Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [145]
After George got the fax, we popped the Cristal, and I certainly did my share of drinking. At around midnight, I called Dan Burke to tell him, “Hey, we’re on the air,” and evidently a little bit more. Then, frankly, I don’t remember much after that. All I can say is that I will forever be thankful to Rosa Gatti, who came up to me at that party and said, “Time for you to go home.” She got me out of there and to the hotel across the street.
The next day, I get up, and the first thing I do is call Dan Burke to tell him that we had closed TCI, and that we had gone on the air, totally forgetting that I ever called him the night before. He couldn’t have been nicer, saying, “Is this a different TCI than what you told me about last night?” I then realized I had just put my foot in my mouth because I had gotten so hammered, I didn’t remember calling him, and then I wondered what else I didn’t remember. I just kind of covered myself and said I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have any questions about the deal.
DAVID ZUCKER:
We always had Christmas parties, but that ESPN2 launch party was out of the ordinary. It was a big bash, which was pretty unusual for what had always been a tightly run, cost-conscious organization. We were rolling; we were making money.
JOHN WALSH:
We were ecstatic that we got it on the air. We felt as though we did what we set out to do, and it reflected all the thought, energy, and conclusions that we had put into it all. People were really ebullient that we did it. We launched something new. We had guests who made it to Bristol, and that had never happened before. But I was totally exhausted. It was eleven o’clock when we got off the air, and I think I went in and probably had one drink and was home by 11:30. It wasn’t until the next day, when people were talking about it, did I realize what had gone on. It was pretty evident that some people were overserved.
Bill LAMB, Technology:
It was one heck of a party. It was under the tent, it was all over the grounds, it was just a great time. Yeah, I heard about Rosa telling Steve Bornstein it was time for him to go home—but was that after he fell over the railing into the creek, or before?
It wasn’t just one party; there were also the afterparties. There were lots of them. They were nonauthorized, non-business-related. The one that I was at was maybe fifty people. You watched the sun come up, pretty much. We’re a pretty good operation that work together and play together. You can imagine.
SUZY KOLBER:
Once we got started doing the show, things didn’t become any easier. One particular circumstance that stands out about Keith is related to his love of fantasy baseball. We would do skits for every show. Some major leaguer had been there the day before and so we were playing off of that. The language I used in this skit was something about Keith being obsessed with fantasy baseball, and he got so bent out of shape that he threatened to quit. We were minutes from being on the show. He had seen the taping of the skit and he went to Norby’s office. I think he said, “I’m quitting.” And Norby begged him, “Don’t quit now.” So he didn’t, but Keith wouldn’t talk to me—throughout a three-hour show. I don’t remember how long that lasted but he never discussed what happened, what was wrong. He just wouldn’t talk to me.
The other instance that stands out to me was during the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding situation. Keith and Christine Brennan [columnist] had become very good friends, and Christine was all over that story. I had the