May 11, 2023 • 49 mins
EPISODE 199: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-BLOCK (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: All mainstream American news organizations must today solemnly and unflinchingly look inward after what happened last night and understand that if you simply assume as CNN did that if you apply the journalistic rules of 20, 50, or 150 years ago to a candidate who will speak any lie, who will slander any person, who will manipulate any fear, who will betray any and all aspects of democracy, you will inherit the wind. CNN handed over 70 minutes of its primetime, and all of its remaining credibility, to a madman, to a criminal, to a liar, to a would-be dictator. It gave him an audience of braying cult members who gave him not one critical nor even less-than-fawning question. It gave him a moderator whom he ignored, mocked, insulted, lied to, lied about, and who in turn thought everything would be fine if she simply responded to his lies by saying “no you’re wrong.”
CNN must fire its CEO Chris Licht for birthing a journalistic abomination unprecedented in American television history last night; Its new owners must sell the network whose brand they irreparably damaged last night. E. Jean Carroll needs to sue Donald Trump for the new defamatory comments he made about he last night; And moderator Kaitlan Collins needs to sue her agent for ending her career last night.
Last night, CNN legitimized the lies and the feral venom of Donald Trump. And for whatever shamed remorse might leak out of that organization today and in the days ahead; for whatever sober self-reflection might be done at the New York Times or The Washington Post or the other outlets who may have now seen what happens when you apply the laws of honest journalism in a democracy to a man who will not and cannot even consider honesty or democracy; for whether or not some editor really stopped someone writing “Trump lied to and abused America for 70 minutes last night; here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden”…for whatever regret felt, or lesson learned.. there will be others who will look at the ratings as they come out later today and say “Did you see those numbers? We need to do one of those right away!”
It was a disaster from start to finish. And the bottom line is: CNN as a credible news organization, as the FIRST credible full-time American television all-news organization - THAT'S what's finished.
B-BLOCK (21:37) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So many counts against George Santos that he, Devolder, and his drag queen persona could each get life sentences. The return of Feinstein. (24:00) IN SPORTS: NFL's new schedule: only two days a week WITHOUT any football. And you can be a top college basketball coach and use a homophobic slur and the word "Catholic" as the adjective before it and still NOT get fired? (27:34) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Which idiots scheduled their attack on the Biden family between the Santos arraignment and the CNN Trump fiasco? Alex Haley may have made up the quote that made enemies of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. And Senator Tuberville wants to make the Military safe for White Nationalists (like him).
C-BLOCK (33:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Beautiful young German Shepherd Lonzo may die in California (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Morning radio and sports fanaticism do not mix. One day a long time ago I criticized the New York Football Giants on the station that carried them. The DJ who loved them then came out into the newsroom and threatened to get me fired by 8:30 AM. But that wasn't the biggest surges. (50:00) ARTIFACTS: An actual broadcast from that era, me filling in for John Kennelly on The Ted Brown Show on WNEW Radio, 1981.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. CNN
must fire its CEO Chris Lickt for birthing a journalistic
(00:28):
abomination unprecedented in American television history last night. Its new
owners must sell the CNN network, whose brand they irreparably
damaged last night. E Gene Carroll needs to sue Donald J.
Trump for the new defamatory comments he made about her
(00:49):
last night, and moderator Caitlin Collins needs to sue her
agent for ending her career last night. But most importantly,
most imperatively, all mainstream American news organizations must today solemnly
and unflinchingly look inward after what happened last night and
(01:13):
understand that if you simply assume as CNN did, that
if you apply the American journalistic rules of twenty fifty
or one hundred and fifty years ago to a presidential
candidate who will speak any lie, who will slander, any person,
who will manipulate any fear, who will betray any and
(01:33):
all aspects of democracy, you will inherit the wind. CNN
handed over seventy minutes of its prime time and all
of its remaining credibility to a madman to a criminal,
to a liar, to a would be dictator. Last night,
it gave him an audience of brain cult members who
(01:56):
gave him not one critical nor even less than fawning question.
It gave him a moderator whom he ignored, mocked, insulted,
lied to, lied about, and who in turn thought everything
would be fine if she simply responded to his lives
by saying, no, you're wrong. It was not a Trump
infomercial last night. It was not the same as Trump
(02:20):
on Newsmax. It was not like a Trump rally, because
despite all of the endless vomiting of hate and falsehoods
Trump can enact in those venues, infomercials and newsmas and
rallies carry with them the implied warning of hyperpartisanship and
the caveat of hyper showmanship. The so called CNN town
(02:41):
hall had all of those same nauseating and harrowing components
that so delight Trump and his cultists, and worst of all,
his enablers who know better. But CNN dressed them up,
dressed them up in a patina of authenticity, a possibility
of reality, a confused, naive hope that this time Trump
(03:03):
would be better or Trump would be exposed, or this
time Trump would be ruined, or this time Trump would
be stopped. Last night, CNN legitimized the lies and the
feral venom of Donald Trump, And for whatever shamed remorse
might leak out of that organization today or in the
(03:25):
days ahead, for whatever sober self reflection might be done
at the New York Times or the Washington Post or
the other outlets who may have now seen what happens
when you apply the laws of honest journalism in a
democracy to a man who will not and cannot even
consider honesty nor democracy. For whether or not some editor
really stops some writer writing. Trump lied to an abused
(03:49):
America for seventy minutes last night, here's why that's bad
news for Joe Biden. For whatever regret felt or lessened learned,
there will be others who will look at the ratings
as they come out later today, and we'll say, did
you see those numbers? We need to do something like
(04:09):
that as soon as possible. If you were smart enough
not to watch, I will try to spare you the
guts of truth and decency and America that Trump spilled
all over the CNN stage last night. I will quote
as little as necessary and instead give you a stark
(04:29):
and rapid inventory of what CNN let Trump inflict upon us.
But let me emphasize first the gravity and the dimensions
of this disaster. It was foreseeable. CNN was warned the
moderator was mediocre at best and indifferent at worst. But bluntly,
Edward R. Murrow would likely have been just as swamped
(04:51):
and bullied as she was, not merely by the lies,
but by the format CNN created, by the live format,
by the live environment, by the stacked fixed audience, by
the the entire concept that this Charlatan Chris licked personally
and boastfully devised. It was a battle she could not win.
(05:13):
It was a battle the network could not win. It
was a battle truth and journalism could not win. In short,
this for CNN was the Hindenburg to recap. Not ninety
seconds in CNN let Trump claim the twenty twenty election
was stolen. Moderator Collins interrupted and said it wasn't. Trump
(05:35):
ignored her and said it was rigged. She interrupted again.
Trump steamrollered her. She seemed shocked. He would not concede
he had lost. She seemed triumphant. When he wouldn't concede.
She queried him about the Egene Carol lawsuit and verdict.
CNN let him slander the woman he sexually abused. A
day after a jury found him guilty of defaming her,
(05:57):
he defamed her again. He called her a quote whack job.
He insisted he met her and took a photo with her,
and in the same sentence, he said he never met her.
The moderator did not even note the self contradiction, still
calling him mister President. The moderator asked him about January sixth.
CNN let Trump blame Nancy Pelosi. An audience member asked
(06:20):
if he'd pardon the January sixth participants, and he said
he intended to pardon most of them. He said January
sixth was a beautiful day. CNN Let him call the
African American police officer who shot the terrorist, Ashley Babbitt,
a quote thug. The moderator said nothing. Asked by an
audience member about the debt ceiling debate, CNN, let Trump
(06:43):
say the United States of America should default on its debts.
The moderator never mentioned his contributions to the national debt
CNN let Trump say women allowed stars to grab them
by the genitals. CNN let him boast about such sexual
assaults the audience CNN picked laughed and applauded abortions. CNN
(07:06):
let him claim he terminated Roe v Wade himself. CNN
let him claim Democrats are quote executing babies after they
have been born. The moderator said nothing. CNN selected an
audience member to ask a question about the mass gun shootings.
The questioner wanted to know what Trump would do to
(07:26):
protect gun rights and bump stocks. The moderator asked about
immigration and Title forty two and wondered how voters could
be sure that this time he would build the wall.
CNN let him claim that undocumented immigrants are living in
Central Park. CNN let him claim that fifteen million undocumented
(07:46):
immigrants will enter the country this year. CNN let him
blame his border family separation policy on President Obama. The
moderator asked him about Ukraine. CNN let him insist that
he would end the war in one day and did
not ask him how. CNN let him emphasize that his
only concern was that Europe was not paying as much
(08:06):
money for the war as the US is. The moderator
asked if he would call the war criminal Vladimir Putin
a war criminal. He would not call the war criminal
Vladimir Putin a war criminal. CNN let him lie about
the Presidential Records Act. CNN, then let him lie about
the marri Lago documents story. CNN, then let him lie
about what he asked about in the Georgia phone call,
(08:28):
and CNN closed by asking him if he'd commit to
accepting the outcome of the twenty twenty four election, even
though when asked that in twenty sixteen, he said only
if he thought it was honest, and even though when
I asked that in twenty twenty, he said only if
he thought it was honest, and shockingly, his reply about
twenty twenty four was only if he thought it was honest.
(08:53):
Now to the consequences, there was no pushback from other
CNN figures in the hours leading up to the broadcast.
Wolf Flitzer, Jeff Zeleny, Jamie Gangel, Coats, Jonah Goldberg and
others participated naively and credulously in advance Afterwards, Anderson Cooper
(09:13):
and Jake Tapper, Abby Philip Dana Bash, John King, Audie
Cornish and others looked and even sounded astonished that it
had really happened that way, even though that was the
only way it could happen, the only way it could
ever happen. There was an occasional moment when Tapper seemed angry.
