“I talked to him about what he thought of this idea we were considering, and he said, ‘There’s no way anybody will ever watch sports twenty-four hours a day.'” – Stuart Evey, pg. 19
“You’ve got three things we can’t teach: your enthusiasm, your knowledge, and you’re not afraid to be candid.” – Scotty Connal to Dick Vitale, pg. 56
“Chet asked me to give kind of a motivational speech at the first Christmas party, in ’79. […] My little speech was, ‘This is the beginning. You’re on the ground floor and those of you who stick it out are going to be glad you did.'” – Jim Simpson, pg. 57
“Try to keep it as fun as you can, because you know what? You’re doing television. It’s sports; it should be fun.” – Drew Esocoff, pg. 70
“It doesn’t matter what the pay is or what the job is. You should make a career decision, not a money decision.” – George Bodenheimer, pg. 86
“We just don’t sell. I’m sure it’s a very fair offer, and I’m sure in ten years I may come back and say, ‘How foolish, if only we’d taken that money,’ but I’m afraid we’re just not, and never have been, sellers.” – Don Ohlmeyer, pg. 137
“We all felt as if we had really made it, and made an impact with what we were putting on the air.” – Bob Rauscher, pg. 152
“My dad always told me, when you’re going to make a big decision in life, geographically, professionally, whatever, if you can, take a week and really think hard about what it is that you’re going to be doing.” – Tom Jackson, pg. 152
“I refused to play the cards the way they needed to be played to get there, particularly the politicking.” – Terry Lingner, pg. 214
“We have a common goal: to give the person at home the best show, and to enjoy the camaraderie of everybody along the way.” – Mike Tirico, pg. 243
“Take time every day to laugh, to think, to cry.” – Jim Valvano, pg. 252
“We’re a pretty good operation that work together and play together.” – Bill Lamb, pg. 278
“Everything he did when he was in there was personal – how he wrote it, how he covered it, how he looked at you, everything was on his heart, or on his sleeve. And that was what made him great there.” – Dan Patrick on Keith Olbermann, pg. 285
“At ESPN, you find the other people who cried when a team lost. If you had never cried when your team lost, you really shouldn’t work at ESPN. You just won’t get it.” – Matt Sandulli, pg. 301
“We never look at ESPN as a television network; ESPN is a sports fan. We should always approach the advertising, whether it’s of an event or of our own shows, like we are a sports fan talking about sports as opposed to a network promoting a show.” – Judy Fearing, pg. 312
“One of the interesting things that’s happened over time is that having your own Sportscenter spot as an athlete has become a little bit of a badge.” – Kevin Proudfoot, pg. 315
“I think the ‘This is Sportscenter‘ campaign is really what changed everything, because it made us look human.” – Gary Miller, pg. 322
“The truth is, I actually cheer for the players more than I cheer for colors.” – Bill Clement, pg. 324
“You’re too talented to let these guys break you. You know there’s other stuff coming, just ride it out.” – Keith Olbermann to Craig Kilborn, pg. 371
“You are always more valuable to them when you leave; that’s the great thing about leaving.” – Suzy Kolber, pg. 386
“As a journalist, you know how great it feels when you get something that nobody else can get.” – Jimmy Roberts, pg. 389
“You can be really funny, and even cutting, without being mean.” – Gary Belsky, pg. 423
“When the Lord wants to punish you, He answers your prayers.” – Howard Katz, pg. 443
“I just stared at the schedule and thought, ‘Wow! That’s pretty fucking cool. I’m going to be on Sportscenter.’ I looked around the newsroom, gave myself 30 seconds of celebration, then put my head back down and went back to work.” – Steve Berthiaume, pg. 463
“You can’t just put people together in a booth and say, ‘Have chemistry.’ It doesn’t work that way.” – Tony Kornheiser, pg. 485
“The idea of Around the Horn was that no one ever wins a sports argument.” – Max Kellerman, pg. 492
“I love telling stories that nobody else has.” – Andrea Kremer, pg. 512
“The thing that bothered me the most with all of that was not the criticism the company took for various media folks who give their opinions. That comes with the territory. What bothered me was that it hurt our employees, and to me, there’s really nothing that’s worth that.” – George Bodenheimer, pg. 524
“That was really part of the problem of being last. They weren’t able to set the table. They were only able to react to what was left.” – Steve Bornstein, pg. 569
“I have a whole diary I kept during that time. My wife said, ‘Sandy, you’re having these calls every day, which are mind-boggling. Write everything down.'” – Sandy Montag, pg. 586
“I had the two best guys who had ever done it, and all they cared about was getting it right.” – Fred Gaudelli, pg. 591
“ESPN to a degree catches itself in the middle of sports and entertainment. It knows that it does sports better than anybody in the world, but it keeps wanting to sort of reach over into this world of entertainment and see if it can combine both in certain areas, which is part of the progressive nature of ESPN.” – Joe Theismann, pg. 614
“What everybody at ESPN has tried to do […] is recapture the Howard Cosell, Don Meredith, Frank Gifford booth. And you can’t do that. I think you have to allow people to create their own identities.” – Joe Theismann, pg. 614
“Please make it feel like you guys are having fun, [like] the best place in the world to be would be in the next seat.” – John Skipper, pg. 624
“These guys, you know, they see pretty girls every day. They don’t care. They don’t have time for it. They know how hard I work.” – Erin Andrews, pg. 629
“I’m a big fan of the game, but I’m also a student of the game. You have to do your homework.” – Dwyane Wade, pg. 633
“People who overreact tend almost always to be wrong.” – Colin Cowherd, pg. 637
“The funniest thing about athletes and even entertainers is that they all say the same two things: first, they don’t care what the media says about them – they never watch or read anything about themselves and it doesn’t matter or motivate them at all; and second, it’s not about the money. Well, they’re lying on both.” – Jalen Rose, pg. 638
“And that’s my goal: just to tell it like I see it, and if it’s good, it’s good, and if it’s bad, it’s bad, and nothing personal.” – Kirk Herbstreit, pg. 645
“Leadership means people follow you. If you’re leading for a good cause, that’s great. But if people are following you for a bad cause, that’s bad.” – Lou Holtz, pg. 655
“If I’m going to worry about everybody’s negative opinion of me, I’m not going to get anything done. I’m not going to sit here and try to defend myself because it’s too much time wasted. I have too many other things to do that take up my time.” – Mel Kiper Jr., pg. 657
“A lot of Americans use sports to unwind, and I’m no different.” – Barack Obama, pg. 679
“When I was a player, I always remembered to speak about a teammate in the media like he was standing right next to me.” – Orel Hershiser, pg. 684
“Fear has to drive you if you are a sportswriter in this day and time.” Stephen A. Smith, pg. 688
“Andre Iguodala nicknamed me ‘the diabolical hater.’ I always kid back, ‘Nope, I’m the diabolical truth teller.'” – Skip Bayless, pg. 707
“My mom used to say to me all the time, ‘You like being liked.’ And yes, I think that probably comes from insecurity. […] But I learned to be very self-reliant, and because of that, I think I tend to be defiant.” – Colin Cowherd, pg. 716
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