Olbermann Legacy, The Next Generation

We all know Keith Olbermann obsesses about baseball. Countdown carries his name but much more important, provides financial wherewithal for those choice season seats in Yankee Stadiums, both old and new. Countdown allows him to rave at politicos and pundits gone wrong, but we sense he much rather holler at the doings of the Boys in Pinstripes.

You cannot take the sportscaster out of the sports fan. Thus, Keith not only makes calls for NBC football coverage during NFL season, but he now adds a regular baseball blog to his journalistic endeavours.

According to PR Newswire:

 

Major League Baseball, announced today that it has hired award-winning anchor, sportscaster and journalist Keith Olbermann as an at-large columnist. Olbermann’s columns, currently available three times per week at keitholbermann.mlblogs.com, will provide fans with his “Baseball Nerd” perspective of the game across various platforms. He also is the first national journalist hired as part of MLBAM’s digital newspaper initiative, currently scheduled for a May launch.

At his request, Olbermann’s full salary for his work as an at-large columnist will be split equally among three charitable organizations. They will be: the Baseball Assistance Team, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and the Jayden Braden/Ariana Marzano College Fund, established in support of the late John Marzano’s grandchildren. Marzano, a former Major Leaguer and MLB.com host, died just over one year ago in a home accident in Philadelphia.

“I’ve long respected MLB.com’s editorial independence and I’ll be delighted to test it,” said Olbermann. “Seriously, it’s an honor to be able to write about all the obscure things I love inside the game I love, and to help some worthy causes in the process, and to honor an old friend. Not to mention that it will be my politics-free oasis. Unless another cat jumps up at another Governor.”

Olbermann’s love of the game runs in his family. His late mother Marie Olbermann received MLB fame when she was conked on the noggin by a wild pitch. Keith related the story during his emotional tribute to his mom:

 

…on June 17th, 2000, when the sudden, and growing, inability of the ill-fortuned second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to make any kind of throw, easy or hard, to first base, culminated in him picking up a squib off the bat of Greg Norton of the White Sox and throwing it not back towards first, but, instead, off the roof of the Yankees’ dugout where it picked up a little reverse english and smacked my mother right in the bridge of her glasses.

Chuck was in the middle of losing his beloved father at that time and though I thought I “got” what that meant to him, I didn’t really understand it until today as I wrote this, and struggled to find the right keys, let alone the right words.

In any event, for three days in 2000, Mom was on one or both of the covers, of The New York Post and The New York Daily News and Newsday. She was somewhere in every newspaper in America.

With her passing a few weeks ago, the Olbermann family baseball fame flame extinguished — except for KO’s preeminent baseball card collection and a Chuck Knoblauch ball that may or may not have been bequeathed to him. 

Except a few nights ago, in a new Yankee stadium (the one George built) when the Olbermann baseball strike “out” family legend meet the next generation thanks to a helicoptering bat and KO’s 10-year-old nephew. As KO relates in his blog:

 

Hats off to Ben Erdel. As part of his big night at Yankee Stadium last night, Brett Gardner let one of his Louisville Sluggers fly into the stands. Mr. Erdel and a much younger gentleman both had their hands on the rare souvenir – although only the younger gentleman had just managed to avoid getting hit with the helicoptering bat. Mr. Erdel took the bat, took a few steps, and then thought better of it, and generously did the right thing.

The younger gentleman now has a singular thrill from his first Yankee homestand, exceeding his previous one – being my nephew.

Here is Nephew, Jacob Smith, far left, and his bat, which was not stolen by either Katy Tur or Maegen Carberry.

Keith invited the lucky and talented Jacob on Countdown yesterday to show off the bat and ask, as he did his mother about the Knoblauch ball, if he could acquire it for his personal collection. And young Smith, echoed the wise and numbing words of his Grammie, “You can bid on it on eBay like everybody else.”

Shout out to Ben Erdel (pictured below) for letting Jacob keep the bat.