(09:34):
Not one of them, not one of them criticized CNN,
not one of them even hinted at questioning just the
gravely disastrous decision to put this atrocity on live, or
on without real time fact checking, or with an audience,
or on at all. As to the moderator, Ms. Collins,
(10:00):
she was off in wooden, flat, robotic, ineffective, and as
I said earlier, it doesn't matter. Trump told his labyrinthine,
nonsensical lies in his unfinished sentences, and she said, placidly,
but that's not true, mister president. And he simply interrupted
her and told a new lie, and she said, placidly,
(10:21):
but that's not true, mister president. And this seemed to
go on forever. There had been some question that, given
her background as a writer for Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller site,
where she once mocked both waterboarding and charity fundraising for
als in the same article, whether Collins had been chosen
because she would not succeed in thwarting Trump. Ultimately, that
(10:46):
doesn't matter. Trump's pre broadcast claims that CNN gave him
a deal he had to take may soon be analyzed
in the way the Federal Aviation Administration analyzes a crash. However,
I told you last week that Caitlyn Collins would be
rewarded for participating in this monstrosity by being given a
(11:07):
primetime show on CNN. I had calculated it would be
at eight PM. Literally three hours before Trump went on,
it leaked to Puck News that Chrislick would in fact
be offering her the nine PM program. She might now
want to think twice, but that two doesn't matter. She
will never live last night down. If you are wondering
(11:34):
what from my high horse it is that I could
possibly be expecting now from CNN employees. If I could
really believe, after nearly fifty years of doing this, that
CNN employees should criticize CNN management or even hint at
the dimensions and irreversibility of this disaster, I would like
(11:54):
to point one thing out. In two thousand and eight,
I was co anchoring MSNBC's coverage of the Republican National convention.
We at the convention, producers cut to what was described
in the rundown as a tribute to the victims of
nine to eleven. It was in fact a snuff film,
a pre produced video now running on our air, on
(12:16):
CNN on other networks, showing all of the video that
our networks had stopped showing literally days after the terrorist
attacks because it was just too graphic. It showed people
jumping from the twin towers, only this time at the
Republican convention, it showed those people jumping to their deaths,
with narration that indicated that voting for Democrats meant this
(12:39):
would happen again. When it was over, they came back
to me on camera and I said that the network
had been unaware that that was what the Republicans meant
by a tribute to the victims of nine to eleven.
And I said, if MSNBC had chosen to show that
video to you without warning, I would have felt compelled
to apologize to you. That's what I said. I was punished.
(13:03):
They took me off co anchoring the presidential debates. They
humiliated me. Accordingly, I felt that day it was worth it.
I have felt that way ever since. And today it
is one of the things I am most proud of
in my life. And nothing like that has happened from CNN,
nothing close, and more importantly than that, CNN had an
(13:26):
opportunity to preemptively protect itself from the tsunami of criticism
that began at literally eight two pm Eastern daylight time
last night and will at least metaphorically never come to
an end. One of CNN's own contributors, the January sixth,
hero and victim former officer Michael Fanone wrote an op
(13:48):
ed criticizing the network and even leaving out Licht's name
for scheduling this event in the first place. Chris Lickt
refused to publish it on the CNN website. The new
era of even handedness of all sign it's having a
voice at CNN. A balance of re establishing the old
(14:09):
CNN begins with Chris Lickt silencing even a tiny fig
leaf of criticism of Chris Lickt and CNN and Trump.
Fhanone's piece did run yesterday on Rolling Stone's website. It
is strong, and it is negative, and it is nothing
(14:30):
that a legitimate news organization could not withstand easily, Nothing
that a legitimate news organization would not have been applauded
for having had the open mindedness to publish, except if
that organization is Chris Licht's CNN. After the network imploded
last night, it could have used Fanone's piece as one small,
dissenting and correct voice. Let me read just a little
(14:54):
of what fanone wrote and recommend you read the rest
of it at Rollingstone dot com. Quote. In a recent
trip to CNN's Washington, DC bureau, I sat silently in
the green room as guests, anchors, and employees filtered through
and clamored about how outrageous it was that CBS would
give Marjorie Taylor Green an interview on its prestigious sixty
(15:17):
minute series. Good question. I hope my fellow CNN employees
have the balls to raise those same questions with the
network executives, continuing from finone. In the past, CNN has
recognized the dangers of allowing election deniers a public platform
and would not allow them on air under new quote
(15:39):
leadership end quote. That policy has been discarded, as evidenced
by CNN's decision to allow the chief election denier, former
President Trump, a prominent time slot in its evening lineup,
as if Trump were a normal candidate who had not
attempted to steal an election by force. Fanone continued. In
(16:00):
the wake of January sixth, Trump's ability to communicate to
the masses was essentially stripped away from him. Twitter banned
him for life, no major media outlets would have him on.
So what has changed? Panone answered his own question. I
don't believe for one second that this is about journalistic integrity.
(16:21):
It's about ratings and money. Sometimes things are exactly as
they appear, and this appears to be an attempt by
a major media outlet struggling with its ratings to attract
disenfranchised viewers. To me, allowing Trump an open forum on
a major television news network is the moral equivalent of
putting an AR fifteen in the hands of someone mentally unstable,
(16:45):
whether words or bullets, and I have seen firsthand the
effects of both. They are equally dangerous in the mouths
or hands of those who have shown us time and
time again what their true intentions are. End quote. Michael
Fanone was wrong, I think, in one respect only that
(17:09):
last night was not handing Trump a metaphorical AR fifteen.
It was handing him a dozen of.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Them still ahead on this edition of Countdown.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
George Santos has been indicted. And you know all those
other different names in there, and that he called himself
Anthony Devolder, Katara Rivash. If he's convicted on all these
charges and gets the maximum sentence for each, all three
of them could each get life sentences. So a college
basketball coach at the top echelon of his sport for
(17:58):
thirty years, goes on a hate speech radio show, drops
a homophobic slur, then repeats the slur and uses as
an adjective for it the word catholic. So it came
out catholic blanks. He's been fired? Right? Oh no, he hasn't.
And when was the last time you heard about a
radio disc jockey threatening to get the radio sportscaster fired
(18:21):
during their show. This is an especially interesting question considering
the radio sportscaster in this equation was me. That's next.
This is his countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Olberman.
(18:45):
Postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snark,
some predictions, state line, Central Icelip, Long Island, New York
Congressman George Santos was indeed indicted on a whopping thirteen counts,
seven for wire fraud, for taking unemployment money during the
pandemic even though he was unemployed, and can continuing to
confirm to authorities each time they asked that he was
(19:09):
unemployed when in fact he was employed. Conviction and max
sentence on those seven counts alone could get him one
hundred and forty years in prison. He's not resigning, he
didn't flee, and he's insisting it's a witch hunt. Oh
now he's a witch too. He's also not making a
plea deal and Biden this and the undertone here of
(19:30):
a man who has never been held accountable for anything
in his life. Two postscripts. Santos pleaded not guilty. What
you expected him not to lie about? This too? And
you have to give him credit given the hundreds of
lies already written about it is actually spectacular that George
(19:50):
Santos managed to get himself indicted for lies we did
not already know about. Thank you, Nancy Faust, dateline, Washington.
(20:19):
Oh there she is, Dianne Feinstein has actually been seen
in the district of Columbia. She was there yesterday after
an absence of let me figure this out. What century
is this first day back since February first public comments
quote hi everybody unquote, and on her first day back,
(20:42):
she missed another vote. This is Sports Center. Wait, check
that not anymore. This is with Keith Alberman in sports.
(21:08):
The twenty twenty three National Football League schedule is out
and the headlines are more games in Frankfurt, Germany, and
no conference exclusivity for individual TV networks and a Black
Friday game for the first time, Miami at the Jats
at three pm the day after Thanksgiving. Getting a little
less attention the rather remarkable truth that the NFL schedule,
(21:29):
regular season and playoffs combined will now feature games on
every day of the week except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The
Sunday regular schedule Sunday nights, Sunday mornings, Monday nights, Thursday nights,
this new Friday game, and Saturdays during the playoffs. Apart
from the fact that Friday and Saturday are high school
(21:50):
and college football days and there are some big college
rivalry games scheduled for Black Friday, like Texas and Texas
Tech and Oregon and Oregon State, you have to wonder
if the NFL is finally risking killing off the proverbial
goal and Goose. In thirty years, pro football has gone
from a sport where coverage of the game peaked at
(22:10):
the Super Bowl, resumed briefly for the college Draft, and
then went into hibernation until training camps started. Now NFL news,
NFL Talk, NFL gossip, NFL injuries, NFL trends, NFL ups,
NFL downs, NFL Why is there any news in the NFL?
Days that is a twenty four to seven fifty two
week a year industry, a non stop frenzy during the season.
(22:34):
The league gets more publicity out of days it is
not playing than all other sports leagues combined. What happens
when there are only two days without games being played?
What happens to the cliched but very real Monday morning
quarterbacking when they might conceivably soon have a Monday morning game?
