Exclusive: Yanks, Marlins Talk A-Rod Trade (Confirmed)

“When the Nazi Anschluss with Austria took place in 1938, Murrow chartered a plane from his headquarters in London and arrived in Vienna in time to broadcast the German march into the city. From that time, he remained “glued to the mike.” In his famed “This is London” broadcasts, he nightly described World War II as he saw and experienced it.”

“In 1950, Murrow flew to the Far East to report on the Korean War. He presented weekly digests of news called “Hear It Now” which was based on an earlier project produced by Murrow and Fred Friendly called “I Can Hear It Now.” His reports included the news of the day, but also stories of the individuals caught up in the wave of events.”

Bathtub Boy in contrast performed a series of 69s with Bill Maher and brought on such illuminating intellectuals as Janeane Garofalo. But he did end the each show with ‘Good night and good luck.’ So I guess THAT makes him Murrow’s equal right? -_-

When I apology, I mean Della that I sincely apologize, because as much of a fan I am of KO, I do not think that he is a god, I hate fans that think that about the people they are fans of, I do not take his word as gold, I reasearch that is how I know that KO was abused at Current and that CUrrent broke the contract and that KO has to sue, but in this incident, I know that a KO is not lying and that if thier is no trade, he just got bad info from sources, and that he decided to talk about it, he said things are not serious which shows that this is only a rumor, rumors are something in my opoin people do not need to apologize for, also from what I read about the hardball guy, to me this guy is not credible, how do we know that A-Rod does not want to leave the Yankees, so again how could this not be possible, he has no say in his future that is how uncredible that article is, also I do not listen to people that think just because someone left the sports world all of sudden looses contacts, excause me how does that happen, also KO is well known in the baseball world do you think that people would stop talking to him, people like that make me sick and show me that even as someone that not sports fan that they should not be trusted. Also KO said which Cash even admited that he had no idea that Yankee’s were not in talks about someone else, which means he not credbile when it comes to rumor or speculation. Again to me it okay for KO to be wrong, I like when he wrong it shows that he is human, I like his faults with his strenghts, people again like hardball make me love and respect KO more and more and show again why he this generations Murrow, even if KO wrong on this. KO keep being yourself and you will have a fan in me. Love you faults and all.

Pc
I will say that truthful I do not care, and also to me, I do not care if KO is right or wrong, I actually think that in stuff like this it hard to be right or wrong, because rumor is mostly speculation, but I read this guy, and I had to laugh at what he was saying, first so because KO does not usually do stuff like this all of sudden this story is no believeable, also because A-ROd makes a lot of money this story is not believeable, KO made a lot at Current and even though he was unjustily fired he was still fired, so again to me, even the people that are arguing that this is not true do not make sense either. Also just because someone says he was not on the talks does not mean that Cash would not have known about the deal and shows that mangement will try to deny stuff like this. Also Cash has to do what owner says, which means he had to suck it if A-Rod wants out and mangement thinks he not preforming to were he being justified paying. KO keep showing that you have zero clue how to lie, I know that you will never lose my trust, even if you end up wrong on stuff, and again stuff like this requires no apologies, stick to your guns, to me alot of the times sports is all about speculation, which make it hard for sports writers and others to be wrong because they deal to me mostly in rumors and speculation. KO keep being yourself and you will always have a fan in me, you show everyday why you are this generations Murrow and why you are perment on my ipod, ipad and life, love you faults and all.

David
Again you seem to be dense, first David stop lying about KO’s history, KO has never had a history of pulling things out of his backside, anyone telling me that show that they cae nothing about truth and only want to bash KO. Daivd KO was the one that was telling us the truth about Iraq, I guess in your world we should have been in that war and that it was right, he was warning about citizens United, David you show right there that you hate truth and honesty and that I am not the only defending him. KO David has a reputation for telling the truth, he has never pulled stuff out that is a debunked talking point that you are puling out because David cannot expect that KO did not make this rumor up. Also Daivd I care crap that you have never heard of it, that does not mean that peope were still talking about, we have to go through you before we can confirm. Also David I care crap that Cash has been with the yankee’s for seventeen years that still does not mean that they have not left him out of talks. David you just keep putting up embarrassing made up posts. I know that when someone puts up BS like KO talking out of his backside that KO telling the truth and that person hates. Also I have not been the only one defending him, you show that all you care about is bashing KO. I David do not take KO’s word as god, i read everything that is printed here and else where, and I see people are agreeing with KO and others are disagreeing, So that is another lie. KO Daivd has no reputation for speaking out of his backside and making stuff up, that has zero truth to it. You show David that you have no idea what real jouranlism and what real honesty is. I watch KO’s countdown every night I fact checked everything and nothing that he said was provening false. That David is how made up that statement is. You daivd are the one showing yourself to be a troll and showing me that KO unlike you has no idea how to make crap up. David get this in your head just because you have never heard about before KO was talking about, does not mean David that it was being talked about, also David Varetiy can report what every they want to, just because they are known for entertaintment does not mean that they should be laughed at. You really show why KO is this generations Murrow and that you have no idea what defending looks like, just like you have no idea what honesty is. David just come out and admit that you have no idea and never will have an idea who KO is, only people that live in fantasy worlds like believe made up crap that David gets debunked over and over again, KO David has no and never will as much as dream it a reputation for making things up. You posts show that you know this is not a ridclous rumor but KO has to be the bad guy because Daivd is never allowed to tell the truth. Daivd you just keep making me love and respect KO more with your lies about who KO is and what KO reports. I know that is not what KO’s reputation is, his reputation David is something that you have never heard of and that is being a honest jornalist. Again I would rather listen to KO’s truth than your debunked lies about who KO is. David keep showing how igonratn you are on who KO is and that you not KO are the troll. KO sorry you get trolls like David that think that lying about your reputation is the way to go. David I would not believe anything you posted on KO if my life depended on it, because I know that like this post it is a bunch of lies. Wow a guy that calls people out on lies and calls out corporations on lies, that david is not and never will be what making crap up means. David if you want to see people make crap up go to FOx. David every post you put up you show why KO is this generations Murrow and why you would not lying and making up stories if it bit you in the face. Keep lyiong about who KO is and how made up your ridclous rumor crap is. This is not and David you keep showing by attacking the messenger that this is not a made up ridcous rumor. You show that David not KO is the one that has the reputation to make crap up. Keep lying about KO that is all you know how to do. All this post did David is show that KO has a reputation for telling the truth and that this story has no ridclousness in it. You cannot even refute what KO says all you do is embarrass yourself.

