By Don Steinberg--Philadelphia Inquirer
August 6, 2004
Olbermann, a pioneering anchorman on ESPN's SportsCenter, was a critic of the network while he worked there, and he hasn't tried to kiss and make up since he left.
This week, ESPN conducted a telephone news conference to announce "Old School Week." The network is having five classic SportsCenter anchors return, Welcome Back, Kotter-like, to do the 11 p.m. show one night each, starting Sunday. Gayle Gardner, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Craig Kilborn and Charley Steiner were on the phone call, along with ESPN executive Mark Shapiro.
At the very moment the news conference begain, Olbermann's current network, MSNBC, sent an e-mail alert to reporters announcing that its Countdown with Keith Olbermann would have a "Back to School Week" starting Monday, revisiting "classic moments" from the 16-month-old show, including "a Wisconsin girl who tumbled off her chair in the midst of her interview about her experience with monkey pox."
"Yes, it's an absolute, blatant, naked attempt to piggyback on the publicity that ESPN is getting," Olbermann conceded.
He says that he did it once before, at Fox, where he did a special called The Real 100 Greatest Athletes.
ESPN's throwback week sounds fun, even without Olbermann.
Kilborn, a mid-1990s SportsCenter wise guy before he got his current late-night talk show on CBS, said he has been asked if he is responsible for influencing "these young, obnoxious ESPN reporters being flip and being funny."
"I do apologize if I've influenced any of these young guys wrong," he said. "I'm going to try and correct things this Sunday. No catchphrases when I'm hosting with Dan Patrick. I'm just giving scores and highlights."
Kilborn said his favorite catchphrase to yell during sports highlights was not "Jumanji!" ("That was not one I thought was all that brilliant, but people liked it.") He fondly recalled shouting, "Oh, hemoglobin!" over the tape of a jump shot by Hakeem Olajuwon when Olajuwon had returned to playing after being out with anemia.
Asked whether ESPN had considered inviting Olbermann to the alumni bash, Shapiro said: "You can't look back at the history of ESPN and the growth of SportsCenter and not think about Chris- uh Keith Olbermann. Clearly very knowledgeable. Extremely talented. He will be a part of our ESPN 25 book and DVD.
"But I'll tell you, as a result of the history of repeated criticism, we didn't want to bring him into the workplace. The damage he could cause in one day in our newsroom could put us into damage control for two years."
"I think he's exaggerating my superhuman powers," Olbermann said. "Of course, I'm disappointed. It would've been great fun, especially to work with Dan [Patrick] again." Olbermann said his news program is so demanding that he has largely lost touch with sports.
"I'd really like to concentrate to confidently answer the question, who lost the Super Bowl this year?" he said.