(22:58):
And basketball coach Bob Huggins has been in and out
of trouble so long that I covered some of it
when I still have Sports Center in the nineties. Huggins
eventually got squeezed out as the coach at Cincinnati for
a dui. But they don't make punishments like they used
to on Monday. Bob Huggins now coaching West Virginia went
on the notoriously hate speech filled Bill Cunningham Show on
(23:22):
a Cincinnati radio station and talked about a game long
ago between Cincinnati and Xavier University at which quote, rubber
penises unquote, he said were thrown on the floor. Quoting
Huggins again. What it was was all those homophobic slurs,
those Catholic homophobic slurs, I think, unquote. So he was fired, right,
(23:47):
I mean, this was that rare equal opportunity attack on
the LGBTQ community and on the Catholic community. Not fired,
Huggins has to take courses and training in a three
game suspension and blah blah blah blah blah. And this
is what it is really all about. West Virginia's athletic department,
(24:09):
says coach Huggins has agreed to a one million dollar
pay cut. So if he'd only blasted the Catholics or
only used the homophobic slur, it would have been what
a half million dollar pay cut? What a self humiliation
for West Virginia University. Wow. Now for the daily roundup
(24:44):
of the miscreens, morons and Dunning Krueger effects specimens who
constitute two days worst persons in the world, the Brons,
Congressman James Comer, Senator Ron Johnson, and the other transparent
frauds trying to make it look like the corruption of
the Trump family has any kind of parallel in the
family of President Biden. The goal is not to get
(25:06):
any Bidens indicted or anything like that. It's just to
create this fog of everybody does it in order to
make the Trump crimes seem less odious. Senator Johnson yesterday
told Fox's incredibly nit witted Maria Bartiromo that the big
reveal on the Bidens may not include any real evidence.
(25:27):
You'll just have to infer the evidence of guilt. Of course,
not a lot of people saw what Johnson said, nor
did they see the big roll out by Comer, who
managed to schedule his big anti Biden news conference right
between the George Santos arraignment and the Trump CNN debacle.
As I always say, democracy is maintained less by the
(25:49):
efforts of those of us who fight to protect it
than it is by the stupidity of those who are
trying to destroy it, like Senator Johnson and Congressman Comber.
By the way, Congressman, what about your college girlfriend, Did
you really beat her up and threaten her life? The
runner up to late author Alex Haley, who wrote Roots
and conducted one of the most historically important interviews of
(26:11):
the twentieth century with Martin Luther King for Playboy in
nineteen sixty five, and sadly, it sure looks like the
most famous quote from that interview was made up, apparently
by Haley. The author Jonathan Aig has found an original
copy of the eighty four page transcript of that interview
between Haley and doctor King, including the part where doctor
(26:34):
King spoke about Malcolm X. The last sentence of that
part of the transcript reads quote and in his litany
of expressing the despair of the Negro without offering a
positive creative approach, I think he falls into a rut sometimes.
But in Playboy that last sentence has become quote and
in his litany of articulating the despair of the Negro
(26:55):
without offering any positive creative alternative, I feel that Malcolm
has done himself and our people a great disservice. Fiery
demagogic arey in the black ghettos urging negroes to arm
themselves and prepare to engage in violence as he has done,
can reap nothing but grief unquote and from the record,
it sure looks like Alex Haley made all that up
(27:17):
and essentially created the friction between the two murdered civil
rights leaders, a friction that endures to this day and
is less a friction than it is a fiction. But
our winner. Tommy Tuberville, the terrible college football coach who
has somehow become a still worse US senator. He did
an interview with the NPR station in Birmingham, Alabama. Wait,
(27:39):
I thought we were supposed to have defunded NFR. Would
you idiots keep your idiocy straight? Please? Tubberville is not
happy that this country is punishing white supremacists quote we
Tubbs said, our military and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put
out an order to stand down on all military across
(28:00):
the country, saying we're going to run out the white nationalists,
people that don't believe how we believe, and that's not
how we do it in this country. The startled interviewer
then asked Tubberville if he was saying that white nationalists
should be allowed to serve in the US military. They
call them that. The senator from the nineteenth century, replied,
(28:23):
I call them Americans and ladies and gentlemen. Whether or
not you think we have a white supremacist problem in
the US military, we sure as hell have one in
the US Senate. Tommy what nationalists and proud of it.
Tubberville two days, worst person and still ahead on countdown.
(29:00):
It's not every day when the disc jockey threatens to
kill the sportscast. And oh, by the way, I was
the sportscaster things I promise not to tell next. First,
in each edition of Cantown, we feature a dog. Indeed
you can help. Every dog has its day. The pounds
are saturated with great young dogs who should be learning
to love their new humans, and instead it has become
(29:23):
killing season. Such is the case in Downey, California. They've
killed five dogs there in just the last few days.
And now Lonzo, a year old German shepherd with a
beautiful coach complete with regal fringe collar near his neck,
he is on death row there. He is well enough
behaved that you could go to the Downy shelter and
(29:44):
take him home with you today. He's great with kids
eight and up. He's great with adults. He's great with
female dogs. He gets territorial with other males, but he
calms down quickly even from that, and is a prime
candidate for training. There's even an offer to pay someone
just to foster him for two weeks. Look for him
on my Twitter feeds, because Lonzo it's a miracle. I
(30:06):
thank you, and Lonzo thanks you. This remains, in short,
as terrifying as anything else in my career, death threats,
(30:28):
fake anthrax. What New York felt like post nine to eleven,
The frozen feeling of realizing you've made a terrible, damaging
mistake on a story, even working for Rupert Murdoch, worse
than that. Forty two years have passed since this event,
and nothing has dimmed the memory, nothing has reduced the
(30:49):
palpable sense of anxiety in every joint in my body.
On Sunday, December twenty first, nineteen eighty, the Oakland Raiders
defeated the New York Giants thirty three to seventeen to
end the Giant season at four wins and twelve losses,
with the most points they had given up in one
year since nineteen sixty six. I was the backup sportscaster
(31:12):
at w NEW Radio in New York. We carried the
Giants game broadcasts. In fact, we had carried them since
I was two years old. I was now a month
shy of twenty two, and it being Christmas week. I
reported bright and early to the studios at forty first
Street and Third Avenue on Monday, December twenty second. My
first sports cast was at five thirty am. There was
(31:35):
a theme song which invoked the name of the regular sportscaster,
John Kennelly. It said sports and Commentary, and my first
few weeks filling in that year, I stuck mostly to
the sports, with just an occasional commentary, but mostly a
joke or pithy observation. Well kind of pithy. But that
first weekend of winter, the giant stink was all that
(31:56):
we could smell in New York, and I felt I
had to point it out, pointed Lee, and so while
I observed that there was a positive they had started
one in eight, but then had actually won three of
their last seven games, the rest of my commentary was cynical, acerbic, dissatisfied,
in other words, the average day of the typical New
York sports fan. I ended my show right on time
(32:18):
at five thirty five am, and to my surprise, I
heard the disc jockey skip his usual post sportscast remarks
and instead simply play the next record, which I think
was Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight. We were
a big band station. I stepped out of the booth
and took the dozen strides through the newsroom, busy even
at that hour, with eight or ten staffers, and I
(32:39):
was sitting down at my desk when the door from
the main air studio slammed open. In the doorway stood
the disc jockey, and he had a message for me.
The message was you punk. The disc jockey's name was
Ted Brown. On the air, he was You're morning Man,
Ted Brown, speaking upbeat drivel, mostly to women who loved
(33:02):
the mellow sound of his voice. Off the air. WNIW
was his station and the morning show was his show.
He would fight for it. In fact, he had fought
at least two news reporters in his time in the
studio while Frank Sinatra records played on a turntable thirty
feet away. Ted Brown was a big man six '
(33:23):
three six ' four. Maybe by this point I don't know,
two thirty forty two fifty thick tortoise shell glasses. He
was a sportsman, a huge gambler racetracks mostly. The Giants
had begun on WNIW in nineteen sixty one. Ted Brown
had begun on WNIW in nineteen forty nine. And he
was tough, and it was not even the New York
(33:44):
tough I had grown up with. This guy had been
a tail gunner on a B seventeen during the Second
World War, and the Nazi shot him down, and they
took him to Stalog nine see near Leipzig, and they
kept him there for eighteen months, and basically he chewed
up and spit out guys like me for breakfast. And
I respected him. Oh, punk, say you don't like how
(34:06):
the giants? Did you think any of us do? He
gestured towards the newscasters and staffers. Nobody looked up. You
know how easy it is to sit there in a nice, heated, dry,
comfortable newsroom. I was in Stallog ninecy. His contempt for
the idea of the newsroom was amazing. You sit here
(34:27):
in your newsroom and pontificate while men men in helmets
with mud on them, they're bones breaking, their hearts pounding.
They are out on the field fighting and tackling and
working on the field of battle, so you can sit
here in your newsroom. It was at this point that
(34:52):
I remembered where I had first seen a photograph of
Ted Brown. He was in a booth at Yankee Stadium,
where the Giants played in the nineteen sixties. He was
the third man, a combination color announcer and host on
Giants radio broadcasts on WNAW. He was the worst possible
person to have heard me rip the New York Giants,
(35:13):
even the four and twelve nineteen eighty New York Giants,
even if editorially I was completely correct and not nearly
as hard on the team as its own announcers had
been on our station the day before? What did you
do to earn your spot? Here? Punk Ted Brown was
turning red. One of his fists was already clenched, while
(35:34):
the other arm cut through the air to emphasize how
much I sucked. I truly believed he was about to
take a swing at me. Then from behind him, the
door from his studio swung open again, and the elderly engineer,
the man who actually spun the records on Ted's show,
came through it. Ted I just had to segue out
(35:55):
of Sinatra to Jimmy Cagney singing Yankee Doodle Dandy. And
the general manager called and he said, I should tell
you WNIW does not segue no records, don't do it again.
You better get back in here. The Cagney's almost finished.