Also that article is beyond ridclous, when I read it I knew that KO was telling the truth and that guy could not handle it. First who cares how much A_ROD makes, if he not living up to the promise and proformance that Yankee’s want him too, than they will eat the contract and trade him. The only thing that corporations think about which baseball ownership is, is about profit and if they are not making a profit off of ARod than they will have no problem selling him, that is how stupid and ridclous that agrument, if that were true than who wrote that should say that thier should be no trading in baseball because players can play as loosy as the want with the millions the make and they never have to worry about going, I am sorry but I do not have to be a fan of the game to know that is BS agrument. Also Cash has been out of deals before. I really had to laugh at this guys reasons, showing that KO did not make this up also I want this guy to explain the ESPN article about the conversation and the JOn Heymen. KO keep showing bloggers like this one that you have no idea what making stuff up looks like.

So again you do not make sense, also you are showing that By has no idea who Murrow is.
First By, you keep showing that you have no idea what real actual news is. You put up a tape on your next post that having Olbermann calling Rice on her lies and you are saying that I do not get your point. No your point By is that you will not accept that KO is and always will be this generations Murrow. BY that clip your used right there showed that KO is this generations Murrow. He calling out Rice on her lies, just like he does with Coulter and the Kouch bothers. BY you are already showing that you would be bashing Murrow if he were alive today. Murrow like KO would be going after a thing that you do not get it called corport courption.
By the fact that you think that the Kouch Brothers and can see how dangerous the Koch Brothers are shows that you do not know why we are in the mess we are today. Soros is not a boggey man and he not doing damge to this country. All he is a donater to democrats. Kouch Brothers are for corporations controlling every asspect of this country, this is dangerous By and has to be talked about. Murrow By would be doing just that if he were a alive. Coulter has to be called out on her lies.
By Moore and Olbermann go after something that you need to wrap your head around it called corupt greed. They care nothing about conservatives being wealthy, saying that shows that you have no idea who Moore or KO are. This is what Murrow would be talking about, and advocating against, in making sure that we do not become machines to the corporations. This is what is destroying are country. So you again show why KO is this generations Murrow, because he is doing actual news. Talking about Soras is not actual news and you thinking that shows that BY has no idea what actually news means.
Keep showing why KO is this generations Murrow and that BY has no idea who he and Murrow are. You really are hypocritcal you would be bashing Murrow if he were alive because he would be going after corporate greed like the Koch Brothers also. I would be pissed at KO if he did not tell us how bad it is to have corporations run a muck. That is what Occupy was about.
Your igonrance on KO and Murrow and why we are heading down the bad path we are is astounding. Also Murrow had to do celebrity interview also. So keep embarrassing yourself, I do not listen to people that want me to take the Koch Brothers lightly, people like scare me, because they say that it okay for us to have corporations controling everything in this country.

Wow
By more videos by hate mongers that like you want to lie about what KO is saying and show why KO is this generations Murrow. Do you love you show how igorant you are on KO and Murrow.
Instead of bashing KO, you need to educate yourself on just how dangerous the Koch Brothers are and why they need to be talked about. YOu are showing that you hate actual news and truth.
YOu really live in a scary world that I am glad KO is warning me about. Going after the Koch Brothers is why he this generations Murrow. calling out Rices lies.
By keep showing why I am a life long fan and why KO can never lie. You really love to embarrass yourself.

That story turned out not to be true, first that guy does not get that KO did not wear orange shoes, he wore black fingershoes, so that person never worked with KO. I worked with him on Countdown at MSNBC for 2 ½ years, and the whole time he was on FNiA. I am an NBC employee, so I didn’t work FOR him, I work for NBC. Keith is mostly right, we had very little turnover in the studio over the years I was there. Same stage manager, same camera people. He had nothing do to with the stage crew. There was one incident where he asked a stagehand not be hired back, because the guy came into the small studio when Keith was on the air. That was a bit unfair, because the guy was sent in to look for something, by his boss, but that was it.

On FNiA, one night he accused a sound guy of stepping on his foot, and asked that he not be back. The guy swore it wasn’t him. He was given the next week off, with pay, and then was back on the show after that.

