Back when Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick were still doing the Big Show radio hour together, they engaged in their yearly fortune telling baseball ritual known as “Predictions Destined to Go Horribly Wrong”. They predicted the winners of the division titles, wild cards, playoffs, World Series and various post-season awards. Peter Gammons also played along. Now that MLB has given out the last of its awards we can check how well KO did:

Keith’s prediction (actual winner)

Al East - Red Sox (Red Sox)

Al Central - Tigers (Indians)

AL West - A’s (Angels)

AL Wildcard - Indians (Yankees)

NL East - Braves (Phillies)

NL Central - Brewers (Cubs)

NL West D-Backs (D-backs)

NL Wildcard - Cardinals (Rockies)

World Series - Braves over Tigers (Red Sox over Rockies)

AL MVP - David Ortiz (Alex Rodriguez)

AL Cy Young - Justin Verlander (C. C. Sabathia)

NL MVP - Jeff Francoeur (Jimmy Rollins)

NL Cy Young - John Smotlz (Jake Peavy)

Keith is 2 for 13. DP did a bit better. You can find the results for Dan’s prediction over at Palaver, or at this old ESPN page. Peter Gammons results are also available at the ESPN page.

Just a reminder folks, Keith Olbermann’s evil twin former Big Show partner Dan Patrick will begin his new radio show tomorrow 9-12pm Eastern. It appears that it may be streamed off DP’s site, as well as available live (and possibly podcast) on several internet radio sites.

As much as possible of tomorrows’ debut show will be recapped over at Palaver, a wholly owned subsidiary of ERT (and generally hosted by former Big Show recapper - me, Hawaii). Other DP information and articles are also posted there so please check us out if you’re a Dan fan.

Hopefully at some point Keith will join Dan on the show. If that happens we will let you know!

Regular readers probably have observed that we posted quite a bit about Dan Patrick in the time between the announcement that he’d have an announcement and his final day at ESPN. We got a little carried away with our affection for Dan as a matter of fact.

Realizing that this space is really dedicated to Keith and not all of our readers appreciate what are really off-topic posts (not to mention all of you who get here by googling some variation on “dan patrick”), we opened up an annex (Dannex?) for news about Mr. Patrick: Palaver. Come check it out, won’t you?

ETA: I’ve been trying to find video of Keith’s hilarious appearance on The Soup for those of you who missed it. In the mean time, please use this post as your open thread for Tuesday.

No Keith billed in the introductory guest-rundown, but it’s Dan’s last day, so we’ll liveblog it anyway. Because, dammit, we love Dan.

That being said, if you insist on having some KO content here (on this … Keithcentric blog), read or re-read this Bloggermann piece from 6/14/2005, where, at the onset of rejoining Dan for the afternoon radio gig, Keith talks about their history.

Now. Back to Dan.

(more…)

No mention yet whether or not Keith will be on today — John Elway will be with Dan at 2pm, so I’m thinking that’s a “no” on KO.

Still! Since we here at ERT adore Dan as much as we do (and oh … that’s a lot), I’ll keep this post updated with pertinent/amusing things as they happen.

For example: Dan cleaned out his desk at ESPN today. Sifting through eighteen and a half years of stuff … the detritus of his life at the Worldwide Leader, he said that’s when it really hit him that it was over.

1:55PM: Sure, I want very much to hear Keith at least once more on the show — one last Big Show before Dan pulls up stakes. But I don’t think it’s a massive deal if he’s not there in these final radio hours. I adore Keith (says so right on my business cards, under my name and “Sergeant Obvious”), and I in no way mean that he’d take away from Dan’s big day, but … I’m all right with the last Dan Patrick Shows being all about Dan.

2:33PM: In the spirit of our traditional noting which tie Keith is wearing, I’ll tell you that today Dan’s wearing a green Mets hat (St. Patty’s day issue) and the shirt from a policeman’s uniform he wore in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. There’s some concern that he’s actually guilty of impersonating a police officer. Phil jokes that in any case, he probably shouldn’t have pulled Trey Wingo over in the parking lot. Heh.

No KO or a Big Show today, as the big man’s allegedly “on assignment.”

It sure is good to hear Dan’s voice again, though. His guests so far (Billy Crystal and David Stern) have been very sweet, thanking Dan for his time at ESPN, and his work.

We’ll try again tomorrow. If Keith’s there … well. We’ll be there, too.

Until then check out DanPatrick.com. Or at least try to … it seems like their server wasn’t ready for the deluge of traffic once Dan announced the URL on the air.

