This is why Keith Olbermann is the best.
Olbermann, who is literally brilliant, and whose new show, Olbermann, debuted on ESPN 2 last night, used his first 13 or so minutes to shred a New York Daily news reporter, Manish Mehta, who tweeted and wrote that Rex Ryan should be fired for putting Mark Sanchez in at the end of a preseason game this weekend, a decision that resulted in Sanchez hurting his shoulder.
Olbermann’s critique – and Chris Christie’s – was that Mehta created a story based on nothing other than his own opinion. That sort of thing is acceptable, maybe, for columnists, bloggers and pundits, but not for the automaton assigned to cover the team. Just the facts, dammit. Worse is that, a few days earlier, Mehta wrote that Sanchez shouldn’t be the Jets’ starter, an opinion which contradicted with him proclaiming that Ryan should be fired for using Sanchez, the guy who shouldn’t be the starter, late in a preseason game.
Olbermann’s rant was brilliant – spectacular, even – and if this is the sort of thing he produces on a nightly basis, his show is going to be a hit. He’s that good.
But, of course, the usual anti-ESPN folks, who are often right to criticize the World Wide Leader, lined up to take easy pot shots and call out the hypocrisy that was Olbermann, on ESPN, criticizing someone for making up a story when, just days earlier, ESPN did the same when Ron Jaworski said that Colin Kaepernick could be one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, a proclamation that turned into a lead story on SportsCenter.
Olbermann is not Ron Jaworski. And he’s not a SportsCenter producer choosing easy fodder over actual news. He’s Keith Olbermann, doing what Keith Olbermann does. And Mehta wasn’t merely stating a controversial opinion on a highly subjective topic… he said that the football coach he covers could lose his job, without citing any sources on the matter.
Those things are very different.
But still, that didn’t stop everyone from lining up to point out the hypocrisy.
Deadspin founder Will Leitch, now of Sports On Earth:
It might not seem this way to Olbermann, but all that ESPN money and freedom come with a price, as it does for all personalities at the mammoth network. You are the establishment. And even though Olbermann obviously doesn’t want to be roped in with some of the channel’s more unsavory characters — watching him openly recoil when Mark Cuban greeted him with “Welcome to the network of Skip Bayless!” was a highlight of the hour — well, sorry man, but this is the world you’ve chosen and now inhabit. It was impossible not to watch the Mehta monologue — criticizing the Daily News for inventing a story and then building reporting off their invented story — and not to think of John Koblin’s terrific detailing of ESPN doing that exact thing just last week, and in far more brutally efficient fashion.
Again, Ron Jaworski subjectively analyzing Colin Kaepernick is a far cry from a Jets writer claiming that Rex Ryan could lose his job. Those things aren’t even in the same ballpark. And even if they were, it doesn’t mean that Olbermann, or anyone else for that matter, can’t criticize others for doing the same thing.
Leitch also had a problem with Olbermann using his bully pulpit to slam Mehta:
When Olbermann was lobbing rhetorical bombs at President Bush from the MSNBC chair, well, this was a guy on a then-fledgling basic cable network screaming into the void at the leader of the free world. But last night, when Olbermann began his show with a shockingly long, 20-minute screed against New York Daily News Jets beat reporter Manish Mehta, it felt less like a justified takedown and more like institutional bullying. Olbermann wasn’t necessarily wrong about Mehta’s (and the New York media’s in general) ridiculousness about Rex Ryan and Mark Sanchez, but to rain that much thunder on a beat guy? To have Jason Whitlock come in and talk about how “incapable” Mehta was? For 20 minutes of airtime on a signature ESPN station? It was using the world engine to squash an ant.
This coming from the guy who founded Deadspin, a site built on calling out bad sports reporting. I love what they do, obviously, but isn’t it just a tad hypocritical to complain that Olbermann’s stage was too big from which to rip a sports writer? What, exactly, is the right size then? Something bigger than a Gawker website, but smaller than ESPN? FOX Sports 1, perhaps? Leitch has spent years and made a career out of keeping people honest and holding them accountable… yet he argued that ESPN is too big of a stage on which to do that, citing the presumption that Olbermann won’t be able to criticize ESPN– the mothership, deserving of the most criticism. Silly. Leitch should applaud Olbermann for taking this sort of thing mainstream. And there are plenty of things in sports to take aim at besides ESPN, and perhaps Olbermann could next set his sights on Comcast-NBC, his former network.
Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing did the same thing as Leitch:
As far as the content goes, there were a few points made that could raise questions. Olbermann calling out New York Daily News reporter Manish Mehta for fabricating a controversy of Rex Ryan was ironic considering what his new employer was able to create out of nothing regarding “Colin Kaepernick: BEST QB EVER?!” Additionally, the first show was very New York centric (after all, it’s located in Times Square) and leading with the Jets for the opening essay felt like I was watching every other ESPN show from the previous 15 hours. For Olbermann’s ESPN2 show to truly carve that unique space, it’s going to have to live outside the ESPN echo chamber and tackle topics beyond the I-95 corridor. (Something Fox Sports Live has thankfully brought to the table.) As for Jason Whitlock’s appearance, let’s just appreciate denim’s remarkable comeback and leave it at that.
So did Jimmy Traina of SI.com:
And yet — It’s ESPN, so there’s always an “and yet” — one of the reporters pushing Ryan’s buttons in a press conference clip Olbermann mocked was none other than Rich Cimini, employed by (yep, you guessed it) ESPN. ESPN’s news operation has played along with the invented story, devoting plenty of time to it onSportsCenter on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and publishing Cimini’s column headlined, “Only Jets could butt-fumble QB battle.”
What’s worse, this past Friday Deadspin — ESPN’s eternal antagonist (and [disclosure!] my former employer), which was praised by Whitlock during his visit as the best force for holding the sports media accountable — showed, with exacting video precision, how ESPN does the same thing. That post, concerning an endlessly discussed Ron Jaworski SportsCenter soundbite, has over 300,000 page views. I’ll bet anything that at least two of them came from Olbermann and Whitlock, who are both committed readers of the site. If either one saw the irony, neither mentioned it.
Steve Lepore of SB Nation, however, had a much more reasoned take with which I agree:
A lot of people have wondered whether or not it’s right for Keith to carve up the media without going after ESPN. Probably not, but for television purposes, it’s most likely better that he doesn’t. While there are certainly a number of ESPN-affiliated media members worthy of scorn from time to time, this show will become unwatchable and uncomfortable if it just becomes Keith vs. [ESPN person]. For better or worse, the monologue portion of the show is Keith vs. The Media, with ESPN sitting in the corner as a conscientious objector.
And so did Timothy Burke of Deadspin:
The show opened with a lengthy discussion of Rex Ryan, Mark Sanchez, and ridiculous claims that the Jets coach ought to be fired. The conversation continued with guest (and fellow ESPN re-hire) Jason Whitlock, in case anyone watching had a shred of reality-disconnect remaining. Their debate over the practice of media members creating, rather than reporting, stories led many observers to point out hypocrisy in light of ESPN itself doing exactly that. But we read it differently; are we really to expect notorious curmudgeons like Olbermann and Whitlock to not notice the irony? The entire conversation, to us, seemed a commentary on ESPN journalism practices, even if they couldn’t actually say that.
I usually agree with the opinions of Leitch, Yoder, Traina and Dickey – I enjoy all of their work – but it feels like they’re being way too critical of Olbermann’s refusal to explicitly bash ESPN on his first show. It’s almost as if certain people in sports media that cover sports media have become too concerned with every little thing ESPN does while forgetting that, hey, this should be fun.
That said, those guys went on to mostly applaud the show for being smart and different, which it is. Go watch it.
37 Comments
And this has to do with Philly Sports how?
It has to do with your mom, PF4. It has to do with your mom.
HA! But seriously, Keith Olbermann is a fucking tool….
yes, olbermann is the worst and you are a db
calling olbermann brilliant two times in two paragraphs, unnecessary. Awesome, you read the ESPN book, and if you were in tune with most everyone you would realize that most people can’t stand Olbermann (in the business and outside of it.)
Bringing back Olbermann was a last ditch effort by both him to save his career and get him a paycheck and ESPN to try cushion the blow of the BPL on NBCsports and the premier of FS 1.
It’s lammmeeee.
“Olbermann, who is literally brilliant, ” as opposed to him being figuratively brilliant?
He’s brilliant? If spewing left wing garbage to 6 viewers and getting fired from his last two commie networks is brilliant, then yes, he’s a fucking genius.
Ding ding ding
wahh…go get the truth from FoxNews, the only real and true American network and leave all of us dumb sheep to enjoy Commie Keith’s rants
Shut up tool. You’re late for your union meeting
Belonging to a union does not make someone a communist. Educate yourself on the definition of things before you hurl insults. Yeah, a Communist country would really let people unionize. You are an ignorant jackass.
Belonging to a union almost certainly makes you a liberal. Which in turns makes you a commie bastard.
A blog writer on a high horse, writing about a TV joke who rides one of the highest horses on earth.
Predictable.
I now understand why most of your posts are just reports of other stories. When you try to do your own piece, it fails miserably.
Go back to pushing quizzo.
Maybe Rex Ryan should just be fired for being a terrible (and somehow over-rated) football coach?
Whiny wingers bringing politics to a non political post? Shocking
ed murphy said it best, I’d be pulling a Kyle if I copy and pasted it though, I don’t know why I read your bullshit,I feel like I’m getting ripped off because it’s the 2nd time I’ve heard our read about it
Well at least we don’t have to pay to get on here!