Keith’s a bit weird, but I like him. We sat on the pirate ship in Tampa, and watched the Super Bowl together the last time it was on NBC.

I don’t know how he was in the offices, just in the studio, but your informant isn’t being truthful.

Bob Friend

Studio 8G Head Electrician, NBC
Also KO debunked that guy and he could not refute here is what happened Let’s explore facts here, you Mike listen to gossip websites and say that those sites are telling the truth, that story that was put out 9n months ago was debunked here is what KO said has decided to take to his Twitter to complain about our post, to our infinite shock and surprise. And now (Update 2) he’s responded to our email. His response:
As I pointed out on twitter, your “source” is easily proved as a fake. The “anchor producer” never sat inside the studio and would not have been visible by any camera for any bump shot – but of course we also never did any bump shots.
The turnover figure is laughably wrong. Of the top 20 staffers on Countdown when we started in 2003, 17 were still there the day I left. In fact, three of them went with me to Current, and one of them who’d left MSNBC rejoined me over here (his fourth separate stint working with and for me) – all unlikely events if any of the stuff made up by your “source” was true.
As to the overall characterization of my conduct as an employer and employee I would point out again: prior to my Current gig I’ve had nine full time employers. Three have rehired me later in my career (CNN, MSNBC, ESPN) and three others asked me to come back but we couldn’t work it out.
I will admit the traumatic shopping story is very, very funny. But you’ve been seriously punked here, and here Seeing your reply online I’ll point out again there are simple black-and-white failures of the verisimilitude test. We didn’t do bump shots. The producer was never in the studio. There were also no post-its and there was never any “construction” I requested nor some sort of process by which you go to HR to complain about somebody’s perfume – I mean, in what office have you ever heard about that, which your “source” treats as if it were a daily event. At first I thought this person might have worked at MSNBC but not at Countdown. Rereading the piece I can see its far likelier he or she has never worked in an office of any kind. Seriously, guys, for the six years I was a local sportscaster in LA there was an LA Times columnist who kept printing these predictions of the imminence of my firing from his secret “source.” Only after all that time did one of the editors find out that the “source” was a sportscaster on a rival station who had a screw loose and an obsessive fear that I would eat into his ratings. You have a funny and occasionally informative site – don’t become a travesty. Also here is some that signs there name and is not a amous source and says thisI worked with him on Countdown at MSNBC for 2 ½ years, and the whole time he was on FNiA. I am an NBC employee, so I didn’t work FOR him, I work for NBC. Keith is mostly right, we had very little turnover in the studio over the years I was there. Same stage manager, same camera people. He had nothing do to with the stage crew. There was one incident where he asked a stagehand not be hired back, because the guy came into the small studio when Keith was on the air. That was a bit unfair, because the guy was sent in to look for something, by his boss, but that was it.
On FNiA, one night he accused a sound guy of stepping on his foot, and asked that he not be back. The guy swore it wasn’t him. He was given the next week off, with pay, and then was back on the show after that.
Keith’s a bit weird, but I like him. We sat on the pirate ship in Tampa, and watched the Super Bowl together the last time it was on NBC.
I don’t know how he was in the offices, just in the studio, but your informant isn’t being truthful.
Bob Friend
Studio 8G Head Electrician, NBC, so sorry there is no truth that KO is hard to work with, I do not listen to gossip sites, also this is a guy that does not understand bump shoots, here is what a fan and me who watch the show can say that a producer would not be able to use those shoots, here is what a fan saysWell, the ‘anonymous source’ mentions bump shots and claimed to be visible in them as an anchor producer. This is easily verifiable as false by watching Countdown and noticing the total lack of bump shots. Anyone passingly familiar with television and with Olbermann’s show knows that the ‘source’s claim to authenticity actually instantly reveals him as a liar.
So, it’s pretty obvious Olbermann’s right here.Well, the ‘anonymous source’ mentions bump shots and claimed to be visible in them as an anchor producer. This is easily verifiable as false by watching Countdown and noticing the total lack of bump shots. Anyone passingly familiar with television and with Olbermann’s show knows that the ‘source’s claim to authenticity actually instantly reveals him as a liar. So again you only show that KO is not hard to work with, I like you to explain why KO got alot of his former staff to go with him to Current, someone was with him since he was at ESPN, wow that guy is so hard to work with, why did a guy have a manger for how many years and only broke recently. KO had a producer that was with him until she got a promotion to cheif excutive, so she did not leave because Ko was bad, here is how Hyatt is Just the way you said — with, recall, the additional sudden departure of the manager with whom he was working most closely at Current, Mark Rosenthal (who had started Current on the right track, whereupon Hyatt reclaimed his CEO title from him, and he left, 7-29-11.) Keith reportedly was upset about the loss of Rosenthal from the organization. And then came Bohrman, 8-8-11.
Re saying too much or the wrong thing, I’ve been noticing On Twitter he’s giving brief answers to enquiries. It’s actually getting monotonous (a good thing in this instance!): “Keith, did you really do/say X,Y,Z?” –”No.” “Unnamed sources are saying this about you.”–”Don’t believe everything you hear.” Etc. He’s not initiating many digs at Current.
Wow again I suppose to believe him on working well with others, also here is something else I don’t buy for a minute that Keith’s colleagues feel anything like that about him. Most of them have been with him for years. Jean Sage had been his one and only agent for over a quarter of a century, until just recently when he hired that big outfit from LA.
He treats his staff like gold, giving them the credit for suggesting ideas that make the show successful and making him look good — everything you wish YOUR boss would do. The proof is all out there where everyone can see it.
The only people who seem to have a problem with Keith are M-A-N-A-G-E-R-S.
I’m buying what the CJR guy suspects — that all or most of that crap came from Griffin, to puff himself up. (Notice that Keith refers to “Kurtz’s hysteric source” — singular.) here is it about the staffers from MSNBC that are joining him NY Post has today deliberately run a false piece implying no MSNBC staffers have joined me on new show. 5 have plus 12 contributors – so far
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scifibird
Certified Fan
Posts: 504
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:47 pm
Location: Pennsylvania
Again Mike this is from someone that cares crap about how well KO plays with others and cares crap about his personality and I can even see that you again show how ingorant you are when it comes to KO. KO gets along with his staff just fine, he was the one that gave bonuese and he even prasied them saying that it was the best about Countdown, amyous sources from gossip sites Mike again do not show that KO is hard to work well with others, that just shows that you cannot tell gossip from facts. So facts you put out a article from a gossip site by a ammouys source that does not get that producers are not in bump shots and I suppose to beleive that shows that Ko is bad, wow do you live in a fantasy world, MIke those are not facts those are lies and made up gossip, again you take lying sites and gossip sites are truthful, you show everyday why KO is this generations Murrow and why his personality has nothing to do with him being fired. Keep making me love and respect KO more and more with your BS posts. KO again I will be pissed if you do not get the justice you deserve for getting unjustily fired at Current, your personality is just fine, just like your ego, those are many reasons why I love you. Keep being yourself and you will always have a fan in me. Mike keep embarrassing yourself, again this story has already been debunked, you really do not know what facts are, a story that has been debunked Mike is not a story that has facts in it. Gawker is not a factual site, keep embarassing yourself and making me love and resepct KO more and more,and show why he will always be around. KO love you fautls and all, and again will be pissed if you do not get the justice that you deserve for being unjustily fired at Current.
Again you are showing that not only do you not know what assumptions are you do not know what opions are. Again you show why KO is this generations Murrow. This guy never worked for KO, and wrote a lying piece. Keep making me love and respect KO more and more, with your ignorance on who he is.

