Olbermann smooching up to ESPN honcho, hoping to return?

Doesn't work. He's shitty to everyone. He went out of his way to make co-anchors cry. TV is too collaborative to just look the other way when someone is an insufferable, vicious prick.

I say that as an unabashed fan of his work. I watched him as a local guy in LA and then watched him religiously on ESPN. Nobody does what he does better than Olbermann. But I would only hire him in a situation where (a) he gets to do pretty much whatever he wants, and (b) he's able to do it in near-total isolation. Even if you find a way to do that, he'll find a way to fuck it up beyond repair within 18 months.

 

Except it's one thing for management to deal with it, and another to expect everyone else in the building to deal with it. You can't have one guy shitting all over everyone else, in front of and behind the camera. He's good, but he's not THAT good. And the ratings difference won't justify it -- they do just fine without him, and the benefit of having someone as good as him is probably balanced out by the cost of having someone as polarizing as him.

 

Considering ESPN lets Stephen A. Smith debate hockey, I'm pretty sure they are up for anything right now.

 

Yeah, the move would certainly make more sense for a smaller place. The tricky thing is, I don't think he's really that big a draw when he strays away from sports. Like I said earlier, MLB Network makes some sense. That's right in his wheelhouse. Outside of that, I'm not sure I see anything that fits.

 

I don't know. I've heard all the horror stories but I saw Keith a few weeks ago and I got the impression he'd mellowed a bit. It had been several years since I last saw him and about 20 since I first met him. He was gracious and respectful. His talent speaks for itself. If he can temper himself with co-workers there's little doubt he'd be a huge asset again. MLB Network would definitely be a good fit.

 

It would be interesting to see him as the counterweight to the Bayless/Smith/AroundThe Horn populism. Give him a show and let him be Roy Firestone. Or let him host the Sunday Sports Reporters. I think you could even have him do video essays from big events. Trouble is, he'd write these beautiful, bombastic rants about Goodell and Selig and Stern, and every "Special Comment" would make Skipper and Doria and Walsh nervous.

It would be fun to see him as the true liberal voice of Fox News, now that I think about it. And if Ailes and Murdoch were willing to put propaganda aside, it would actually be pretty effective programming, I bet. Give him a show, people would hate watch, and let him joust with the Hannity types after big events. It would be fascinating.

 

Olbermann is Barry Bonds circa 2009 or Terrell Owens circa 2012. Still good enough to play, but not good enough anymore to justify the headaches.

 

But I don't really think Olbermann has been all that wanted by the public since he left ESPN. Who has, really, other than Erin Andrews and maybe Dan Patrick somewhat? There are not really any greener pastures than ESPN for on-air sports

 

I think if you are one of the national sports radio talk networks that have recently sprung up you hire Olbermann. Let him work from home. But how many guys doing a national show have 1/10th the talent of Olbermann?

I know a lot of people will respond that Olbermann is a smug, liberal jerk. Agreed. But it is becasue of Olbermann's talent that you are reading this thread. Colin Cowherd's career does not draw this much interest.

 

Anybody can be charming for 30-40 minutes.

 

"Because people are reading the thread" is about the worst standard imaginable. People end up reading just about all of them over the course of the day. Hell, there was about a 100-page thread focused on words starting with "ack," and that never became a trend in society.

Even assuming there's some interest beyond that, it's surely mainly in the "stopping to gape at a wreck" area.

 

What other standard is a better one?

Lots of guys wreck their careers. But Olbermann's wrecks seem to draw more attention than any other sportscaster I remember on this thread. Largely because he is such a huge talent and because of what he has accomplished, which lead to larger audiences for the wrecks.