Keith Olbermann abruptly ended his run on MSNBC last night, and in addition to piecing together exactly what happened that led to his departure, much of the Olbermann-related speculation has been about his next destination. One place he probably won’t end up: his former home, ESPN.

Football announcer Ron Franklin won’t respond to his firing from ESPN, but told the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir that he’s gotten an outpouring of support since his dismissal.

ESPN and the NFL are in the midst of finalizing a television and media rights megadeal that is worth upwards of $16 billion (some estimates put the deal’s value at $19 billion). It is, without a doubt, the biggest sports television deal in history, and ensures another revenue stream for two companies that are already printing money. Here’s what it means, and how it happened.

ESPN announcers Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski, and Jon Gruden are apparently a very chatty and broey bunch. That much we learned during a commercial break for Monday night’s Orange Bowl, when the three announcers’ microphones were left on during a commercial break.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter just couldn’t contain his excitement when breaking the news that Eric Mangini lost his job.

ESPN announcer Ron Franklin was pulled from Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl radio broadcast after making crude comments to sideline reporter Jeanine Edwards during a production meeting.

Sports writer Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register has accused Will Selva of swiping lines from his recent column about the Lakers and using them to open a segment on Highlight Express. In an angry post on the Register’s Lakers Blog, Ding thanks Selva for liking his column but asks him to “try not to plagiarize it next time.”

From now until December 30th we’ll be going through our favorite oopsies from the year that was. So come and join us, won’t you, as we count down the Top Ten Sports Media Gaffes of the Year! Today’s gaffe: Jay Mariotti’s legal troubles become a source of joy to many.

From now until December 30th we’ll be going through our favorite oopsies from the year that was. So come and join us, won’t you, as we count down the Top Ten Sports Media Gaffes of the Year! Today’s gaffe: Chris McKendry has an unfortunate slip of the tongue.

A probably-intoxicated Oregon Ducks fan appears to be the culprit in “the mystery of the ESPN analyst’s missing head.” The hoodlum stole Lee Corso’s beloved prop on Saturday, and the police are on the case. You read that right: the police are now involved in trying to find out who stole Lee Corso’s giant prop head.

On Friday night’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann‘s “Tweet of the Day” concerned his simmering feud with “Worst Person in the World” recipient Bristol Palin. Linking to Palin’s Facebook rebuke of Olbermann, Sabrina Brown‘s tweet read “aww keith! Bristol is pissed at you!

ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown crew of Stuart Scott, Matt Millen, and Steve Young added their two cents on the state of the Vikings yesterday…and there was some dissension among the ranks.

I’m not exactly sure what former Notre Dame football coach and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz is angry about in this video, but he’s certainly angry about something.

ESPN PR maven Keri Potts has an amazing, though disturbing, story – once, while on vacation in Italy, a local man with whom she went out for a night on the town, tried to rape her.

We’re huge fans of ESPN’s Chris McKendry, so it pains us to throw this up. Yesterday on SportsCenter, in the midst of NFL analyst Tedy Bruschi’s explanation of why inches are crucial whilst playing goal line defense, McKendry accidentally referred to Ben Roethlisberger as “Ben Roethliscock.”

Whether blackface or not, this is still a potentially embarrassing gaffe on ESPN’s part.

ESPN sideline reporter Jenn Brown was not happy when she caught a fan taking her picture at the airport. So, naturally, she tweeted how she felt.

Last week, we told you about the prank call that EPSNU reporter Elizabeth Moreau fell victim to, and now, the audio to this has arrived, courtesy of the Smoking Gun.

The male caller, who masqueraded as her husband to get his call past the front desk, informed Moreau that the building was on fire and instructed her to use the toilet lid cover to break through her window, which she did.

A little mini-controversy involving ESPN and its possible involvement in the latter moments of last night’s Monday Night Football game has steadily gained steam on the blogosphere since this morning.

We’ve previously tipped you to ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue, which will feature some well-known athletes photographed as naked as the day they were born. We already knew USA goalkeeper Tim Howard would be in the issue, but what about the female athletes who bared all?

Jim Miller’s upcoming ESPN book, “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the Word of ESPN,” has some people at the network nervous. Never before has an outsider been granted such access to the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and the potential for what could turn up has some ESPNers antsy.

Following the big ESPN TV event tomorrow, LeBron James‘ “The Decision” (yes, in quotes), the next big event will be this year’s ESPYs, the annual sports awards show.

This year it’s live with SNL‘s Seth Meyers as host – we talked to him today in a conference call about LeBron, the best sports SNL host and more.

Earlier today, CNN announced it is bringing HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman on board as a regular contributor. According to CNN, “Kellerman will provide his passionate perspective and insightful commentary on news related to sports and pop cultural issues for CNN’s American Morning program (weekdays 6a-9a ET), and other CNN programs.”

In less than a year, Bill Simmons quickly – and not surprisingly – amassed a fantastic amount of Twitter followers as a sports writer. However, his next step isn’t in quantity; it’s in innovation and devotion to his Boston Celtics. Buried in his NBA Round 2 wrap-up, he unveiled his newest idea: a Twitter account dedicated to starting chants during home games for his team