By
That always turns out not to be true again this something that I have debunked over and over again here it is Keep showing that you would rather bash KO than listen to the truth, that he has never naplenmed a bridge and that he unemployable has always been debunked and always will be, I look at those articles and you have to live in fantasy world if you think that shows that KO is a jerk or that he unemployable, I already apologized for what happened with Suzie but people like you want to put that out because KO has to be a bad guy here is what KO did A long, long time ago, one of my bosses at ESPN told me that during times of contention, I always showed too much backbone.
Well, he was damned right.
A whining sacroiliac sent me to the chiropractor’s last week and the X-rays proved my old boss literally correct. I am part of that hidden minority, the spinal mutants, who have six lumbar vertebrae instead of the customary five. I do have too much backbone.
This was the final sign that it was time to do something that for months has been crystallizing out of the gauzy haze of the unconsciousness that surrounds us all: I need to apologize to ESPN.
This began to become evident weeks ago when the deputy mayor of Indianapolis attacked Chris Mortensen, one of my reportorial role models. I once watched Mort protect a source who not only publicly denied what he’d told Mort in private but also questioned his ethics. Just this month, Mort went on the air and criticized the thoroughness of his own reporting on a story. Mortensen is the gold standard, and this hack politician slashed him and said ESPN was “a sports channel first and a news organization fifth.” I was amazed to find my hackles rising and myself rushing to defend my old employers on my radio sportscast.
It all became remarkably clear after that. This isn’t about my skeletal freakiness, or Chris Mortensen, or even, particularly, the primary area of wounded feelings for my former bosses and colleagues, Mike Freeman’s book about the network. This isn’t even about specific events or people, although nearly everybody at ESPN merits an apology from me, and I give it willingly and with great sadness, but with some hope that it will explain if not erase my actions, and might even be of some inspiration to any who might be afflicted in the same curious way I’ve come to learn I am.
This is about not knowing why you do things — literally, not knowing for years and years — and then suddenly beginning to scratch the surface of understanding. That earlier imagery about the gauzy haze is almost factually precise: It feels as if I’ve been coming out of a huge fog bank.
Enough preamble. After five and a half years there, I left ESPN at the end of June 1997. My decision inspired a lot of head-scratching, everything from graffiti on a wall in a syndicated comic strip, to shouts of “traitor” from a viewer at a World Series game. There have been a lot of explanations conjectured, by myself and others, but heretofore I have never definitively stated why I left — in large part because until recently, I didn’t really know. In point of fact, I couldn’t handle the pressure of working in daily long-form television, and what was worse, I didn’t know I couldn’t handle it.
Not the broadcasts themselves, mind you — I’ve rarely had as much fun in life as I used to during those hours on the air with Dan Patrick. I’m talking about an inability to digest all that led up to those hours, about which I had no clue at all. And unless somebody at ESPN had the insight to look for a big-picture pattern, nobody else had any clue at all. I think some executives, most notably John Walsh, had a sense that something was wrong. But whatever any of them said about “insecurity” or “perfectionism,” I know I just took it as an attack and stiffened my extra-long spine.
On top of everything else about it that can destabilize the soul, television is fraught with a million commonplace things that can go wrong. A surprisingly large number of things can go wrong even when everybody involved is giving their all. It’s the nature of a medium so complex it would’ve made Rube Goldberg blanch.
But I didn’t see it that way.
I have lived much of my life assuming much of the responsibility around me and developing a dread of being blamed for things going wrong. Moreover, deep down inside I’ve always believed that everybody around me was qualified and competent, and I wasn’t, and that some day I’d be found out. If you think that way, when somebody messes up, you can’t imagine that it just “happened.” Since they’re so much better than you are, how could they not complete a task successfully? They have to be not trying hard enough — and when they don’t try and the show goes to hell, who gets blamed? You do.
In other words, you start thinking like George Steinbrenner, circa 1977.
Mix that in to the very public nature of the field, and especially the high-profile nature of a job like hosting “SportsCenter,” and you have a combustible combination.
The results can probably be summarized by this conversation I recall from the weeks after the infamous launch of ESPN2 in 1993. After three hours of live shots failing, news breaking, entire 20-minute segments of the show being swapped during commercial breaks, tapes physically falling apart, and production assistants wiping out as they ran through the snow to try to get us information, the producers, my co-host Suzy Kolber and I somehow managed to cover Michael Jordan’s first retirement professionally and entertainingly.
Afterwards, the coordinating producer, Norby Williamson, greeted us like the survivors of a World War I foxhole at Ypres. “Great job. Great show,” he said.
“The hell it was,” I said.
Wrong answer.
You suspend — no, let’s be exact about this, I suspended — the whole human part of the equation. It never occurred to me that most of the problems were the result of mere events. Even the chaos that surrounded the entire launch of the experimental show “SportsNight” was merely the inevitable result of the fact that it was experimental.
