Keith Olbermann Out At MSNBC; Here's Hoping He Returns To Sports

Keith Olbermann is leaving MSNBC, and Friday night's show will be his last with the network. It's been a surprise-filled Friday night in sports thus far, with career Blue Jay Vernon Wells being sent to the Angels, and ex-Sox Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon headed to the Rays. This story, though, is the most surprising, and it's worth considering whether he could -- or would -- return to the world of sports.

We don't know why MSNBC let him go -- my theory is that it's a cost-cutting measure and that they'll fill the time slot with someone who won't break the camera at the end of every show -- but it's worth remembering his less-than-amicable exit from ESPN over a decade ago.

The job, as Olbermann noted in a 1998 commencement address at his alma mater Cornell, wasn't fulfilling: It gave him "dry heaves," and it would "make me ashamed, make me depressed, make me cry."

Personally, I liked Olbermann better as a sports anchor. He could be funny, but he wasn't expected to wad up paper, or quiver his lip, or what have you. Here's hoping we get to see that Olbermann sometime soon. In the meantime, after the jump, check out a clip from his 1990s days at SportsCenter. And Good Lord, check out Brett Favre.