The Big Show

The former tag-team partners of ESPN's award-winning "SportsCenter" shares with readers a controversial list of should-be Baseball Hall of Famers; the pantheon of all-time greatest athletes; the dirt on each other; what superstars and the press really think about them; and much more in this eye-opening look behind the scenes at ESPN.

CONTENTS

PREFACE v

INTRODUCTION xi

1 • HI, HELLO, AND HOW ARE YOU? 1

2 • A SORT OF GLOSSARY OF TERMS 9

3 • THE OFFICIAL TIME-LINE HISTORY OF THE BIG SHOW 33

4 • HOW WE DO THE VOODOO THAT WE DO 49

5 • "BILL BUCKNER -- COULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED?" Dan and Keith's Top Ten Weirdest Things Said by Athletes 63

6 • GOOD GRIEF, WE'RE FAMOUS, SORT OF, PART-TIME 93

7 • HOW TO BE A SPORTSCASTER WHEN YOU GROW UP Dan and Keith's Top Ten Free Pieces of Advice to Other Sportscasters 115

8 • PETE ROSE AND THE HALL OF FAME 139

9 • KEITH'S COMPLAINT: IF YOU BUILD IT FOR ME, I WON'T LEAVE Dan and Keith's Top Ten Most Troubling Sports Team Names 187

10 • DAN'S COMPLAINT: WE BLAME ATHLETES FOR THE WRONG THINGS Dan and Keith's Top Ten Favorite Types of Sports Figures to Interview 199

11 • OUR TWENTY-ONE TOP TEN ATHLETES 207

12 • KEITH'S COMPLAINT, PART II: TO MAKE THE WORLD SAFE FOR ALBERT BELLE TO HATE MY GUTS 233

13 • PLAYS OF THE WEEK Dan and Keith's Top Ten Pleas to Athletes Who Are Being Interviewed 241

14 • OUR GREATEST GAMES (WATCHED, THAT IS, NOT PLAYED) Keith's Top Ten Prominent Baseball Players' Names (Submitted Without Dan's Approval) 249

15 • PUT YOUR BASEBALL CARDS IN YOUR BICYCLE SPOKES, NOW! 281

16 • BUT ENOUGH ABOUT US, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT US? 295

17 • TOM 305