And it never, ever occurred to me that if it failed, I wouldn’t be found out, fired, banished, finished.
The oddest thing about all this, is that even when I left — and in six weeks I will have been gone longer than I was there — executives like Walsh and Howard Katz underscored that I was welcome to return at some distant future date, despite all the Sturm und Drang. And, man, I was usually producing both the Sturm and the Drang. Months later, Katz even approached me about contributing to ESPN Classic, shortly after the company had bought that network.
Of course, I could not know that the major bone of contention, the veritable sixth lumbar vertebra of contention, still awaited: Freeman’s book. I should herein point out that none of this should reflect on Mike: He did an exhaustively thorough job, and more to this point, he didn’t misquote me, not once, nor did he use anything I said out of context. Nor did he cajole or sweet-talk me into discussing topics I didn’t want to discuss. Also, this isn’t some kind of loudspeaker confession from George Orwell’s “1984.” I’m not going to renounce most of my criticisms of the place. I did not consort with Goldstein. I don’t think I was wrong on the issues — I think my methodology was wrong. Outstandingly wrong.
My answers to Freeman constituted the ultimate act of somebody who lived in terror of being blamed. After I left for NBC in 1997, I was unprepared for a question I would literally hear daily — on the street, at events, even on the air on MSNBC: “Why’d you leave ‘SportsCenter’?” If you make a decision in your life, even one as eminently logical and self-improving as “Why’d you start washing your hair every day?” and you start getting questioned hourly about it, you’re going to start second-guessing yourself. I eventually got up to about my millionth guess.
So. The logic was impeccable. To answer that question, I couldn’t take the blame (responsibility) for the disaster (career growth) about which I was being persecuted (sympathetically asked about). Why did I leave “SportsCenter”? Obviously, because it was a medieval torture chamber (fairly typical television workplace providing a high level of ego gratification and creative freedom).
There’s a lot in Freeman’s book that I regret. I won’t inundate you with details, but a few require specificity. Referring to ESPN’s executives, I told Freeman that “other than Steve Anderson, I don’t think any of them are any good.” Well, that was ridiculous then and it is ridiculous now. Without even judging how good they were, just to keep a monolith like ESPN on the air every day requires as many good executives as they have at NORAD.
As suggested earlier, I don’t regret my stances on the work environment there, but to say that some actions management took were merely “covering their ass legally” was to subtract the humanity from the equation. It never dawned on me that some of these guys had been thrown in at the deep end of the pool, or would have to expose, prosecute and fire friends and colleagues who themselves had done things that until a decade before had been standard operating procedure at every corporation in America.
I now read with horror of my ESPN2 co-host, Ms. Kolber, sequestering herself in the women’s bathroom and weeping over how I treated her. She told Freeman that as things deteriorated, I wouldn’t talk to her. She’s wrong: I couldn’t talk to her. I pumped up some small-scale complaints into a scenario in which she was at fault for everything ESPN2 hadn’t become. I wasn’t completely obtuse back then, and if anything would have cut through my neuroses, it would’ve been a colleague’s tears. If I had known, I think I could’ve jumped over the fence I’d built around myself and said what the inner guy always knew: No TV show is worth crying over. Suzy: I’m sorry.
There are lots of little gratuitous shots in there that also reflect an insensibility to parts of reality. I get queasy at all of them, but one stands out as representative. Freeman accurately quotes me as complaining about how a labor-intensive participatory field piece I did in 1996 about what the first-base coach does and says during a game, got little airtime. A year later, ESPN ran a similar piece in which the coaches of the Anaheim Angels wore microphones. I complained to the relevant coordinating producer, Jeff Schneider, and he replied that the new ESPN-Disney-Angels connection explained why one piece ran and the other didn’t. It is almost certain that Schneider was joking, or tweaking me, or, most probably, protecting me from a fact I could never have admitted to myself or have survived hearing from him or anybody else: My coaching piece just wasn’t that good.
Several ESPN folks suggested to Freeman that I was trying deliberately to violate the rules — appearing on other networks and writing for publications without notifying them just to tweak management. That was almost right on the money. But it wasn’t as simple as merely trying to annoy ESPN or John Walsh or whoever else. It was me trying to give myself an excuse to get out from under the pressure of working in an environment of my own creation in which I daily expected the blame ax to fall. It was prepackaged sour grapes.
Oddly, I did figure some of this out then, which is why, even after we’d finalized my departure I went back and proposed to them that I do one show a week. That really was instinct cutting through all of these neuroses. That was, should’ve been, and remains my ideal TV schedule: one or two days a week, and the other five or six to remember that I’m not going to be blamed for everything by anybody — even myself.