Countdown To The Big Show Edition - Episode 2: Attack Of The Radio

New York Newsday talks to the mysteriously absent Dan Patrick:

Dan Patrick is not sure exactly how it will end this week, but he hopes and assumes “everyone will play nice.” Perhaps there even will be some lovely parting gifts.

“Maybe I’ll get a rocking chair and an autographed Chris Berman picture and then just ride off into the sunset,” he said.

Aw! I wonder if Boomer will sign it “You’re with me, Leather?”

Oh. And then there was this:

So he is leaving after three more shows, starting tomorrow, initially just for radio, his favorite medium, but he figures to be heard and seen on other platforms, as well.

Starting tomorrow! At least we can stop gnashing our teeth now.

Larry Brown Sports speculates on Dan’s replacement and links to a piece in the Houston Chronicle that says:

Twenty percent, meanwhile, want KFNC to pick up the new Dan Patrick Show, which will be syndicated by the Chicago-based Content Factory. Chris Crane, the company’s managing partner, said the show will begin in mid-September and will air live from 8-11 a.m.

The company picked the 8-11 a.m. slot to avoid head-to-head competition with the syndicated Jim Rome Show, to give East Coast stations another option in late morning, and to give West Coast stations a familiar name to boost ratings in morning drive time.

That translates to 9am to noon for those of us in the Eastern time zone including KO. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that if Keith does become part of the new show, it’ll be in that final hour. [Via Obscure Sports Quarterly]

Talk amongst yourselves.

Countdown To The Big Show Edition

Dan Patrick’s farewell week on ESPN Radio is scheduled to start today! It should be a fabulous week of radio - tune in your local ESPN affiliate or listen to the streaming audio. If you can’t tune in, rest assured your ERT Action Sports Team will be bringing you a wrap-up of each day’s events.

Speaking of the ERT Action Sports Team, Stef reports that yesterday’s pre-season game on NBC did not feature the “occasionally provocative Keith Olbermann” though Mr. Costas did assure us that he would be on future broadcasts.

Talk amongst yourselves.

ETA @ 1:10pm: No Dan. We were promised a farewell week. A week. What do you wanna bet it’s just one day, Friday? If that?

The Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein has a nice piece on Dan Patrick and his new gig with Chicago radio impresario Jimmy de Castro:

His new company, Content Factory, plans to distribute Patrick across nine platforms: AM/FM radio, satellite and HD radio, online, television, mobile, publishing, out-of-home video (i.e. screens at gas station pumps), retail and event marketing.

It looks like we’ll still have access to whatever Dan’s doing pretty easily.

After edging out Patrick on the golf course, de Castro sent him a John Daly golf shirt. Why?

“It has 12 logos on it,” de Castro said. “We told Dan: ‘That’s what ESPN is to you. You don’t want to wear 12 logos. You want to wear Dan Patrick, and when we sell Budweiser here, you own it.’ ”

In other words, don’t simply serve as a vehicle for ESPN to sell ads.

“He had been a paid employee,” de Castro said. “Now he owns a percentage of the radio show.”

The Dan Patrick Broadcasting Empire, Inc?

De Castro says he’s looking at a lanch date of September 9 and that recurring guests will include Rick Reilly, Reggie Miller, and… yes. Keith Olbermann.

ETA: AOL Sports: “…an ESPN spokesman tells me that the speculation is wrong, and that Patrick will be back for a ‘farewell week.’” But not until then? My afternoons will be awfully bleak between now and September.

The Boston Globe talks to Dan:

Since Dan Patrick announced on his radio show Monday he’ll be leaving ESPN Aug. 17, rumors have swirled as to why he’s leaving and where he’ll end up.

One thing is for certain: Patrick will remain on the airwaves after it was announced yesterday he will join The Content Factory, which will distribute Patrick’s new radio show.

Rumors got even swirlier when Dan’s name was absent from the 1pm to 4pm slot yesterday. I wonder whether Ms. Bickelhaupt spoke to Dan before or after that time. Either way, it’s a nice write-up that touches on many subjects, like the incredible fact that the man has no agent.

The LA Daily News talks to Keith:

Olbermann added that ESPN has “been terrific and I’m very torn” about whether to continue on the network radio show - either hosting it by himself, as the network has offered, or do a shorter version. He could also join Patrick somewhere down the road at another syndicated show.

“I don’t think with my other jobs I could give it as much as the company and listeners deserve,” the MSNBC “Countdown” anchor said of taking Patrick’s ESPN Radio spot. “Plus, my motivation has been working with DP. In short, we’ll see.”

Stay with Dan, KO. You’re both great individually, but together you’re something really special.