Dan Patrick on the First Keith Olbermann-ESPN Breakup: "We Had Handcuffs On" | 6/12/18

Dan Patrick reveals what happened behind the scenes that led to Keith Olbermann leaving ESPN for FOX Sports back in the 1990's at the height of their SportsCenter popularity.

[@johnwoolsey9879]

Sorry to burst your bubble here but Dan and Keith were solid gold. The perfect ting and yang of sportscasting. Followed by Stuart Scott and Rich Eisen. All of us would watch Sportscenter and talk about it the next day. Today ESPN is nearly unwatchable.

[@finchborat]

ESPN has been unwatchable. Aside from live events, I haven't watched them since 2015.

[@jrpayton8938]

Ya I used to watch it every morning before school back to back sports center episodes of the same stuff just cause it was live and not one was exactly the same as the other. Nowadays I just feel like it is TMZ or Jerry Springer sports show.

[@richiehunt5097]

Agreed. They were incredible. SportsCenter was great TV before them, but they made it must-watch TV...particularly on Sunday night regardless of the time of year. Dan was just rock solid and extremely likeable, but could raise some questions, criticisms and concerns at the right time. Keith was really brilliant. Forget about the politics for a second as Keith didn't do them on SC. Keith was an encyclopedia of sports knowledge and was incredible at telling a story based on that knowledge. I never liked Stuart Scott. I always thought he was the guy that transformed ESPN to what it is today...a bunch of announcers that are marks for themselves and trying to put themselves over the product. Dan's interview here hints at why a host would do that...because during Dan's day management and execs looked at them as 'just talent.' But to me, it's made ESPN far worse and I can't remember the last time I've watched anything on ESPN outside of a game or a 30 for 30. Sometimes when the pendulum swings one way, it going to swing just as hard the other way.

[@jackson5781]

Dan and Keith were Gold. As a kid I loved them. Them and Stuart Scott you couldnt beat them. But Keith was right. And Keith hasnt been able to recreate that magic since. But without Dan, Keith isnt that guy, without Keith, Dan is still that guy!!!

[@Qdub34]

Keith was interested in more than sports. His show Countdown was phenomenal and also ahead of it's time. Unfortunately, Keith is a visionary in a business run by reactionaries.

[@m4sterbr0s]

​@@Qdub34 after his run from Countdown on MSNBC ended he never really recovered, both from covering media and sports. And he became the one thing he always talked out against, a partisan hack obsessed about talking about Donald Trump 😂😂🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@heidi7151]

Watching 90s Sportscenter is amazing. I am shocked by how quiet and clean the presentation is - so much better than this 1 hour long music video of garbage. Dan, Keith, Rich, Kilborn, Steve Levy and Charlie Steiner were all great on it.

[@TheLocalLt]

Heidi Kleindienst it was a news show. Now it’s a talk show

[@jwilliams6002]

Kenny too

[@Qdub34]

I like both. Dan and Keith were the best to ever do it imo, but I also loved Stu and Kenny and the 6. It all really started with Dan and Keith though, and Management always screws things up when they think they're more important than the product/service.

[@mikemarc92]

The disrespect to Stuart Scott

[@thefaithslayer2553]

Keith Olbermann Dan Patrick Rich Eisen Stuart Scott Kenny Mayne John Anderson Chris Berman THIS is Sportscenter

[@jermainewashington7447]

Bob Lee, Charlie Steiner and Linda Cohn too.

[@xTouragx]

Still miss both of you guys on that show Dan...it was a great time to watch ESPN...Heck I still miss you and Dibble...good times..thanks for the continued great show now!

[@SaltyChip]

Would wake up for grade school and watch those 30 min Sc's twice and then talk with my friends about the awesome phrases we just heard.

[@puckutubesux7356]

Would've been an hour, unless you're talking about the pre-August of 1995 or so 2:30 AM ET editions that ran Tuesday-to-Friday in reruns (the Monday morning was always the hour Sunday night show). But I don't think Olbermann/Patrick really did those. They were the Sunday Night show that reran throughout Monday morning and then did the weekday 11 PM ET editions.

[@Qdub34]

@@puckutubesux7356 When I was growing up it was 30 minutes, re-run like he said. This is the old blue and red sportcenter, not the gold background they came up with later.

[@puckutubesux7356]

@@Qdub34 Not after August of 1995. The overnight/morning editions expanded to an hour in late August of 1995. The set in the thumbnail for this video was used from 1994-2000.