So, I’m sorry. It should have been done differently. It wasn’t. Then again, I’m only finding out now about that extra vertebra and the extra steps I have to take to learn how to be, well, flexible. Wow so Suzie is beating up on a guy that was able to man up and apologize for what happened wow that shows that she would not know what character is just like you, also Suzie is not great herself on stuff like working well as you and others want people to believe because jack does not want to hear that KO ego is not why he not on Current, here is what KO said about SuzieBelow is an excerpt from Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN, which is finally in paperback so those readers anxious for more Bristol back-biting don’t have to carry around the cumbersome hardcover. The new version includes more bitchy anecdotes from Bill Simmons, further details about Tony Kornheiser’s on-air insults about Hannah Storm, and, of course, more from Keith Olbermann, who maintains that he didn’t treat his one-time co-anchor Suzy Kolber as horribly as most people think.
Keith Olbermann:
I hate to put this on the record, but I’m really annoyed that Suzy has portrayed herself as this sweet bystander victim all the time. I swear on my niece’s head that this is true. When those touch-and-go negotiations for her to stay in ’96 ended, we were all working in a trailer while they rebuilt the newsroom, and Dan I were even sharing a computer. And one day she comes in and tells everybody—and I mean every on-air guy on the network was in this double-wide—”I’m leaving for Fox. It’s been real.” And as soon as she was out the door everybody stood and applauded. McQuade came over to me and said “Well at least her time here produced something positive. You get her computer.
Two-and-a-half years later, maybe the day after I got to Fox, now she’s leaving there to go back to Bristol and she sweeps through the news bullpen to say goodbye and damned but it doesn’t happen again. She says her farewells and as soon as she’s out of earshot, the row of writers stands up and starts applauding and cheering.
I liked Suzy then and I like her now but she wasn’t just sinned against.”
“Suzy’s statement seven or eight years later that I had caused her to go into the bathroom and cry really affected me. I mean, it provoked genuine introspection and sincere guilt. But, honestly, that was the first I’d ever heard of it. I mean, we shared an office desk for six months and she never even hinted that however I had treated her it was a problem.
In fact I had been proactive in trying to help her, because Norby and Mike Bogad were really pushing her around during the earliest rehearsals. My agent, and a very good woman friend of mine at ESPN, came to me and said “you know, you can be a little intimidating sometimes, you should take Suzy out to dinner and be her friend.” That floored me, but I took their word for it, and I tried to remind her that while she was the newcomer, they had bent over backward to try to get her, and the very biggest wigs at Cap Cities had personally pushed for her, and while it made sense for me to lead things off because I was by that time established with the brand, she should not just sit there if they shunted her off to the side or sent her on these punishing trips to Edmonton to interview Doug Flutie or whatever. I said I’d back her up completely. That night, we parted closer than ever. And the next day she was in Norby’s office demanding that she get the lead story instead of me! Wow hearing that just makes me love and show that KO gets along with others just fine.
Murdouch, this is guy who would not know what truth is if you put in his face, Jack do you realize that Murdouch has no idea what honesty is, he also like Hyatt thinks that it okay to blackmail his employees like he did KO hereOn Countdown tonight Keith Olbermann used a Special Comment to detail how Rupert Murdoch blackmailed him when he worked for Fox Sports.
Here is the video:
After retelling the story of how he got fired from Fox Sports for reporting that Rupert was looking to sell the LA Dodgers, Olbermann got to the new details,
The second half of my story I have never told publicly before. It’s time. In June of 2000 after a year and a half of doing two one hour cable shows a night for Murdoch and baseball from 7 AM to 5 PM on Saturdays, I got sick. My doctor told me that if I didn’t among other things slow down at work; he would be treating me for heart disease within the decade. I took him very seriously. I told my employers about cutting back maybe from the six days to 5, and offered to give back to Fox some of my salary in the process because my health was at risk maybe even my heart.
They immediately took me off the air. They refused to put me back on until I had gotten a letter from my doctor guaranteeing them that I was well enough to work. By itself that was hardly an evil thing to do. In fact, I recognized it as a prudent business decision, and I complied because I didn’t know what they intended to do with it. They blackmailed me with it.
Wow a guy who thinks like Hyatt and Brohem thinks that someone should work while they are sick that shows that Murdouch is a boss no one even KO should work for, also jack, KO got fired from there for telling the truth, KO found out that Murdouch was selling the Dogers he even went to someone asking if Mourdouch would be okay with the story, which they said yes and than he was fired when Murdouch, because Jack honesty is not allowed when Murdouch organization is in it, I should listen to a guy that is underinvestigation for warptapping when it comes to how KO is, you really love to show me that KO is easy to work with and that you like Current have zero clue what being hard to work for. MSNBC let’s see they thought that it was okay for Scaurbough to donate also and if KO had not gotten caught would have let Scraubough get away with donating so you show again how hypocritical MSNBC is on that here is MSNBC suspended host Keith Olbermann today, following revelations that he made campaign contributions to three Democrats in the elections — a violation of MSNBC policy.
But a search of OpenSecrets.org reveals that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan have also made contributions to political campaigns. Here’s what we found…
In March 2006, Scarborough, who hosts the show Morning Joe, gave $4200 to Derrick Kitts (R-OR). And, as the Daily Kos points out, a month later Kitts was a guest on Scarborough’s show.
Between 2005-2008, Pat Buchanan made five contributions to Republican candidates, totaling $2250.
