The Associated Press is reporting that MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has been named the new host of NBC’s “Football Night in America” telecast before it’s Sunday night football games.
This hire, of course, begs the question: Who would win a smug-off: Olbermann or the ever-smarmy Cris Collinsworth, with whom Olbermann will now share the stage.
I’m really neither here nor there on Olbermann’s political standing. Ideologically, I’m not terribly opposed to what Olbermann does on his Countdown show but I’m not horribly impressed with Olbermann’s condescending and borderline insufferable brand of “humor”, smarminess and self-importance. I fear he’ll do the same thing to Football Night in America (shameless Canadian rip-off by the way), which is mildly enjoyable in the abscence of NFL Primetime, which for me was an American institution despite Chris Berman’s irritating schtick.
In honor of this hire, I’ve assembled a list of the top 5 most self-important people in all of sports.
1. Dan Patrick – just listen to his radio show for 15 minutes — no one thinks Dan Patrick is more cool than Dan Patrick. See if he can go 4 seconds without name-dropping Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell.
2. Keith Olbermann – the savior of democracy
3. Skip Bayless – what does he know about sports? He wrote in Sacramento.
4. Jim Rome – I believe he and WWE wrestling have similar fan bases.
5. Bob Ryan – wins the award for crotchiest sports writer.
Honorable Mention: Billy Packer, Colin Cowherd, Jim Nantz (a tool unlike any other — I had to), Chris Berman, Joe Theisman, Stephen A. Smith, Dan Shaugnessy, Jay Mariotti, Mike Lupica, Jason Whitlock, Tom Tolbert.
Leave a Reply