Keith Olbermann sat down with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch to discuss his show, its rivals and whether or not he misses delivering political news.
It’s been about 14 months since the former MSNBC host returned to ESPN which was, not coincidentally, about the same time that Fox debuted its 24/7 sports network, Fox Sports 1. The typically polarizing Olbermann explains that ESPN was looking to steal the thunder of Fox Sports 1’s launch.
Then there was the strategic usefulness relative to Fox Sports [1]. In case there was anything actually happening there, the goal was to make sure it didn’t. My task, my assignment, was to basically smother them before they hatch. Destroy the eggs!
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Olbermann elaborated when asked if the eggs are destroyed, “I take no credit for it because my experience with them [Fox Sports] having done the same thing at the other end of it, being with Fox Sports Net in 1999 and 2000 and 2001, suggests to me that anything they have achieved is entirely their own doing. But there was a certain quality of strategy for ESPN, as in: ‘let’s make this move now.’ And it got as much attention as their launch did.”
Olbermann followed up with candid remarks about being supported by ESPN management, his relationship with Dan Patrick and his need to “feed the trolls” on Twitter. He even pays a compliment to George W. Bush.