1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:22,395 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. I'd 2 00:00:22,475 --> 00:00:26,755 Speaker 1: like to congratulate and thank Sydney Powell for getting Tucker 3 00:00:26,835 --> 00:00:32,155 Speaker 1: Carlson fired. Obviously, Tucker Carlson got Tucker Carlson fired. But 4 00:00:32,235 --> 00:00:34,715 Speaker 1: as all of the reporting threads of how the highest 5 00:00:34,795 --> 00:00:37,915 Speaker 1: rated host in cable news today was thrown off the 6 00:00:37,955 --> 00:00:42,795 Speaker 1: proverbial cliff yesterday were stitched together, it became clear there 7 00:00:42,955 --> 00:00:46,755 Speaker 1: was an entire box full of final straws, but the 8 00:00:46,755 --> 00:00:49,275 Speaker 1: most final of them was the one in which Tucker 9 00:00:49,315 --> 00:00:53,875 Speaker 1: Carlson called Sydney Powell the C word. And it may 10 00:00:53,915 --> 00:00:57,155 Speaker 1: be on tape, we do know it is on the record. 11 00:00:57,595 --> 00:01:00,395 Speaker 1: Lachland cart Right at The Daily Beast reported last night 12 00:01:00,395 --> 00:01:02,995 Speaker 1: that the subject of that word and that idiot Sydney 13 00:01:03,035 --> 00:01:06,115 Speaker 1: Powell came up in Carlson's depth as in the dominion 14 00:01:06,155 --> 00:01:11,315 Speaker 1: defamation case. People familiar said. The dominion attorneys asked, quote, 15 00:01:11,595 --> 00:01:14,475 Speaker 1: if this wasn't the only time you referred to Sydney 16 00:01:14,555 --> 00:01:20,795 Speaker 1: Powell as a sword, and Carlson's reply was, quote, you know, 17 00:01:21,075 --> 00:01:26,035 Speaker 1: I can't know, and I just want to apologize preemptively. 18 00:01:26,075 --> 00:01:28,915 Speaker 1: I mean, you're trying to embarrass me. You're definitely succeeding, 19 00:01:28,915 --> 00:01:34,835 Speaker 1: as I am embarrassed and unemployed. If you really wanted 20 00:01:34,835 --> 00:01:38,995 Speaker 1: to point to the person besides this condescending, racist, misogynistic, 21 00:01:39,195 --> 00:01:45,155 Speaker 1: unemployed scumbag, who got this condescending, racist, misogynistic, unemployed scumbag 22 00:01:45,275 --> 00:01:49,395 Speaker 1: off every TV in every US military base in the world, 23 00:01:49,595 --> 00:01:52,515 Speaker 1: and every police station and half the public spaces in 24 00:01:52,555 --> 00:01:56,755 Speaker 1: this country. It is Abby Grosberg, the former guest booker 25 00:01:56,835 --> 00:02:00,515 Speaker 1: on Carlson's show and before him, on Maria Bartiromo's show. 26 00:02:01,115 --> 00:02:03,835 Speaker 1: As I mentioned in the special edition of this podcast 27 00:02:03,915 --> 00:02:08,355 Speaker 1: yesterday afternoon, it is Grosberg's suit that tips the balance. 28 00:02:08,915 --> 00:02:13,235 Speaker 1: Last night, her attorney, Parisi's chief Filipatos, said Miss Grosberg 29 00:02:13,435 --> 00:02:17,955 Speaker 1: has nearly ninety recordings from her time at Fox, all 30 00:02:17,995 --> 00:02:21,515 Speaker 1: of them supporting her contention and her legal action that 31 00:02:21,595 --> 00:02:27,155 Speaker 1: the place was, particularly in Tucker Carlson's office, a sexist, abusive, 32 00:02:27,475 --> 00:02:33,355 Speaker 1: vengeful hellhole. That is what got Tucker Carlson fired. What 33 00:02:33,475 --> 00:02:35,875 Speaker 1: Grosberg alleged in her suit and in her part of 34 00:02:35,915 --> 00:02:39,795 Speaker 1: the dominion case matched not only every text and every 35 00:02:39,835 --> 00:02:43,835 Speaker 1: email publicly revealed in the discovery for the dominion suit, 36 00:02:44,075 --> 00:02:47,195 Speaker 1: but maybe more importantly, it also matched all of those 37 00:02:47,355 --> 00:02:51,315 Speaker 1: blacked out parts on all of those texts and emails. 38 00:02:51,915 --> 00:02:55,515 Speaker 1: Fox's lawyers redacted them, but we're not going to be 39 00:02:55,595 --> 00:02:58,635 Speaker 1: able to redact them at trial, which was itself one 40 00:02:58,675 --> 00:03:02,475 Speaker 1: of the reasons Rupert Murdoch settled that trial. And of course, 41 00:03:02,515 --> 00:03:04,715 Speaker 1: once they would have been on the record in the 42 00:03:04,795 --> 00:03:07,835 Speaker 1: dominion case, they would have been available for Abby Grosberg 43 00:03:08,035 --> 00:03:11,715 Speaker 1: to introduce into her suit, which already has the Nancy 44 00:03:11,755 --> 00:03:18,755 Speaker 1: Pelosi swimsuit story and the Gretchen Whitmer Tutor Dixon contest 45 00:03:19,835 --> 00:03:24,795 Speaker 1: that got to Fox quote news unquote CEO Suzanne Scott, 46 00:03:24,835 --> 00:03:28,195 Speaker 1: and she went to Fox CEO Lachland Murdoch and Friday 47 00:03:28,275 --> 00:03:31,955 Speaker 1: night they decided they wanted Tucker Carlson gone, as The 48 00:03:31,955 --> 00:03:35,395 Speaker 1: New York Times and The Washington Post both reported, though 49 00:03:35,435 --> 00:03:38,915 Speaker 1: both organizations seemingly have left out the next step, without 50 00:03:38,955 --> 00:03:42,435 Speaker 1: which Carlson would still be preparing as we speak to 51 00:03:42,595 --> 00:03:46,955 Speaker 1: spew more bile tonight. As Fox sources explained it to me, 52 00:03:47,155 --> 00:03:50,675 Speaker 1: Scott and Lochland Murdoch went to Lochland Murdoch's dad at 53 00:03:50,675 --> 00:03:53,715 Speaker 1: some point over the weekend, and that's when Rupert Murdoch 54 00:03:53,835 --> 00:03:57,595 Speaker 1: personally ordered him fired fired for the poisoning of his 55 00:03:57,715 --> 00:04:01,315 Speaker 1: workplace with stuff that got Fox sued, and for the 56 00:04:01,355 --> 00:04:04,955 Speaker 1: insulting things that Carlson had said about Fox executives as 57 00:04:04,955 --> 00:04:09,435 Speaker 1: revealed or as redacted in the dominion discovery, all of 58 00:04:09,475 --> 00:04:12,595 Speaker 1: which I reported yesterday. He was not fired as the 59 00:04:12,635 --> 00:04:16,315 Speaker 1: result of his lies exposed in the dominion suit, per se. 60 00:04:16,755 --> 00:04:19,355 Speaker 1: He was not fired for being a fascist, for being 61 00:04:19,395 --> 00:04:22,715 Speaker 1: a racist, for being a conspiracy monger. He was fired 62 00:04:22,795 --> 00:04:26,835 Speaker 1: for being someone who hates and abuses women and who 63 00:04:26,955 --> 00:04:32,475 Speaker 1: insulted his employers. It fell for Scott to call Carlson 64 00:04:32,595 --> 00:04:37,315 Speaker 1: yesterday morning and tell him to Carlson's utter shock and disbelief. 