However, whether a photo opp on Countdown really seems commensurate with that Louisville Slugger may depend on Erdel’s political and cable news predilections.

Good Night, Marie

We members of the OlberBlogging Community send our thoughts and prayers to Keith and his family on the loss of his mother. 

No one could give a better tribute than Keith did on Monday night. If you would like to listen, please visit the Countdown site here.

We hope Keith doesn’t mind if we reprint his tribute from the Countdown transcript. We’ve also included some of the pictures Keith aired during the segment:

 

And finally, how does one tell this story?  My mother passed away Saturday night.  Our number one story on the COUNTDOWN, Marie Katherine (ph) Charbonier Olbermann, 1929-2009.  This remembrance is not going to be a medical story, although lord knows mom was the foremost authority on her own health.  Nor is it going to consist of me telling you that she was the proverbial saint, although I can hear her saying, go ahead.  I‘m not going to disagree with you.  Who is going to disagree with you?

It is not going to be a full biography.  Suffice to say, she was a gifted preschool teacher and a legendary authority on opera.  Somewhere, she is going to be genuinely disappointed that I did not get Placido Domingo to sing at the memorial service.  I thought instead it would be best to focus on something for which she became and remained pretty famous, literally until the day she died. 

My mother was one of the best-known baseball fans in this country.  She attended games of the New York Yankees from 1934 to 2004, and she watched or listened to every one she didn‘t go to up until last month.  My guess is she went to at least 1,500 of them, most of them in that seat right there, where the Fox cameras captured her late in the season of 2000. 

As recently as the 13th of last month, Jerry Manual, the manager of the New York Mets, came over to me on a field in Lakeland, Florida before an exhibition game and asked me how she was.  He was the fifth or sixth active baseball figure to have done so this year alone.  They have averaged at least one or two a month for nearly a decade now.  Saturday afternoon, not six hours before mom died, a New York Yankees executive made reference to that which had made mom famous in the ballparks, and trust me, mom loved being famous in the ballparks.  Even if it had to have been attained this way on June 17th, 2000. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  And these are the problems that have become well documented over the last few days.  Throwing it into the stands and ironically enough, the ball hit Keith Olbermann‘s mother right between the eyes.  She was all right.  The glasses were broken. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN:  Four days after her birthday, mom had found herself in the middle of one of the great melt downs in sports history, a sudden and growing inability of the ill-fortuned second baseman Chuck Knoblauch of the Yankees to make any kind of throw, easy or hard, to first base.  Chuck was in the middle of losing his beloved father at that time.  Though I thought I got what that meant to him then, I didn‘t really understand it at all until this afternoon as I wrote this, and I struggled to find the right keys, let alone the right words. 

For three days in 2000, mom was on one or both of the covers of the “New York Post” and the “New York Daily News” and “New York News Day.”  She was somewhere in every newspaper in America.  And all this happened while I was the host of the baseball game of the week for Fox.  Needless to say, I managed to get an interview with her for the pregame show the following Saturday, an exclusive interview.  Although don‘t think I didn‘t have to work for it. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

 

(Note: The only person who could make KO shut up on the air!)

 

OLBERMANN:  Joining us now for her first interview since the Knoblauch incident, my mom.  Are you OK? 

MARIE OLBERMANN, MOTHER OF KEITH OLBERMANN:  I‘m pretty good.  A little bruised, but OK. 

OLBERMANN:  Mom, you‘ve been going to games since—so long that you met Babe Ruth when you were a toddler.  Have you ever been near a foul ball or thrown ball before? 

M. OLBERMANN:  Not that close.  No, not really.  No. 

OLBERMANN:  And this was close enough? 

M. OLBERMANN:  Too close. 

OLBERMANN:  A lot of the pitchers are saying this year that the hitters are doing better because the ball is harder than it has been in the past.  Would you agree that it‘s harder than it has been in the past? 

M. OLBERMANN:  It‘s the hardest one I‘ve ever been hit with. 

OLBERMANN:  You went back to Yankee Stadium the next day.  Why? 

