Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [281]
Many were in awe of Mandt’s ability to bend executives to her will when need be—with John Walsh seeming especially susceptible. Mandt clearly respected Walsh but also managed to get her way nearly every time: apart from Walsh’s best friend, Steve Anderson, and comrade-in-arms John Skipper, there may not have been anyone else with that success rate.
When Mandt was promoted to executive producer of the show, she set about giving the production new energy and increased star power. Rubbing elbows with big-time Hollywood luminaries—increasingly attracted to the ESPYs as its reputation improved—Mandt incurred jealousy from fellow ESPN producers who coveted her big budgets and the glamorous company she kept. But headquartered in New York, focused on Los Angeles, and linked to sports celebrities around the globe, Mandt had no time for games. At least, not with her coworkers.
MAURA MANDT:
In 2002, the first year I was executive producer of the show, there were some changes that had happened with the voting. Mark Shapiro wanted only fans to decide on all the winners. This was the year that Tom Brady had won his first Super Bowl, and a couple days before the show it looked like no one would be able to catch Brady in the category of Best Breakthrough [Athlete], but the Patriots were probably not going to have enough votes for Best Team. Now, George had told Mark that we needed to get [Patriots owner] Robert Kraft on stage somehow, but since the Patriots weren’t likely to win, I didn’t really know how we were going to do that. Then when we were at a rundown meeting, Mark says, “When Tom Brady wins, Robert Kraft is going to go up and accept the award.” And my reaction immediately was, that is a horrible idea. It wasn’t like Brady wasn’t going to be there; he was already confirmed. So I suggested that we have Kraft present the award, but Mark just wouldn’t listen to me at all. I tried for two days to convince him to have Kraft present rather than accept an award Brady had won, and he just kept saying emphatically, “Robert Kraft will accept this award, Maura; make it happen!” The day before the show, I was panicking and was literally in tears thinking, “It’s going to kill me if this is the way it’s going to be with Mark.”
Since this was my first year, Mark had asked Fred Gaudelli to be there, I guess to make sure that I didn’t mess up. So Freddie comes in and I’m walking him through the show and he says, “Why is Kraft accepting for Tom Brady?” I told him the story and asked him if he would try to change Shapiro’s mind. Freddie didn’t think it would make a difference since I had already tried, but in the last meeting before the show, Freddie tells Mark, “I think it’s really weird to have Kraft accept. Why don’t you have him present the award to Brady?” and Mark looks at Freddie and without much pause says, “I think that’s a great idea.”
After the meeting Freddie just turned to me and said, “I can’t explain why that just happened,” and I said, “I can: I don’t have a set of balls; you do.”
PEYTON MANNING:
A couple years back, my brother Eli went to the ESPYs because he was up for a college award. He brought some friends with him, and one of them was just a huge, huge movie buff. And we’re sitting there talking to Vince Vaughn about the movie Rudy, and about Vince’s character, who changed a play and threw a halfback pass so they could score a touchdown and kick off, all so Rudy could get to play in that game on defense. It wasn’t a prominent role in the movie, but this friend of Eli’s, the movie buff, was asking Vince Vaughn if he actually threw that pass or did he have to call in a stunt double to do it. And Vince tells us that