65 00:04:37,395 --> 00:04:41,635 Speaker 1: By all accounts, they gave him ten minutes warning before 66 00:04:41,635 --> 00:04:45,035 Speaker 1: making it public. The Daily Beast, again reporting his reply 67 00:04:45,195 --> 00:04:49,595 Speaker 1: to mystified and possibly now also unemployed staffers, was quote, 68 00:04:50,075 --> 00:04:55,835 Speaker 1: I have no idea what's going on. Well, I could 69 00:04:55,875 --> 00:05:00,555 Speaker 1: have told you that. Tucker Vanity Fair yesterday reposted a 70 00:05:00,555 --> 00:05:04,275 Speaker 1: feature on Fox that underscored that Rupert Murdoch has seemingly 71 00:05:04,315 --> 00:05:07,955 Speaker 1: been read to off Carlson for some time. It said 72 00:05:07,995 --> 00:05:10,475 Speaker 1: that before he broke it off with his not quite 73 00:05:10,675 --> 00:05:15,115 Speaker 1: ninety day fiance, Anne Leslie Smith, quote One source close 74 00:05:15,115 --> 00:05:18,635 Speaker 1: to Murdoch said he had become increasingly uncomfortable with Smith's 75 00:05:18,675 --> 00:05:23,035 Speaker 1: evangelical views. Quote. She said, Tucker Carlson is a messenger 76 00:05:23,075 --> 00:05:28,835 Speaker 1: from God, and he said nope. It is widely reported 77 00:05:28,875 --> 00:05:32,035 Speaker 1: that Fox will continue to pay Carlson his full salary 78 00:05:32,115 --> 00:05:34,795 Speaker 1: itself something of a mystery. Is it twenty million? Is 79 00:05:34,795 --> 00:05:37,795 Speaker 1: it thirty million? And before you reel at the thought 80 00:05:37,795 --> 00:05:41,035 Speaker 1: of how much of a non punishment that is, remember 81 00:05:41,115 --> 00:05:44,235 Speaker 1: it does come with a sting in its tail. Carlson 82 00:05:44,355 --> 00:05:47,795 Speaker 1: only gets that money if he does not get another job. 83 00:05:47,915 --> 00:05:52,355 Speaker 1: Almost any other job I have been through this personally 84 00:05:52,395 --> 00:05:56,995 Speaker 1: fired by Fox by Rupert Murdoch paid every dime I 85 00:05:57,155 --> 00:05:59,755 Speaker 1: was owed, but I was not allowed to do any 86 00:05:59,835 --> 00:06:03,875 Speaker 1: work for any other sports media outlet until two months 87 00:06:03,915 --> 00:06:06,875 Speaker 1: remained in my dear and any time I made any 88 00:06:06,955 --> 00:06:10,555 Speaker 1: other money in any other medium, even the twenty dollars 89 00:06:10,595 --> 00:06:13,475 Speaker 1: per report that I got for filing for all news 90 00:06:13,555 --> 00:06:17,355 Speaker 1: radio station KFWB in Los Angeles after nine to eleven 91 00:06:17,835 --> 00:06:20,835 Speaker 1: twenty dollars per report and Fox deducted it from the 92 00:06:20,875 --> 00:06:25,075 Speaker 1: seven hundred thousand it owed me. In short, Carlson can 93 00:06:25,155 --> 00:06:28,155 Speaker 1: take the twenty or thirty million Fox owes him and 94 00:06:28,315 --> 00:06:31,835 Speaker 1: sit out the remaining years of his deal, or he 95 00:06:31,875 --> 00:06:34,715 Speaker 1: can take less to go work at a Newsmax or 96 00:06:34,755 --> 00:06:37,635 Speaker 1: at say News Nation, which is also known as the 97 00:06:37,795 --> 00:06:41,715 Speaker 1: Nick at Night of newscasters from twenty years ago. Fox 98 00:06:41,795 --> 00:06:44,595 Speaker 1: will not underwrite him working for any channel, but is 99 00:06:44,635 --> 00:06:48,235 Speaker 1: even nominally considered its competition. The only way he winds 100 00:06:48,315 --> 00:06:51,355 Speaker 1: up on Newsmax is if he forfeits a free twenty 101 00:06:51,555 --> 00:06:55,955 Speaker 1: or thirty million a year. There are three punch lines 102 00:06:56,035 --> 00:06:58,675 Speaker 1: to the Carlson story before we move on to everybody 103 00:06:58,675 --> 00:07:02,555 Speaker 1: else who got fired. The White House Correspondents Dinner is 104 00:07:02,595 --> 00:07:05,675 Speaker 1: this Saturday. Not that Fox attends it, but the comedian 105 00:07:05,755 --> 00:07:08,595 Speaker 1: host Roy Wood. He says he now has to throw 106 00:07:08,635 --> 00:07:11,955 Speaker 1: away his entire script. I know how that feels. The 107 00:07:11,995 --> 00:07:15,475 Speaker 1: idea that Carlson might get a new show immediately somewhere 108 00:07:15,595 --> 00:07:18,875 Speaker 1: proved instantly true, at least an offer for one. He 109 00:07:19,035 --> 00:07:23,875 Speaker 1: was offered one by RT, the Russian state run propaganda channel, 110 00:07:24,195 --> 00:07:26,595 Speaker 1: which has already been running clips of him anyway, but 111 00:07:26,715 --> 00:07:29,275 Speaker 1: is now willing to pay him, obviously paying him in 112 00:07:29,355 --> 00:07:32,515 Speaker 1: vouchers for meals near the strip mall, near the Kremlin, 113 00:07:33,195 --> 00:07:36,755 Speaker 1: and all day yesterday rumors persisted that Fox was finally 114 00:07:36,795 --> 00:07:40,715 Speaker 1: going to fully address Carlson's firing on air, as the 115 00:07:40,795 --> 00:07:43,915 Speaker 1: show that your cable or satellite provider still believed was 116 00:07:43,915 --> 00:07:47,195 Speaker 1: called Tucker Carlson Tonight hit the air at eight o'clock 117 00:07:47,235 --> 00:07:50,075 Speaker 1: Eastern time. Well, it turns out they did address it, 118 00:07:50,435 --> 00:07:55,475 Speaker 1: and the addressing consisted of Brian Kilmead saying they'd parted ways. 119 00:07:55,995 --> 00:07:59,395 Speaker 1: He considered himself a great friend of Tucker and buy 120 00:08:00,355 --> 00:08:04,675 Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson, demon of American fascist media. On Friday night, 121 00:08:04,835 --> 00:08:08,995 Speaker 1: h the Father Coglin of our time, the Bill O'Reilly 122 00:08:09,035 --> 00:08:13,395 Speaker 1: of our time. As Monday morning, broke was shoved off 123 00:08:13,475 --> 00:08:18,315 Speaker 1: the Fox stage in a total time of eight point 124 00:08:18,555 --> 00:08:25,595 Speaker 1: seven seven seconds. Bye Felicia. Okay, so now that he 125 00:08:25,755 --> 00:08:28,075 Speaker 1: belongs to the ages, let's go through the latest on 126 00:08:28,155 --> 00:08:30,835 Speaker 1: everybody else who got fired in the last forty eight hours, 127 00:08:30,875 --> 00:08:33,235 Speaker 1: and we start with Don Lemon. There are rumbles out 128 00:08:33,235 --> 00:08:36,475 Speaker 1: of CNN that he might still have survived. The infamous 129 00:08:36,555 --> 00:08:40,715 Speaker 1: Nikki Haley primed quote. Remember it wasn't just misogyny and agism. 130 00:08:41,035 --> 00:08:43,315 Speaker 1: He said, if you google when a woman is in 131 00:08:43,355 --> 00:08:46,195 Speaker 1: her prime, it will say twenties and thirties, and maybe forties. 132 00:08:46,315 --> 00:08:49,755 Speaker 1: I'm just saying what the facts are. Google it. The 133 00:08:49,875 --> 00:08:55,435 Speaker 1: obstreperousness of that, the anger, and the nonsense of googling 134 00:08:55,515 --> 00:08:58,755 Speaker 1: something like that indicate a guy who was not coping 135 00:08:58,835 --> 00:09:02,875 Speaker 1: well with doing mornings. And trust me, I can't do 136 00:09:03,035 --> 00:09:07,035 Speaker 1: mornings radio or TV. My record is like two days 137 00:09:07,075 --> 00:09:11,395 Speaker 1: without starting to hallucinate. Latest Don Lemon is he might 138 00:09:11,435 --> 00:09:14,115 Speaker 1: still have survived that. But when one of the fringe 139 00:09:14,155 --> 00:09:19,435 Speaker 1: Republican presidential vanity candidates, this Vivek guy, insisted on air 140 00:09:19,515 --> 00:09:22,795 Speaker 1: that the NRA was responsible for civil rights for black 141 00:09:22,835 --> 00:09:25,795 Speaker 1: people in the sixties during an interview with Don Lemon, 142 00:09:25,875 --> 00:09:30,075 Speaker 1: and Lemon correctly slammed him. CNN's new fascist owners recoiled, 143 00:09:30,475 --> 00:09:34,715 Speaker 1: and still The Daily Beast reports CNN was thinking, negotiate this, 144 00:09:34,835 --> 00:09:37,435 Speaker 1: make it a mutual decision. Let's have a buyout, give 145 00:09:37,515 --> 00:09:39,595 Speaker 1: Lemon a chance to do a farewell on the air. 146 00:09:39,635 --> 00:09:43,635 Speaker 1: He's been here seventeen years. And then two additional things happened. 