M. OLBERMANN:  To see the game. 

OLBERMANN:  Do you have any worry about Chuck, either as a Yankee fan or for your own safety? 

M. OLBERMANN:  Not really.  I sympathize with him. 

OLBERMANN:  Why do you sympathize with him? 

M. OLBERMANN:  Because I‘m a little awkward at times too. 

OLBERMANN:  But you‘re not playing second base with the Yankees, are you? 

M. OLBERMANN:  Not yet. 

OLBERMANN:  Have you been surprised by all the newspaper attention? 

M. OLBERMANN:  A little bit, but I want to know why they keep mentioning you. 

OLBERMANN:  Uh, OK.  What matters most, obviously, mom, is that you‘re all right.  But I‘ve got to ask you, in closing, it‘s no secret that I collect memorabilia.  Like I‘m telling you something you don‘t know.  You had to clean most of it up.  But can have the ball? 

M. OLBERMANN:  You can bid on it when I auction it off, just like everyone else. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Four million.  Thank you, sir. 

OLBERMANN:  My mother, everybody. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OLBERMANN:  My great thanks to my old boss, David Hill, at Fox Sports, for his kindness in letting us run that tonight. 

Anyway, for the rest of the year, any time Fox broadcast a game from Yankee Stadium, mom got on TV again.  We even talked about her during the World Series broadcast that fall, during which began this ritual that continues to this day, players, players who were at the game, players who only heard about the game, players asked me about my mom. 

Since the day it happened, I‘ve been told Chuck Knoblauch has been mortified by it.  Chuck, give yourself a break.  You made her famous.  She loved it.  She could not have been happier if they let her pinch-hit for you. 

A full circle that is.  It was mother who was the fan in our family.  My dad likes the game enough, but the Yankees traded his favorite player away, and he‘s still mad at them.  This happened late in 1948.  So it was mom who introduced me to the game.  In my teenage years, when we went nearly every day, it was she who trundled me and my sister to the ballpark.  It was on her TV that I came to love the sport and by her side that I began to understand it.  And sitting next to her that I began to understand that I was not going to be any damn good playing it, and if I wanted in, maybe I‘d better try talking about it. 

Thus was born a career, the results of which you see now.  At least half of the ham comes from her.  She was an aspiring ballerina.  And when I keep talking and talking and talking, for good or for ill, that‘s pretty much all her.  What I don‘t have pictures of are the thousands of hours she spent driving me to and from school so I could work on the newspaper or announce the hockey game. 

In retrospect, it‘s obvious she was, to adapt a phrase, a media mom.  It was the proverbial sudden illness in the best of senses.  She had no apparent symptoms until two weeks ago.  She was not severely afflicted until ten days ago.  The treatment lessened her pain, and she never awakened, thus never had to hear, nor did any of us have to say, you have terminal cancer. 

I‘m not going to end with harangue about how you need to go see your doctor, because not feeling so bad does not mean you are not sick, though you should keep that in mind.  But knowing those of you who watch this show and others I‘ve done, I‘m always overwhelmed by your support and how personally you take all this.  If you are so inclined, instead of flowers or card or whatever, make a donation to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation or St. Jude‘s hospital.  They do such important work there too.

Marie Olbermann is survived by her husband, my dad, my sister Jen and her husband and their two kids, Jacob and Eve, mom‘s grandchildren.  By her cousins Robert and Bill Shlombom (ph) and their families, by just about everybody in baseball, and by me.  Good night, mom, and good luck.

 

 

Susan G. Koman Breast Foundation

St. Jude’s Hospital

We wished we had known her!

Not-The-State-Of-The-Union Address

 

broadcast: Tuesday, February 24, 2009

by Olberblogger

OlberBlogging Reviews the NTSOTU Address

 

#5: Obama Aced It

Obama’s first address to a joint session of Congress last night may not have been a bona fide State of the Union Address, but his speech definitely met the “stately” prerequisite.

