Sports Junkies Rejoice : The Birth of ESPN Review

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(More customer reviews)"As a fan who has never known the world without ESPN, I was both fascinated and amazed to learn that it all began just over 20 years ago. I thought it had been around forever! Apparently there wasn't much to cable television back then. Guys like Rasmussen and other cable pioneers were real believers and thanks to their efforts we have 24 hour sports, news and movies today. Reading about the people who made the decisions, the people who didn't believe it would work and the frantic efforts to get ESPN up and running is not only informative, but entertaining.
A look at the September 1979 program schedule in the book is a real eye-opener. No NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL back then. Irish Hurling, Austrailian Rules Football and Kick Boxing were regular fare. The NCAA was a somewhat tentative partner with tape-delayed football games every night of the football season. Wow, how the world of TV sports has changed over these last 20 years.
If you enjoy reading a good tale this is your kind of book. Adversity, disappointment, joy, frustration, anxiety and elation all come through. This book is a must read for anyone who claims to be an avid ESPN fan."

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Entrepreneurial daring, irrepressible enthusiasm and a dash of good luck gave America its first 24 hour sports network in 1979,This book is about the agony and the ecstasy, the excitement, effort and frustration that led to the launch of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.A $9,000 credit card advance, a landfill in Bristol, CT, new satellite technology and a father and son's unshakeable belief in the insatiable appetite of America's sports fans came together to fuel an incredible journey....a journeythat culminated in ESPN's inaugural show at 7:00 PM (EDT) Friday, September 7, 1979.

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From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic Review

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(More customer reviews)Recently, as part of the Thomas Nelson Blogger Reviewer Program, I received a copy of Eli Gold's "From Peanuts to the Pressbox: Insider Sports Stories from a Life Behind the Mic". The work is an autobiography looking back at the life of a kid from NYC who skipped most of high school to watching sporting events that found himself in the right place in the right time many times over who advanced up the ranks of sportcasting.
I give the work three stars. It was an easy read; something to read while trying to fall asleep at night. For me, a sign of a great autobiography is one that the subject shares not only the events of his life, but why those events were important enough to recall as well as the lessons learned. Overall, this work is a feel-good retelling of Eli's favorite stories, without much added depth.
Eli's work has been overall contained to hockey, NASCAR, Alabama football and basketball. If you're familiar with any of these sports, there will be many stories that will be quite enjoyable and fun to read. If you're not, but have some idea of the benefit of sport, there are stories that will make you laugh, or make you stop to think for a moment.
All in all, a fine book.

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In thisbehind-the-scenes look at sports broadcasting Eli Gold tells how a kid from Brooklyn, New York, went from selling peanuts at Madison Square Garden tobeing one of the most recognizable voices in all of radio sports broadcasting.From Peanuts to the Pressboxis anintimate walk down memory lane, reliving some of the greatest moments in Alabama sports (basketball and football) and NASCAR.Gold also sharesstoriesfrom his early days with Yankees broadcaster Mel Allen and Red Barber and other broadcasting greats, such as Bob Costas, Tom Hammond, Verne Lundquist, Kevin Harlan, Ron Franklin, and Mike Tirico.

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Sports Junkies Rejoice: The Birth of ESPN Review

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(More customer reviews)"Sports Junkies Rejoice! The Birth of ESPN" is the definitive insider's account of the origin of the Worldwide Leader in Sports. As someone who was 17 years old when ESPN first went on the air on September 7, 1979, my sports life (and in many ways, my professional career) has been personally impacted by Bill Rasmussen's creation. His book reveals what the situation was with television in the late 1970s, his career up to that point in sports, the entrepreneurial leap of faith he made when his career with the New England Whalers was suddenly over, and how he, his son Scott, and a small band of believers got ESPN on the air for the very first time. If you are a sports fan, and you are old enough to remember a time before ESPN, this story will amaze you. Rasmussen's audacity, enthusiasm, and persistence carried the day, and it's not only an inspiration to sports fans but to small business owners and entrepreneurs of any stripe. If you are a sports fan but have no recollection of any time before ESPN, then prepare to be shocked at a world with no cable TV, no CNN, no MTV, only a few select sports broadcast on three major broadcast networks before Rasmussen and his small band of pioneers forged a new way of looking at sports on TV. The new paperback edition, published in the summer of 2010, contains some updates to Rasmussen's story and new comparisons of ESPN then and now. I've read it several times now, given it as a gift to others, and highly recommend it to anyone who loves sports, loves ESPN, and wants to know what really happened."


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If you pride yourself on knowing everything there is to know about ESPN, you'll need to own this book to cover all the bases. Do you know about the $9,000 credit card advance, the first advertiser on ESPN, or the cost of ESPN's first satellite transponder? Or why ESPN is based in Bristol, Connecticut? All that and more about the early days is covered by Bill Rasmussen in "Sports Junkies Rejoice! The Birth of ESPN."

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