147 00:09:44,035 --> 00:09:47,755 Speaker 1: Sinsing the end was approaching, Don Lemon hired a communications 148 00:09:47,795 --> 00:09:53,395 Speaker 1: crisis expert, and he chose He chose Alison Gallist, an 149 00:09:53,475 --> 00:09:56,315 Speaker 1: old colleague of mine from NBC who just happened to 150 00:09:56,315 --> 00:10:00,475 Speaker 1: be you know, Jeff Zucker's squeeze, and was the nominal 151 00:10:00,515 --> 00:10:04,195 Speaker 1: reason CNN could fire its most successful executive this century 152 00:10:04,755 --> 00:10:07,955 Speaker 1: place him with this idiot Licked and shove her out 153 00:10:07,955 --> 00:10:10,955 Speaker 1: the door as well. Maybe not the right person to 154 00:10:11,075 --> 00:10:15,675 Speaker 1: handle stuff at CNN. The other killer was after his 155 00:10:15,795 --> 00:10:19,075 Speaker 1: agents informed him he was Don Lemon immediately tweeted that 156 00:10:19,115 --> 00:10:22,435 Speaker 1: he had been terminated, and so a planned meeting with 157 00:10:22,555 --> 00:10:25,955 Speaker 1: Chris Lick for yesterday afternoon to discuss a soft landing 158 00:10:26,675 --> 00:10:29,995 Speaker 1: was also terminated. On the other hand, faced with a 159 00:10:30,075 --> 00:10:32,515 Speaker 1: meeting with Chris Licked, I probably would have announced I 160 00:10:32,555 --> 00:10:35,755 Speaker 1: had been terminated as well, just to not have to go. 161 00:10:36,835 --> 00:10:40,235 Speaker 1: On the other other hand, when Fox pushed me out 162 00:10:40,235 --> 00:10:42,435 Speaker 1: the door from Sports in two thousand and one, they 163 00:10:42,475 --> 00:10:45,835 Speaker 1: were desperately trying to get me to overreact in exactly 164 00:10:45,875 --> 00:10:48,715 Speaker 1: the way Don Lemon did. One day, they took away 165 00:10:48,755 --> 00:10:51,075 Speaker 1: my baseball assignments. The next day they took away my 166 00:10:51,195 --> 00:10:53,235 Speaker 1: cable show. The day after that, they told me to 167 00:10:53,235 --> 00:10:55,915 Speaker 1: come in and clean out my office. They expected me 168 00:10:56,075 --> 00:10:59,395 Speaker 1: to blow up so they could fire me for cause 169 00:10:59,515 --> 00:11:02,715 Speaker 1: and owe me nothing. It never occurred to them that 170 00:11:02,755 --> 00:11:06,675 Speaker 1: if I just restrained myself for only seven months, I 171 00:11:06,715 --> 00:11:10,515 Speaker 1: could not only get the seven hundred thousand dollars they 172 00:11:10,595 --> 00:11:14,035 Speaker 1: still owed me, but the day the contract expired and 173 00:11:14,075 --> 00:11:18,275 Speaker 1: the last check cleared, I could begin slamming Fox every 174 00:11:18,475 --> 00:11:21,835 Speaker 1: day for the rest of my life, which I have. 175 00:11:23,515 --> 00:11:25,835 Speaker 1: I don't know if CNN is going to pay Lemon 176 00:11:25,875 --> 00:11:28,555 Speaker 1: out the way Fox is supposed to pay Carlson out. 177 00:11:28,835 --> 00:11:31,195 Speaker 1: They might be able to terminate him for cause now 178 00:11:31,235 --> 00:11:34,275 Speaker 1: after making the announcement, though what would that do except 179 00:11:34,275 --> 00:11:37,275 Speaker 1: make him more of a martyr. The real problem CNN's 180 00:11:37,315 --> 00:11:39,915 Speaker 1: geniuses now have, which they clearly did not stop to 181 00:11:39,955 --> 00:11:43,235 Speaker 1: think about for one minute, is that while MSNBC is 182 00:11:43,275 --> 00:11:48,915 Speaker 1: doing well by contrast to them, MSNBC's ratings frankly suck. 183 00:11:49,635 --> 00:11:53,195 Speaker 1: Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell have been somen ambulent for years. 184 00:11:53,675 --> 00:11:57,075 Speaker 1: Alex Wagner has done one memorable show in eight months, 185 00:11:57,115 --> 00:11:59,715 Speaker 1: memorable in a good way, and I honestly had to 186 00:11:59,755 --> 00:12:04,195 Speaker 1: go look up who hosts at eleven PM, especially given 187 00:12:04,195 --> 00:12:07,515 Speaker 1: the accusations of racism after the firing of Tiffany Cross, 188 00:12:07,795 --> 00:12:10,715 Speaker 1: Lemon would be a good move by MSNBC put him 189 00:12:10,715 --> 00:12:12,835 Speaker 1: on at nine PM, where he had been something of 190 00:12:12,875 --> 00:12:15,635 Speaker 1: a hit at CNN and had his own audience, and 191 00:12:15,675 --> 00:12:19,195 Speaker 1: he wasn't encumbered by unqualified co hosts who made him 192 00:12:19,195 --> 00:12:22,195 Speaker 1: shout Google it. There's no info here. This is just 193 00:12:22,235 --> 00:12:26,235 Speaker 1: speculation on my part. Of course, it is at MSNBC 194 00:12:26,435 --> 00:12:29,315 Speaker 1: and NBC that they were the happiest in the wake 195 00:12:29,355 --> 00:12:35,355 Speaker 1: of yesterday's cable gedden, the most startling TV corporate boardroom 196 00:12:35,475 --> 00:12:39,315 Speaker 1: change since less Moon Best got caught at CBS had 197 00:12:39,355 --> 00:12:43,035 Speaker 1: a news cycle shelf life of less than twenty four hours. 198 00:12:43,835 --> 00:12:49,115 Speaker 1: Anybody remember NBC firing at CEO. Anybody over a woman 199 00:12:49,395 --> 00:12:53,235 Speaker 1: with a weird name. The Wall Street Journal says Jeff 200 00:12:53,315 --> 00:12:56,435 Speaker 1: Shell was fired for cause way back when on Sunday. 201 00:12:57,035 --> 00:13:00,795 Speaker 1: No money here. You can take your business cards. You 202 00:13:00,875 --> 00:13:04,115 Speaker 1: go sell them on eBay. There's your money. And the 203 00:13:04,195 --> 00:13:07,595 Speaker 1: lawyers from the woman named in this case, Handley Gamble, 204 00:13:07,915 --> 00:13:11,035 Speaker 1: are giving NBC new problems because she was the woman 205 00:13:11,115 --> 00:13:13,635 Speaker 1: named in the case. They accuse NBC of doing that, 206 00:13:13,915 --> 00:13:16,435 Speaker 1: of leaking her name deliberately to take some of the 207 00:13:16,475 --> 00:13:18,595 Speaker 1: heat off of Shell, or off of them, or off 208 00:13:18,635 --> 00:13:22,915 Speaker 1: of somebody. Quote. The investigation into mister Shell, said her lawyer, 209 00:13:23,195 --> 00:13:26,875 Speaker 1: arose from a complaint by my client of sexual harassment 210 00:13:27,275 --> 00:13:31,595 Speaker 1: and sex discrimination. Now you can connect the dots here, 211 00:13:31,635 --> 00:13:34,875 Speaker 1: and I think pretty easily. If Gamble and Shell had 212 00:13:34,915 --> 00:13:38,275 Speaker 1: as reported a relationship as long ago as twenty eleven 213 00:13:38,475 --> 00:13:41,275 Speaker 1: and it petered out and it has been dormant for 214 00:13:41,355 --> 00:13:44,955 Speaker 1: several years, and she suddenly has filed a harassment claim 215 00:13:45,035 --> 00:13:48,075 Speaker 1: in the last month and a discrimination claim against Jeff Shell, 216 00:13:48,315 --> 00:13:51,395 Speaker 1: it's a pretty good guess that my old lying ex 217 00:13:51,515 --> 00:13:54,955 Speaker 1: friend tried to restart the fling with Gamble and she 218 00:13:55,115 --> 00:13:58,195 Speaker 1: said no, and he continued to press her, and finally 219 00:13:58,235 --> 00:14:02,075 Speaker 1: he either offered her career rewards inside NBC or he 220 00:14:02,115 --> 00:14:05,635 Speaker 1: threatened her with demotion, and either way, maybe they shouldn't 221 00:14:05,675 --> 00:14:09,155 Speaker 1: even let him take those business cards with him. The 222 00:14:09,195 --> 00:14:13,275 Speaker 1: funniest part of the Shell story, besides my still shimmering 223 00:14:13,875 --> 00:14:18,755 Speaker 1: vast bowl of schadenfreud, is the statement that Jeff Shell 224 00:14:18,995 --> 00:14:21,995 Speaker 1: was now going to spend more time with his family, 225 00:14:23,075 --> 00:14:26,795 Speaker 1: presumably explaining to them that yes, he screwed up his 226 00:14:26,995 --> 00:14:31,115 Speaker 1: entire career by lying to them and to his employers, 227 00:14:31,155 --> 00:14:37,515 Speaker 1: and yes, her name really is Hadlee Gamble. And lastly, 228 00:14:37,555 --> 00:14:40,795 Speaker 1: on this broad topic, somebody lost his job yesterday who 229 00:14:40,835 --> 00:14:44,915 Speaker 1: did not advocate turning Europe over to Vladimir Putin, or 230 00:14:45,115 --> 00:14:49,195 Speaker 1: call Sidney Powell the Sea word, or insisting women peaued 231 00:14:49,235 --> 00:14:52,595 Speaker 1: before they were fifty, or using company email to try 232 00:14:52,635 --> 00:14:56,395 Speaker 1: to start an illicit relationship with a reporter. His name 233 00:14:56,435 --> 00:14:59,515 Speaker 1: was Mike Sultis, and he was an employee of ESPN 234 00:14:59,595 --> 00:15:02,355 Speaker 1: for forty three years and vice president of PR there, 235 00:15:02,635 --> 00:15:05,595 Speaker 1: and he was part of the layoffs there yesterday. Mike 236 00:15:05,715 --> 00:15:08,915 Speaker 1: is probably best known for saying, after I first left 237 00:15:09,155 --> 00:15:11,635 Speaker 1: ESPN in nineteen ninety seven, that I had not only 238 00:15:11,675 --> 00:15:17,235 Speaker 1: burned my bridges there, but I had nay palmed them. Now, 239 00:15:17,275 --> 00:15:20,955 Speaker 1: I have always had one sticky little complaint with that line, 240 00:15:20,995 --> 00:15:23,835 Speaker 1: that it was pretty good, but that it was clear 241 00:15:24,035 --> 00:15:27,755 Speaker 1: Mike had heard something I had said after I left ESPN. 242 00:15:27,795 --> 00:15:31,155 Speaker 1: When I was on Tom Snyder's CBSTV late night show, 243 00:15:31,355 --> 00:15:34,315 Speaker 1: Tom asked me if I had burned my bridges at ESPN, 244 00:15:34,315 --> 00:15:37,315 Speaker 1: and I said, I not only burned the bridges, Tom, 245 00:15:37,755 --> 00:15:42,635 Speaker 1: I burned the rivers. Still, I always felt good about 246 00:15:42,715 --> 00:15:46,395 Speaker 1: helping Mike to his place in the sun. More seriously, 247 00:15:46,435 --> 00:15:49,435 Speaker 1: when I returned to ESPN full time in twenty thirteen, 248 00:15:49,475 --> 00:15:52,435 Speaker 1: one of the first people to welcome me back was 249 00:15:52,515 --> 00:15:55,595 Speaker 1: Mike Sultics, and he remained one of my biggest supporters 250 00:15:55,595 --> 00:15:59,075 Speaker 1: and promoters throughout that tenure and my next return in 251 00:15:59,115 --> 00:16:02,555 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. So if you see that sultess quote about me, 252 00:16:02,795 --> 00:16:22,195 Speaker 1: just remember we laughed about it. Good luck Mike still 253 00:16:22,235 --> 00:16:24,275 Speaker 1: ahead on this edition of Countdown. If you are not 254 00:16:24,355 --> 00:16:26,835 Speaker 1: going to indict Trump and those around him, why would 255 00:16:26,875 --> 00:16:30,755 Speaker 1: you warn local law enforcement to provide heightened security in 256 00:16:30,795 --> 00:16:35,235 Speaker 1: your town between July and September. This is not a 257 00:16:35,315 --> 00:16:39,595 Speaker 1: tough tea leaf to read. The Fulton County DA has 258 00:16:39,915 --> 00:16:43,915 Speaker 1: warned local law enforcement the indictments are coming as soon 259 00:16:43,955 --> 00:16:46,875 Speaker 1: as three months from now, and a tradition as old 260 00:16:46,915 --> 00:16:49,195 Speaker 1: as sports itself, the New York Jets have traded for 261 00:16:49,235 --> 00:16:52,955 Speaker 1: another old timey, washed up quarterback, except this one is 262 00:16:53,035 --> 00:16:57,075 Speaker 1: thirty nine years old, is an anti vaxer, anti big 263 00:16:57,115 --> 00:17:00,875 Speaker 1: pharma conspiracy theorist, and he will now draw his fifty 264 00:17:00,995 --> 00:17:04,795 Speaker 1: nine million dollars salary from the heir to the John's 265 00:17:04,795 --> 00:17:09,515 Speaker 1: an Johnson big pharma company. What could possibly go wrong? 266 00:17:10,715 --> 00:17:13,195 Speaker 1: And if we are talking New York quarterbacks, I'm going 267 00:17:13,275 --> 00:17:15,915 Speaker 1: back in time to the day one of them nearly 268 00:17:16,035 --> 00:17:20,195 Speaker 1: kept me from graduating from college. Things I promise not 269 00:17:20,315 --> 00:17:25,355 Speaker 1: to tell the Joe Pisarcik edition. That's next. This is countdown. 270 00:17:31,515 --> 00:17:38,475 Speaker 1: This is countdown with Keith Olberman coming up. When you 271 00:17:38,555 --> 00:17:41,915 Speaker 1: think nobody noticed that your TV network just ended the 272 00:17:42,195 --> 00:17:46,835 Speaker 1: show starring its biggest name. Rachel Maadow tried this once. 273 00:17:46,915 --> 00:17:51,595 Speaker 1: Now Brian Kilmead has two only much dumber, much much dumber. 274 00:17:52,235 --> 00:17:55,275 Speaker 1: First postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks, 275 00:17:55,315 --> 00:17:58,635 Speaker 1: some predictions. Date Line Atlanta, a little more on da 276 00:17:58,795 --> 00:18:04,195 Speaker 1: Fannie willis moving closer and closer and slower and slower 277 00:18:04,355 --> 00:18:08,275 Speaker 1: to indicting Trump and his minions. She has now warned 278 00:18:08,315 --> 00:18:12,835 Speaker 1: local law enforcement about her timeline for indicting. We're not indicting. 279 00:18:12,835 --> 00:18:14,715 Speaker 1: But if she's not indicting, why would she be doing 280 00:18:14,715 --> 00:18:19,075 Speaker 1: this Trump and company. She has written telling local law 281 00:18:19,155 --> 00:18:23,115 Speaker 1: enforcement to be prepared for quote heightened security and preparedness 282 00:18:23,395 --> 00:18:28,035 Speaker 1: between July eleventh and September one, because her announcement quote 283 00:18:28,075 --> 00:18:33,155 Speaker 1: may provoke a significant public reaction. Yeah, when we have 284 00:18:33,275 --> 00:18:37,475 Speaker 1: the prospect of riots because Trump isn't indicted. This will 285 00:18:37,475 --> 00:18:43,355 Speaker 1: be the utopia of our dreams. She's indicting. Somebody looking 286 00:18:43,395 --> 00:18:47,555 Speaker 1: at you, Rudy Dateline, The Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas just 287 00:18:47,595 --> 00:18:50,595 Speaker 1: got caught by the Wall Street Journal. Let me quote 288 00:18:50,595 --> 00:18:53,435 Speaker 1: the start of Zoe Tillman's minor blockbuster. If such a 289 00:18:53,435 --> 00:18:56,595 Speaker 1: thing isn't too much of an oxymoron, A minor blockbuster, 290 00:18:56,715 --> 00:18:59,475 Speaker 1: Thomas quote said he was advised he didn't have to 291 00:18:59,515 --> 00:19:03,355 Speaker 1: disclose private jet lights and luxury vacations paid for by 292 00:19:03,395 --> 00:19:07,515 Speaker 1: billionaire Harlan Crow because although a close friend, Crowe quote 293 00:19:07,755 --> 00:19:10,995 Speaker 1: did not have business before the court, but in at 294 00:19:11,075 --> 00:19:14,835 Speaker 1: least one case Crowe did. Tillman goes on to give 295 00:19:14,875 --> 00:19:18,235 Speaker 1: the details. In January two thousand and five, an architectural 296 00:19:18,315 --> 00:19:21,595 Speaker 1: firm had sued a property company for twenty five million 297 00:19:21,675 --> 00:19:27,355 Speaker 1: dollars or more for basically stealing its copyrighted designs for buildings. 298 00:19:27,875 --> 00:19:31,995 Speaker 1: Womack and Hampton Architects had designed some stuff for this 299 00:19:32,075 --> 00:19:34,795 Speaker 1: property company in the nineties, then discovered that it was 300 00:19:34,795 --> 00:19:38,955 Speaker 1: still using its designs, even letting other architects use them. 301 00:19:39,035 --> 00:19:43,515 Speaker 1: A decade later, Womack and Hampton sued for twenty five million. 302 00:19:43,915 --> 00:19:47,035 Speaker 1: This raised an important intellectual property issue, and the case 303 00:19:47,155 --> 00:19:50,755 Speaker 1: rose through the courts. The last decision was against the architects. 