Dan Patrick is leaving ESPN after 18 years and an influence on TV that goes far beyond sports.
Dan made his mark in the 90s, when he teamed for five years with Keith Olbermann on SportsCenter, the sports news show that's been shown every day on ESPN since the network was founded on September 7, 1979. Their wiseguy reporting changed the face of sports reporting, made it smirkier and snarkier, inspired Aaron Sorkin's SportsNight (which Sorkin strip-mined for jokes in the lamented and lamentably crapulous Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip), and made the world safe for Olbermann's neuroses, tics and pomposity in the political news arena.
As for Dan, he went on to work as studio host on ABC's NBA Countdown and do an ESPN radio show.
Dan said Monday that for the past three years at ESPN he felt like he was "running in quicksand.
"I felt like I was doing assembly line work and I really wasn't doing anything I was proud of."
Dan says he's not sure what's snext but he'd like to do either TV or radio or both. His last ESPN radio show is on August 17th.
Do we smell a future political commentator?
Official press release: "I've spent a third of my life at ESPN. All my children were born while I was employed here. I feel privileged to have had this opportunity, and I have extremely mixed emotions about leaving. With that said, I told ESPN that I believe it's time for me to try something different, something that will also be challenging and rewarding. While I'm not sure what that will be, I am grateful to ESPN for its willingness to allow me to pursue new endeavors."