Chris Hayes, the Washington editor for The Nation, is a frequent contributor to MSNBC shows, and often fills in for Rachel Maddow on her show. The Upshot reports that he gave $250 to Alabama Democratic candidate Josh Segall this year before he signed his contract with MSNBC.
NBC News producer Mary Murray, who also does reporting for NBC News and MSNBC, gave $250 to John Waltz (D-KY) this year. In 2008 she gave the same amount to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Update: New York Times reporter Brian Stelter Tweeted that Hayes, in fact, would not be subbing for Olberman after all.
Later Update: Alex Pareene at Salon notes that CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow donated to former Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) in 2009 — one of a number of donations Kudlow made to Republican candidates over the years.
Even later update: Chris Hayes Tweeted that it was his decision to decline to host “Countdown” tonight, and that his donations were all made prior to his MSNBC contract. Also MSNBC has had others like Geogary who spoke at a republican event, hereThe National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which calls itself “the voice of small business,” is one of the Republican party’s strongest allies. The group spent over $1 million on outside ads in the 2010 campaign — all of it backing Republican House and Senate candidates (and, Bloomberg News reported last month, “another $1.5 million that it kept hidden and said was exempt” from disclosure requirements). The group is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Obamacare law and bankrolled state governments’ challenges to the law. The NFIB has also taken stances against allowing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, opposing regulations on businesses, and supporting curtailing union rights.
Given the group’s obvious Republican alliance, it comes as little surprise that the NFIB’s three-day 2012 Small Business Summit, which begins Monday, will feature headliners Karl Rove and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
But the first name and photo on the invitation for the $150-per-person event — Tuesday’s “keynote address” speaker — is NBC’s Meet the Press host David Gregory. He is marketed by NBC as an anchor and “trusted journalist.”
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states:
Journalists should:
— Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
Regardless of whether Gregory is being paid for this event and of what he says in his keynote, allowing the NFIB to raise money for its political mission using his name, reputation, and celebrity appears to be at odds with journalistic ethics.
Gregory did not to respond to a ThinkProgress request for comment. So your article just shows what a hypocrite krutz, where does krutz get on Georgary case for speaking at a even or when ED was suppose to speak at a Wisconsin event, so Krutz has no creadiblity when it comes to KO. Also all those stories have been disaproved, KO never had people put notes outside his box that came from suggestions jack and a disgulted employer made the other stuff up, also dealing with personal problems like his parents death that shows that KO bad and hard to work with, also dude that shows that MSNBC was not watching Countdown because he was not getting angry after his parents died, that shows that MSNBC wants to lie, mangement wants to re-write the history of who put them on the map, that how BS, also this came from gawker I suppose to believe gossip site on how KO cannot get work, maybe you should read Carter when it comes to this and than tell me that KO is unemployableGiven Keith Olbermann’s abrupt removal at Current and his typically temperate response — “Current’s statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently” — it seems as if his next stop will be a puppet show shot from a basement somewhere. He’ll never work in this town, or any other, again, right?
Wrong. Many of his past employers will testify to his unmanageability and unpleasantness, but the fact of the matter is that somewhere, sometime, after some kind of cooling-off period, Mr. Olbermann will be coming to a television near you.
That has less to do with the greater fool theory, which suggests that there will always be someone naïve enough to think that they can accomplish what others have not — that is, make Mr. Olbermann behave like a professional when he is not on the air. (Remember that former Vice President Al Gore and Joel Hyatt — two of the principals at Current — blew through many stop signs to get to Mr. Olbermann. They made very hopeful statements when the deal was cut, which were followed by very frustrated noises thereafter.)
No, the mistake that the executives at Current made was to think that by giving Mr. Olbermann a stake in the enterprise and a title of chief news officer, he would forgo the drama that has characterized his stints at CNN, Fox, ESPN and MSNBC. After all, you can’t rail against the Man when you are the Man.
But Mr. Olbermann is talent, and a big baby to boot — any reporter who has covered him could tell you all about that — so the idea that he would default to the good of the many over the needs of the one is just not in his nature. The title was used as leverage, nothing more, when Mr. Olbermann became dissatisfied and starting communicating with his employers through lawyer letters months ago. Mr. Olbermann is a ferocious fan of team sports, but that’s not how he plays the game.
He is the equivalent of a supremely talented left-handed pitcher with a strong arm — and some obvious control issues — that can give whatever team hires him a lot of quality innings. On the bench and off the field? He will complain about his coach, his teammates, the quality of the field and the stadium lights.
He did not solve the miserable ratings math at Current — as my colleague Brian Stelter pointed out, in his 40 weeks on Current TV, he had an average of 177,000 viewers at 8 p.m., a shadow of his former incarnation at MSNBC where he drew a million-plus people a night.
