Why I’ll Miss Keith Olbermann On ESPN

Keith Olbermann is out at ESPN, either because the Worldwide Leader in Getting Rid Of Really Talented People (see: Simmons, Bill, or Cowherd, Colin) didn’t want to pay Olbermann, or because Olbermann’s commentaries on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had become a sticking point for ESPN as an NFL rights-holder.

In any case, this is the second time that Olbermann has left ESPN – and these are the reasons why I’ll miss his show.

• He didn’t pretend to care about the nonsense. Most of the content on ESPN throughout an average day is nauseating – the same, boring, inflated talking points spun right, left, and center by anyone within shouting distance of a microphone. Watch enough of the network, and you’ll realize that the PTI is basically the same show as Around the Horn, which is the same show as His & Hers, and the same show as First Take, and the same show even as SportsCenter. Olbermann was different. He didn’t pretend to care about 95% of the day’s headlines. The result was a different, refreshing, informative show.
• He talked about hockey. And that’s saying something – ESPN covers less hockey than college softball. During the NBA and NHL Finals, Olbermann’s was the only show that devoted time to hockey.
• He loved history. Olbermann’s devotion to and adoration of history made for consistently fascinating and informative content in places that you would have thought no story existed. Olbermann’s command of sports history, especially, of course, baseball history, is unparalleled – not just in what he knows, and the detail in which he knows it, but how eager he is to share. It was what set otherwise unremarkable shows and segments apart, and made summer days when nothing was going on some of the best shows in the run.
• There has never been anyone as good at reading highlights. SportsCenter hasn’t really had stars since Olbermann and Dan Patrick in the ‘90s, and that’s because Olbermann’s talent doing highlights is and always has been totally unmatched. ESPN not putting him on SportsCenter after they moved his show to the afternoon was a travesty.
• The Eyewitness News Team. I thought Bob Slurm was hilarious. The quirks on this show – throwing the papers at the camera after the “Worst Person in the Sports World” segment, the wacky catchphrases (“Bye Felicia!”), the excellent John Sterling impression, the sign offs (which transitioned from good night, and good luck odes to Olbermann’s hero Ed Murrow to, “go forth and spread beauty – and light,” – were almost reminiscent of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. This was funny stuff, but not biting, unfunny funny stuff like some of the Olbermann of old. This was just plain silly. And it worked.
• Olbermann is good on television. It wasn’t just the content, the writing, and the uncanny feel for his subjects – funny and serious – that made Olbermann’s show so good. It’s also that Olbermann is fun to watch. Now approaching his late 50s, Olbermann has considerable gravitas and a mischievousness that made for enthralling performances night in and night out. That isn’t to say the writing – almost all Olbermann’s own work – wasn’t great though. It was superb.
• It was out of the way enough. On ESPN2, in rough timeslots, not many people watched this show. It was outside of the mainstream. The result was that Olbermann cut loose – he could talk about what he wanted (which, not always, but often, fell outside of the day’s main talking points), and that always made for the best television.
• He was best in big moments. Olbermann rose to the occasion several times while on air, most recently, using that superior command of what came before to craft a ringing, thoughtful response to the Charleston shootings. Olbermann’s tribute to Stuart Scott was incredibly moving as well.
• This was a good spot for Olbermann. It seems like the famously prickly, sour, and combative Olbermann has mellowed some with age. There were less spats with management and press during this show than any other Olbermann venture, and the results were positive. As good as Olbermann is at raging and mud-slinging, he’s better as a wise, cantankerous, happily exasperated historian. He shouldn’t forget that in his next venture.
• Sure, there were flaws. Olbermann went way overboard several times during his run with the incessant calls for people to be fired or resign, and he had a tendency to make every interview he did about him, but Olbermann’s show was totally unique on sports television: Sharp, funny, and effortlessly entertaining – a one-stop shop for everything you needed to see and hear about sports every week day. I think Olbermann really liked doing this show, but, unfortunately, there’s nowhere else in the television landscape for him to do it. My guess is Olbermann is done in sports for the moment – returning to MSNBC to complete the reunion tour – and that’s a shame for viewers. He’s a unique talent, and his was a unique show. It never had the plaudits his other ventures had, but this show was the best thing going on sports television. It will be dearly, dearly missed.