The engineer then vanished silently back through the door. This
warning did nothing but make Ted Brown even angrier. The
(36:16):
general manager. Have you met the general manager? Punk? Jack Fair?
And Jack Fayer gets in here at eight twenty every
morning on dot clockwork Punk, when you finish your eight
thirty sports cast, I'm dragging you in to meet Jack Thayer,
(36:36):
the general manager. And that punk is when your career
at WNW Radio will come to an abrupt end. You
think the New York Giants had a bad nineteen eighty,
how about your nineteen eighty punk when your career ended?
Because the real men, the real men are out there
(36:57):
on the playing field, not sitting inside a noseroom in
a slatter. This continued for some time. The engineer returned,
Tennant's there again. I just segued to some mel tourme.
Ted Thayer wants to talk to you. Thinks maybe you're
not here, and I'm covering for you. Ted Brown turned
(37:18):
and swore dark oaths against the engineer, and for that matter,
against the general manager, Jack Thayer, and for that matter
against mel Tourmae, you and me, Punk eight thirty five,
The end of your career, Punk. He lunged at me.
Suddenly the engineer grabbed him and pulled him back through
the door. In the newsroom, there were only two sounds,
(37:41):
one my heart, which I suspect was audible perhaps the
next block, the other typing. Nobody said a word, Nobody
looked at me. A phone rang, The production assistant sang
out w ANYW news. I went over to the newscaster
who had been the most supportive of me to that point,
Bob Hagen, and through my shaking, I said thanks for
(38:04):
the Bob. Bob did not look up from his typewriter
what he said matter of factly Brown. I said, yes, Brown,
he's going to get me fired in three hours. Bob
Hagen laughed, Now he's not, I said, he just spent
I don't know how many minutes he spent three records
screaming at me. Didn't you hear him? I heard him,
we all heard him. We've all heard him every time
(38:27):
he said that. He said that to every one of
us out here. He said that about every one of
us out here. He took a swing at eyes grow
over there. What was it, Jimmy two months ago? Ignore him?
I said, I failed to see why any of what
he had told me should encourage me to ignore Ted Brown.
When we had a meeting with the general manager at
eight thirty five, Bob Hagen now stopped typhing and smiled
(38:51):
up at me reassuringly from his chair. Keith, you do
a good job. Ted is nuts. Ted is mean. Ted
is a crazy Giants fan. Ted is all so still
bitter that he's not on the radio broadcast of the
Giants games. But Ted has also been doing morning radio
almost every day since nineteen forty five. Keith, that's thirty
(39:15):
five years of getting up in the middle of the night,
and many many years ago, Keith, Ted stopped remembering things
like what somebody said on his show. He doesn't remember,
he won't remember. Just finish off the next sportscast with
one of your clever, funny, little kicker stories. And even
if he somehow remembers what you said about the Giants,
(39:37):
when he hears a good laugh, all he'll remember is
the laugh. I tried to be respectful of Bob, but
I told him I found all this hard to believe. Keith,
he also drinks, he has nightmares, he has pow nightmares,
and he gets up at three am every day. He
does not imprint new memories anymore. But no, why should
(40:01):
you listen to me. I've only been on his show
for ten years? Why would I know? I'm telling you
get a good funny kicker for the six thirty and
he'll love you. I nodded grimly. I did not believe
Bob Hagen, but I knew he meant well, and anyway,
he had started to type again. The clock now moved
(40:22):
impossibly quickly. Incredibly, I did find just the kind of funny,
clever kicker story Bob suggested I should use to close
the six thirty sports cast. I minimized my assault on
the Giants and then finished off my report with some
story that shed a good light on Montclair State College
in New Jersey. I could not have known, and I
swear I did not know that Ted Brown's sister had
(40:47):
graduated from Montclair State College in New Jersey. I finished
off the sports cast with the story something that made
Montclair State. Look good, a little chuckle, and then Keith o'
rimman for John Kennelly on the Ted Brown Show ominously
again to my terrored Brown now said nothing on the air.
I could not see him through the window into the
(41:08):
main air studio. The engineer played a record instead. It
may have been the Montavani strings play the Beatles. I
opened the door back to the newsroom slowly and with trepidation.
I crouched as I moved back towards my desk. And
that's when it happened. The door from the main air
studio slammed open again. It was Ted Brown again. Where
is he? Where is he? Montclair State? My sister went
(41:32):
to Montclair State. What a story, what a great laugh,
perfectly delivered. My god, that was the best sportscast we
have ever had on this station. Don't you think so? Prely?
God love you kid? What a tell it? I laughed
out loud, kid, I don't laugh out loud. It was
the same Ted Brown. I stole a quick glance at
(41:52):
the newsroom to see if this whole thing was some
kind of act being filmed for a hidden camera TV series.
Nobody looked up again. Nobody looked up. Ted Brown, the
man who an hour before was to beat me up
and get me fired, was now repeating again and again
that I had just delivered the best sports cast in
the history of WNW radio. That's when his engineer came
(42:17):
back in. He had segued from Montavani to Perry Como,
and the general manager had called, and now Ted Brown's
eyes widened behind the thick glasses. The general manager, Jack Thayer, say, Keith,
have you ever met Jack Thayer? This gives me a
great idea. Jack Thayer comes in here every morning at
eight twenty like clockwork. Look, I love John Kennelly, he's great,
but you you were exactly the kind of new, fresh,
(42:40):
young voice we need on this radio station. Damn it,
I need on my show. When Jack Thayer comes in
here at eight twenty this morning, you and I are
going right into his office and we're gonna get you
your own sports cast on my show. We can do
two sports casts at hour. We'll take it out of
the Stock Report Montclair stage. I'll get you a contract.
You and Kennelly will seventy five grand being up for you. Kid.
(43:01):
You're gonna hit the big time here, my friend, and
out the engineer came again. Jack Thayer had again called
in fourth time that I knew of. He really needed
Ted back in the studio to talk to the women.
Ted Brown happily shouted okay, okay, and began to back
up into the doorway. The look in his eyes towards
(43:23):
me was one of unimaginable love. Commita come here, wait,
come here, come here, come here, and he lunged at
me and grabbed me into a bear hug. Just brilliant,
Montclair State. I gotta call my sister and tell you.
Seeing Jack's office at eight thirty five, I stood there,
(43:47):
having now been pummeled by two hurricanes arriving from different
directions in the span of one hour. All was silent
in the WNAW newsroom again but for the typing. But
it was silent only for a moment. That's when Bob
Hagen addressed me again. He did not look up. All
(44:08):
he said was Keith, he won't remember that either. I've
done all the damage I can do. Here. Here are
(44:29):
the credits. Most of the music arrange produced and performed
by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle, who are the
Countdown musical directors or orchestration and keyboards. Orchestration in English
by John Phillip Shanelle, guitars, bass and drums by Brian Ray,
produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged
and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. The sports
(44:52):
music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two. It was
written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical
comments from Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer today was Tony Kornheiser and and everything else.
It's pretty much my fault. So that's countdown for this
the eight hundred and fifty sixth day since Donald Trump's
first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the
(45:14):
United States. Don't forget to keep arresting him while we
still can. A little bonus to end this edition one
of those WNAW sportscast from the early eighties, complete with
a play by play clip from my first boss, Sam Rosen,
who is still covering the team that you'll hear him
cover in the clip. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow,
(45:36):
and until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon,
good night, and good luck.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
I'm Dave Spencer, WNWWS and now WNAW sportsm commentary with
John Kenner and good morning Keith Olberman for Big John.
Sports is brought to you by Amtrak America is getting
into training with Metro Iners service thirteen times every business
day to Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Run from Penn Station.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
And if you were there last night, you probably heard
some noise from upstairs. It was Ranger fans celebrating the
new year a little early.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Here sod and center. Thetinelli left wing feats Rake Whide
An Ice Club. Two seconds to go and that's it.
A standing ovation for the Rangers who have defeated the
Island Earths six to four.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
The Sam Rose and play by play here last night
as the Rangers wrapped up a marvel as six to
four victory over the Islanders, their first win over the
Cup champs in nine games. It was tied four to
four with a little over three minutes left when Andre
Dori fed Dave Silk, Silk slapped Don Maloney put home
the rebound and the Rangers were head to stay. Barry
Beck had a goal to celebrate his return from the suspension.
Dugue had a pair to up his total to twenty two.
(46:50):
The Rangers are going to trade Dean Telaphus and Jerry
Gillis today to Quebec for Robbie Fattorik. This guy is
your class a diminutive center here. He works very hard,
has a long track record of busting his body parts
for some pretty mediocre teams.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
He is thirty years old.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
He Brooks thinks he will help herb Brooks should try
to get Wayne Gretzky. Now what would he cost anyway?
A few billion, fifteen players and Brooks first born. He'd
be worth it. Gretzky got five more goals last night
at Edmondson's seven to five win over Philadelphia, meaning he
cracked the fifty goal mark in thirty nine games, eleven
games faster than the previous record, which was shared by
(47:24):
Rocket Rashard and Mike Bossi. Gretzky's biggest fans, his parents,
were to flight to Vancouver tonight to watch him play
there and try to get the record. He says, now
he's almost sorry he got the five last night. He
didn't want to disappoint them. Neither local basketball team disappoints.
That and more after this from Amtrak.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
Now there's a brand new Express service.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
The New York Rodies, better known here as the Knicks,
come from a twelve point halftime deficit to beat Cleveland
in overtime last night by one hundred and ten to
one hundred and eight. The Knickerbockers are now a game
above five hundred on the road and a game below
five hundred at home. Not supposed to happen in the NBA.
