Keith Olbermann Tells a Terrific Story About the Time Stuart Scott Stood Up to an ESPN Executive

ESPN executives didn't always love Stuart Scott's catchphrases.

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ESPN executives didn't always love Stuart Scott's catchphrases and his unique way of approaching broadcasts. In fact, Keith Olbermann says that, once upon a time, at least one ESPN exec actually tried to get Scott to stop using so many of his catchphrases on the air. According to Olbermann, the exec—who Olbermann does not name—went as far as to call Scott into his office one day to chastise him for "using language that most of the audience didn't understand." He told Scott that "it had to stop."

Scott refused. But he didn't stop there. In the clip above, Olbermann explains how Scott also took to ESPN's website—which, at the time, was hosted on Prodigy—and actually thanked ESPN for allowing him to use so many of his catchphrases. He traced the history of some of those phrases and explained why they were so important to both him and to many of ESPN's viewers. And by doing it, he basically shut the ESPN executive up and gave himself all the freedom in the world to use whatever phrases he wanted.

Check out the video of Olbermann talking about Scott to get a better sense of how Scott stood up for himself at various points in his career. You can also watch Scott's very first ESPN2 appearance below:

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[via Deadspin]

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