espn

ESPN The Company: The Story and Lessons Behind the Most Fanatical Brand in Sports
$24.95
Pick up "ESPN: The Company" and just begin reading it. If you are at all like me, you will find that you can't put it down. This book has all the ingredients of a truly great business book: A hugely successful company, a world-famous brand, a hyper-competitive landscape, a wild ride through the four stages of ESPN's development described by the author, and fascinating and amazingly diverse leaders. And, of course, the "insider/outsider" perspective that author Tony Smith brings to the story. As the primary management consultant to ESPN for 20 years, Tony is in the unique position of being able to reflect in a very compelling way not only the history of the organization, but also the culture -- the stories, the values, the very sense of the place. At the same time, the author does a good job of keeping his obvious admiration for the story's key players in check. We learn, for example, not only about CEO George Bodenheimer's "calm, reassuring, purposeful" leadership style, but also his conflict averse nature; about former CEO Steve Bornstein's extraordinary intelligence and strategic acumen, but also his tendency to "strip people down in a New York minute." As with his first book, "The Taboos of Leadership," Tony seeks at all times to "keep it real." If you are a business-person wondering what to read on that next long flight, you will find that this book resonates, educates, and even entertains.

Fisher-Price ESPN Better Batter Baseball
$49.99
I actually bought this at a yard sale for $1 (What a steal!!!) My 2 & 3 y/o boys have wanted it forever!! It only came with one ball, so I was on here looking for more. I saw they were listed for $16.99!!! Fisher Price has them on their replacement parts site for $6. The kids really enjoy pushing the button over and over, and i' glad because they have to! The arm is malfunctioning. I was going to replace the batteries, but then read the reviews and decided that it must be a common defect. It doesn't really bother the kids too much, so I am not going to let it bother me. Just gonna buy more balls and relax while I watch them play..

ESPN (1-year)
$129.74
I bought this for my husband for his birthday, and we both love it! I am very happy with the purchase!

ESPN: The Uncensored History
$17.95
In "ESPN: The Uncensored Story," author Michael Freeman documents how ESPN revolutionized sports television by introducing hard journalism to the airwaves. Freeman explains that ESPN became the first sports television outlet to acquire experienced print journalists who broke stories as they unfolded and aired critical stories, many of which led to changes that benefited both athletes and fans. In the process, Freeman sheds light on the network's own internal problems including sexual harassment, gambling, and drug abuse by staff. All in all, he offers a concise portrait of how ESPN changed the world of sports, and why so many fans admire the network today.

According to Freeman, the story of ESPN is really the story of John Walsh, the executive who began running the network like a major newspaper's newsroom. Once hired, Walsh immediately expanded ESPN's research department and added former print reporters to the lineups of specialty shows like "Baseball Tonight." For "SportsCenter," which is ESPN's flagship program covering news and highlights of all sports, Walsh moved the most important stories to the beginning of the show to lure viewers in more quickly. He moved commercials as far back as possible to prevent disruption of headlining stories. Walsh also began using more highlights from each contest to allow reporters to present more in-depth analysis.

The book offers many examples of reporters whose abilities to get to the heart of a story make the network's programming as indispensable to fans as newspapers and magazines. Walsh hired Charlie Steiner because Steiner is equally skilled at being an anchor and offering analysis. Upon being hired, Andrea Kremer revolutionized how the NFL draft is covered by breaking down the Chicago Bears' scouting process and offering predictions on who they would take. Chris Mortensen was hired because he had spent years developing contacts in each NFL team's front office, enabling him to learn about late-breaking developments before other reporters. The team of journalists that Walsh assembled offers original research and perspectives that are on par with most, if not all, printed publications.

In addition, Walsh created the show "Outside the Lines," the award-winning series of documentaries addressing off-the-field issues like performance-enhancing drugs, politics, gambling, sportsmanship, and gender equity. The program shines a spotlight on topics that don't ordinarily receive enough media attention. In many ways, Walsh is responsible not only for giving fans access to an unprecedented amount of information about sports, but for encouraging debate about important issues that impact sports.

Regarding ESPN's internal struggles, the breadth and depth of the sexual harassment problem is eye-opening. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the environment was as bad as the Naval and Air Force Academies, which is very disappointing. Freeman explains that the employee gambling problem was noteworthy because the staff has access to information that the public does not, including players hiding injuries, coaches changing game plans, etc. While one must keep in mind that the network is located in an isolated town, requires employees to work extremely long hours, and offers comparatively lower pay than many of its competitors, fans will find the scope of these problems disturbing to say the least.

Why only four stars? Freeman drops the ball on a number of important topics. Despite painstakingly covering sexism within the network itself, he doesn't examine how this problem contributes to lack of coverage of women's sports. The book doesn't address lack of coverage of small market teams, particularly in major league baseball. Freeman also glosses over the prospect of ESPN developing an unhealthy relationship with some of the professional leagues that it covers. He gives examples of anchors Chris Berman and Stuart Scott becoming too close to certain NFL personalities to remain objective, but this problem has become more pronounced in recent years. For example, ESPN Radio broadcasts are now distributed in many cities by radio stations owned by NFL team owners. If this trend continues, some fans fear a loss of the hard-hitting independent spirit that Walsh strived so hard to build.

Overall, Freeman's book is an excellent account of how ESPN changed sports journalism on television. Offering in-depth reporting at the level of newspapers and magazines is still a relatively new idea in sports television, and one that many fans now take for granted. Hearing how Walsh persuaded print journalists, who had misgivings about whether or not hard journalism would work on television, to give ESPN a chance makes the book a fascinating read. "ESPN: The Uncensored History" is highly recommended for any sports fan who wants to learn more about how the network became such a smash hit, and why it remains so successful today.