Once again, Barack Obama delivered an inspiring, insightful, intelligent speech that touched all issues of our current economic crisis. He did not speak over heads, but  to our hearts. He explained the problem so average citizens could comprehend and respected our ability to respond as necessary. Unlike the previous Prez, he proved knowledge of history’s lessons. Most of all, Obama gave us what has been so abysmally missed for nearly a decade — a vision for America we all can embrace.

#4: Jindal Blew It.

Big time. 

The Twitterverse and Blogosphere harp that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal channelled either Mr. Rogers or Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock during his Republican rebuttal speech. Definitely Piyush Jindal (who took his nickname “Bobby” from the Brady Bunch character) appeared amateurish , nervous and nonprofessional. He reminded me of Nixon during the first historic Presidential debate. Why didn’t someone either get him to shave, plaster make-up on his 5 o’clock shadow, or change the lighting in that very spooky set?

Bobby

Kenneth

#3: Rachel and I Both Choked 

AhBaBaAhBaBa

 

Rachel Maddow became speechless from the Jindal jabberwocky. She could not believe that Jindal invoked Hurricane Katrina as an image of how government should move forward.

I became speechless after inhaling a meatball at dinner while watching Jindal jabber. 

#2: Winners and Losers

The Biggest Winner:

The American people who finally can feel pride for their President — especially when he opens his mouth.

Runner-Up:

Twitter, the on-line/mobile super chat service provided immediate play-by-play from both media types and average citizens during the speeches and the analysis afterwards. Twitter launched the “Jindal as Kenneth” barb and also emphasized how proud followers were of Obama. 

Also, thanks to Twitter, we learned that the Countdown folks enjoyed BBQ from Daisy Mae’s as they prepared for broadcast. BBQ from NEW YORK CITY!!!!  NEW YORK CITY!!!  Humph!

Biggest Loser:

The GOP.

As hard as you try, folks, you cannot clone Barack Obama.

#1: Keith Did NOT Say It!

Media yentas prattled about the open microphone mutter of “Oh, God” as Gov. Jindal walked from around the pillar toward the camera. Most blogsters immediately blamed Keith for the slip, but TVNewser confirms the mumbler was Matthews. 

I replayed the mutter several times. I never thought it sounded like Keith and rather than “Oh God,” I thought I heard “My God!”  However, I have some residual doubts that Matthews said that either. I think it was a collective groan from the American people, because “Oh, my God!” was what I said when I saw Jindal come out! (And then I nearly choked to death!).

Best Fashion Statement:

Keith — at least from the desk up. 

MaET =  2117

Yes, We Can!

Good Luck,

President Barack Obama

Celebrate among yourselves!

Keith on the Silver Screen

The inauguration of President Barack Obama will be such a major historical event, the proceedings will come to a cinema near you — starring Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews and the rest of the MSNBC news team.

MSNBC, in conjunction with Screenvision, will air its inauguration coverage live on 27 movie theaters across the nation. Of course, you can catch the simultaneous MSNBC telecast on your smaller TV home screens, too.

You’ll need free tickets as well as cash to purchase popcorn, Thin Mints and expensive soft drinks while you view a 40-foot KO from quasi-comfortable, probably sticky chairs at your neighborhood multiplex.

To see if the Olbermann-Obama show will be on a big screen near you, check out the MSNBC Events site.

You Like Me! You Really Like Me!

Countdown's Favorite People 2008 Review

Broadcast Date:  Monday, December 22, 2008

by Olberblogger

 

Keith reviews the Countdown‘s Not-Necessarily-Positive Favorite People of 2008, so OlberBlogging reviews the review.

 

#5: Obama Campaign

While Keith’s emotional and historical declaration that Obama would be the next president of the United States still sends a chill up my leg, the rehash of the interminable campaign left me with a not very pleasant “déjà vu all over again” ennui. The Obama campaign truly inspired the nation, but the entire two-year ordeal left this nation exhausted. 

