"I could see it on my tombstone, or at least in my obit: 'Keith Olbermann, who left ESPN in a tempest …,' " he says, somewhat wistfully. "What I would like to go for is: 'Keith Olbermann, who left ESPN in a tempest in 1997 and then returned later and retired with a gold watch.' I'd like to give that a shot, having repaired most of the damage. I think that really would be great."
Olbermann famously burned bridges at ESPN, but embarked on apology tour of sorts in the years before his return. Among his big regrets is clashing with sportscaster Suzy Kolber, whose pieces he used to attack on air and whom he once made cry.
"I mean, you don't want to provoke anybody to tears but especially a female colleague in what was not a female-conducive environment at that point. It was 10-to-1 men on the [Bristol] campus," he says. And when he saw her at the Super Bowl in '09, "we went running at each other with a big hug."
"It's important to acknowledge that I was here before," says Olbermann, referring to a "This Day in Keith History" segment on his new ESPN show, Olbermann, that will look back at his tenure at the network from 1992 to 1997.
"Keith’s on-air work led me to believe that I was going to meet this guy who was tough and willing to fight," says Jamie Horowitz, ESPN vp original programming (left), with Olbermann during a rehearsal for the ESPN2 show. "And then you sit down at the table with him, and he exudes charm and affability that's totally disarming."
"When you work for someone you admired politically who turns out to be a clod, the scales fall from your eyes. Sorry. Al underdelivered. I mean that's just simply the case. I don't want to dwell on it, but it's true." Olbermann says of his former Current TV boss.