So Page Six—the oft-vicious Murdoch-owned gossip sheet—occasionally goes after MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann, partly because Olbermann's kind of an easy target but mostly because Olbermann wages nightly war on all of Murdoch's News Corp. But you knew that. Recently, when NBC's Tim Russert died, Olbermann tried to preempt a Page Six report unfavorable to him and his MSNBC coworker Chris Matthews by denying it before it even ran. Oddly, he declared Page Six second-in-command Paula Froelich his Worst Person In the World instead of the more evil Richard Johnson. So Paula responded in email to us. But we all knew what was coming! Today, Page Six itself strikes back against Olbermann. What terribly embarrassing story do they have for us?

According to an insider, Keith was really upset that NBC didn't buy him a first-class ticket to Washington DC for Russert's private service. He was screaming into his phone demanding a first-class train ticket. Then he didn't get to go to the ceremony and he had to travel by car.

AND an "aghast witness" says Keith "went apoplectic" when he realized that there weren't any ketchup packets at the Kennedy Center. This is one of the weirdest gossip item we've ever read!

Olbermann was heard saying outside the service, "this place is going to hell," because his Washington staff couldn't find ketchup packets for lunch at the Center. An NBC insider claimed, however, "Keith did not have lunch at the Kennedy Center and was not eating on the set because he was anchoring a broadcast."

Honestly... the "insider" claiming to see a celeb berating an underling on a cell phone stories are kind of the lamest thing Page Six does. Nine times out of ten they are just obvious strikes against targets deemed unfriendly to the column. The story, while exclusive, is not even as entertaining as the one where they said Keith has a GIRL DISEASE. So if this is the worst they could do (WHERE IS HIS GODDAMN KETCHUP?) then Keith can probably rest easy.

He won't, though! He'll declare someone else tangentially involved the Worst Person In the World again and the cycle will begin anew.

Update: So Olbermann did mention this item on yesterday's show, by calling Page Six staffer Corynne Steindler the third-worst person in the world. Once again, further down the totem pole! A couple months from now he'll be accusing copy editors of smearing him. (Also there was a bit of an implied insult aimed at Corynne's photo, something Keith often claims to be above. And something Page Six never claims to be above.)