Would you believe that the ESPN offices have long been a hotbed of cocaine, hookers and drunken orgies at Christmas parties? A new 700-page book makes those allegations and much more about the sports network boys club.

"Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN," written by authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales—who wrote a similarly exhausting account of the behind the scenes world of Saturday Night Live—takes an in-depth look at the rise of the sports network giant, with lots of stops along the way for strange anecdotes about the "glorified frat house." Below are some highlights from the tome, per the Post's preview of the forthcoming book:


  • Former ESPN general counsel Andy Brilliant provided many anecdotes to the authors about some of the worst behavior in the early days of the network—he said that he and his "entourage" would run amok in their ESPN-owned apartment on 47th Street, with "liquor, drugs, hookers." Brilliant also talks about his secretary, who was being pimped out of the Manhattan ESPN office by the company's mailroom guys in order to maintain her coke habit. "The receptionist was a really good-looking girl, and she was b---ing FedEx guys in the bathroom after work hours," Brilliant said.

  • About those Christmas party "orgies": "A couple of them were drunken orgies, but who could blame these people in the middle of nowhere? It became like a big frat party. There were a lot of drugs being done in the bathroom. There was quite a bit of screwing going on afterward, a lot of it extramarital," said Brilliant.

  • "There was a lusty sex life there. There was screwing in the hallways. OK, maybe not in the hallways, but there were a couple of stairwell stories," said former reporter Sal Marchiano.

  • Keith Olbermann joined the network in 1992 as an anchor for "SportsCenter," and is credited with helping to make ESPN a household name. But despite being a "genius", a lot of people hated him. "I was enraged by Olbermann. Guys like that just piss me off, you know, because there's no loyalty. It's just me, me, me," said ESPN chairman emeritus Herb Granath. When Olbermann left in 1997, many were relieved, including fellow ESPN anchor Bob Ley: "Our long national nightmare is over, huh? We felt not so much relief when Keith left as unrestrained f--king joy."

  • Recently retired NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol talked about an incident in 2006, when NFL commentator Sean Salisbury sent pictures of his "junk" from his phone while at a gambling table: "ESPN basically has to have one of their talent talk about Hitler or put a picture of their d--k on a phone -- which is what the Salisbury guy did -- before [they won't] do anything about any of these various crazies, because they don't have to. Nobody can touch them."

  • They also touch upon the ugly 2009 incident involving ESPN baseball analyst and former Mets GM Steve Phillips, who was fired after his affair with a 22-year-old production assistant was revealed: "ESPN suspending Steve Phillips as a commentator because he's a married man having an affair with an employee is like going to Harlem and saying we're going to arrest all black men who cross the street," said John Lack, a vice president at ESPN.