ESPN's Keith Olbermann returned to the net in August '13, and he has since "been a mix of fire (on the air) and fidelity off it (there has been no public bashing of his employer or colleagues)," according to a Q&A with Richard Deitsch of SI.com. Below are excerpts of the Q&A:
Q: What are you most satisfied with -- and what can still improve?
Olbermann: [ESPN President] John Skipper, [Exec VP/Production, Program Scheduling & Development] Norby Williamson and I had 2 ½ goals going in. The first one was: Let’s re-establish the relationship because I think they were just as unhappy as I was with the fact that every time somebody brought my name up in connection with ESPN, it had all the baggage of the past. We both wanted it to have a different ending and I think that has been true for a long time. Then there was the strategic usefulness relative to Fox Sports. 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! ... There was a certain quality of strategy for ESPN, as in: "let’s make this move now." And it got as much attention as [FS1's] launch did.
Q: What has been the least satisfying part of this current ESPN experience, if any?
Olbermann: We haven’t found in the new format at the new time a right note on all the highlights. I went from something I loved doing, which is getting those highlights literally right out of the edit room and doing them virtually blind and with stream of consciousness, and we can’t do that anymore because the number of day games in the National Hockey League on an October afternoon is pretty low. At this point, that is pretty much the only thing I dislike about it.
Q: Your employer has a prominent financial connection to the NFL as a broadcast rightsholder. When you call for [NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell] to be fired or are highly critical of that league, do you or your staff let your bosses know that it is coming?
Olbermann: I think there have been commentaries they have not been happy with but they let me do them anyway. I think that underscores the mutual respect. They have handed me a big platform on the network and said here are the lines and the process but we will not interfere with what your editorial conclusions are. The mechanics are as soon as we decide what the commentary will be, (Exec Producer) Kevin Wildes will tell the appropriate executives in Bristol so they may have as much as six hours notice. The key people all get the A Block commentary and the Worst Persons.
Q: [Twitter] can be a rough place and you are very aggressive on your feed against those who come after you whether for sports reasons, political reasons or just to go after you for sport. What is your rationale for that?
Olbermann: Other people have Angry Birds to play. Some people warm-up with 10 minutes on a treadmill. If I go 10 minutes on Twitter, I find my brain just a little bit sharper. It is batting practice. People say to me: “Don’t feed the trolls.” I say, “Feed the trolls.” I should pay these people.
Q: Why was your show moved from late night to 5:00 p.m. on ESPN2?
Olbermann: John Skipper asked me to go. He said we have been thinking about this for a long time and think you can do 5 p.m. strategically -- and it would have a consistent home on a nightly basis.
Q: It’s interesting that Skipper would discuss [this] with you himself.
Olbermann: He was the first person I spoke with about coming back. He has had a personal interest in it. Obviously there are a number of things on his plate and I am not in touch with him on a daily basis or weekly basis, but we are in touch frequently and I enjoy his company and I think I can say without fear of contraction that he enjoys mine, too.
Q: What are the first things you read or watch each morning?
Olbermann: I tend not to watch a lot of sports on television. I never did. ... Like the screenwriter who does not want to read other people’s screenplays, you worry about being influenced by what is going on. I listen to a lot of radio and I tend to go down the worm holes on the Internet and find myself for some reason reading the sports section in Oshkosh just for the hell of it. I like to read the anti-establishment sports sites if you will, the Deadspins, the Awful Announcings and the Big Leads. I tend to think of them as my philosophical offspring from the ’90s.
Q: How long would you like to remain at ESPN?
Olbermann: I have given it no thought whatsoever. ... I have been doing it for a long time and what I have learned is never having accurately predicted my future in terms of this business, I could be here another year or another 20 years. I have no earthly idea and it is almost insulting to everyone to say, “Oh this time I really think I am going to be here forever" (SI.com, 10/12).