The Nets won last night, too, only they did it
at home, one thirty to one nineteen over Detroit. After
(48:11):
one and a half periods of feeling out, the Nets
took command. Their lead down the stretch was in the
high teens. The Liberty Bowl last night was supposed to
be an Ohio State blowout, but quarterback Arch Schleister inconveniently
had a bad first half and the Buckeyes wound up
beating the Navy by only thirty one to twenty eight.
This was rather unfortunate if you took Ohio State, they
were fourteen point favorites.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Not quite.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Finally, they call it disastro turf, and the closer and
closer we get to game day, the more and more
likely it is the Giants won't get to practice on it.
As the steady rains continue in the Bay Area. The
forty nine ers continue to suggest that the Giants cancel
their scheduled Saturday practice at Cattlestick Park for the good
of the bad field, which means that the first time
folks like Rob Carpenter will get their feet wet literally
(48:54):
will be when they come out for the game Sunday afternoon.
That sport's brought to you by Amtrak America is getting
into trading with Metro Liner service thirteen times every business
day to Philadelphia. I'm Keith Olberman for John Kenney on
the Ted Brown Show.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
I'm good morning everybody. Thank you Keith. It's twenty one
before seven. Countdown with Keith Olberman is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. CNN
must fire its CEO Chris Lickt for birthing a journalistic
(00:28):
abomination unprecedented in American television history last night. Its new
owners must sell the CNN network, whose brand they irreparably
damaged last night. E Gene Carroll needs to sue Donald J.
Trump for the new defamatory comments he made about her
(00:49):
last night, and moderator Caitlin Collins needs to sue her
agent for ending her career last night. But most importantly,
most imperatively, all mainstream American news organizations must today solemnly
and unflinchingly look inward after what happened last night and
(01:13):
understand that if you simply assume as CNN did, that
if you apply the American journalistic rules of twenty fifty
or one hundred and fifty years ago to a presidential
candidate who will speak any lie, who will slander, any person,
who will manipulate any fear, who will betray any and
(01:33):
all aspects of democracy, you will inherit the wind. CNN
handed over seventy minutes of its prime time and all
of its remaining credibility to a madman to a criminal,
to a liar, to a would be dictator. Last night,
it gave him an audience of brain cult members who
(01:56):
gave him not one critical nor even less than fawning question.
It gave him a moderator whom he ignored, mocked, insulted,
lied to, lied about, and who in turn thought everything
would be fine if she simply responded to his lives
by saying, no, you're wrong. It was not a Trump
infomercial last night. It was not the same as Trump
(02:20):
on Newsmax. It was not like a Trump rally, because
despite all of the endless vomiting of hate and falsehoods
Trump can enact in those venues, infomercials and newsmas and
rallies carry with them the implied warning of hyperpartisanship and
the caveat of hyper showmanship. The so called CNN town
(02:41):
hall had all of those same nauseating and harrowing components
that so delight Trump and his cultists, and worst of all,
his enablers who know better. But CNN dressed them up,
dressed them up in a patina of authenticity, a possibility
of reality, a confused, naive hope that this time Trump
(03:03):
would be better or Trump would be exposed, or this
time Trump would be ruined, or this time Trump would
be stopped. Last night, CNN legitimized the lies and the
feral venom of Donald Trump, And for whatever shamed remorse
might leak out of that organization today or in the
(03:25):
days ahead, for whatever sober self reflection might be done
at the New York Times or the Washington Post or
the other outlets who may have now seen what happens
when you apply the laws of honest journalism in a
democracy to a man who will not and cannot even
consider honesty nor democracy. For whether or not some editor
really stops some writer writing. Trump lied to an abused
(03:49):
America for seventy minutes last night, here's why that's bad
news for Joe Biden. For whatever regret felt or lessened learned,
there will be others who will look at the ratings
as they come out later today, and we'll say, did
you see those numbers? We need to do something like
(04:09):
that as soon as possible. If you were smart enough
not to watch, I will try to spare you the
guts of truth and decency and America that Trump spilled
all over the CNN stage last night. I will quote
as little as necessary and instead give you a stark
(04:29):
and rapid inventory of what CNN let Trump inflict upon us.
But let me emphasize first the gravity and the dimensions
of this disaster. It was foreseeable. CNN was warned the
moderator was mediocre at best and indifferent at worst. But bluntly,
Edward R. Murrow would likely have been just as swamped
(04:51):
and bullied as she was, not merely by the lies,
but by the format CNN created, by the live format,
by the live environment, by the stacked fixed audience, by
the the entire concept that this Charlatan Chris licked personally
and boastfully devised. It was a battle she could not win.
(05:13):
It was a battle the network could not win. It
was a battle truth and journalism could not win. In short,
this for CNN was the Hindenburg to recap. Not ninety
seconds in CNN let Trump claim the twenty twenty election
was stolen. Moderator Collins interrupted and said it wasn't. Trump
(05:35):
ignored her and said it was rigged. She interrupted again.
Trump steamrollered her. She seemed shocked. He would not concede
he had lost. She seemed triumphant. When he wouldn't concede.
She queried him about the Egene Carol lawsuit and verdict.
CNN let him slander the woman he sexually abused. A
day after a jury found him guilty of defaming her,
(05:57):
he defamed her again. He called her a quote whack job.
He insisted he met her and took a photo with her,
and in the same sentence, he said he never met her.
The moderator did not even note the self contradiction, still
calling him mister President. The moderator asked him about January sixth.
CNN let Trump blame Nancy Pelosi. An audience member asked
(06:20):
if he'd pardon the January sixth participants, and he said
he intended to pardon most of them. He said January
sixth was a beautiful day. CNN Let him call the
African American police officer who shot the terrorist, Ashley Babbitt,
a quote thug. The moderator said nothing. Asked by an
audience member about the debt ceiling debate, CNN, let Trump
(06:43):
say the United States of America should default on its debts.
The moderator never mentioned his contributions to the national debt
CNN let Trump say women allowed stars to grab them
by the genitals. CNN let him boast about such sexual
assaults the audience CNN picked laughed and applauded abortions. CNN
(07:06):
let him claim he terminated Roe v Wade himself. CNN
let him claim Democrats are quote executing babies after they
have been born. The moderator said nothing. CNN selected an
audience member to ask a question about the mass gun shootings.
The questioner wanted to know what Trump would do to
(07:26):
protect gun rights and bump stocks. The moderator asked about
immigration and Title forty two and wondered how voters could
be sure that this time he would build the wall.
CNN let him claim that undocumented immigrants are living in
Central Park. CNN let him claim that fifteen million undocumented
(07:46):
immigrants will enter the country this year. CNN let him
blame his border family separation policy on President Obama. The
moderator asked him about Ukraine. CNN let him insist that
he would end the war in one day and did
not ask him how. CNN let him emphasize that his
only concern was that Europe was not paying as much
(08:06):
money for the war as the US is. The moderator
asked if he would call the war criminal Vladimir Putin
a war criminal. He would not call the war criminal
Vladimir Putin a war criminal. CNN let him lie about
the Presidential Records Act. CNN, then let him lie about
the marri Lago documents story. CNN, then let him lie
about what he asked about in the Georgia phone call,
(08:28):
and CNN closed by asking him if he'd commit to
accepting the outcome of the twenty twenty four election, even
though when asked that in twenty sixteen, he said only
if he thought it was honest, and even though when
I asked that in twenty twenty, he said only if
he thought it was honest, and shockingly, his reply about
twenty twenty four was only if he thought it was honest.
(08:53):
Now to the consequences, there was no pushback from other
CNN figures in the hours leading up to the broadcast.
Wolf Flitzer, Jeff Zeleny, Jamie Gangel, Coats, Jonah Goldberg and
others participated naively and credulously in advance Afterwards, Anderson Cooper
(09:13):
and Jake Tapper, Abby Philip Dana Bash, John King, Audie
Cornish and others looked and even sounded astonished that it
had really happened that way, even though that was the
only way it could happen, the only way it could
ever happen. There was an occasional moment when Tapper seemed angry.
(09:34):
Not one of them, not one of them criticized CNN,
not one of them even hinted at questioning just the
gravely disastrous decision to put this atrocity on live, or
on without real time fact checking, or with an audience,
or on at all. As to the moderator, Ms. Collins,
(10:00):
she was off in wooden, flat, robotic, ineffective, and as
I said earlier, it doesn't matter. Trump told his labyrinthine,
nonsensical lies in his unfinished sentences, and she said, placidly,
but that's not true, mister president. And he simply interrupted
her and told a new lie, and she said, placidly,
(10:21):
but that's not true, mister president. And this seemed to
go on forever. There had been some question that, given
her background as a writer for Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller site,
where she once mocked both waterboarding and charity fundraising for
als in the same article, whether Collins had been chosen
because she would not succeed in thwarting Trump. Ultimately, that
(10:46):
doesn't matter. Trump's pre broadcast claims that CNN gave him
a deal he had to take may soon be analyzed
in the way the Federal Aviation Administration analyzes a crash. However,
I told you last week that Caitlyn Collins would be
rewarded for participating in this monstrosity by being given a
(11:07):
primetime show on CNN. I had calculated it would be
at eight PM. Literally three hours before Trump went on,
it leaked to Puck News that Chrislick would in fact
be offering her the nine PM program. She might now
want to think twice, but that two doesn't matter. She
will never live last night down. If you are wondering
(11:34):
what from my high horse it is that I could
possibly be expecting now from CNN employees. If I could
really believe, after nearly fifty years of doing this, that
CNN employees should criticize CNN management or even hint at
the dimensions and irreversibility of this disaster, I would like
(11:54):
to point one thing out. In two thousand and eight,
I was co anchoring MSNBC's coverage of the Republican National convention.
