For 24 years, Bob Costas was the prime-time anchor for NBC Sports, covering the NBA, the
NFL, and everything in between.
Along the way, he racked up a staggering 28 Emmy Awards while establishing himself as
one of the preeminent sports broadcasters of our time.
Recently, though, he seems to have just disappeared.
So why wasn't Costas present at the 2018 Winter Games?
Here's a look at the real reason you don't hear from Bob Costas anymore.
Semi-retired
In February 2017, Costas announced on Today that he would no longer be hosting the Olympics,
"passing the torch" - Get it? - to another veteran broadcaster, Mike Tirico, who already
had a couple decades under his belt over at ESPN.
"Now you're filling these shoes."
"And someone who I grew up idolizing…"
But Costas wanted to make it clear that he wasn't ready to just fade away.
"This doesn't mean retirement or even anything close to it.
It opens up more time to do the things that I feel I'm most connected to."
Sacking the NFL
Costas has long been a critic of the sport of football, particularly when it comes to
discussing the NFL's handling of pervasive brain injury issues.
During an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Costas said that NFL players' brains
during collisions were
"[...] rattling around inside the skull like a pickle inside a jar."
And during an appearance at the University of Maryland, he doubled down, saying
"The reality is that this game destroys people's brains.
[…] If I had an athletically gifted 12- or 13-year-old son, I would not let him play
football."
Given that NBC has spent billions of dollars partnering with the NFL for Thursday and Sunday
night broadcasts, it's safe to assume these comments didn't sit well with the brass upstairs.
Why wasn't he at Super Bowl LII?
As part of his quasi-retirement announcement, Costas said he would do one last Super Bowl.
But come game time on Sunday, February 4th, 2018, Costas was not in the anchor chair for
NBC.
Costas told The Associated Press,
"Dan [Patrick] and Liam [McHugh] have done the job hosting NBC's NFL coverage all season.
It wouldn't be right for me to parachute in and do the Super Bowl."
That sounded good, but Costas hinted at a deeper reason when he told Sports Business
Daily that he has
"[...] long had ambivalent feelings about football, so at this point, it's better to
leave the hosting to those who are more enthusiastic about it."
For those who believe there's a major rift between NBC and Costas over his comments about
the NFL, it all just provided more grist for the rumor mill.
Political kerfuffle
Costas ruffled even more feathers when he strongly criticized President Trump's decision
to publicly attack Colin Kaepernick and other NFL stars protesting police brutality among
minorities.
During a September 2017 CNN appearance, Costas suggested Trump was fishing for "cheap applause
lines"
"Do you want a President of the United States, who even if you give the benefit of a doubt,
is so tone deaf to the racial implications of this?"
Costas went on to say that
"In his own way, Colin Kaepernick, however imperfectly, is doing a patriotic thing."
"Patriotism comes in many forms.
Martin Luther King was a patriot.
Susan B. Anthony was a patriot.
Dissidents are patriots.
Schoolteachers and social workers are patriots."
Though many lauded his comments, some felt that the only time a sportscaster should talk
about patriots is when they're discussing Tom Brady.
Mike Tirico sounds off
Though both NBC and Costas have repeatedly downplayed any animosity between them, Costas'
replacement, Mike Tirico, apparently felt the need to point out that he wasn't going
to editorialize the way Costas has in the past.
Speaking with Sports Business Daily, Tirico said,
"I'm much more a believer of 'Here are the facts, you decide.'
[…] I don't want to say (more) than Bob, but just in general, that's my approach to
most of these things.
You don't see me in 27, 28 years doing a lot of commentary within sports on 'The NFL should
do this,' or 'How dare the NBA.'"
Message received loud and clear, Mike!
On call
What makes his absence even stranger is the fact that, according to an interview with
the New York Post, Costas is still under contract for several more years with NBC.
So he's getting paid a lot of money to do nothing.
In fact, the Post estimates he making "seven figures (possibly eight) to work the Kentucky
Derby, maybe fill in on some events and appear on special shows."
You'd think that with his experience and that kind of salary, NBC would use him for their
Olympics coverage.
But Costas told the New York Times that the 2016 Rio Games were the perfect send-off,
as hosting the Olympics just doesn't hold that much interest for him anymore because
of the way modern broadcasting works.
"I wasn't getting bored by it, but over time the formats changed a bit.
At the beginning it was more freewheeling and there were more spaces for me to contribute.
And it became more tightly formatted as the years went by."
Even though fans miss him at the Olympics, it's good NBC isn't forcing him to do events
he doesn't like.
We'd hate to see a legend like Costas reduced to covering minor stuff like monkey baseball
just to fulfill a contract.
Hall of Fame
In July 2018, fans will get to see Costas one more time when he receives the prestigious
Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence during the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum awards presentation.
It's an extremely high honor, shared by only 41 broadcasters before him, which according
to the National Baseball Hall of Fame's official website, is awarded for "commitment to excellence,
quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and
recognition by peers."
So don't feel too bad for Costas.
He may not be on TV as much anymore, but he does what he wants, says what he wants, and
is a certified Baseball Hall of Famer.
Sounds like a pretty nice retirement.
"I be rollin' torpedoes, get blitzed with rastas, for a hefty fee I'm on your record,
like Bob Costas."
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