304 00:19:51,235 --> 00:19:53,635 Speaker 1: Then the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, so 305 00:19:53,675 --> 00:19:56,515 Speaker 1: the property company won and did not have to pay 306 00:19:56,795 --> 00:19:59,835 Speaker 1: more than twenty five million dollars and the name of 307 00:19:59,875 --> 00:20:06,315 Speaker 1: the property company Trammel Crow Residential Founded Buy Trammel Crow 308 00:20:06,515 --> 00:20:11,955 Speaker 1: senior father of of anybody paying attention, You got it, 309 00:20:12,075 --> 00:20:15,715 Speaker 1: father of Harlan Crow. Nearly half the company at that 310 00:20:15,835 --> 00:20:21,155 Speaker 1: time was owned by Crowe Holdings Chairman and CEO, Harlan Crowe. 311 00:20:22,035 --> 00:20:24,875 Speaker 1: Twenty five million dollars richer because Clarence Thomas and the 312 00:20:24,915 --> 00:20:27,755 Speaker 1: Supreme Court would not hear the appeal of the case, 313 00:20:28,395 --> 00:20:31,555 Speaker 1: just to drop in the bucket, given Crow's political and 314 00:20:31,675 --> 00:20:34,995 Speaker 1: legal activism that also reached the court. But it counts, 315 00:20:35,035 --> 00:20:38,675 Speaker 1: and it's tangible, and it's twenty five million dollars in corruption, 316 00:20:38,795 --> 00:20:42,035 Speaker 1: it's just a drop in the bucket of Clarence name 317 00:20:42,075 --> 00:20:47,515 Speaker 1: your price, Thomas, christ and Dayline Port Isabelle and Boca Chica, Texas. 318 00:20:47,755 --> 00:20:51,955 Speaker 1: Elon Musk's SpaceX disaster last week, we're in His rocket 319 00:20:52,035 --> 00:20:56,355 Speaker 1: blowed up good, blowed up real good. Also painted the 320 00:20:56,395 --> 00:21:01,155 Speaker 1: town not red but brown and gray. Almost everything in 321 00:21:01,195 --> 00:21:04,355 Speaker 1: the area surrounding the launch pad in Texas is Or 322 00:21:04,515 --> 00:21:09,395 Speaker 1: was bombarded. Broken windows, buildings, damaged schools covered in a 323 00:21:09,475 --> 00:21:13,195 Speaker 1: coating of sand and ash. The whole town covered in 324 00:21:13,195 --> 00:21:15,915 Speaker 1: a coating of sand and ash. Only it's not sand, 325 00:21:17,395 --> 00:21:21,595 Speaker 1: it's whatever was in the rocket. God knows what that was, 326 00:21:43,875 --> 00:21:47,435 Speaker 1: Thank you, Nancy Faust A town full of dirty laundry, 327 00:21:47,475 --> 00:21:50,595 Speaker 1: knowing Musk, what was in that rocket was the sweat 328 00:21:50,675 --> 00:21:55,115 Speaker 1: of apartheid diamond miners. The Federal Aviation Administration is not 329 00:21:55,155 --> 00:21:58,315 Speaker 1: real happy about this. It has now grounded all future 330 00:21:58,355 --> 00:22:02,635 Speaker 1: Starship launches until the results of a quote mishap investigation. 331 00:22:03,035 --> 00:22:06,635 Speaker 1: No comment yet from Gray Slick. Yeah, the mishap here 332 00:22:06,715 --> 00:22:09,595 Speaker 1: is that the United States government has any connection to 333 00:22:09,635 --> 00:22:12,995 Speaker 1: this idiot Musk and his inability to understand that there 334 00:22:13,035 --> 00:22:19,475 Speaker 1: are other humans on this planet besides him. Terminate his contract. 335 00:22:19,595 --> 00:22:35,795 Speaker 1: Please still ahead on countdown. In a second, I'll be 336 00:22:35,795 --> 00:22:39,035 Speaker 1: invoking the new New York Jets football quarterback, and thus 337 00:22:39,075 --> 00:22:41,955 Speaker 1: I am immediately transported to the day when I was 338 00:22:42,035 --> 00:22:45,555 Speaker 1: nineteen years old and I nearly didn't graduate from college 339 00:22:45,635 --> 00:22:50,475 Speaker 1: because of a New York Giants quarterback. Things I promise 340 00:22:50,595 --> 00:22:52,355 Speaker 1: not to tell next first time for the daily round 341 00:22:52,395 --> 00:22:54,275 Speaker 1: up of the miss Greens, Morons and Dunny Kruger Effects, 342 00:22:54,275 --> 00:22:58,195 Speaker 1: specimens who constitute today's worst persons in the world. The 343 00:22:58,235 --> 00:23:01,675 Speaker 1: Bronze the New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers. They made 344 00:23:01,715 --> 00:23:05,755 Speaker 1: that trade. They brought the vaccine scamard to quarterback in 345 00:23:05,875 --> 00:23:08,675 Speaker 1: fun City. There's a reason the Jets have not won 346 00:23:08,715 --> 00:23:11,675 Speaker 1: the Super Bowl since two weeks after my tenth birthday. 347 00:23:12,195 --> 00:23:16,115 Speaker 1: The Jets are addicted to trading for old Timers' Day candidates. 348 00:23:16,275 --> 00:23:19,035 Speaker 1: In the last thirty years, they've dealt for or signed 349 00:23:19,435 --> 00:23:23,835 Speaker 1: Brett farre Joe Flacco, Michael Vick, Vinnie Testaverdi, Neil O'Donnell, 350 00:23:23,875 --> 00:23:28,955 Speaker 1: Frank Reich, Bobby Brister, Boomer Asiasin, even Tim Tebow and 351 00:23:28,995 --> 00:23:33,195 Speaker 1: now Aaron Rodgers, all washed up quarterbacks who shockingly never 352 00:23:33,235 --> 00:23:35,515 Speaker 1: got any better and never won anything for the Jets. 353 00:23:35,995 --> 00:23:38,915 Speaker 1: But this time it's special. The Jets are owned by 354 00:23:38,915 --> 00:23:41,995 Speaker 1: Woody Johnson, who is the heir to the Johnson and 355 00:23:42,075 --> 00:23:46,315 Speaker 1: Johnson company, which is Big Pharma, and they've just traded 356 00:23:46,355 --> 00:23:49,995 Speaker 1: for an anti Big Pharma vaccine conspiracy theorist to be 357 00:23:50,075 --> 00:23:54,235 Speaker 1: their new quarterback. And he will now take Big Farma's money, 358 00:23:54,555 --> 00:23:57,915 Speaker 1: fifty nine million dollars of it. I can't imagine that 359 00:23:57,995 --> 00:24:00,915 Speaker 1: will come up in the New York Media. And by 360 00:24:00,955 --> 00:24:05,875 Speaker 1: the way, Woody Johnson, isn't that a redundant name? Lebron 361 00:24:05,995 --> 00:24:09,755 Speaker 1: Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, speaking of redundant, we have 362 00:24:09,875 --> 00:24:15,035 Speaker 1: saluted her original career here fashion Advice, Bawbles and Ryanstones. 363 00:24:15,075 --> 00:24:16,675 Speaker 1: And you can take the pitch woman out of the 364 00:24:16,715 --> 00:24:20,035 Speaker 1: crappy products department, but you can't take the crappy products 365 00:24:20,035 --> 00:24:22,995 Speaker 1: out of the pitch woman. Marcia is now asking for 366 00:24:23,075 --> 00:24:27,675 Speaker 1: donations to help her cut red tape in Washington. If 367 00:24:27,715 --> 00:24:30,875 Speaker 1: you fledged twenty dollars today, I'll send you your very 368 00:24:30,995 --> 00:24:35,595 Speaker 1: own made in America pizza cutter. Together we can cut 369 00:24:35,595 --> 00:24:40,195 Speaker 1: the red tape once and for all. Bye, Golly, Marcia 370 00:24:40,315 --> 00:24:44,835 Speaker 1: Blackburn's own custom pizza cutter, and you can trust her. 371 00:24:45,355 --> 00:24:49,915 Speaker 1: She uses it on her hair. But our winner, Brian 372 00:24:50,195 --> 00:24:52,955 Speaker 1: kill me the guy ordered into the chair at Fox 373 00:24:52,995 --> 00:24:55,995 Speaker 1: at eight pm last night when they fired Tucson Carlson. 374 00:24:56,795 --> 00:25:00,715 Speaker 1: I mean, I've been there. Firings, departures, they destabilize people 375 00:25:00,755 --> 00:25:04,315 Speaker 1: and workplaces. And then there are those who, of course 376 00:25:04,395 --> 00:25:08,435 Speaker 1: come pre destabilized, like this idiot kill Mead at six 377 00:25:08,635 --> 00:25:13,955 Speaker 1: nineteen Eastern kill Mead tweeted quote tune in tonight at 378 00:25:13,955 --> 00:25:18,755 Speaker 1: eight pm for a big surprise on Fox. Yeah, Brian, 379 00:25:18,995 --> 00:25:22,995 Speaker 1: I think by then it was no longer a surprise, Brian. 