Will Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann Joust With Bob Costas’ Emmys?

With the NFL season starting in just a few weeks (a few ... long ... weeks) the big networks have begun to announce the retooling of their broadcasting teams. While CBS announced some minor tweaks this week, it seems ESPN and NBC are providing the biggest changes heading into the season. ↵↵Obviously, ESPN’s big change has been well documented with the addition of Jon Gruden to the Monday Night Football team. But the biggest change of the year came with the suicide-pact retirements of Brett Favre and NBC’s John Madden, who hung up his microphone after 30 years in the booth. Obviously it wasn’t a real suicide pact between the two because Favre’s return to the field would make him the walking un-dead. Come to think of it, has anyone seen Favre’s reflection? Perhaps Favre is a vampire. Finally, defensive coordinators can employ the long-awaited ‘garlic defense’ this season.↵

↵↵But I digress. There was a domino effect of both moves this offseason, including Cris Collinsworth replacing Madden, Matt Millen replacing Collinsworth at NFL Network and a host of other maneuvers, not in the least was the announcement yesterday that NBC will be sending Bob Costas on-site this season to host their pregame coverage. Per ↵PFT/NBC Sports, the trio of Costas, Collinsworth and Al Michaels will start the telecast from the site of the game then, “kick it back to 30 Rock, where Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann will host the studio show. Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, and Peter King will be in the studio as well.”↵

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↵↵⇥“When you’re at the scene of an event you always get a much different feel,” Costas said. “Being in the stadium surrounded by the fans and the energy and atmosphere of the event creates an urgency and a sense of place that can’t be duplicated in the studio.”↵↵↵One other member of the team who seems excited is Patrick, who told me via e-mail, “Nobody takes on a big, live event like Bob Costas. It just makes us stronger to have him out there.”↵

↵↵But there has to be more to it, right? Patrick and Olbermann have to be high-fiving at the fact that Costas is on location and the duo gets to run the NY part of the telecast “Big Show” style. Sort of a cat’s away, the mice shall play situation. Or, I suppose in this case, the mouse is away, the cats shall play. You know, because Olbermann and Patrick are tall and Costas ... is ... well, you get the point. ↵

↵↵⇥“Yeah, Keith and I haven’t talked yet about having “control” of the studio,” Patrick explained. “It’s not like we’re going to have jousting contests with Bob’s Emmys, but we will have a good time and cover the games.”↵↵↵Have they thought about jousting contests with his Emmys before? It seems that may have come up in the past. And does Costas really bring the Emmys into the studio? Will he bring them to the games in a carry-on? He’d probably have to check that bag, right? There are a lot of Emmys, after all. ↵

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