We at the convention, producers cut to what was described
in the rundown as a tribute to the victims of
nine to eleven. It was in fact a snuff film,
a pre produced video now running on our air, on
(12:16):
CNN on other networks, showing all of the video that
our networks had stopped showing literally days after the terrorist
attacks because it was just too graphic. It showed people
jumping from the twin towers, only this time at the
Republican convention, it showed those people jumping to their deaths,
with narration that indicated that voting for Democrats meant this
(12:39):
would happen again. When it was over, they came back
to me on camera and I said that the network
had been unaware that that was what the Republicans meant
by a tribute to the victims of nine to eleven.
And I said, if MSNBC had chosen to show that
video to you without warning, I would have felt compelled
to apologize to you. That's what I said. I was punished.
(13:03):
They took me off co anchoring the presidential debates. They
humiliated me. Accordingly, I felt that day it was worth it.
I have felt that way ever since. And today it
is one of the things I am most proud of
in my life. And nothing like that has happened from CNN,
nothing close, and more importantly than that, CNN had an
(13:26):
opportunity to preemptively protect itself from the tsunami of criticism
that began at literally eight two pm Eastern daylight time
last night and will at least metaphorically never come to
an end. One of CNN's own contributors, the January sixth,
hero and victim former officer Michael Fanone wrote an op
(13:48):
ed criticizing the network and even leaving out Licht's name
for scheduling this event in the first place. Chris Lickt
refused to publish it on the CNN website. The new
era of even handedness of all sign it's having a
voice at CNN. A balance of re establishing the old
(14:09):
CNN begins with Chris Lickt silencing even a tiny fig
leaf of criticism of Chris Lickt and CNN and Trump.
Fhanone's piece did run yesterday on Rolling Stone's website. It
is strong, and it is negative, and it is nothing
(14:30):
that a legitimate news organization could not withstand easily, Nothing
that a legitimate news organization would not have been applauded
for having had the open mindedness to publish, except if
that organization is Chris Licht's CNN. After the network imploded
last night, it could have used Fanone's piece as one small,
dissenting and correct voice. Let me read just a little
(14:54):
of what fanone wrote and recommend you read the rest
of it at Rollingstone dot com. Quote. In a recent
trip to CNN's Washington, DC bureau, I sat silently in
the green room as guests, anchors, and employees filtered through
and clamored about how outrageous it was that CBS would
give Marjorie Taylor Green an interview on its prestigious sixty
(15:17):
minute series. Good question. I hope my fellow CNN employees
have the balls to raise those same questions with the
network executives, continuing from finone. In the past, CNN has
recognized the dangers of allowing election deniers a public platform
and would not allow them on air under new quote
(15:39):
leadership end quote. That policy has been discarded, as evidenced
by CNN's decision to allow the chief election denier, former
President Trump, a prominent time slot in its evening lineup,
as if Trump were a normal candidate who had not
attempted to steal an election by force. Fanone continued. In
(16:00):
the wake of January sixth, Trump's ability to communicate to
the masses was essentially stripped away from him. Twitter banned
him for life, no major media outlets would have him on.
So what has changed? Panone answered his own question. I
don't believe for one second that this is about journalistic integrity.
(16:21):
It's about ratings and money. Sometimes things are exactly as
they appear, and this appears to be an attempt by
a major media outlet struggling with its ratings to attract
disenfranchised viewers. To me, allowing Trump an open forum on
a major television news network is the moral equivalent of
putting an AR fifteen in the hands of someone mentally unstable,
(16:45):
whether words or bullets, and I have seen firsthand the
effects of both. They are equally dangerous in the mouths
or hands of those who have shown us time and
time again what their true intentions are. End quote. Michael
Fanone was wrong, I think, in one respect only that
(17:09):
last night was not handing Trump a metaphorical AR fifteen.
It was handing him a dozen of.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Them still ahead on this edition of Countdown.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
George Santos has been indicted. And you know all those
other different names in there, and that he called himself
Anthony Devolder, Katara Rivash. If he's convicted on all these
charges and gets the maximum sentence for each, all three
of them could each get life sentences. So a college
basketball coach at the top echelon of his sport for
(17:58):
thirty years, goes on a hate speech radio show, drops
a homophobic slur, then repeats the slur and uses as
an adjective for it the word catholic. So it came
out catholic blanks. He's been fired? Right? Oh no, he hasn't.
And when was the last time you heard about a
radio disc jockey threatening to get the radio sportscaster fired
(18:21):
during their show. This is an especially interesting question considering
the radio sportscaster in this equation was me. That's next.
This is his countdown. This is Countdown with Keith Olberman.
(18:45):
Postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snark,
some predictions, state line, Central Icelip, Long Island, New York
Congressman George Santos was indeed indicted on a whopping thirteen counts,
seven for wire fraud, for taking unemployment money during the
pandemic even though he was unemployed, and can continuing to
confirm to authorities each time they asked that he was
(19:09):
unemployed when in fact he was employed. Conviction and max
sentence on those seven counts alone could get him one
hundred and forty years in prison. He's not resigning, he
didn't flee, and he's insisting it's a witch hunt. Oh
now he's a witch too. He's also not making a
plea deal and Biden this and the undertone here of
(19:30):
a man who has never been held accountable for anything
in his life. Two postscripts. Santos pleaded not guilty. What
you expected him not to lie about? This too? And
you have to give him credit given the hundreds of
lies already written about it is actually spectacular that George
(19:50):
Santos managed to get himself indicted for lies we did
not already know about. Thank you, Nancy Faust, dateline, Washington.
(20:19):
Oh there she is, Dianne Feinstein has actually been seen
in the district of Columbia. She was there yesterday after
an absence of let me figure this out. What century
is this first day back since February first public comments
quote hi everybody unquote, and on her first day back,
(20:42):
she missed another vote. This is Sports Center. Wait, check
that not anymore. This is with Keith Alberman in sports.
(21:08):
The twenty twenty three National Football League schedule is out
and the headlines are more games in Frankfurt, Germany, and
no conference exclusivity for individual TV networks and a Black
Friday game for the first time, Miami at the Jats
at three pm the day after Thanksgiving. Getting a little
less attention the rather remarkable truth that the NFL schedule,
(21:29):
regular season and playoffs combined will now feature games on
every day of the week except Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The
Sunday regular schedule Sunday nights, Sunday mornings, Monday nights, Thursday nights,
this new Friday game, and Saturdays during the playoffs. Apart
from the fact that Friday and Saturday are high school
(21:50):
and college football days and there are some big college
rivalry games scheduled for Black Friday, like Texas and Texas
Tech and Oregon and Oregon State, you have to wonder
if the NFL is finally risking killing off the proverbial
goal and Goose. In thirty years, pro football has gone
from a sport where coverage of the game peaked at
(22:10):
the Super Bowl, resumed briefly for the college Draft, and
then went into hibernation until training camps started. Now NFL news,
NFL Talk, NFL gossip, NFL injuries, NFL trends, NFL ups,
NFL downs, NFL Why is there any news in the NFL?
Days that is a twenty four to seven fifty two
week a year industry, a non stop frenzy during the season.
(22:34):
The league gets more publicity out of days it is
not playing than all other sports leagues combined. What happens
when there are only two days without games being played?
What happens to the cliched but very real Monday morning
quarterbacking when they might conceivably soon have a Monday morning game?
(22:58):
And basketball coach Bob Huggins has been in and out
of trouble so long that I covered some of it
when I still have Sports Center in the nineties. Huggins
eventually got squeezed out as the coach at Cincinnati for
a dui. But they don't make punishments like they used
to on Monday. Bob Huggins now coaching West Virginia went
on the notoriously hate speech filled Bill Cunningham Show on
(23:22):
a Cincinnati radio station and talked about a game long
ago between Cincinnati and Xavier University at which quote, rubber
penises unquote, he said were thrown on the floor. Quoting
Huggins again. What it was was all those homophobic slurs,
those Catholic homophobic slurs, I think, unquote. So he was fired, right,
(23:47):
I mean, this was that rare equal opportunity attack on
the LGBTQ community and on the Catholic community. Not fired,
Huggins has to take courses and training in a three
game suspension and blah blah blah blah blah. And this
is what it is really all about. West Virginia's athletic department,
(24:09):
says coach Huggins has agreed to a one million dollar
pay cut. So if he'd only blasted the Catholics or
only used the homophobic slur, it would have been what
a half million dollar pay cut? What a self humiliation
for West Virginia University. Wow. Now for the daily roundup
(24:44):
of the miscreens, morons and Dunning Krueger effects specimens who
constitute two days worst persons in the world, the Brons,
Congressman James Comer, Senator Ron Johnson, and the other transparent
frauds trying to make it look like the corruption of
the Trump family has any kind of parallel in the
family of President Biden. The goal is not to get
(25:06):
any Bidens indicted or anything like that. It's just to
create this fog of everybody does it in order to
make the Trump crimes seem less odious. Senator Johnson yesterday
told Fox's incredibly nit witted Maria Bartiromo that the big
reveal on the Bidens may not include any real evidence.
(25:27):
You'll just have to infer the evidence of guilt. Of course,
not a lot of people saw what Johnson said, nor
did they see the big roll out by Comer, who
managed to schedule his big anti Biden news conference right
between the George Santos arraignment and the Trump CNN debacle.