380 00:25:23,395 --> 00:25:26,875 Speaker 1: He deleted the tweet, just like his bosses deleted Tucker 381 00:25:26,955 --> 00:25:43,195 Speaker 1: Carlson two days worse, Parson, and see the number one 382 00:25:43,235 --> 00:25:45,635 Speaker 1: story on the Countdown on my favorite topic, me and 383 00:25:45,715 --> 00:25:48,795 Speaker 1: things I promised not to tell since I already brought 384 00:25:48,875 --> 00:25:51,475 Speaker 1: up New York quarterbacks in the story of the Trade 385 00:25:51,515 --> 00:25:54,075 Speaker 1: of Aaron. I hate Big Pharma, but I'll happily take 386 00:25:54,115 --> 00:25:56,515 Speaker 1: fifty nine million dollars in salary from the NEPO baby 387 00:25:56,515 --> 00:26:00,195 Speaker 1: owner who got rich from Johnson and Johnson Rogers. There's 388 00:26:00,235 --> 00:26:03,755 Speaker 1: another story to tell. New York's football teams have played 389 00:26:03,755 --> 00:26:07,275 Speaker 1: in Old Giants Stadium and New Giant Stadium, which has 390 00:26:07,315 --> 00:26:10,795 Speaker 1: a corporate name too. But why does everybody use corporate 391 00:26:10,875 --> 00:26:14,675 Speaker 1: stadium names. You are not obliged to do their advertising 392 00:26:14,795 --> 00:26:18,355 Speaker 1: for them. Call it Giant Stadium anyway. They played in 393 00:26:18,435 --> 00:26:22,075 Speaker 1: Giant stadiums in New Jersey since nineteen eighty four, a 394 00:26:22,235 --> 00:26:26,435 Speaker 1: unique arrangement in major American sports. They literally changed the 395 00:26:26,435 --> 00:26:29,315 Speaker 1: color of the lighting in the stadium gift shops from 396 00:26:29,355 --> 00:26:31,715 Speaker 1: green to blue or back to green or back to blue, 397 00:26:31,755 --> 00:26:35,195 Speaker 1: depending on which team is playing there that week. So 398 00:26:35,275 --> 00:26:40,115 Speaker 1: the Giants and Jets fans share a commonplace to weep, 399 00:26:41,275 --> 00:26:43,675 Speaker 1: although the Jets weep more frequently. I think of the 400 00:26:43,715 --> 00:26:46,675 Speaker 1: Giants and the Jets as just one franchise. And so 401 00:26:46,835 --> 00:26:50,915 Speaker 1: you say Jets quarterbacks, I say Giants quarterbacks, and I 402 00:26:51,035 --> 00:26:55,875 Speaker 1: flashback inevitably to the day I actually walked reluctantly but 403 00:26:56,115 --> 00:26:59,395 Speaker 1: proudly into a class as a senior at Cornell University, 404 00:26:59,635 --> 00:27:03,875 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, to get into Professor Joel Sylvie's 405 00:27:03,955 --> 00:27:08,115 Speaker 1: nineteenth Century Tree American History course eight credits spanning two semesters, 406 00:27:08,475 --> 00:27:10,675 Speaker 1: I had to get permission from the head of the 407 00:27:10,755 --> 00:27:14,195 Speaker 1: History department because I was not a history major. I 408 00:27:14,395 --> 00:27:16,875 Speaker 1: just took all the history classes they would let me, 409 00:27:17,515 --> 00:27:21,275 Speaker 1: and this one, Sylby's. This was one of the good ones. 410 00:27:22,875 --> 00:27:25,915 Speaker 1: And I remember Professor Silby's first lecture and the accent 411 00:27:26,035 --> 00:27:28,675 Speaker 1: and the mannerisms that quickly identified him not only as 412 00:27:28,715 --> 00:27:31,995 Speaker 1: a fellow native New Yorker, but as a Brookly Knight 413 00:27:32,795 --> 00:27:35,355 Speaker 1: and a Brookly Knight fan of as he quickly told 414 00:27:35,435 --> 00:27:40,235 Speaker 1: us the New York Football Giants. What Professor Joel Silby 415 00:27:40,275 --> 00:27:43,035 Speaker 1: said next, cause the I think it was two hundred 416 00:27:43,195 --> 00:27:45,955 Speaker 1: or so other students in the lecture hall to laugh, 417 00:27:46,555 --> 00:27:50,955 Speaker 1: all of them except me, because I was the sports 418 00:27:50,955 --> 00:27:53,915 Speaker 1: director of the Cornhill student owned radio station. And in 419 00:27:53,955 --> 00:27:58,115 Speaker 1: those days you could actually know everything about and everybody 420 00:27:58,235 --> 00:28:01,355 Speaker 1: in all the national sports off the top of your head. 421 00:28:01,355 --> 00:28:03,195 Speaker 1: And usually that meant you could figure out all the 422 00:28:03,235 --> 00:28:05,475 Speaker 1: teams and all the sports that had the slightest chance 423 00:28:05,515 --> 00:28:08,155 Speaker 1: of succeeding, and all the teams and all the sports 424 00:28:08,195 --> 00:28:10,715 Speaker 1: that did not. And the New York Football Giants did not. 425 00:28:11,955 --> 00:28:13,915 Speaker 1: I want you to know I graded the papers, not 426 00:28:14,035 --> 00:28:17,675 Speaker 1: the teaching assistance me and I happen to be a lifelong, 427 00:28:18,035 --> 00:28:21,795 Speaker 1: therefore long suffering fan of the New York Football Giants. 428 00:28:22,715 --> 00:28:25,235 Speaker 1: I saw my first Giants game in nineteen forty five, 429 00:28:25,675 --> 00:28:28,395 Speaker 1: and over the years I happened to developed this habit 430 00:28:28,435 --> 00:28:31,115 Speaker 1: of grading your papers on Sunday afternoons and evenings right 431 00:28:31,155 --> 00:28:34,875 Speaker 1: after I watch my New York Football Giants. So, to 432 00:28:34,915 --> 00:28:39,315 Speaker 1: some degree great or small, your grade will depend on 433 00:28:39,435 --> 00:28:42,835 Speaker 1: how well the New York Football Giants do. In this 434 00:28:43,075 --> 00:28:47,515 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight National Football League Season one hundred and 435 00:28:47,595 --> 00:28:51,995 Speaker 1: ninety nine of Joel Sylby's students laughed. I emitted a 436 00:28:52,075 --> 00:28:57,995 Speaker 1: low moan, since they had gone to five NFL Championship 437 00:28:57,995 --> 00:29:00,875 Speaker 1: games in the six seasons ending in nineteen sixty three 438 00:29:00,915 --> 00:29:04,395 Speaker 1: and lost all five. By the way, the Giants had 439 00:29:04,395 --> 00:29:07,875 Speaker 1: had exactly two winning seasons, and they had lost nine 440 00:29:07,915 --> 00:29:11,395 Speaker 1: of fourteen games the year before nineteen seventy seven. Though 441 00:29:11,435 --> 00:29:13,875 Speaker 1: they had opened this nineteen seventy eight season with a 442 00:29:13,955 --> 00:29:16,875 Speaker 1: narrow victory over a very bad Tampa Bay team, and 443 00:29:16,995 --> 00:29:19,075 Speaker 1: the first half of their schedule had as many as 444 00:29:19,115 --> 00:29:21,995 Speaker 1: four more opponents who they might be better than. They would 445 00:29:22,035 --> 00:29:24,435 Speaker 1: be lucky to win two games in the second half 446 00:29:24,475 --> 00:29:27,755 Speaker 1: of the season. When I got back to the radio station, 447 00:29:27,875 --> 00:29:32,275 Speaker 1: I looked at the Giants' schedule and Professor Silbey's class schedule, 448 00:29:32,635 --> 00:29:37,675 Speaker 1: and I circled one critical day when the schedules converged, Sunday, 449 00:29:37,755 --> 00:29:42,115 Speaker 1: November nineteenth, nineteen seventy eight. Our term papers were due 450 00:29:42,195 --> 00:29:46,195 Speaker 1: on Thursday the sixteenth. He could actually read them all 451 00:29:46,995 --> 00:29:52,235 Speaker 1: after the Giants Eagles game that night. In the following day. Amazingly, 452 00:29:52,315 --> 00:29:55,875 