Posted on 07/17/2013 12:19:48 AM PDT by John W
It's been 16 long years since Keith Olbermann left ESPN's SportsCenter to make his name as a political commentator at MSNBC and, most recently, Current TV. But as Variety first reported this evening, Olbermann will be returning to the network he helped put on the map as an anchor alongside Dan Patrick on SportsCenter.
Variety says ESPN is likely making the official announcement tomorrow. Olbermann will host his own hourlong show on ESPN2, which will air later this year. The move has been 14 months in the making; as recently as March, it seemed like the 54-year-old anchor was trying, but failing, to get back into ESPN after his long, tumultuous relationship with ESPN. (He had a brief stint alongside Patrick on ESPN radio's "The Big Show with Dan and Keith" until Patrick left in 2007.) The New York Times, which also reported on the story, has more:
Within ESPN, there was concern about asking Olbermann back because he left the network under emotionally charged circumstances and because it was feared by some that Olbermann had become too politicized as the host of his interim MSNBC program “Countdown,” which aired from 2003 through January 2011.
On his new show, Olbermann will be free to discuss matters other than sports, including pop culture and current events, but not politics, the two-year pact specifies.
While some ESPN insiders reportedly voiced the opinion that Olbermann was part of the network’s past, not its future, his star quality is almost unmatched in the sports television arena; he seems to draw a crowd. Rumors had been bubbling for weeks that ESPN would put aside the difficulties of the past and invite Olbermann back.
(Excerpt) Read more at deadspin.com ...
talk about flogging a clapped out dead horse.
Keith is obviously talented alongside arrogant and insufferable but I would still like to see him back in a sports context, which he seems to care about much more than politics. The current ESPN culture is just about to get a little more lively...providing he doesn’t storm out and torch it first. :)
Arsonists can’t stop playing with fire. Give him a lighter, walk him to a house and watch it burn.
I disagree that he’s obviously talented. He’s been very fortunate in his timing. He didn’t make ESPN....ESPN made him.
I hope they just let him cover baseball and soccer. I have no interest in either.
That’s the case with many famous people who earn top dollar salaries. They just so happen to be at the right place at the right time. Sort of reminds me of one of my favorite books, but I’m not sure of the name now, maybe it’s Plunkitt of Tammany Hall and he wrote, “I saw my opportunities and I took them.” I see it as a major reason why the Democrats have excelled and Republicans floundered. Many Democrats come from impoverished backgrounds, so if they don’t succeed in politics, they go back on the welfare dole. Whereas Country Club GOPers have nothing to fear if they lose an election. They can return to their mansions and talk to their Country Club friends to claim that America has lost it’s way because people didn’t vote for them. The Country Clubbers will rally around the loser and to boost his spirits offer some more lucrative business deals to distract him from his sadness.
Then ESPN should invite Rush back. Then maybe Rush would stop talking about football on his weekday show.
“I hope they just let him cover baseball and soccer. I have no interest in either.”
Yeah, agree in that. I also have no interest in Olbermann, zero. I won’t watch any show that he has a part in.
The new sports networks have been taking ESPNs top talent and its sports contracts...looks like a desperate move bringing Olberdork back
If he would do sports with only occasional slips into politics that could be worth watching. It’s not exactly the same but kinda like Michael Jordan giving up baseball to earn the Bulls several more flags.
This is like a farmer ordering more manure for his barn.
Well, I could not care less. I have never seen ESPN and have
minimal interest in people playing with balls.
I should add that I have never seen Olbermann, but have never read anything good about him either. All I have heard is that he is a radical left wing loony-tune.
That he is.
Yes, he needs a social life (a woman as Deford said) but there is no denying Olbermann is as brilliant and talented as anyone. A total pleasure to read first and foremost, with a totally natural ability to connect with broad demographics audiences not normally in the market for sports. He’s got other gigs lined up on FOX but this could be a big story if it works. Go Keith ! :)
Screw ESPN.
Allow me to deny it. Today he couldn't crack the line up on ESPN against Neal Everett, Steve Levy, John Anderson and Scott Van Pelt IMO. He came along when ESPN was hittng the strateosphere, and while he and Dan Patrick made a good team, it was timing and ESPN's rise and the rise of cable - that really lifted them both.
Even ESPN at the time thought that those two made Sportscenter, but as they know now, Sportscenter is what made them. BTW, you ever pay attention to the subtleties from Everett? Brilliant, and I believe conservative....(but don't let that get around)
There is a show I won’t be watching.
ESPN is not watched in our home....I am wondering when Foxsports will kick in
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