Brent Musburger: Keith Olbermann "Should Get Off His Soapbox" and Talk Baseball

Brent Musburger announced yesterday that he will be retiring from broadcasting — the timing seemed curious, with the outcry over his recent Joe Mixon comments, but ESPN PR is publicly insistent that this was his decision and he was not pushed out — and appeared on the Dan Patrick Show today to discuss a variety of topics. (When asked about the timing, Musburger replied that he made the decision 48 hours ago, and quickly shifted the conversation to the Super Bowl.)

A few minutes in, the discussion made its way to Dan’s former SportsCenter partner, Keith Olbermann. Olbermann, as you may have noticed, has been quite vociferous in his opposition of President Trump of late. Musburger, at the 2:20-mark, brought up Olbermann on a tangent out of nowhere.

“When did Keith Olbermann become this progressive?” Musburger asked. “I think I was looking for Musburger on Google last night — I had enough Irish whiskey — I looked at Olbermann and he’s calling for President to resign a week in. What’s going on with this guy?”

“He’s the baseball guy,” Musburger laughed. “I wanna know how many games the Cubs are gonna win next year, and he’s out there calling for Mr. Trump to resign. When did this happen?”

DP said that he and Olbermann never, in 5.5 years, discussed politics during their run on SportsCenter, except that at one point his partner had given him a Winston Churchill book.

“I’m fascinated to hear that he was not politically inclined,” said Musburger. “We all know that he’s a deep thinker, especially about baseball. He should get off that soapbox of his, and get back to where we enjoy him. I’d love to listen to him talk baseball.”

We certainly live in interesting times, and Musburger appears to be of the belief that sports and politics should be separate like church and state (he has long been of that opinion, and some remain dismayed 40+ years later with his print criticism of Tommie Smith and John Carlos).

What are your thoughts?