Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun opines on the hiring of Keith Olbermann on NBC’s Football Night in America:
“Olbermann’s liberal viewpoint and unrelenting criticism of President Bush on his nightly Countdown MSNBC news show can have that kind of polarizing effect. But anyone who remembers his pairing with Dan Patrick on ESPN’s SportsCenter recalls what a terrific sports studio presence Olbermann is and should be glad to welcome him to a regular network sports gig. …
As for those worried Olbermann’s political commentary will intrude upon our pristine Sundays of concussive sport, he said: ‘We haven’t discussed parameters, but I think they are naturally there. What we are doing on Football Night in America is football. ? So if you are thinking that this is going to be some sort of venue for promoting or criticizing a political viewpoint, I don’t see it happening. I am not going in there with any kind of agenda. ? There will be plenty of opinions about football.’“
Olbermann’s hiring is not sitting too well with some sports fans, mainly for political reasons. Already, conservative sites such as NewsBusters are railing that “football fans can probably expect some liberal bias” in their football broadcasts. However, disparaging Olbermann based on his political persuasions is ignorant at best, considering how well he proved himself as a sports personality for years on SportsCenter.
Politics aside, some are finding other reasons to object to Olbermann’s hiring. Favorite of bloggers, Colin Cowherd:
Aside from the fact that Cowherd evidently thinks that football fans are less intellectual than baseball fans, one wonders why the same criticisms have not been leveled at Bob Costas — who is far from being a grunting, rough, tough man’s man. Olbermann responded to Cowherd’s criticism, saying among other things “Did [Cowherd] do NFL Highlights on national television after Sunday and Monday night games, and all day Sunday for say ESPN for any length of time?“
Cowherd’s criticisms are indeed related to politics; Olbermann, being a ‘Northeast intellectual liberal’ will not be an acceptable presence for ‘man’s man conservatives’. Whether or not that is true does not matter, as the fear of that itself is enough to turn this hire into a very controversial one.
What should be interesting, though nothing will likely come of it (due to the professionalism of both involved) is that Olbermann will be dealing on a weekly basis with Al Michaels, who notably contributed the maximum amount to the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign in 2004. However unlikely, any friction between the equally prickly Olbermann and Michaels, one of whom ‘napalmed’ bridges at ESPN and the other of whom was involved in a relatively nasty break-up with Boomer Esiason at ABC, would make for interesting and tense television.