As I always say, democracy is maintained less by the
(25:49):
efforts of those of us who fight to protect it
than it is by the stupidity of those who are
trying to destroy it, like Senator Johnson and Congressman Comber.
By the way, Congressman, what about your college girlfriend, Did
you really beat her up and threaten her life? The
runner up to late author Alex Haley, who wrote Roots
and conducted one of the most historically important interviews of
(26:11):
the twentieth century with Martin Luther King for Playboy in
nineteen sixty five, and sadly, it sure looks like the
most famous quote from that interview was made up, apparently
by Haley. The author Jonathan Aig has found an original
copy of the eighty four page transcript of that interview
between Haley and doctor King, including the part where doctor
(26:34):
King spoke about Malcolm X. The last sentence of that
part of the transcript reads quote and in his litany
of expressing the despair of the Negro without offering a
positive creative approach, I think he falls into a rut sometimes.
But in Playboy that last sentence has become quote and
in his litany of articulating the despair of the Negro
(26:55):
without offering any positive creative alternative, I feel that Malcolm
has done himself and our people a great disservice. Fiery
demagogic arey in the black ghettos urging negroes to arm
themselves and prepare to engage in violence as he has done,
can reap nothing but grief unquote and from the record,
it sure looks like Alex Haley made all that up
(27:17):
and essentially created the friction between the two murdered civil
rights leaders, a friction that endures to this day and
is less a friction than it is a fiction. But
our winner. Tommy Tuberville, the terrible college football coach who
has somehow become a still worse US senator. He did
an interview with the NPR station in Birmingham, Alabama. Wait,
(27:39):
I thought we were supposed to have defunded NFR. Would
you idiots keep your idiocy straight? Please? Tubberville is not
happy that this country is punishing white supremacists quote we
Tubbs said, our military and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put
out an order to stand down on all military across
(28:00):
the country, saying we're going to run out the white nationalists,
people that don't believe how we believe, and that's not
how we do it in this country. The startled interviewer
then asked Tubberville if he was saying that white nationalists
should be allowed to serve in the US military. They
call them that. The senator from the nineteenth century, replied,
(28:23):
I call them Americans and ladies and gentlemen. Whether or
not you think we have a white supremacist problem in
the US military, we sure as hell have one in
the US Senate. Tommy what nationalists and proud of it.
Tubberville two days, worst person and still ahead on countdown.
(29:00):
It's not every day when the disc jockey threatens to
kill the sportscast. And oh, by the way, I was
the sportscaster things I promise not to tell next. First,
in each edition of Cantown, we feature a dog. Indeed
you can help. Every dog has its day. The pounds
are saturated with great young dogs who should be learning
to love their new humans, and instead it has become
(29:23):
killing season. Such is the case in Downey, California. They've
killed five dogs there in just the last few days.
And now Lonzo, a year old German shepherd with a
beautiful coach complete with regal fringe collar near his neck,
he is on death row there. He is well enough
behaved that you could go to the Downy shelter and
(29:44):
take him home with you today. He's great with kids
eight and up. He's great with adults. He's great with
female dogs. He gets territorial with other males, but he
calms down quickly even from that, and is a prime
candidate for training. There's even an offer to pay someone
just to foster him for two weeks. Look for him
on my Twitter feeds, because Lonzo it's a miracle. I
(30:06):
thank you, and Lonzo thanks you. This remains, in short,
as terrifying as anything else in my career, death threats,
(30:28):
fake anthrax. What New York felt like post nine to eleven,
The frozen feeling of realizing you've made a terrible, damaging
mistake on a story, even working for Rupert Murdoch, worse
than that. Forty two years have passed since this event,
and nothing has dimmed the memory, nothing has reduced the
(30:49):
palpable sense of anxiety in every joint in my body.
On Sunday, December twenty first, nineteen eighty, the Oakland Raiders
defeated the New York Giants thirty three to seventeen to
end the Giant season at four wins and twelve losses,
with the most points they had given up in one
year since nineteen sixty six. I was the backup sportscaster
(31:12):
at w NEW Radio in New York. We carried the
Giants game broadcasts. In fact, we had carried them since
I was two years old. I was now a month
shy of twenty two, and it being Christmas week. I
reported bright and early to the studios at forty first
Street and Third Avenue on Monday, December twenty second. My
first sports cast was at five thirty am. There was
(31:35):
a theme song which invoked the name of the regular sportscaster,
John Kennelly. It said sports and Commentary, and my first
few weeks filling in that year, I stuck mostly to
the sports, with just an occasional commentary, but mostly a
joke or pithy observation. Well kind of pithy. But that
first weekend of winter, the giant stink was all that
(31:56):
we could smell in New York, and I felt I
had to point it out, pointed Lee, and so while
I observed that there was a positive they had started
one in eight, but then had actually won three of
their last seven games, the rest of my commentary was cynical, acerbic, dissatisfied,
in other words, the average day of the typical New
York sports fan. I ended my show right on time
(32:18):
at five thirty five am, and to my surprise, I
heard the disc jockey skip his usual post sportscast remarks
and instead simply play the next record, which I think
was Frank Sinatra's The Way You Look Tonight. We were
a big band station. I stepped out of the booth
and took the dozen strides through the newsroom, busy even
at that hour, with eight or ten staffers, and I
(32:39):
was sitting down at my desk when the door from
the main air studio slammed open. In the doorway stood
the disc jockey, and he had a message for me.
The message was you punk. The disc jockey's name was
Ted Brown. On the air, he was You're morning Man,
Ted Brown, speaking upbeat drivel, mostly to women who loved
(33:02):
the mellow sound of his voice. Off the air. WNIW
was his station and the morning show was his show.
He would fight for it. In fact, he had fought
at least two news reporters in his time in the
studio while Frank Sinatra records played on a turntable thirty
feet away. Ted Brown was a big man six '
(33:23):
three six ' four. Maybe by this point I don't know,
two thirty forty two fifty thick tortoise shell glasses. He
was a sportsman, a huge gambler racetracks mostly. The Giants
had begun on WNIW in nineteen sixty one. Ted Brown
had begun on WNIW in nineteen forty nine. And he
was tough, and it was not even the New York
(33:44):
tough I had grown up with. This guy had been
a tail gunner on a B seventeen during the Second
World War, and the Nazi shot him down, and they
took him to Stalog nine see near Leipzig, and they
kept him there for eighteen months, and basically he chewed
up and spit out guys like me for breakfast. And
I respected him. Oh, punk, say you don't like how
(34:06):
the giants? Did you think any of us do? He
gestured towards the newscasters and staffers. Nobody looked up. You
know how easy it is to sit there in a nice, heated, dry,
comfortable newsroom. I was in Stallog ninecy. His contempt for
the idea of the newsroom was amazing. You sit here
(34:27):
in your newsroom and pontificate while men men in helmets
with mud on them, they're bones breaking, their hearts pounding.
They are out on the field fighting and tackling and
working on the field of battle, so you can sit
here in your newsroom. It was at this point that
(34:52):
I remembered where I had first seen a photograph of
Ted Brown. He was in a booth at Yankee Stadium,
where the Giants played in the nineteen sixties. He was
the third man, a combination color announcer and host on
Giants radio broadcasts on WNAW. He was the worst possible
person to have heard me rip the New York Giants,
(35:13):
even the four and twelve nineteen eighty New York Giants,
even if editorially I was completely correct and not nearly
as hard on the team as its own announcers had
been on our station the day before? What did you
do to earn your spot? Here? Punk Ted Brown was
turning red. One of his fists was already clenched, while
(35:34):
the other arm cut through the air to emphasize how
much I sucked. I truly believed he was about to
take a swing at me. Then from behind him, the
door from his studio swung open again, and the elderly engineer,
the man who actually spun the records on Ted's show,
came through it. Ted I just had to segue out
(35:55):
of Sinatra to Jimmy Cagney singing Yankee Doodle Dandy. And
the general manager called and he said, I should tell
you WNIW does not segue no records, don't do it again.
You better get back in here. The Cagney's almost finished.
The engineer then vanished silently back through the door. This
warning did nothing but make Ted Brown even angrier. The
(36:16):
general manager. Have you met the general manager? Punk? Jack Fair?
And Jack Fayer gets in here at eight twenty every
morning on dot clockwork Punk, when you finish your eight
thirty sports cast, I'm dragging you in to meet Jack Thayer,
(36:36):
the general manager. And that punk is when your career
at WNW Radio will come to an abrupt end. You
think the New York Giants had a bad nineteen eighty,
how about your nineteen eighty punk when your career ended?
Because the real men, the real men are out there
(36:57):
on the playing field, not sitting inside a noseroom in
a slatter. This continued for some time. The engineer returned,
Tennant's there again. I just segued to some mel tourme.
Ted Thayer wants to talk to you. Thinks maybe you're
not here, and I'm covering for you. Ted Brown turned
(37:18):
and swore dark oaths against the engineer, and for that matter,
against the general manager, Jack Thayer, and for that matter
against mel Tourmae, you and me, Punk eight thirty five,
The end of your career, Punk. He lunged at me.
Suddenly the engineer grabbed him and pulled him back through
the door. In the newsroom, there were only two sounds,
(37:41):
one my heart, which I suspect was audible perhaps the
next block, the other typing. Nobody said a word, Nobody
looked at me. A phone rang, The production assistant sang
out w ANYW news. I went over to the newscaster
who had been the most supportive of me to that point,
Bob Hagen, and through my shaking, I said thanks for
(38:04):
the Bob. Bob did not look up from his typewriter
what he said matter of factly Brown. I said, yes, Brown,
he's going to get me fired in three hours. Bob
Hagen laughed, Now he's not, I said, he just spent
I don't know how many minutes he spent three records
screaming at me. Didn't you hear him? I heard him,
we all heard him. We've all heard him every time
(38:27):
he said that. He said that to every one of
us out here. He said that about every one of
us out here. He took a swing at eyes grow
over there. What was it, Jimmy two months ago? Ignore him?
