Back when I was younger I interviewed at ESPN. Had a background perfect for a job there and had several people on the production (including the hosts) vouch for me. The hosts said it was basically a formality. The hiring producer proceeded to end my interview with insanely hard sports trivia questions that no one (by his own admission no less) could have known. It was incredibly uncomfortable and then he proceeded to trash my sports knowledge. He went on a rant about how important a “genius level” of sports trivia was to any job there. A few weeks after that, while I was still waiting to hear back, my friends on the production all started looking for other jobs. They said ESPN was a “1950s style company” complete with bosses who screamed at their employees and made everyone feel replaceable. They were all really let down their dream company turned out to be so rough to work at.
I never even got a call back, and I said “screw it” and followed my other dream: kids tv. As a child of 80s cartoons it seemed like a dream career. Well 15 years later I have had an incredibly fulfilling career, have been able to create cartoons myself, have Emmy nods, and have brought happiness to a ton of kids through the programming I’ve been a part of.
...and it’s all because ESPN was and still is a gigantic, steaming pile of ****. I should thank them for how they were. My friends all also went on to work long term at other sports companies, including Fox Sports, CBS Sports and MLB Network.
Sorry to add this long note but people are always bemoaning now awful ESPN has gotten and wonder how it happened. I’ve heard so many stories of how the culture inside that place pushed good qualified people away and made things very tough for the people who did stay. It’s that company’s reputation. Worst part is many of the same execs run things in Bristol, so short of a major change it’s not going to get any better.
