Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [106]
After that particular conversation, a male production assistant followed me out of the newsroom and said, “Sometimes I think that you may know more than I do about some things.” I later commented that nowhere else in the work world would an assistant several rungs lower have said that to a superior, even a female one. And the response was something to the effect of “Oh, he would have said that to a male superior. People take enormous pride in their sports knowledge. That was a huge compliment.”
BILL WOLFF:
At ESPN, the code of the place was you don’t root for anybody; you just want your game to end quickly. You lose your team allegiances. You just don’t care. Whatever. Did the game go quickly? Okay, I can cut thirty seconds of highlights. They get handed to Bob Ley. Can I go home now? It sort of sucked the joie de sports out of it. That was part of the deal. But not always. The greatest night I ever remember at ESPN was February 11, 1990. I was only an entry-level guy, but it was incredible.
Tyson versus Douglas. Eric Clemmons was the reporter. He had to con management into letting him go to Tokyo. “Buster Douglas? We’re not sending anybody.” Remember, Tyson was Tyson; people forget—he was unbeatable, he was the man, nobody was close. Clemmons told them, “But it’s the heavyweight champ of the world. You gotta send somebody.” So they said, “All right, Clemmons, you go.” Clemmons goes. We’re watching the fight back in Bristol. I’m in graphics that night. Wow, this isn’t a knockout. Oh shit, it’s the third round, it’s not a knockout. Oh shit, it’s the fifth round, he’s not knocked out. Douglas’s mama had just died, and he was saying, “This is my time. Fuck all of you—I don’t care who I’m fighting.” We just didn’t know that before. And Douglas wins the fight! He did it, man. So here’s this fucking Buster Douglas from Columbus, Ohio, becoming heavyweight champ of the world. I thought I came up with one of my proudest moments. We had built, “Tyson Wins,” but now we had to say “Douglas Wins.” So I build one, it was a Ghostbusters slash through a picture of Mike Tyson, and the slug said, “Tysonbuster.” It was one of my proudest moments. I was like, “I’m the greatest twenty-four-year-old currently walking the face of this earth.” Tysonbuster? Tysonbuster! Unbelievable. I thought Sports Illustrated would mention it, but no one ever said it again.
Anyway, I thought it was the greatest upset in sports history. People talk about the miracle on ice; I don’t think so. I think it was Tyson-Douglas. It was off-the-board in Vegas. Forty-two-to-one, I heard. It was the greatest night in my history at ESPN. We were all high-fiving. We all knew we had just seen something that would never be forgotten. It was shocking. And despite the fact that we were all made of lead, we couldn’t be moved by sports—you were uncool if you were moved by sports—we were moved. We were moved by Buster Douglas. Anyone who says he wasn’t is lying to you. People couldn’t help themselves. I remember walking down the hall, fucking high-fiving: “Did you see that fucking fight! High five!” That was a night I’ll never forget.
CHARLEY STEINER:
The same year Douglas beat Tyson, he fought Holyfield. The weigh-in for the fight was unbelievable. Here’s Buster, who had just pulled off arguably the greatest upset in sports history: right out of the journeyman ranks, he knocks Mike Tyson into the ozone. So he’s getting like $25 million for his first defense, and it’s going to be Holyfield. Now, he weighed around 215 or 220 for Tyson, but he’s been training on beer and pizza! So the weigh-in happens, and when Douglas takes his shirt off, Ray Leonard, who was on the set with me, says something like “Oh, my God!” Buster was near 240 pounds, with a belly that was bigger than mine! As soon as they announced the weight, there was a rush on the Vegas bookies like you’ve never seen. All the money went to Holyfield.
ANDREA KREMER, Reporter:
Before I got to ESPN, I was at NFL Films, and as I was getting prepared to start being on camera there, I basically asked the producer, “What