I view the whole thing through a prism of sadness for what once was. ESPN with Boomer, Olby, Kilborn... they were so, simply, awesome and so much fun to watch. I loved Olby's rants on sports topics, almost as good as Jim Rome's best at times, which never contained (or needed) the sanctimonious self-righteousness we've come to know since.
His shtick just doesn't translate to serious/mundane matters like politics, where a certain amount of respect makes all the difference. When I watched him on Countdown, I could enjoy the stylistic touches (somewhat reminiscent of his ESPN days) but not the content, and certainly not the disrespect he showed to so many. That his show was one of the more highly rated of his network reflected its circus value as much as its content, and the fact that O'Donnell & Shultz were so much worse, at least in my opinion.
