• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Special Report

A shopper browses the bread section at a Wal-Mart store in Santa Clarita, California April 1, 2008. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

The food-stamp economy

On the last day of every month, shoppers at Walmart load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. Is this the new normal in America?  Full Article 

Olbermann, Patrick reunite for "Football Night"

Paul J. Gough
Mon Jul 7, 2008 7:38pm EDT
Keith Olbermann answers questions during the panel for ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California July 16, 2007. REUTERS/Phil McCarten

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Former ESPN stars Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick will reunite in September to call highlights for NBC's "Football Night in America" on Sundays.

U.S.  |  Sports  |  People

Olbermann and Patrick are legendary in sports TV for the 5-1/2 years they co-hosted ESPN's signature "SportsCenter," or as they called it back then "The Big Show." It's been 11 years since they were together on TV, with Olbermann leaving for Fox Sports and eventually MSNBC. Patrick left ESPN last year and has been doing a daily sports talk show for Sports Illustrated.

Patrick's deal with NBC Sports includes working on "Football Night in America" and the years that the network has the Super Bowl, as well as covering the Olympics beginning in 2010. Patrick is contractually prevented from working on NFL telecasts and the Olympics in Beijing for a year. NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol had spoken a year ago to ESPN execs about Patrick, and it seemed to be OK.

But Ebersol said that in talking to ESPN chief George Bodenheimer and ESPN executive vp John Skipper, things changed a bit after they realized Patrick would be reuniting with Olbermann. ESPN invoked a contract provision that kept Patrick from working on "They had a right, buried in the boilerplate of the deal, to keep him off of TV for a year, said NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol. Patrick left ESPN last year after 18 years of doing "SportsCenter" and hosting a daily show on ESPN Radio.

Patrick joins an already large cast at "Football Night in America," that includes host Bob Costas and co-hosts Olbermann, Cris Collinsworth and now Patrick as well as contributions from Jerome Bettis, Tiki Barber and Peter King. Costas' role will be reduced a bit as Olbermann and Patrick will take over the majority of the highlights.

"I'll be doing the highlights for the red states, and Keith will be doing the highlights for the blue states," Patrick joked. Patrick said it was Costas' idea to have him join the cast, and Costas had made the suggestion to Ebersol.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
U.S.
Sports
People


More from Reuters

Photo

Plot exposes fissure in U.S. intelligence community

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last week's failed plot to bomb a U.S. passenger jet has exposed lingering fissures within the U.S. intelligence community, which had information from interviews and clandestine intercepts but did not put the pieces together, officials said.

» More Top News
Traders work in the pits at the The New York Mercantile Exchange, November 7, 2007. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Calling the market

A spectacular credit bust, two devastating stock market crashes ... the smart call this decade was to play it safe.  Full Article 

Global Markets
People walk past a branch of Bank of America in New York's financial district April 28, 2009. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Rolfe Winkler:

Move your money

Boycotting "too big to fail" banks is a great idea -- so long as investors remember that banks aren't the only ones responsible for the crisis.  Full Article 

    Commentary