ESPN’s most famous SportsCenter duo reunited on Friday night.
Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann paired together on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt on Friday, marking the first time the duo has appeared together on the show since Olbermann left ESPN in 1997. It is the first time they have worked together overall since they were paired on NBC’s Football Night in America nine years ago.
Olbermann is a current ESPN employee who regularly hosts SportsCenter, but Patrick was making just his second appearance on the show since leaving ESPN in 2007.
Patrick and Olbermann co-anchored the 11 PM ET SportsCenter together from 1992-97 and paired together on Football Night in America from 2008-10. In between, Olbermann was a regular guest on Patrick’s ESPN Radio show from 2005-07. By the time Olbermann returned to ESPN in 2013 — a two-year run in which he hosted his own eponymous show — Patrick was already gone.
In a recent piece about their partnership in The Ringer, it was reported that Patrick and Olbermann nearly reunited full-time on the 6 PM ET SportsCenter in either 2005 or 2006, a proposal that “made it past a surprising number of executives before it got snuffed out.”
The special appearance is part of ESPN’s 40th anniversary celebration.
[“SportsCenter” 9.6, The Ringer 9.4]
