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Keith Olbermann Emails Us, Provides the Final, Definitive Word on His Billups Mishap

Jun 19, 2008, 11:30 PM UTC

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â†µOn June 16, Keith Olbermann accidentally called Chauncey Billups a Denver Nugget (see video above). The following evening, he admitted his error, but altered events so they involved the long-defunct Denver Ambrose Jellymakers, of the long-defunct AAU. I read this as a snide dismissal of anyone trying to paint his misstep as ignorance.â†µ
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â†µâ†µThat’s when Mr. Olbermann emailed me to clarify:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥Mr. Friedman:â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥Dunno what it sounded like, but I can assure you the only person I was making fun of about Chauncey Billups was me.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥This whole thing originated with the fact that on my screen on the set at MSNBC, he was about a half an inch tall. The Billups I remembered from my full-time sportscasting days was taller. Making the international tv signal for “Whodat?” to my producer while filling time, I got back “Johnny Phillips,” and the whole thing went to hell after that.â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥Regards,â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥Keith Olbermannâ†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µSo there you have it. Olbermann was just trying to humorously eat a little crow. And, one email from my favorite newsman later, I have a small black bird of my own to track down and roast.
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â†µ(Ed. Note: In case you don’t read Shoals’ columns on SN.com, or whatever, his real name is Nathaniel Friedman, hence the “Mr. Friedman”.)â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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