After today's post in which a former Keith Olbermann coworker mildly denigrates Keith Olbermann's choice of footwear, It took only minutes for Keith Olbermann's response email to hit our inbox. Here it is:

It musta been the shoes.

Honestly, another one that doesn't pass the smell test. I had Vibrams. It had even been written about. Our show director got me into them. Great walking shoe but dangerous if you run in them and don't weigh 175 pounds.

But your informant's insistence on the color reveals him as another faux source. If he says he saw bright orange ones, he never worked there. I've owned four pairs of them - all of them black. And I wore them every day for months. This is not a mistake somebody on the show would've made.

As to the details of the last program, those are also well known to people who weren't there. But the combination of surprise/loss/eight years down the drain, and supposed disgust with me the guy fabricates does beg a meta-question: if I'm the dick you guys are devoting yourselves to portraying me as, why does the source suggest the staff was sorry to see the show go? They all had the same jobs the next work day. Except the ones who went with me, who got promotions.

It was nice of Bob Friend to write in, though. I take his criticisms more to heart because, well, I actually worked with him, and just as in the office, he signed his name to it.

You know - as opposed to some ball-less clown making stuff up from behind the cloak of anonymity and, improbably, hurting whatever you guys have that is similar to credibility.

All of Keith's employees were very familiar with the color of each and every pair of his Vibram shoes, thank you very much. Better luck next time, ball-less clowns.

UPDATE: Keith emails again, "'Balls' meant colloquially and applicable regardless of gender, of course." Noted.

This cycle of response and counter-response could theoretically continue forever. Fingers crossed.