[@jermainewashington7447]

Keith and Dan were the best but when you tuned in to Sportscenter in the morning you never really knew who was going to be hosting that morning. Charlie Steiner, Linda Cohn, Bob Lee, they were all great too. Stuart Scott was just a pup, ahhh the glory days. It’ll never be the same. I would watch it 4 times in a row every morning.

[@GrumpyGrobbyGamer]

I left ESPN when they became a full time commercial for the *bleeping* Yankees, the *bleeping* Patriots, the *bleeping* SEC, and the Ego Machine that is LeBron

[@SouthernSkeptic]

You forgot identity politics.

[@finchborat]

And liberal bias

[@33moneyball]

You mean they covered the best, most popular, and most relevant teams and athletes lol?

[@MerkinMuffly]

I've never seen Lakers spelled with a Y like that

[@111RAMONES]

quit watching Sportscenter years ago!

[@wonshiin]

Good for you, and yes, you are.

[@richardpoplis6777]

The 2 best by far... no team even close... great job... by both.. management was horrible... still is... at ESPN

[@jennyanydots2389]

Too about all the rape accusations though.

[@joseboyer4364]

Wow, if they only knew kids in Latin America like myself would wake up just to see the awesome calls of Patrick and Oberman. I wish they would have known

[@otaviofrn_adv]

here in Brazil we have our own, in our own manner. Paulo "Amigão" Soares and Antero Greco. 22 years and counting

[@lastpme]

That is pretty sad.

[@philculp]

How Pauline doesnt have an MVD. He knows everything. He knows the answers. But Pauline lies low. He deserves it every year

[@toddm9501]

Dan called out Curt Schilling, but has never called out Olberman.

[@djonian]

"management thought the most important people were four letters....ESPN." Hmm....lets see, ESPN was a financial and ratings GIANT back then and now their ratings have tanked, they're laying people off, bleeding money, and if they didnt have cable contracts & televise games they'd probably be bankrupt. SPORT was the most important "person" to management back then. Its NOT about the personalities, social issues, or entertainment value. Its about Sports. No sports fan tuned in for DP & KO exclusively....like we'd turn it off if they werent on. lol Although I dig him, hate to break it to DP but we were there for the scores & highlights FIRST. The talent that reported it was gravy. And now the company is a shell of what it was. Connect the dots. Seems management had it right back then.

[@djonian]

@@pisto30 Uhhhh if you cannot see the inherent contradiction of that declaration, its pointless to respond to it. Meaning, if who is reporting on sport is more important than sport itself and determines whether you watch or not....you're NOT a sports fan. You're a DP & KO fan. More power to you. I liked them too. But there is a difference.

[@puckutubesux7356]

The "handcuffs" helped the show because it forced them to be extra creative to get around the constraints/inspired them to rebel even more. If they had been given too much freedom, they would have gone overboard/been an incoherent mess, watering down the product. That's what those "tortured artists" who feud with bosses never realize. But then if they realized it, they probably wouldn't be as great artistically.

[@akvalues]

Keith had pride and a high I.Q.

[@TheBatugan77]

If IQ means idiotic queen.

[@kingbizzel7111]

Working for Corporate sucks.

[@dennisrichardson9831]

I will Boycott ESPN until the day I die. My minimal like of Dan Patrick could be at risk here. I could listen to Rome first before Olbermann.

[@musicman76enator]

The Mothership is the MotherSHIT!!! Literally!!! Hahahaha

[@somahmed123]

Keith olbermann is genius.

[@cps7962]

i loved coming home aftr my late games and staying up watching the 230am sportscenter with keith and dan. and craig lilbrough. unreal it made real sports fans espn from the start was amazing. until it killed it self. like today such liberal shit. what a joke they turned into from when i watched it back when david sulliven and others would do an update back in the early 80s. what happend to sportscenter and espn today. a joke.

[@thomasdempsey8011]

ESPN was it back in the day Chris Berman the great and sorely missed Stuart Scott kieth Olbermann and Dan Patrick everyone watched ESPN for all your sports news and updates .then the network went woke and Keith went with it I haven't watched it in 3 years and I have no intention of watching again

[@aulorenzo1498]

If ESPN would just do the sports and not get political, I’d watch more of it.

[@derrickyee1143]

Keith Olbermann to ABC's Nightline?

[@finchborat]

Olbermann's career, and sanity, died when he left for MSNBC.