That’s not all his fault. Anybody who has watched the Keith-less version of Current could understand why they wanted him so badly in the first place. Beset by technical problems that had Mr. Olbermann broadcasting his show with a black backdrop in a kind of hostage/protest motif, Current was not and is not ready for prime time.
The channel’s election coverage has been tendentious and painful to watch, and the depth of its bench can be measured by the fact that it is bringing aboard former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer of New York to replace him. Current will have to do some renovating to make room for all of the baggage he brings with him, from both his scandal-ridden exit from the governorship and his ratings-challenged turn at CNN.
Which brings us back to Mr. Olbermann. Anchoring a show on television looks easy. Buy a nice suit, get a nice haircut and read the words on the prompter in the right order with some semblance of conviction. But it’s not. As cable stations proliferate, the desperate search for people who can credibly show up every night — or not, as Mr. Olbermann was frequently on strike at Current — and hold an audience’s attention will only become more acute. Mr. Olbermann has a terrible relationship with actual humans, but a very good relationship with the camera.
When I was working on a magazine piece about Mr. Olbermann, we went to a Yankees game and he explained the camera voodoo:
“Mechanically, if you look very carefully in a camera, it has a series of reflections and dimensions to it, you can look past that,” he said. He holds up his hands in the shape of a box. “Here’s the camera, here’s the front of the camera, here’s the lens of the camera, but if you look deeply enough, you can see the inner rings at the far end of the lens and maybe a glimmer of light very deep in the distance. You can always see something that might be an inch or two below the surface. Whenever I can, I try to focus there, not on the prompter or the front of the lens.”
Maybe that’s overexplaining something that is actually innate, but history has shown that even though Mr. Olbermann’s employers do not like him, the camera, and the people at the other end, like him just fine. As Jonathan Wald, the producer for Piers Morgan put it, somewhat more industrially, in a tweet on Saturday night, “Stars star and producers produce.”
And that means he will find work. He is a free agent in a business that is remarkably akin to pro sports, full of divas who are great at hitting the curve or making impossible catches, but baffled by the rest of life. Think Terrell (“I love me some me”) Owens. Or Randy Moss. Or Babe Ruth. Or Ted Williams. Jerks, louts and narcissists, all tolerated because within the four corners of the diamond, the football field and, yes, the television studio, they can do what others cannot.
So some executives will eventually plug their noses and write a check and a contract that they hope will contain Mr. Olbermann’s less attractive aspects. He and they will say that this time it will be different, and it may be. Just don’t expect him to be part of the team.
Wow jack so even Carr who would agree with you about KO’s behavoir says that KO is employable and will come back, that is how made up that statement is. You really love to show me why I love KO and why his personality had zero to do with what happened at Current, that article even tells about Hyatt and AIDS aka firing someone with AIDS and you want me to believe KO’s the bad guy. Keep making me love and respect KO more and more and show that all you wnat to do is bash him and put up gossip articles that can easily get refuted, you also do not get what I do about KO is that he a professional and someone that is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in which is what mangement hates about him and why he has a hard time with them, it what people love, keep lying about KO that is all you know how to do, you keep showing why I am a fan and always will be. Jack you also show why KO got unjustily fired from Current you have no evidence that KO is unemployable, only a gossip site by mangement that for the first two aka MSNBC and Fox are hypocritical and includes Current, and one with someone who has just as bad a reputation as KO suppose to have, and who wants to still get on KO’s case about something that he apologized for showing that she has zero crediblity and sounds like it just a revenge post. KO keep being yourself again will be pissed if you do not get the justice for being unjusticly fired from Current. Jack why does KO been in this industry for 33 years if he so unemployable that is how BS your argument is. KO keep being yourself and showing off your great personality and showing why KO is this generations Murrow and why he will be around for years to come, keep being yourself KO and you will always have a fan in me, again Current needs to stop lying and tell people the truth that your personality and ego is not why you got fired and that you work fine with others, Hyatt needs to explain why he and Brohem thinks it okay to make thier broadcating stars to work with a throat infection, that jack shows that Current never cared about KO, just like MSNBC who wants to re-write history and is okay with people that speak at partisain events and other employers doanting but KO the bad guy, that he unbelieveable MSNBC is on that topic. All that shows jack is why I do not watch Current and MSNBC and how dishonest those mangements are. You really love to show that KO works fine with others. KO keep being yourself and you will always be perment on my wall, ipod and ipad and life and why you got unjustily fired from Current. jack you just make me love and respect KO more and more with your BS crap about who he is. Jack thier is no and you just showed once again there is no evidence that KO personality was what got him fired. Keep lying about KO and showing that KO has zero clue how to lie and that you Jack have zero clue how to tell the truth about KO and his past employment. KO love you faults and all. As you see this gets debunked over and over again. Keep showing how igorant you are on KO.