Keith Olbermann Fires Back At Bill Simmons, Simmons’ Editor Responds

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by Steve Krakauer | 8:51 am, March 9th, 2010

» 10 comments

After Friday’s new media showdown between MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann (via his MLB blog) and ESPN’s Bill Simmons (via his Twitter feed), all was quiet over the weekend.

Then yesterday afternoon, Olbermann fired back, and Simmons’ editor responded to Mediaite.

Olbermann’s latest personal-attack-at-the-end-of-a-baseball-related-blog-post continued to press that a Simmons Tiger Woods column was worthy of the “dumbest sportswriting award of 2010.” But then he went personal:

I was stunned to receive several emails from some of Mr. Simmons’ bosses there, thanking me for pointing out the absurdity of, and the embarrassment to ESPN provided by, the Woods/Ali comparison.

About five years ago, I guess, somebody said Tony Kornheiser was the most uncontrollable, unmanageable talent in the history of ESPN. I was, of course, crushed (although I believe I got honorable mention). When ESPN bosses are writing me for helping them about somebody they claim has now lapped Tony and myself, I am left to conclude only that if Mr. Simmons does leave ESPN, it may not be entirely of his own choosing.

So the implication by Olbermann is that Simmons’ (whose contract is up at the end of the year) “bosses” emailed Olbermann and told him they may not want him to work at ESPN anymore. There’s no way to tell if this is true, but considering the rough break Olbermann had when he left ESPN, this would certainly be surprising.

Simmons took the high road on Twitter this time (“This was not why I got into writing,”) but ESPN.com Editor-In-Chief Rob King (one of Simmons’ “bosses”) responded to Mediaite:

To be clear, John Skipper, John Kosner and I are the three people at ESPN responsible for determining how this all plays out. We believe Bill’s a uniquely gifted writer and thinker who makes us great and meaningful to sports fans. And we hope to keep him as a central part of what we do for a long time to come.

Olbermann has been off the air on MSNBC for nearly two weeks, so this is only playing off on the web, where it won’t get as much attention (according to the MLB blog, he’s been caring for his ailing father who “continues to fight his illness”). But how much longer will an political commentary news host take to a baseball blog (run by Major League Baseball) to personally attack an ESPN writer?

Finally, how’s this for irony – if Page Six’s Neel Shah‘s Twitter feed is to be believed, Simmons sat two seats away from Olbermann’s Nemesis #1 Bill O’Reilly at last night’s New York Knicks game. According to Simmons’ Twitter, he was at the game. Wonder if O’Reilly had any words of wisdom…

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Olby Sucks

Isn’t Keefy supposed to be taking care of pappy?
writer

KO got hyper because Ali has far left cred (war protester, Nation of Islam follower) and Tiger Woods doesn’t. That’s all it takes for Keith to go on the attack.
The Real Royal King

Being an advocate for peace makes one a far leftist? Who would have thought. But, knowing the great personal sacrifice my predecessor posters made to keep Amerika safe, I can understand their feelings. Has my own military service been on the battlefield in a dangerous theater, I would probably feel much the same. Or, had I gone to as many welcome home parties for men and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq as Jeff has, I would likely feel much the same. To both of you: Thank you for sacrifice for our nation, and Kill a Kommie for Khrist!
felixw

What’s the story with Olbermann? One moment, his dying father makes it impossible for him to deal with other matters. Then he is chatting about sports and settling scores on the web.
writer

Yes, anyone who spells America with a ‘k’ is obviously a super patriot. And in the sixties, protesting the war was seen as a left wing thing usually. In retrospect, Ali was right to protest that. The Nation of Islam thing is something else. You don’t have to listen to Farrakhan long to know he’s a virulent racist. Of course, since Farrakhan is black and on the left, the left will never call him or his followers on it. Instead, they’ll divert by saying something like ‘yes, you poor whites are discriminated against’, as if that somehow excuses Farrakhan’s racism.
The Real Royal King

Writer: Are you Farrakhan’s press agent? His name has never been in print as much as it has been in recent days in your posts.
writer

Just pointing out how the far left ignores racism when it’s not coming from white people. You’re a prime example. Farrakhan calling all whites blue eyed devils doesn’t bother you in the least. Instead, you go off on some tangent about how whites deserve no sympathy. Being a far leftie, you’ll never admit blacks can be racist. That’s just the way it is.
same2u

Writer I would say that is a step up from the chickenhawks you look up to.
writer

More diversion on the race issue. Really surprising.
ImNotBlue

same2u says:
March 9, 2010 at 11:07 am

It’s amazing to me that left-wing hate of all things not-left-wing allows them to ignore people whom they would otherwise despise. Farrakhan is a good example of that. He’s said such nasty things… such hateful, racist, offensive, anti-Semitic things… and yet, Same would rather ignore that. It’s easier to always talk about how “awful” are… but when things are really legitimacy wrong and bad, they’re too scared to come out of the basement. Talk about chickenhawks! Criticize someone who deserves it for once!

____

But back to the topic at hand. Who are we to believe? Olbermann… a man who was known for being so awful to work with at ESPN, that he’s no longer allowed back into the building, not even for anniversary programming. Or ANYONE else?

Yeah… Olbermann has even less credibility in this instance than normal.