Keith Olbermann's MSNBC Exit: Latest in Long Line of Messy Divorces

Keith Olbermann, former host of MSNBC's 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' is no stranger to battles with the talking heads.

From his spirited -- but mostly friendly -- bet with Fox News' Sean Hannity to make good on Hannity's promise to be waterboarded to prove it wasn't torture to his pet names for right-wing pundits Ann "Coulter(geist)" and Glenn "Lonesome Rhodes" Beck, Olbermann wasn't afraid to step on toes.

His shots at Fox News' Bill O'Reilly were legendary and led to a series of back and forths that made the battles between the Black Spy and the White Spy from MAD Magazine look like a backyard snowball fight.

However, nothing matches the heated shouting matches and unnecessary vitriolic rhetoric than the debates he's had with his former bosses. And while his latest departure from a TV screen near you may feel like a shock, it's not the first time he's had to suddenly clean out his desk and jump ship.

The former ESPN 'Sportscenter' anchor may have gotten his first big break on the national stage by making up clever catchphrases for big plays on the highlight reel, but his departure grabbed just as many eyeballs. He scored his first high profile suspension when he appeared on Craig Kilborn's 'Daily Show' to promote a book without the proper authorization. He probably would have just walked away with a warning if he hadn't called the ESPN studios a "godforsaken place" in response to one of Kilborn's questions.

Years later, he apologized for his ranting ways in a Salon.com column. He said the high pressure of the sporting news life got the best of him and created a self-destructive pattern of behavior, the old Billington J. Bulworth routine, if you will, only without the self-hired hit man.

"It was me trying to give myself an excuse to get out from under the pressure of working in an environment of my own creation in which I daily expected the blame ax to fall," he said. "It was prepackaged sour grapes."

It wouldn't be the last time he got his bare feet dirty in a vat of the sour stuff.

After joining MSNBC, but prior to hitting the air, Olbermann generated controversy when he named his news program 'The Big Show,' the same name of the book he penned with fellow sports anchor Dan Patrick.

News of Monica Lewinsky's affair with President Bill Clinton changed the nature of the game and Olbermann's show, a career note that gave him "dry heaves," and led to his first departure from the network.

Believe it or not, Olbermann had a very short stint with the parent company of his big political rival, Fox, with his own sports show on their cable sports network. It lasted two years. His former boss, Rupert Murdoch, said that he fired Olbermann because he was "crazy." Olbermann denied being "crazy" and said he was fired for a ruckus he caused when he heard his boss was thinking of selling the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That brings us full circle to Fri., Jan. 21 and Olbermann's "sudden" announcement. Olbermann helped the struggling network carve out a niche in TV news by being the counter to Fox News' constant "liberal media bias" news blather. How? By creating an alternative form of news blather. But, unlike his previous stint at the network, he had an ace in the hole: NBC chief Jeff Zucker. The former NBC boss went on record saying he was "comfortable" with Olbermann's program.

Olbermann's 2011 exit wasn't without controversy. In November, Olbermann face an indefinite suspension for donating money to the campaigns of Democratic candidates Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. However, Olbermann went back to work days later and his return response didn't include an apology to MSNBC or his superiors for violating company policy, a sure sign that, as they say on 'Behind the Music,' "that's when things fell apart."

Is the NBC Universal-Comcast merger to blame for Olbermann's exit? Could be. With Zucker's departure Olbermann lost one of his biggest supporters in his never-ending fight with TV executives. According to Deadline Hollywood, Olbermann can't move to another broadcast or cable news network right away thanks to the dangling time in his contract. However, he can return to sports.

Suddenly, Bristol, Conn. doesn't seem so "godforsaken" after all.