Speaker 1: your New York Football Giants actually opened the season winning 453 00:29:55,955 --> 00:29:58,515 Speaker 1: three of their first four. In the middle of October, 454 00:29:58,555 --> 00:30:00,595 Speaker 1: they were still five and three, and in the history 455 00:30:00,635 --> 00:30:03,515 Speaker 1: lecture room, Professor Sylby was very happy, and he often 456 00:30:03,555 --> 00:30:07,475 Speaker 1: recreated highlights of his glorious Giants pleasing success, and he 457 00:30:07,675 --> 00:30:10,955 Speaker 1: was furiously fanboying on the new quarterback they'd brought in 458 00:30:10,955 --> 00:30:17,195 Speaker 1: from the Canadian League, Joe Pisarcik. If you are a 459 00:30:17,195 --> 00:30:20,035 Speaker 1: football history fan, or god forbid, a fan of the 460 00:30:20,075 --> 00:30:23,595 Speaker 1: New York Football Giants, you already know where I'm going 461 00:30:23,635 --> 00:30:27,395 Speaker 1: with this. The Giants lost the next three games, and 462 00:30:27,475 --> 00:30:30,435 Speaker 1: then our term papers were due on November sixteenth, and 463 00:30:30,555 --> 00:30:34,515 Speaker 1: Joel Sylby turned morose, and I was at the radio 464 00:30:34,555 --> 00:30:37,675 Speaker 1: station watching the Giants Eagles game of the nineteenth on 465 00:30:37,715 --> 00:30:40,595 Speaker 1: a big black and white TV in the lounge when 466 00:30:40,715 --> 00:30:45,355 Speaker 1: my nightmare unfolded impossibly. The Giants led the much better 467 00:30:45,395 --> 00:30:49,035 Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles fourteen to nothing after the first quarter. Pisarcik 468 00:30:49,155 --> 00:30:52,115 Speaker 1: threw two touchdown passes. After the third quarter, it was 469 00:30:52,115 --> 00:30:55,395 Speaker 1: still seventeen to six Giants. Then the Eagles scored, and 470 00:30:55,435 --> 00:30:57,235 Speaker 1: they were driving to go ahead with a minute and 471 00:30:57,275 --> 00:30:59,875 Speaker 1: a half left in the game, when the impossible happened 472 00:31:00,115 --> 00:31:03,515 Speaker 1: deep in Giants' territory. The Philly quarterback threw an interception 473 00:31:04,035 --> 00:31:07,355 Speaker 1: with eighty three seconds left and in possession of the ball. 474 00:31:07,395 --> 00:31:11,355 Speaker 1: The Giants led seventeen thirteen. The crowd at the radio 475 00:31:11,395 --> 00:31:16,235 Speaker 1: station was ecstatic. I was even more ecstatic. All the 476 00:31:16,275 --> 00:31:18,955 Speaker 1: Giants now had to do was stall and have the 477 00:31:19,035 --> 00:31:22,635 Speaker 1: quarterback fall on the ball, maybe twice, as if he 478 00:31:22,715 --> 00:31:26,035 Speaker 1: had heard me. The quarterback, Joe Pisarcik fell on the ball. 479 00:31:26,595 --> 00:31:29,675 Speaker 1: Then he nearly killed me by handing the ball off 480 00:31:29,715 --> 00:31:31,915 Speaker 1: to his running back Larry Zanka, who plowed up the 481 00:31:31,955 --> 00:31:34,675 Speaker 1: middle to get a first down and burn another thirty 482 00:31:34,715 --> 00:31:38,155 Speaker 1: seconds off the clock. The Eagles called their last time 483 00:31:38,195 --> 00:31:41,155 Speaker 1: out thirty one seconds left, thirty one seconds to my 484 00:31:41,315 --> 00:31:45,235 Speaker 1: grade in Joel Silbey's nineteenth century American history class, probably 485 00:31:45,355 --> 00:31:49,075 Speaker 1: ending up being half or maybe even a full grade 486 00:31:49,155 --> 00:31:52,075 Speaker 1: better than I deserved. All Jopisarchi god to do was 487 00:31:52,115 --> 00:31:56,315 Speaker 1: fall on the damn ball again and it was over. However, 488 00:31:57,515 --> 00:32:01,395 Speaker 1: on the Giants sideline, offensive coordinator Bob Gibson decided that 489 00:32:01,435 --> 00:32:04,395 Speaker 1: the safe play, the winning play, was for Jopisarcik to 490 00:32:05,075 --> 00:32:08,275 Speaker 1: the ball off again to Larry Zanka. Now that might 491 00:32:08,275 --> 00:32:12,755 Speaker 1: have been the right play, only Bob Gibson and everybody 492 00:32:12,835 --> 00:32:17,275 Speaker 1: else failed to tell Larry Zanka. Larry Zanka assumed he 493 00:32:17,355 --> 00:32:19,795 Speaker 1: was there just to block for Joe Pisarcik, as Joe 494 00:32:19,835 --> 00:32:22,555 Speaker 1: Pisarcik collapsed to the turf and ran out the clock 495 00:32:22,715 --> 00:32:26,155 Speaker 1: and got me a better grade instead, Pisarchik handed the 496 00:32:26,195 --> 00:32:29,835 Speaker 1: ball to where Zanka's hands should have been, except Larry 497 00:32:29,915 --> 00:32:32,595 Speaker 1: Zanka was in the blocking stance, and Pisarchik in fact 498 00:32:32,835 --> 00:32:37,995 Speaker 1: handed it off directly to Larry Zanka's helmet. I screamed. 499 00:32:38,515 --> 00:32:41,595 Speaker 1: The ball bounced once off the turf and directly into 500 00:32:41,595 --> 00:32:44,715 Speaker 1: the hands of Philadelphia cornerback Herman Edwards. I continued to 501 00:32:44,755 --> 00:32:47,955 Speaker 1: scream there was nobody near Edwards, and he scooted twenty 502 00:32:47,955 --> 00:32:50,035 Speaker 1: six yards into the end zone and the Giants lost 503 00:32:50,035 --> 00:32:52,995 Speaker 1: the damn game nineteen to seventeen in the last seconds. 504 00:32:52,995 --> 00:32:55,915 Speaker 1: And as the Giants fans at the radio station shouted 505 00:32:56,035 --> 00:32:59,115 Speaker 1: or moaned or swore, I could see Professor Joel Sylvie 506 00:32:59,155 --> 00:33:02,875 Speaker 1: shutting off the TV, grabbing our papers and sentencing us 507 00:33:02,915 --> 00:33:10,435 Speaker 1: to hell, and I continued to scream. Our term papers 508 00:33:10,435 --> 00:33:13,115 Speaker 1: were returned. On Tuesday the twenty first, just before school 509 00:33:13,155 --> 00:33:16,995 Speaker 1: broke for Thanksgiving. I actually was thankful I got either 510 00:33:17,035 --> 00:33:19,715 Speaker 1: a B or A B plus. I can't find the paper. 511 00:33:19,755 --> 00:33:22,075 Speaker 1: It should be somewhere in a box. There was a 512 00:33:22,195 --> 00:33:24,995 Speaker 1: rumor which I was never able to confirm, that my 513 00:33:25,195 --> 00:33:28,075 Speaker 1: B or B plus was the highest grade in the class. 514 00:33:28,995 --> 00:33:33,355 Speaker 1: I can confirm. I saw classmates most far more prepared 515 00:33:33,395 --> 00:33:36,995 Speaker 1: and astute than myself, most of them history majors, looking 516 00:33:36,995 --> 00:33:41,075 Speaker 1: at their grades and blanching visibly. One girl cried, a C, 517 00:33:41,795 --> 00:33:46,915 Speaker 1: really a C. Professor Joel Silbey said much of our 518 00:33:46,915 --> 00:33:48,875 Speaker 1: grade would depend on how well the New York Football 519 00:33:48,915 --> 00:33:51,875 Speaker 1: Giants did in that nineteen seventy eight national football season. 