Jim Lampley has been in and out of the news over the past few years, and whether or not you respect him as person based on some of his past transgressions, you can’t deny that he’s good on camera. Lampley has always had a spot in both the Winter and Summer Olympics, but following NBC’s placement of Al Michaels as the Winter studio host, Lampley might end up skipping this year’s Olympics in a bit of a protest.
It has been rumored that Lampley was offered a Hockey role for the Games, but according to the NY Daily News, the HBO Sports’ play-by-play man has reportedly turned the offer down….
His EbNess decided to boot Lampley from the role of daytime Olympic studio host in favor of Al Michaels (he last hosted the earthquake at the ’89 World Series), who will don the turtleneck and smoking jacket for NBC’s 2010 Winter Games coverage from Vancouver. Lampley had a string of working 14 straight Olympics. Ebersol said he “could not imagine” Lampley not having a role in Vancouver.
Start imagining. Spies say Lampley was offered the hockey-host gig and turned it down.
I don’t really think of Lampley as someone who would be offended by this. He only had a small role during the last Winter Olympics, but after being replaced on the Summer Games by Bob Costas, he could certainly be feeling a bit slighted.
Turning off the Lamp(ley) (NY Daily News)
