Turner Sports is known for having the best studio crews on cable television from it's star-studded NBA coverage to it's all-star curmudgeon of ex-athletes during it's NCAA coverage and even the guys who do NASCAR on TNT are pretty good. But it's baseball crew has continued to struggle in finding an identity for itself because 1. they don't work much together in the regular season 2. they just weren't that into each other. They weren't bad and they did provide great analysis of the game but Matt Winer and Cal Ripken Jr. just weren't that funny, Dennis Eckersly carried the show just like LeBron has carried Miami and Cleveland.
But now that is all about to change with a new addition to the staff. Keith Olbermann. He will be teaming up with Dennis Eckersly and another TBA analyst and this new post-game crew might be able to build up the same chemistry as Inside the NBA has. Now unfortunately, this crew will not be working any regular season games either but it works to Olbermann's advantage because Turner Sports allows him to be more free-flowing than say ESPN would.
David Levy, president of Turner Sports, says that this deal will literally last for only one month during the MLB playoffs and that there is no word on whether this deal will be extended to other opportunities at Turner. He did say though that Olbermann will not be getting a role at CNN any time soon. This new venture could mean four things in my opinion.
1. If Olbermann plays nice with Turner Sports, he could be named full-time host for the 2014 season
2. If he does become a full-time host, he will also have an extended role with Turner and could legitimize "Bleacher Report" by becoming it's new face, or Turner could be starting a new video component on TV or online with hours of sports talk which K.O. would be a major part of. For example, maybe Turner Sports could take over 2 hours of CNN's daytime schedule with sports conversation from Rachel Nichols, Ernie/Kenny/Charles and K.O.?
Or they could do something on B/R similar to what SI is doing with their new 1pm online talk show. OR maybe start another 24/7 sports network to replace TruTV? (nah, that ain't happening unless Turner gets some NFL Thursday night games, TruTV actually is pretty successful and high rated; but if they made TruTV half Turner Sports and half guy programming like what they have now, I could see that being successful.)
3. This is just a part time gig to prove to ESPN that he's still a big draw on television and he'll parlay this into a full-time ESPN gig.
4. He's just bored at home and wants something to do with his free time.
Here are 5 other jobs K.O. can do while he stays at Turner.
5. Olbermann reads nighttime stories to senior citizens watching TCM, making them fall into a deeper sleep than they already were in after they watched a movie on TCM in the first place.
4. Olbermann guest stars on The CW's "The Vampire Diaries" as a blood sucking vampire who just won't go away
3. HLN creates a spinoff show to Nancy Grace called "The Scream-Off" featuring Nancy and K.O., viewers at home will decide who gives them a headache first from screaming the loudest
2. Olbermann puts his Cornell University to use and teaches Charles Barkley how to talk.
1. Olbermann joins the cast of TruTV's "Lizard Lick Towing" and brings any customer who denies their cars from being towed to tears with his words, just like he did to PA's at MSNBC and Current TV who are still taking classes on how to get through depression.
The one job he couldn't have was saving CNN, no one know how to do that, lol. But in all seriousness, this was all in good fun, Keith Olbermann is one of my idols for his ability to be so eloquent in his arguments whether he's talking about sports or politics.
I wish him nothing but the best at TBS and I hope to see him expand to something even bigger and back to being on TV on a daily basis whether that's at Turner, ESPN or some place else.
