Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat

Cover Me Boys, I'm Going In by Keith Hirshland
Published: August 8, 2013 by Createspace
I'm not a big golf fan, but I am a big tv fan which is the main reason I wanted to read this one. Cover Me Boys is the memoir of the original producers of the Golf Channel, so while I knew there would be a lot of golf, I was hoping there would be enough tv production for me to stay interested. Thankfully, for the most part I was right.

Hirshland does have a big background in TV production coming from a family where his father owned a tv station. We're able to travel alongside Hisrland from his family's small time station in Reno, to working at ESPN 2, to finally the Golf Channel. I loved all the behind the scenes details, especially in the first half of the book. But even so, once it got more into golf closer to the end, found the pieces of how new technology came about fascinating. Although funny enough one of my favorite parts didn't have to really do with Hirshland producing tv, but instead he time as a tv show contestant on Classic Concentration.

As you get further and further into the book it feels a bit like a Who's Who in the world of golf and sports. There are some fun bits of the early lives of tv personalities, like Matt Lauer, that I really appreciated. But a lot of the names were those I didn't recognize, or at least couldn't place immediately. I did ask the boy if he knew a few, and most times his response was yes, and that I would probably recognize them as well. After a funny bit with Keith Olbermann, I asked the boy about him, not having any idea who he was. But the following night the boy pointed him out to me on tv, and yes, while I may not have been able to place him, I have watched him a number of times.

It's funny in a way, because while there is a ton of information in here, probably more than needed to be at times, at the end I wanted to keep reading. In some ways it feels a bit unfinished, but unfortunately that's how life works sometimes. Our story never really ends, it's more a new chapter is always starting. With that note if Hirshland ever does to write a follow up memoir I'd be curious enough to read it as well.

3.5/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through Virtual Author Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.