I don’t know about you, but once November 4 rolled around, I already received my holiday present and lost all sense of seasonable cheer. I often wonder if the economy’s mini-depression comes from a totally fatigued nation or because the Obama money machine stopped spending (at least, that might account for the media layoffs!).

During those two years, clothing styles changed, KO became grayer, and cancer slowed that old campaign lion Ted Kennedy. The replay of campaign carping reminds me of holiday dinner with relatives, with Hillary somehow morphing into my mother. And I am just fed up with John McCain and his imaginary friend Joe The Plumber.

However, Obama’s stump speeches still leave me speechless. The historical significance of this election still enthralls me. For the first time I view the coming year with hope, despite the world’s desperate straights. I’m again proud to be an American. I guess that is why the Obama inaugurates Countdown‘s  Favorite People of 2008 as well as that “timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people — Yes We Can!”

Oh, by the way:  ”Hello, Sioux City.”

#4: Sarah Palin

Not only did Sarah Palin bring comic relief to the campaign, but she was impetus for some of Keith’s best catch phrases of the year:

“people  who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like”

and

“I went to an anti-Palin rally and a hockey game broke out”

Even conservatives Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough discounted Palin as  the biggest political gamble in American history — before she was even selected! 

What better metaphor for Palin’s candidacy, the McCain-Palin ticket or what’s left of the GOP than a turkey being butchered in the background during Palin’s naive interview about how great she feels. In addition, I’m sure all the Proposition 8 backers appreciated her favorite shopping place, a consignment store aptly named “Out of the Closet.”

At least, her run gave new life to Saturday Night Live and collected $3,700 of Keith’s money for Alaska Special Olympics.

But one thing I don’t understand, KO?  What gives with all these comments about Monty Hall being proud? My mother once dated Monty Hall and  I’m not sure that he would be proud of Sarah Palin, even if her state does border his international homeland, Canada.

 

Keith’s next two favorites highlighted the Nexus of Politics and Popular Culture:

#3:  Saturday Night Live

Sarah Palin became the gift that keeps on giving, especially for Saturday Night Live. SNL had lagged of late. Even the political skits tended toward dull. Until Sarah Palin. While Amy Poehler conjured a fair (but giggly) Hillary Clinton and Fred Armisen did a creative “Black Like Me” Obama imitation,  Tina Fey truly melded into the GOP’s Caribou Barbie to the point they were indistinguishable during their co-appearance. Fey’s Palin doppelgänger definitely rates an Emmy® nod.

Ben Affleck’s KO impersonation grows on me each time I see it. And that 360-degree chair spin (KO 360?) needs to be incorporated into a real future “Special Comment.”

Several fan sites debate the meaning of “Miss Precious Perfect” — is it a shout out to someone in KO’s life, a pet from his past, a jab to his allergy, a political comment, a reference to KT? Hey, folks, it just a skit!  A hilarious one, certainly, but just a skit! Geesh, get a life!

I did like KO’s parody of Affleck’s parody of KO. Hey, maybe this could become an ongoing gimmick between the two, like the ongoing KO-Paul F. Tompkins appearance pimping.

Two notes:  

• The Ben Affleck SNL appearance will repeat this Saturday, December 27
• To see my all-time  favorite SNL Christmas classic, click on here

#2: Dave Letterman

Of the top three best interviewers on TV, only one is a journalist, Ted Koppel. The other two are Jon Stewart of The Daily Show and David Letterman. 

As much as Letterman lampoons his own “stupidity,” he remains, as was his mentor Johnny Carson,  one of the most intellectual TV personalities. Carson was said to read at least five newspapers daily (not including countless other periodicals and books). Dave, too, exudes a comprehensive and literate mastery of current world affairs (as well as an affinity for various sports venues). 

