The pieces are starting to fall into place. Wald wanted someone unusual, and he got it. For one thing, Olbermann almost certainly was the only television sportscaster in Los Angeles who didnât drive. Olbermann, who is six feet three and a half, once bumped his head while leaping into a subway car; it permanently upset his equilibrium, which makes driving a trial. (He says he loses depth perception at speeds greater than fifteen miles per hour.) He also hates flying, and that made it difficult to follow the local teams, but it was just as well; Olbermann firmly resisted the chumminess that often develops between sports journalists and their subjects. Wald says that the only argument he had with Olbermann came when Olbermann refused an assignment to cover spring training. âHe thought that was going to compromise his objectivity and reporting,â Wald recalls. âI didnât know at the time that he didnât like to fly, but I think that he was probably right in his reasons.â.......... In 1992, Olbermann joined ESPN, where his erudite, wise-guy style flowered into an artful, full-blown satire of the cliché-ridden form: âThatâs a six-four-three double play if youâre scoring at home. Or if youâre by yourself.â ........... Olbermannâs tenure at ESPN was characteristically contentious. One of his co-anchors, Suzy Kolber, has said that Olbermann was sometimes so overbearing that she would lock herself in the bathroom and cry. Another colleague, Mike Soltys, has said that when Olbermann left the network, in 1997, âhe didnât burn bridges hereâhe napalmed them.â...... âThe Big Show,â was Phil Griffin, who was delighted to be working with Olbermann again. But in 1998, when the news cycle was hijacked by the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Olbermann found himself the anchor of a nightly newscast called âWhite House in Crisis.â He grew so weary of the story that getting him on the air every day became a battle. âKeith just didnât want to go there,â Griffin recalls. âHe didnât want to do the story, and it evolved into the hottest story of the time. It made my life miserable. It was bad. And it did not end pretty.â.......... Once again, Olbermann left a job unhappily, returning to sportscasting at Fox Sports. He was subsequently fired, and the remainder of his contract was paid off. (âI fired him,â Rupert Murdoch said recently. âHeâs crazy.â).............. âDonald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.â Olbermann went on to lecture Rumsfeld about the workings of a democracy and the nature of fascism, and concluded by quoting from Edward R. Murrowâs 1954 denunciation of Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism. He says that he didnât know how the commentary would play, with the NBC brass or with the audience. âI really did think, Well, if this is the end of my career, I will have gone down for a good cause.â His bosses loved it. âI think weâre onto something,â the president of NBC News, Steve Capus, told me. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_boyer?currentPage=all#ixzz14RweMif0
Be pretty funny if FOX hired Olbermann to go on O'Reilly three days a week to do some type of point/counterpoint segment. That'd be a hoot!
It looks like this guy's suspension is over. He'll be back on the air Tuesday night. Just a 2 day suspension. http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/07/olbermann-suspension-highlights-ethics-rules/ "Liberal groups had taken on Olbermannâs suspension as a cause. An online petition calling for his reinstatement, run by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, had exceeded 300,000 signatures Sunday, and Michael Moore had tweeted his support. The committeeâs Adam Green said Griffin was repeatedly e-mailed updates on the petition drives." âProgressives proved that when one of our own are targeted, we will have their backs,â he said."
Whew! That was a close one. Where else you going to find comedy like Olberman delivers? Now if they can just land Grayson to complete the team.