Under circumstances like this -- a live event intruding on a pretty tightly-formatted show -- you'd expect KO's producers to give a little help. MSNBC had been planning to run this event live; didn't they have someone on-scene who had the speakers' list? Couldn't that person notify KO's producers, so they could whisper it in his ear or type a message on the computer screen he probably has under the surface of his desk? There are ways of handling this without expecting the host to tap-dance,and Countdown's production staff failed.

That said, KO should have known who Chauncey Billups plays for.

See, Keith is a lefty, or a pretend lefty, and lefties hate the very idea of organized sports, because it will bring in the next Hitler or something.

He's playing to his audience. I have a hard time he believes half the shit he emotionalizes about but he needs to keep his credibility.

He's full of shit.

you assume because people watch sports they pay a great deal of attention to a particular sport.

i watch sports nightly; read sports daily. i do not follow the nba whatsoever and if you waved a $20 bill in my face i couldn't tell you who billups plays for.

what if brad richards introduced mccain somewhere. would you know what nhl team he plays for?

Sure sounds like he said Detroit to me.

be careful AA, or KO's next 'Special Comment' will be about you.

-dan

oops - didn't read all the comments in full. wick beat me to it.

Good lord you guys are desperate to criticize anything.

He was stumbling for the right words, forgot briefly for a second, said Detroit after fumbling for what he wanted to say. Guess what? It happens. It's live tv.

These things happen from time to time: You got a producer in your ear, you're not completely sure what you're seeing on live tv, and you say something that's a tad off. He watches sports all the time, I'm sure he knows Billups is a Piston, but he made a slight error. VERY slight.

Really, this is nothing. The mocking is silly.

tim russert woulda known who billups plays for.

Must be a slow day, AA. Which is fine. I'm still buzzed from that great sports moment(19 holes worth) Monday.

This happens to me on-air all the time. Keith probably got distracted by the scent of his young lady-friend on the fingers of his left hand.

"He was stumbling for the right words, forgot briefly for a second,"

I thought only stupid people like George Bush do that, not hyper-intellectuals with incisive brains that are just incredibly powerful like Keith.

Ha...definitely a slow day. I don't want to force Olympic coverage down your throats so I'm passing on that.

I also wasn't making fun of KO. I know live TV is tough, but everyone knows who Billups plays for. Come on. The post was written a joking manner people.

>>> but everyone knows who Billups plays for. Come on.<<<

until i read this post this morning, i did not. i'm not an nba guy. sorry.

one of the first lessons i learned in j-school was to avoid at all costs using the words: never, ever, everybody, nobody.

I know, all those Lefties like Bill Bradley, Magic Johnson, and Chauncey Billups need to start thinking about winning championships in sports. They were/are never competitive enough.

I think KO knows what team Billups plays for, but whatever Harvard lackey intern was typing his notes cut and pasted the wrong info from Wikipedia, leaving Keith to stumble when he KNEW he was reading wrong info. I'm sure we can all reminisce about our live TV broadcasts and how we got the simple stuff wrong while helping Americans actually think about the news instead of regurgitating FOX Noise bumper sticker comments...

I suppose you'd think anyone that followed sports at all would know Billups was on the Pistons, but it's really no surprise that millions of hard core sports fans and thinking people refuse to touch the NBA at all, knowing it's a boring, sad league. Like me! Way to go Keith. I like him more every day.

It's the NBA... who cares. KO must have been thrown off as Billups was scheduled to be at the meeting where the league, players, officials and the mouse network decide the winner of Game 6.

To hollywood wags: I'm actually somewhat offended by what you said because I am a lefty (and a big Keith Olbermann fan) and I do enjoy organized sports.

That being said, the one organized sport I don't watch is the NBA and if you asked me who Chauncey Billups played for, I probably would have to think for a few seconds (of course I know now after reading AA's post, but I'm talking about before). My guess is is that he was not made aware of the fact that Billups was speaking before Al Gore and was given all the information by his producers as he was chatting with Dana Milbank, thus making it very easy to misunderstand or misinterpret something.

According to Keith, when he mentioned Chauncey Billups, for whatever reason he did not give, he said he played for Denver. But he was not talking about the Denver Nuggets, he was talking about the Denver Jellymakers, who went out of business in 1946. The team was a part of an old basketball league called the AAU. Why he was thinking that is anyone's guess. But instead of getting into a 50 comment debate about KO, let's all just laugh the whole thing off and ponder this question. Who in their right mind would name their team "Jellymakers"?

"Hell-OOOOOO, I'm Keith Olbermann, and whoever wrote my notes is THE WORRRRST PERRRRRSOONNNN INNNN THHEEEE WOOOORRRLLLD!"

So Keith Olbermann really thought that Billups plays for the "Denver Jellymakers?" "An AAU team that folded in 1946?" I know that KO is known for a sense of humor, but that was, as the hip teenagers say, "lame to the max fer sure!" At best, it was CYA.

As for the part about live TV, the rally at which Gore endorsed Obama ran over an hour behind schedule. I even think that MSNBC cancelled a taped interview with Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert, because of the long delay.

Oh, and it was at Joe Louis Arena. Home of the Red Wings of the NHL. And believe me, he wouldn't have messed that up if Billups had played for them.

Forgot to mention that Billups was born in Denver, attended George Washington High School there, and then went on to Colorado before making the NBA.

So maybe that's what KO meant to say...

Nevertheless, the contents of the previous post still apply.

This thread is ridiculous. Anyone who knows anything about Keith Olbermann knows that baseball is his true love.
Do we really expect him to recognize the face and current team of every professional athlete in every big sport in America? How many would that be?
At least he recognized his Chauncey's face. I wouldn't have been able to pick him out in a lineup.

Olbermann is a mean-spirited political hack. He has no place on Sunday night football. If anyone ever tries to talk politics with me at the football stadium (either pro or con), I always shut them down.

I may organize a campaign against NBC to remove Olbermann from Sunday Night football. It is really a slap in the face of the average fan. I watch football to escpae from politics, bills, etc . .