After a few months crying in the bathtub, disgraced left-wing television personality Keith Olbermann has crawled back out into public view in an effort to beg sports network ESPN to hire him back.
Nothing has come of his efforts so far but the New York Times reports that Olbermann has at least been given a meeting with ESPN president John Skipper.
Here's an excerpt from the Times's report:
Olbermann worked at ESPN from 1992 to 1997. A pivotal force in starting ESPN Radio, he became best known as one of the most prominent and popular anchors in the network’s history, co-hosting “SportsCenter” with Dan Patrick. [...]
Some at ESPN were glad to see him go; he was considered the network’s most controversial personality. Olbermann’s encyclopedic knowledge of sports was not disputed, nor were his writing skills or on-air talent. But over time, he managed to alienate a sizable group in the company, who found him exasperating to work with. [...]
For now, Skipper indicated that a return for Olbermann was not imminent.
“After the dinner, at that point, there was no real appropriate place for Keith to come back, nor did I feel like I was prepared to bring him back,” Skipper said.
“We don’t have a policy that says we won’t bring somebody back. We’re running a great business, and when we think we can get quality content, there’s no such thing as a condemned list. That said, this is not an easy place to get back into. There are not that many successful examples of people who have come back, in part because it’s like water filling a vacuum. When somebody leaves, somebody else fills their place.”
Given ESPN's recent not-quite-firing of leftist sports commentator Rob Parker, it seems unlikely that the sports channel is interested in replacing him with the even more deranged and inaccurate Keith Olbermann.