Unlike too many TV anchors, Dave never minces his questions. He may preface them with “I’m stupid, but…” and that “but” can be lethal. Dave does not suffer fools or authority figures. During his initial presidential bid in 2000, George W. Bush appeared via satellite on Dave’s show and made a totally inane comment about Letterman’s recent heart surgery. Dave went for Bush’s own jugular with pointed political questions that left Dubya shell shocked. The Shrub has yet to reappear on The Late Show. Astronauts also have been reluctant to appear on Letterman, fearful that Dave will ask them a technical question that they cannot answer. Jay Leno never asks the difficulty question. That’s why his upcoming nightly NBC talk-variety show just might work, while a similar program hosted by Letterman never could.

I agree with Keith, that McCain’s snubbing of Letterman may have been the turning point of the campaign not only due to the negative publicity but because of the relentless pounding the Senator received monologue after nightly monologue. 

And the horrified expression on Keith’s face when the CBS Evening News feed slipped in, underscored the impropriety of McCain’s actions.

Dave held McCain in high esteem before that incident and, despite the cancellation blunder, I believe he still does. If a guest truly pisses off Mr. Letterman, that guest never gets booked again. I have a friend (who shall remain nameless) who used to play the last minute “KO” substitute role frequently, until he did something on air Dave asked him not to do. He never has appeared on The Late Show since.  However, John McCain has been on with Dave twice since the gaffe — first for his requisite mea culpa and later for a post-election follow-up. That would happen only (1) if Dave truly wasn’t mad and (2) because Dave is the more honorable man.

I do wish KO would have included both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in his Nexus of Politics and Popular Culture bit. Both shows hit high marks not only for candidate lampoons, but with guest appearances as well. Colbert, after all, attempted a primary run and Mike Huckabee never played bass guitar on Meet the Press.

 

#1: You Like Me!

 Keith, I did feel the same way about the 2006 Time Magazine “Persons of the Year”  YOU cover as I did your Number One favorite person choice — an obligatory cop-out. (Sorry, Judith Marie to disagree with you on this one!)

Yes, I concur that WE the American people accomplished something significant and world-shattering by electing Barack Hussein Obama as our next president. I believe that the voters threw off centuries of segregation, separation and superstition to elect the first African-American leader. Yes, we volunteered, donated and voted in record number. I also applaud the hundreds of thousands of young people who once again became politically involved and the hundreds of thousands of their seniors, the 60′s children, who came out of their suburban seclusion to finally fulfill their misplaced destiny. 

But, I also remember that nearly 47% of the electorate voted for McCain and his truly unqualified running mate Caribou Barbie. Remember the catcalls of “terrorist” and “muslim” during GOP rallies? Remember how Joe the Plumber became a GOP icon? Remember Proposition 8? I don’t think that the American electorate necessarily should be celebrated for its acumen and foresight. We actually could have been one swift boat torpedo away from another four-years of GOP rule and Palin a heart beat away from the most powerful post in the world.

Thanks, KO, for the shout out to your loyal viewers. We truly did make Countdown and MSNBC the top ranking cable news outlets for the first time ever — especially when no one (including NBC Universal brass) thought that was possible. We enjoy the ride with you. We appreciate that you do listen to us — as seen by your mentoring of Rachel Maddow. We admire you for your courage, not only with your Special Comments, but with your grit to call out Morning Joe and others for their banality, open mike or not.

However, just as the 2006 Time mirror-like reflective cover seemed trite, your personal salute seemed somehow shallow. Perhaps you hurried to start your much needed holiday (especially after the nearly two years of non-stop political pounding). You, too, probably felt exhausted like the rest of us. Perhaps more. 

Somehow your acknowledgment seemed a bit disingenuous to me. Blame it on the two-year campaign, the economy, Hurricane Ike, my own sick Miss Precious Perfect, your striped tie, or general holiday bah humbuggery. But, remember, my dear friend (and if you really like me, I can call you that)…what the public giveth, the public always can taketh away (in TV viewership or voter preference).

Besides, writing a blog takes so much damn time!!!  You darn well better appreciate it!

Stay tuned!  OlberBlogging will post our Favorite Countdown Persons of 2008 soon after Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (take that Bill-O).

Good Night and Good Luck.