...more
Interesting, well-researched, and balanced view of the history of ESPN.
For the exact opposite, see Creating an Empire ESPN the no hods barred story of power, ego, money and vision that transformed a culture or at least read my review of it.
For the exact opposite, see Creating an Empire ESPN the no hods barred story of power, ego, money and vision that transformed a culture or at least read my review of it.
original review posted here:
http://www.reemer.com/archives/2004/07/1...
This book has been floating around the office for a bit, and I finally got my grubby paws on it. It details ESPN's creation and rise to the pervasive cultural force it is today. It was fascinating to read about how and why the company culture developed into the one that exists today.
The book covers founder Bill Rasmussen's struggle to grow his idea for an all-sports cable channel into a reality....more
http://www.reemer.com/archives/2004/07/1...
This book has been floating around the office for a bit, and I finally got my grubby paws on it. It details ESPN's creation and rise to the pervasive cultural force it is today. It was fascinating to read about how and why the company culture developed into the one that exists today.
The book covers founder Bill Rasmussen's struggle to grow his idea for an all-sports cable channel into a reality....more
author seemed to have a personal vendetta against espn. writing was not very good, jumping from topic to topic with lazy transitions and the set up was not great. you would be in 1995 of the history and the next section starts out in 1993.
too bad, too since the author did a lot of work and had interesting stories. more of that and less of the attacks would have been great.
overall: 2.5
too bad, too since the author did a lot of work and had interesting stories. more of that and less of the attacks would have been great.
overall: 2.5
An interesting behind-the-scenes look at ESPN. This book is already 10 years old, however, so I'm sure it could use an update. I would not be surprised if Keith Olbermann was behind this book, along with the author. Also some interesting bits on Mike Tarico, now of MNF fame, and his checkered past with the network.
A fine book that traces the history of cable and the dark underbelly of the world's biggest sports network. Only obsessed fanboys will come away feeling that a sacred cow has been attacked. There are a great many corrupt characters, rampant sexism, and the book vividly portrays all of that and more.
Thought it was an enlightening book. We as viewers only get to see what is on the air. As a person working in the news business, I can tell you this book tells a nearly perfect story of what takes place in a newsroom. A lot of bickering, fighting and backstabbing.
ESPN. The absolute thing that I thought about was sports. But in this book, it turns out to be alot more than just that. When I started reading this, all that I read were facts, dates, etc. This was a very intresting book, don't get me wrong, but if you are wanting a book that is mainly about sports... you have picked up the wrong one. Not only did it list mainly just facts, it talked about all of the problems that ESPN has had over the last 20 years about sexual harrassment. Practically the who...more
Not a bad look at the founding and inner workings at ESPN, but it's not without its problems as well. The author shows some bias, plus not all the key figures that are discussed are interviewed for the book. This work is well written, but it tends to gloss over certain important events while going into extreme detail on others. In addition, with its publication date of ten years ago, chunks of it, especially parts dealing with speculation about the future of ESPN, are outdated.
If yo...more
If yo...more
Moderately interesting book about the genesis and subsequent success of on of the world's most popular TV channels. The business stuff was very interesting.
And I was shocked - shocked I tell you - to learn that the culture of ESPN included rampant, viscous sexual harassment, massive amounts of drug use by all the recognizable sportscenter anchor names, and numerous FBI investigations into sports gambling & trying to influence the outcome of games. I guess a few hundred sports crazed...more
And I was shocked - shocked I tell you - to learn that the culture of ESPN included rampant, viscous sexual harassment, massive amounts of drug use by all the recognizable sportscenter anchor names, and numerous FBI investigations into sports gambling & trying to influence the outcome of games. I guess a few hundred sports crazed...more
Starts off slow but eventually picks up with some interesting and disturbing matarial. The biggest problem though, was how people would just pop up in chapters without any explanation with who they were. And these people would be important to the story being told. The cutthroat nature of ESPN, especially in it's early years was surprising. But the most disturbing thing was all the sexual harassment issues and how terribly they were handled. I will not look at ESPN and some of it's anchors the sa...more
Disappointing. I was expecting a lot more of interest in this book but it can be distilled as follows:
- In the beginning no one believed in it and it lost a lot of money
- ESPN has a huge problem with sexual harassment
- Mike Tirico is a one man sexual harassment machine.
The End
- In the beginning no one believed in it and it lost a lot of money
- ESPN has a huge problem with sexual harassment
- Mike Tirico is a one man sexual harassment machine.
The End
It was interesting to learn about the ESPN personalities and what they're really like behind the scenes, but the book was sort of "one note."
Interesting book that shows how ESPN began, and then unveils some of the demons that are in the network's closet. I learned that some ESPN anchors feel that they are above other people who acutally worked there.
An interesting, if now somewhat out of date history on ESPN. Very interesting to see how it came to be, and also pretty awesome about how much of a jerk Keith Olbermann kinda was even back then.
This just reinforced my great annoyance with ESPN
Some good gossip. Nothing genius in the writing.
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