Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann back together again

USA Today: Patrick and Olbermann back together again
By Michael Hiestand

Dan Patrick, the longtime ESPN anchor, will this season join NBC's Sunday night NFL studio show – where he'll reunite with Keith Olbermann, his on-air ESPN SportsCenter partner between 1992 and 1997. Patrick will also join a big cast on a show wrapped around NBC's Sunday primetime game.

He'll be the show's third co-host – along with Olbermann and Cris Collinsworth – on a show hosted by Bob Costas that includes analysts Jerome Bettis, Tiki Barber and reporter Peter King. Said Olbermann Monday: "My concern is that we didn't have enough people on the show. We really needed that 19th guy."

Patrick, who left ESPN last year and now hosts a syndicated daytime radio show, had a contract that prohibited him TV work until this September. His NBC deal will also include working on NBC's Olympic coverage, starting with the 2010 Winter Games.

Monday, NBC Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol and Patrick both said the idea for Patrick joining the NBC show came from Costas. Said Patrick: "If Bob didn't sign off on this, there's no way I'd walk into the room."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2008-07-07-olbermann-patrick-nbc_N.htm

I had to work late today and I only stayed long enough to see the thread posted letting me know that Rachel was hosting tonight, as I suspected, before having to take a bus. I decided to get some shopping done before I came back and watched my recording. When I came home and turned it on and saw an image of Dan in the pictures at the opening, I was suddenly reminded that while I was toiling away at today's annoying project, I was listening to a recording of Dan on his radio show this morning mentioning an upcoming announcement in the third hour regarding his return to TV. I was kinda hope-hoping it would be something like this, now that his time when he couldn't switch networks was finally over, but frustratingly enough I couldn't find a recording of the third hour of his show on either DanPatrick.com or the KLAC Web site today! Dan's site had the first two hours, but not the third, and the KLAC site had NONE, and I eventually gave up looking because I was just too busy. And I forgot all about the announcement! But when I saw Dan's picture I thought "Could it be?? Could it be??" YESSSSSSS!!!!!!!

And there was much rejoicing! :woohoo:

Sorry, Steph--I have to listen to the third hour of Dan live tomorrow!

a historic sports "team" is further commented on. And what an NBC "line-up"!

My guess is Dan Patrick is one very happy man, and certain he made the right decision when he left ESPN radio. Do you think he thought this was a possibility at that time?

A year and a half ago, it was looking more and more as if the worm was turning for Keith, and that was what was bringing them back together. You know, Keith mending the old fences at ESPN, and that made it possible for them to be reunited.

But Dan got restless, as so many people do who work for the same employer for many years. People told him, as they told Keith, "You have a dream job; why would you want to change?" But he, like Keith, wanted to test his wings, see if he could do something he hadn't tried before, stop doing some things he was tired of doing. It was an even bigger risk for him because he waited longer, but he jumped off the cliff and trusted the world would hold him up--and it paid off.

Thing is, it created some situations in which he and Keith could not work together because of contractual restrictions. He wasn't going to be permitted to jump networks right away, and Keith wasn't going to be let out of his ESPN contract right away (although he appears to not have worked it all off but just let it fade out).

Now, that time is over, and both of them are free of the old ESPN ties. And Dan was free to head on over to NBC and do football highlights with Keith at last.

It was kind of fun hearing Keith trade them off with Bob Costas last season, yet you always got the feeling (or I did) that Bob was subbing for the man who should really be there riffing off KO. Now they're finally going to be together again.

This is gonna be GREAT.