Keith Olbermann became a cult favorite at ESPN in the 90's, co-anchoring SportsCenter with Dan Patrick (now with NBC). He's bounced between sports and political reporting since then, and thus is on his 3rd tour of duty with ESPN, which finds him in the Bronx on Monday, calling the Mets-Yankees game because Karl Ravech, who normally works Monday night ESPN games, is in Williamsport for the Little League World Series, which starts later this week.
Viewers had two choices. Hit the mute button, and listen to the radio broadcast of either the Mets (Howie Rose & Josh Lewin) or the Yankees (John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman), or risk falling asleep prematurely because of Olbermann's droning, energy-sapping delivery. Basically the same tone he'd use at the anchor desk, but not welcome at all here. For those choosing the latter option, it's 3 1/2 hours you'll never get back.
To be sure, Olbermann was raked over the coals by the critics in the aftermath, and they dug up a clip of a 1993 broadcast between Houston, then in the National League, and Philadelphia, which was the last time Olbermann was doing play-by-play.
MLB's YouTube channel offers a condensed version of the game, which is worth less than 10 minutes of your time. Feel free to hit the mute button.
Right now, ESPN is wishing Chris Berman hadn't gone into semi-retirement. At least he can bring some energy to a broadcast. Olbermann's next gig is likely as a supervisor for National Grid.
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