[@bwredder]

finchborat nah

[@finchborat]

More like yeah. You have no idea how wrong you are.

[@patrickpinch2929]

finchborat *MSDNC

[@Mikerojo1985]

You're triggered over Keith Olbermann politics lol

[@finchborat]

@@Mikerojo1985 Anyone with a functioning brain would cringe at a lunatic like Olbermann. People like him are the problem. Plus, his little Resistance channel on KZbin was a bust. He comes off looking worse than Trump.

[@robwinn1522]

Jesus Christ Dan Patrick looks like he's sitting in a highchair.

[@tchristian04]

When Keith Olbermann and ESPN weren't left wing propagandists...those were the days

[@Mikerojo1985]

Triggered lol

[@tchristian04]

Mike Rojo I think you’re grasping at straws here, or maybe you don’t understand what that means

[@TheBatugan77]

@@Mikerojo1985 < left wing lloser

[@JK-br1mu]

The best ones I remember from back in the day were Scott Van Peezy and Rich Eisen, and then I knew Dan Patrick was supposed to be some famous Sportscenter anchor too, and Stuart Scott wasn't bad. They had a good stable of about 8 rotating dudes..........I don't remember Olberdick at all, first knew of him when he was spewing hate and bile on MSNBC in the 2000s.

[@Qdub34]

You missed out. Keith and Dan were the pioneers, all of those other guys were walking in their footsteps. The would be no Scott, Mayne, Eisen or any of those other greats if Keith and Dan hadn't showed the way, despite shitty management.

[@zlinedavid]

@@Qdub34 One other pioneer deserves to be mentioned with them: Berman. Yes kids, Chris Berman used to host SC. Not incredibly often, but occasionally. But, he was one of the first to bring that entertaining style that made that era of Sportscenter legendary. Keith and Dan were the first regular duo, then Kilborn got hot for awhile, then Eisen and and Scott (RIP), then Mayne, then SVP.

[@heidi7151]

So basically Keith was totally wrong and the old "tone it down" execs were totally right because it was more fun watching straight guys dare the bosses than have SAS and Lavar Ball screaming insane nonsense 24/7.

[@Elayman1]

It was a natural chemistry. Both men have always been about being informative and professional before adding in a few jokes. They went overboard a few times after being apart but would have settled back into a lower key rhythm naturally without management intervention. When management couldn't take it anymore, and they were finally called out, that was the beginning of the end for Keith. He also had the chance to be more opinionated at MSNBC and refused to do anything that seemed forced or contrived. SportsCenter may have gotten away with more than the other shows because they were so good together, plus it was too late at night for the execs do do anything.

[@puckutubesux7356]

Yeah, that's usually how great things are made. There has to be that balance. The anchors wanted to push the boundaries and the executives wanted to pull them back into a professional news show, and that contrast is what made it great viewing. Their antics were in the context of a professional news broadcast. Those kinds of antics don't stand out in a wild, unprofessional setting.

[@noitallmanaz]

DSPN is crap

[@Mikerojo1985]

Triggered over a channel 😂🤣

[@Elayman1]

Keith left because he had gotten suspended. He was planning to come back if it had only been a 'time out' vacation like it was described to him.

[@mae2759]

Suspended for what?

[@billkittleman9631]

".. uh Dan did you have any inkling whatsoever at the time that 'ol Queefie Boy would evolve into the totally unhinged raging liberal psychopath that he is nowadays?? Did ya did ya???"

[@bwredder]

Bill Kittleman We’ll take Keith. You can have Dennis Miller and Rush Limbaugh.

[@bobmohr4952]

A couple steps ahead my ass, Keith was a raving lunatic and still is if you can see him when he is walking the streets talking to himself.

[@ellierose6]

He's on the fucking phone.

[@jgranger3532]

Olbermann was a fool. He had a great job, he walked away. He was always too angry and a Yankee homer. Patrick got him back in on his mid morning show and he didn't show up, because he was already working on his next move. His political show was all set up largely by him and, Al Gore, if I remember right, he walked way from it just few months later. Now on his KZbin channel, he said Surpreme Court nominee Amy Barriet should be prosecuted, but he dosen't for what or why. He said anyone who voted for Trump should be separated from society, that's 60,000,000 random people. Olbermann and Patrick weren't there to be complemented they were there to cover sports and make money for themselves and ESPN. No matter who Olbermann's bosses were they were always his enemies.

[@gern7535]

Keith Olbermann does his best work in a rubber room while wearing a straight jacket.