Who cares about his politics. The point is what he says in this clip is 100% accurate about how the sports media works these days. And the fact that he rips the guy a new one is awesome. These sports “reporters” are amateurs and need to be fired.
People aren’t used to Olbermans level of cred on E!spn. The network is filled with trolls the likes of Jemele Hill and Skip Bayless. Olberman is legit awesome and they can’t handle seeing that on the E!.
FACE
Eagles beats guys did this exact thing with The Eagles QB battle.
“Olbermann’s critique – and Chris Christie’s – was that Mehta created a story based on nothing other than his own opinion. That sort of thing is acceptable, maybe, for columnists, bloggers and pundits, but not for the automaton assigned to cover the team.”
Oh, gee, thanks Kyle. Is THAT what is acceptable? Thanks for clearing that up. God forbid these automaton’s, who by the way do all of the heavy lifting for you to regurgitate on this blog, have an opinion. How insanely nice of you to clarify the limits within which people who actually work and allow you to exist are permitted to operate.
By the way…ass lathering Olbermann and shaking your pom-poms over of how he is “literally” a genius is très, très corny. Even for you, Kyle.
You’re welcome.
Aren’t all these columns peoples opinions? I mean if an Inky writer has a column saying it is time for a manager to get fired, isn’t that his opinion when you get right down to it? This poor reporter getting ripped by Chris “Stronger than the Storm” Christie is hilarious.
I thought Krispy Kreme Christie would be right up your alley. Pro gun control, pro ground zero mosque, pro obamacare, giant douche. Aka Maxie
Lol youre a fuckin nimrod, kid.
Fuck you cock gobbler
He looks up to Edward R. Murrow and defends journalistic integrity, then goes back on his 20 year hatred of ESPN to get a 7 figure deal. The guy is a hypocrite, and its a shame that at one point he was actually good. I’d rather have Bucci Mane be a 50 year old white guy from the suburbs make cringeworthy references to modern rap music, Skip Bayless take a strap on from Tim Teblow, Rob Parker spew down syndrome all over the place and Chris Berman analyze football after a fifth of vodka and a soma at this point.
KYKLE SNOTT HOW DARE YOU IDOLIZE THIS LIBERAL ELITIST FUCKTHROAT!!! Olbermann, Obama and their jew hollywood yyacht club cuntstingers are trying to take away this countries freedoms and liberties. They want to take away my second amendmant right to pump ejaculate from my snub nose penis directly into the gaping, loose, rubbery, hairy, brown asshole of RHEA HUGHES whilst she chews on my toenail clippings. You, Josh Harris and olbermann are just a couple of libtarded yuppie nazis that like drinking watery fish diarrhea. I hope you and him pound each other in the ass ans contract each others aids you stupid faggot. AND HOW DARE YOU FOR POLITICIZING THIS BLOG LIKE A DUMB SCROTAL INFECTION. Fuck you and everyone who looks like you. Do the right thing and vote RON PAUL/RAND PAUL 2016!!!!
Keith is the man
Olberman has blown up more bridges than William Holden in the movie “Bridge Over The River Kwai”.
Meh! Not impressed.
Great read, Kyle!
Keith Olbermann is terrible…In every way possible.
Who’s Keith olderman?
Olbermann is pure gutter trash. I will not waste a second of my life watching his show.
I went to high school with Manish Mehta, and I can tell you he was never a Jets fan. He always avoided Jets’ player in our fantasy drafts. However, when we played baseball he didn’t have much power, but he always came up big at the right time during our games. Plus, he was a left-handed bat and that screwed everyone up because they never guarded the right field line. But, those games were fun.
New drinking game: go on any website where someone praises Olbermann for anything and do a shot for each of the following words:
Communist (commie, pinko, etc.)
Sheeple
Liberal (leftist scum, lefty, lieberal, libtard, etc.)
Now that I think about it, that game works for comments posted under pretty much any blog post anywhere about anything. It’s a good time. You get drunk quickly and still end up with more brain cells than any of the commenters you’ve read when you’re done.
I agree Kyle. Yes he’s abrasive, he’s burned bridges, his politics are always readily apparent, he’s arrogant, and he rubs many people the wrong way. He’s still a sharp and compelling commenter and worth listening to.
Oh, and I am not a Communist myself, but I have some sympathy for Karl Marx given he just missed out on winning that beautiful lounge suite on that game show.
Keith is entertaining but flawed. Take tonight’s rant against the NFL’s schedule. He takes exception to the Raiders having the hardest schedule. Errrr, when you are the worst, and you contribute to a strong division.. you deserve what you get. Each team in a division should play their divisional foes twice a year. Get off your flawed and not complete rant Keith. See the whole picture, for a change.