520 00:33:51,915 --> 00:33:54,035 Speaker 1: And my god, they had just sustained a loss so 521 00:33:54,115 --> 00:33:56,235 Speaker 1: bad that it has still talked about to this day. 522 00:33:57,635 --> 00:34:02,875 Speaker 1: My classmates did not listen, and I only am escaped 523 00:34:02,995 --> 00:34:09,915 Speaker 1: alone to tell thee There is a PostScript. The PostScript 524 00:34:09,955 --> 00:34:14,995 Speaker 1: takes place thirty two and one half years later. I 525 00:34:15,075 --> 00:34:18,435 Speaker 1: returned to Cornell in March of twenty eleven to give 526 00:34:18,435 --> 00:34:21,515 Speaker 1: a lecture and teach a series of classes to students 527 00:34:21,515 --> 00:34:24,275 Speaker 1: who no longer afterwards felt they had gotten their full 528 00:34:24,355 --> 00:34:27,915 Speaker 1: money from the university. My alma mater was very kind 529 00:34:28,035 --> 00:34:30,595 Speaker 1: to me. They gave me a tour of the secret 530 00:34:30,595 --> 00:34:32,475 Speaker 1: places they never would have shown me when I was 531 00:34:32,475 --> 00:34:35,675 Speaker 1: a struggling student, like where they kept Cornell's copy of 532 00:34:35,675 --> 00:34:39,115 Speaker 1: the Gettysburg address. And they promised me something special for 533 00:34:39,235 --> 00:34:41,795 Speaker 1: lunch the first day, And sure enough I was dropped 534 00:34:41,795 --> 00:34:44,795 Speaker 1: off at a restaurant, and there, rising from a table 535 00:34:44,835 --> 00:34:48,995 Speaker 1: to greet me with applause, were Cornell's official historian and 536 00:34:49,075 --> 00:34:53,075 Speaker 1: former Professor Glenn Altschuler and their very famous history professor 537 00:34:53,115 --> 00:34:59,195 Speaker 1: Walter Lefeber, and I swear Professor Joel Silby, and they 538 00:34:59,195 --> 00:35:03,875 Speaker 1: were fans of mine. Of course I could not leave 539 00:35:03,955 --> 00:35:07,635 Speaker 1: well enough alone. After a few minutes of very pleasant 540 00:35:07,675 --> 00:35:11,035 Speaker 1: conversation with mister alt Schuller and Professor la Faber and 541 00:35:11,075 --> 00:35:14,155 Speaker 1: Professor Silby, I brought up the nineteen seventy eight term 542 00:35:14,195 --> 00:35:18,395 Speaker 1: paper Joe pisarcik Handoff story. Professor la Faber looked at 543 00:35:18,435 --> 00:35:21,235 Speaker 1: Professor Silby like Professor Silby was out of his mind? 544 00:35:21,915 --> 00:35:26,955 Speaker 1: Is that true? And Sylby smiled and said, yes, yes 545 00:35:27,035 --> 00:35:30,315 Speaker 1: it is. And then Joel Silby looked off into the 546 00:35:30,355 --> 00:35:35,035 Speaker 1: distance as if he were peering backwards through time. Nineteen 547 00:35:35,155 --> 00:35:39,355 Speaker 1: seventy eight, that's when you could really enjoy being a professor. 548 00:35:40,435 --> 00:35:44,355 Speaker 1: He then looked back in me and smiled, Keith, you 549 00:35:44,355 --> 00:35:47,955 Speaker 1: won't believe this, but I actually graded those papers pretty fairly, 550 00:35:47,995 --> 00:35:52,035 Speaker 1: and I didn't follow through on my original plan. After 551 00:35:52,075 --> 00:35:54,315 Speaker 1: the fumble, I actually turned off the TV and I 552 00:35:54,355 --> 00:35:56,275 Speaker 1: sat there for a few minutes, and I asked my 553 00:35:56,435 --> 00:35:59,435 Speaker 1: soul if it was okay for me to take my 554 00:35:59,595 --> 00:36:05,075 Speaker 1: revenge on the universe by failing all of you favor 555 00:36:05,275 --> 00:36:09,635 Speaker 1: gulped Oh, said Sylby. It was so great to be 556 00:36:09,715 --> 00:36:13,595 Speaker 1: a professor back then. I laughed so much I had 557 00:36:13,715 --> 00:36:17,235 Speaker 1: tears in my eyes. And then Sylvie said, okay, okay, 558 00:36:17,235 --> 00:36:19,155 Speaker 1: maybe I was a little unfair to you guys, but 559 00:36:19,715 --> 00:36:23,475 Speaker 1: you know it's the Giants, and you have to take 560 00:36:23,515 --> 00:36:25,155 Speaker 1: this as a whole. The year they won their first 561 00:36:25,195 --> 00:36:28,275 Speaker 1: Super Bowl, what was that, eighty six? The final exam 562 00:36:28,315 --> 00:36:30,795 Speaker 1: in that class was like two days after they finished 563 00:36:30,795 --> 00:36:33,435 Speaker 1: the regular season, fourteen and two, eight o'clock in the morning. 564 00:36:33,635 --> 00:36:36,035 Speaker 1: So I go to the final see, which I never do, 565 00:36:36,595 --> 00:36:39,315 Speaker 1: and I waited until they were all sitting there sweating, 566 00:36:39,715 --> 00:36:41,995 Speaker 1: and I said, remember last September when I told you 567 00:36:41,995 --> 00:36:43,915 Speaker 1: your grade will depend on how well the New York 568 00:36:43,915 --> 00:36:48,195 Speaker 1: Football Giants doing this. Nineteen eighty six National Football League season, 569 00:36:49,035 --> 00:36:52,435 Speaker 1: and it was just silence, and I said, well, if 570 00:36:52,475 --> 00:36:55,435 Speaker 1: you didn't notice, they went fourteen and two, and I 571 00:36:55,475 --> 00:36:57,475 Speaker 1: haven't been this happy since when they won the title 572 00:36:57,475 --> 00:37:02,115 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty six. So guess what, there's no final exam. 573 00:37:03,035 --> 00:37:07,235 Speaker 1: And nobody moved. I said it again, there's no final exam. 574 00:37:07,395 --> 00:37:10,395 Speaker 1: Go home, go study for something else. Y'all get a's. 575 00:37:11,555 --> 00:37:13,395 Speaker 1: And then there was a couple of seconds of silence, 576 00:37:13,395 --> 00:37:15,915 Speaker 1: and they all simultaneously realized I was not kidding, and 577 00:37:15,955 --> 00:37:20,835 Speaker 1: everybody cheered and ran out into the sunshine. So with 578 00:37:21,075 --> 00:37:24,635 Speaker 1: me and professors Alt Schuler and la Faber now in tears, 579 00:37:24,715 --> 00:37:29,275 Speaker 1: Sylby said, see it evens out, and I said, the 580 00:37:29,355 --> 00:37:32,475 Speaker 1: hell it does. I graduated in nineteen seventy nine. How 581 00:37:32,475 --> 00:37:35,115 Speaker 1: does it canceled final in nineteen eighty six? Even it 582 00:37:35,115 --> 00:37:38,995 Speaker 1: out for me? Fella? Joel Silby thought for a second 583 00:37:38,995 --> 00:37:43,235 Speaker 1: and then he said, wow, I am buying you lunch. 584 00:37:56,355 --> 00:37:59,235 Speaker 1: Here are the credits. Most of the music was arranged, produced, 585 00:37:59,275 --> 00:38:01,915 Speaker 1: and performed by Ryan Ray and John Phillip Schanel, who 586 00:38:01,955 --> 00:38:05,595 Speaker 1: are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by 587 00:38:05,675 --> 00:38:08,715 Speaker 1: John Phillip Schenel guitars, bass on drums by Brian Ray, 588 00:38:09,195 --> 00:38:12,875 Speaker 1: produced by Tko Brothers. Countdown has come to you from 589 00:38:12,955 --> 00:38:16,835 Speaker 1: the Olderman Broadcasting Empire World headquarters in the Sports Capsule 590 00:38:16,835 --> 00:38:20,675 Speaker 1: Building in New York. Other Beethoven selections have been arranged 591 00:38:20,675 --> 00:38:24,035 Speaker 1: and performed by No horns allowed. The sports music is 592 00:38:24,035 --> 00:38:26,915 Speaker 1: the Olberman theme from ESPN two, written by Mitch Warren 593 00:38:26,955 --> 00:38:30,235 Speaker 1: Davis for to see of ESPN, inc musical comments by 594 00:38:30,315 --> 00:38:33,675 Speaker 1: Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our announcer 595 00:38:33,755 --> 00:38:37,275 Speaker 1: today was Tony Kornheiser. Everything else pretty much my fault. 596 00:38:37,835 --> 00:38:39,915 Speaker 1: So that's countdown for this the eight hundred and fortieth 597 00:38:39,995 --> 00:38:43,435 Speaker 1: day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 598 00:38:43,435 --> 00:38:46,955 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Don't forget keep arresting 599 00:38:46,995 --> 00:38:50,675 Speaker 1: him while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. 600 00:38:50,755 --> 00:38:53,955 Speaker 1: Until then, I'm Keith Olberman. Good morning, good afternoon, good night, 601 00:38:54,515 --> 00:39:12,195 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production 602 00:39:12,395 --> 00:39:17,715 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 603 00:39:17,795 --> 00:39:21,155 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.