Well, here's a shocker on a late Friday night. It appears "Olbermann" has made its first outside hire and it's political/baseball statistician Nate Silver. The man who gained prominence using his statistical matrices to correctly call the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections is apparently leaving the New York Times where he was been associated since 2009. Brian Stelter of the New York Times reports that Silver will take his FiveThirtyEight blog to ESPN. Stelter says Silver will become a regular contributor to the "Olbermann" late night program that will premiere on ESPN2 next month.
In addition, Silver will make appearances on ABC News during election years. The official announcement could be made as soon as Monday.
Silver's contract with the Times is set to expire in late August and his departure will be a big blow to the paper. Times executives were hoping to keep Silver as several organizations including CBS and NBC were hoping to gain his services.
Now, Silver can keep his two passions, baseball (more notably Sabermetrics) and politics under one umbrella.
We'll have more on the Silver-to-ESPN/ABC story when the official announcement is made.
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About Ken Fang
Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.
He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.
Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.