I said, I failed to see why any of what
he had told me should encourage me to ignore Ted Brown.
When we had a meeting with the general manager at
eight thirty five, Bob Hagen now stopped typhing and smiled
(38:51):
up at me reassuringly from his chair. Keith, you do
a good job. Ted is nuts. Ted is mean. Ted
is a crazy Giants fan. Ted is all so still
bitter that he's not on the radio broadcast of the
Giants games. But Ted has also been doing morning radio
almost every day since nineteen forty five. Keith, that's thirty
(39:15):
five years of getting up in the middle of the night,
and many many years ago, Keith, Ted stopped remembering things
like what somebody said on his show. He doesn't remember,
he won't remember. Just finish off the next sportscast with
one of your clever, funny, little kicker stories. And even
if he somehow remembers what you said about the Giants,
(39:37):
when he hears a good laugh, all he'll remember is
the laugh. I tried to be respectful of Bob, but
I told him I found all this hard to believe. Keith,
he also drinks, he has nightmares, he has pow nightmares,
and he gets up at three am every day. He
does not imprint new memories anymore. But no, why should
(40:01):
you listen to me. I've only been on his show
for ten years? Why would I know? I'm telling you
get a good funny kicker for the six thirty and
he'll love you. I nodded grimly. I did not believe
Bob Hagen, but I knew he meant well, and anyway,
he had started to type again. The clock now moved
(40:22):
impossibly quickly. Incredibly, I did find just the kind of funny,
clever kicker story Bob suggested I should use to close
the six thirty sports cast. I minimized my assault on
the Giants and then finished off my report with some
story that shed a good light on Montclair State College
in New Jersey. I could not have known, and I
swear I did not know that Ted Brown's sister had
(40:47):
graduated from Montclair State College in New Jersey. I finished
off the sports cast with the story something that made
Montclair State. Look good, a little chuckle, and then Keith o'
rimman for John Kennelly on the Ted Brown Show ominously
again to my terrored Brown now said nothing on the air.
I could not see him through the window into the
(41:08):
main air studio. The engineer played a record instead. It
may have been the Montavani strings play the Beatles. I
opened the door back to the newsroom slowly and with trepidation.
I crouched as I moved back towards my desk. And
that's when it happened. The door from the main air
studio slammed open again. It was Ted Brown again. Where
is he? Where is he? Montclair State? My sister went
(41:32):
to Montclair State. What a story, what a great laugh,
perfectly delivered. My god, that was the best sportscast we
have ever had on this station. Don't you think so? Prely?
God love you kid? What a tell it? I laughed
out loud, kid, I don't laugh out loud. It was
the same Ted Brown. I stole a quick glance at
(41:52):
the newsroom to see if this whole thing was some
kind of act being filmed for a hidden camera TV series.
Nobody looked up again. Nobody looked up. Ted Brown, the
man who an hour before was to beat me up
and get me fired, was now repeating again and again
that I had just delivered the best sports cast in
the history of WNW radio. That's when his engineer came
(42:17):
back in. He had segued from Montavani to Perry Como,
and the general manager had called, and now Ted Brown's
eyes widened behind the thick glasses. The general manager, Jack Thayer, say, Keith,
have you ever met Jack Thayer? This gives me a
great idea. Jack Thayer comes in here every morning at
eight twenty like clockwork. Look, I love John Kennelly, he's great,
but you you were exactly the kind of new, fresh,
(42:40):
young voice we need on this radio station. Damn it,
I need on my show. When Jack Thayer comes in
here at eight twenty this morning, you and I are
going right into his office and we're gonna get you
your own sports cast on my show. We can do
two sports casts at hour. We'll take it out of
the Stock Report Montclair stage. I'll get you a contract.
You and Kennelly will seventy five grand being up for you. Kid.
(43:01):
You're gonna hit the big time here, my friend, and
out the engineer came again. Jack Thayer had again called
in fourth time that I knew of. He really needed
Ted back in the studio to talk to the women.
Ted Brown happily shouted okay, okay, and began to back
up into the doorway. The look in his eyes towards
(43:23):
me was one of unimaginable love. Commita come here, wait,
come here, come here, come here, and he lunged at
me and grabbed me into a bear hug. Just brilliant,
Montclair State. I gotta call my sister and tell you.
Seeing Jack's office at eight thirty five, I stood there,
(43:47):
having now been pummeled by two hurricanes arriving from different
directions in the span of one hour. All was silent
in the WNAW newsroom again but for the typing. But
it was silent only for a moment. That's when Bob
Hagen addressed me again. He did not look up. All
(44:08):
he said was Keith, he won't remember that either. I've
done all the damage I can do. Here. Here are
(44:29):
the credits. Most of the music arrange produced and performed
by Brian Ray and John Phillip Shanelle, who are the
Countdown musical directors or orchestration and keyboards. Orchestration in English
by John Phillip Shanelle, guitars, bass and drums by Brian Ray,
produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged
and performed by the group No Horns Allowed. The sports
(44:52):
music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two. It was
written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical
comments from Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever.
Our announcer today was Tony Kornheiser and and everything else.
It's pretty much my fault. So that's countdown for this
the eight hundred and fifty sixth day since Donald Trump's
first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the
(45:14):
United States. Don't forget to keep arresting him while we
still can. A little bonus to end this edition one
of those WNAW sportscast from the early eighties, complete with
a play by play clip from my first boss, Sam Rosen,
who is still covering the team that you'll hear him
cover in the clip. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow,
(45:36):
and until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon,
good night, and good luck.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
I'm Dave Spencer, WNWWS and now WNAW sportsm commentary with
John Kenner and good morning Keith Olberman for Big John.
Sports is brought to you by Amtrak America is getting
into training with Metro Iners service thirteen times every business
day to Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Run from Penn Station.
Speaker 3 (46:05):
And if you were there last night, you probably heard
some noise from upstairs. It was Ranger fans celebrating the
new year a little early.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
Here sod and center. Thetinelli left wing feats Rake Whide
An Ice Club. Two seconds to go and that's it.
A standing ovation for the Rangers who have defeated the
Island Earths six to four.
Speaker 3 (46:26):
The Sam Rose and play by play here last night
as the Rangers wrapped up a marvel as six to
four victory over the Islanders, their first win over the
Cup champs in nine games. It was tied four to
four with a little over three minutes left when Andre
Dori fed Dave Silk, Silk slapped Don Maloney put home
the rebound and the Rangers were head to stay. Barry
Beck had a goal to celebrate his return from the suspension.
Dugue had a pair to up his total to twenty two.
(46:50):
The Rangers are going to trade Dean Telaphus and Jerry
Gillis today to Quebec for Robbie Fattorik. This guy is
your class a diminutive center here. He works very hard,
has a long track record of busting his body parts
for some pretty mediocre teams.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
He is thirty years old.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
He Brooks thinks he will help herb Brooks should try
to get Wayne Gretzky. Now what would he cost anyway?
A few billion, fifteen players and Brooks first born. He'd
be worth it. Gretzky got five more goals last night
at Edmondson's seven to five win over Philadelphia, meaning he
cracked the fifty goal mark in thirty nine games, eleven
games faster than the previous record, which was shared by
(47:24):
Rocket Rashard and Mike Bossi. Gretzky's biggest fans, his parents,
were to flight to Vancouver tonight to watch him play
there and try to get the record. He says, now
he's almost sorry he got the five last night. He
didn't want to disappoint them. Neither local basketball team disappoints.
That and more after this from Amtrak.
Speaker 1 (47:43):
Now there's a brand new Express service.
Speaker 3 (47:50):
The New York Rodies, better known here as the Knicks,
come from a twelve point halftime deficit to beat Cleveland
in overtime last night by one hundred and ten to
one hundred and eight. The Knickerbockers are now a game
above five hundred on the road and a game below
five hundred at home. Not supposed to happen in the NBA.
The Nets won last night, too, only they did it
at home, one thirty to one nineteen over Detroit. After
(48:11):
one and a half periods of feeling out, the Nets
took command. Their lead down the stretch was in the
high teens. The Liberty Bowl last night was supposed to
be an Ohio State blowout, but quarterback Arch Schleister inconveniently
had a bad first half and the Buckeyes wound up
beating the Navy by only thirty one to twenty eight.
This was rather unfortunate if you took Ohio State, they
were fourteen point favorites.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Not quite.
Speaker 3 (48:32):
Finally, they call it disastro turf, and the closer and
closer we get to game day, the more and more
likely it is the Giants won't get to practice on it.
As the steady rains continue in the Bay Area. The
forty nine ers continue to suggest that the Giants cancel
their scheduled Saturday practice at Cattlestick Park for the good
of the bad field, which means that the first time
folks like Rob Carpenter will get their feet wet literally
(48:54):
will be when they come out for the game Sunday afternoon.
That sport's brought to you by Amtrak America is getting
into trading with Metro Liner service thirteen times every business
day to Philadelphia. I'm Keith Olberman for John Kenney on
the Ted Brown Show.
Speaker 1 (49:07):
I'm good morning everybody. Thank you Keith. It's twenty one
before seven. Countdown with Keith Olberman is a production of iHeartRadio.
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