A traffic cop who speaks with the voice of God

August 5, 2016 8:39 AM

At the Belmont Stakes in 2011, someone threw a can of beer at him, and he caught it one-handed, opened it, chugged some, lobbed it back from the victory stand, and proceeded with his interview of the winning jockey and trainer.

--The chaos of the Olympics has arrived. Fortunately, we have Bob Costas.
posted by almostmanda (37 comments total)

Video of (part of) the incident.
posted by Etrigan at 8:53 AM on August 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

Yay! The official Olympics thread!

My best friend isn't around tonight to snark with, boo. Luckily there's texting.
posted by Melismata at 8:53 AM on August 5, 2016

Yay! The official Olympic thread!

How we managed to not have a single most about the swimming-through-feces-and-medical-waste thing is beyond me.
posted by ryanshepard at 8:56 AM on August 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

One of my best memories of Costas was after the "Cheers" finale, when he was in the Cheers bar in Boston and trying to talk to a very drunk Roger Clemens. Good times!
posted by Melismata at 8:57 AM on August 5, 2016

ryanshepard, perhaps it's because the Trump thread has made us all too depressed to handle anything more.
posted by Melismata at 9:00 AM on August 5, 2016

ryanshepard, perhaps it's because the Trump thread has made us all too depressed to handle anything more.

In my experience, this has never stopped Metafilter before.

Anyhow, hopefully Costas won't be brought down in a hail of bricks or gunfire this time around. And he's already shown us he can soldier on through a nasty infection - he's the man for the job!
posted by ryanshepard at 9:08 AM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

my brain skipped over the "some" in "chugged some" and now i'm really disappointed that he didn't just pound the entire beer and maybe crush the can against his forehead or something
posted by burgerrr at 9:23 AM on August 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

People like Bob Costas?

I don't understand 2016 at all.
posted by srboisvert at 9:32 AM on August 5, 2016 [7 favorites]

A lot of the things in that article were covered on Joe Posnanski's podcast when he interviewed Costas in 2011, which is discussed and then linked to at: joeposnanski.com/the-poscast-with-bob-costas/ (Not the beer can item, though -- that's awesome.)

I think Costas is just marvelous, and I would happily listen to a stream of Costas and Joe Biden until the sun goes dark. Hey, Biden will be looking for a new gig not long after the Olympics ends -- maybe they can get Bob's show back on the air!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:56 AM on August 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm generally OK with sports people liking and watching sports, don't really have anything against it, to each their own, etc., but sportscasters invariably really grate on me. So much words, so few contents.
posted by signal at 10:03 AM on August 5, 2016

People like Bob Costas?

Well yeah, I mean he's a great interviewer. Did you not see his piece on Pootie Tang?
posted by Hoopo at 10:14 AM on August 5, 2016 [5 favorites]

Bob Costas >>> Joe Buck upside down > Joe Buck
posted by mosk at 10:26 AM on August 5, 2016

Bob Costas looks like the original Affable Boy Next Door white dude, and interviews like a seasoned war correspondent. I think his affability catches people off guard. He's a really, really, really good journalist, something I think his sportscaster-bro background does a good job of tricking people at.
posted by lonefrontranger at 10:36 AM on August 5, 2016 [14 favorites]

Sister in law who worked for USA Swimming has some good Bob-Costas-is-a-total-diva stories, mostly over concern for how his hair looks. Me, I've always thought he's a sanctimonious prick. The kind of guy who critiques winning-team celebrations for not honoring the sacredness of the game, and all that BS. And his take on Caitlyn Jenner winning an Espy was freaking lame.
posted by Lyme Drop at 11:11 AM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

His talk show was some of the best TV of the 90s though.
posted by rhizome at 11:31 AM on August 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

He had pink eye in Sochi. Imagine what could happen if he takes a swim in one of the competition areas. NBC could finally have a Fall hit with Zombie Bob Costas.


(of course, this being NBC, zombies would immediately go out of fashion)
posted by lmfsilva at 11:37 AM on August 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

IIRC during the last couple of games he's been a super grouch during the opening ceremonies, like the other hosts will be doing the "and here's Latvia, did you know Latvia has the largest sock manufacturing sector in Europe" thing, and Costas would interject something negative for each one like "and of course, it's got a terrible backward government and rampant disease ha ha, yes Latvia, wear your socks proudly" or whatever. It was weird.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:44 AM on August 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

Bob Costas is awful, and the fact that he is "The Face" of the Olympics is symbolic of the awfulness that is NBC Olympic coverage.
posted by madajb at 11:45 AM on August 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

I won't be watching the Olympics this year but I will be following #rioproblems.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:52 AM on August 5, 2016

How we managed to not have a single most about the swimming-through-feces-and-medical-waste thing is beyond me.

excuse me hello
posted by poffin boffin at 11:58 AM on August 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Maybe we could have a small pool: How many times will Costas crowbar in the phrase "dead ball era?"
posted by Marky at 2:27 PM on August 5, 2016

Yes, anonymous crowd guy, Costas is metal as fuck.

\m/
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:37 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Bob Costas is awful, and the fact that he is "The Face" of the Olympics is symbolic of the awfulness that is NBC Olympic coverage.

Why is he bad
posted by stinkfoot at 3:39 PM on August 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Fuck a Costas
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:37 PM on August 5, 2016

Ugh, Bob Costas AND Hoda AND Brokaw might be too much for me. NBC's coverage team is so tired and predictable. It's depressing. I'd like for them to keep Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinksi and then bring in lots of more interesting people who aren't covering their 9,000th sporting event.
posted by TwoStride at 5:04 PM on August 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Like someone on Twitter said....the story is a bit of an exaggeration of what actually happened.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:49 PM on August 5, 2016

I am watching the opening ceremonies on TV now, and I wish the DNC convention speech live-commenters were here with me.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:11 PM on August 5, 2016

psst, over here for watching the opening ceremonies
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:45 PM on August 5, 2016

I'll always think of Costas as the best network baseball announcer of the '80s. I actually preferred him and Kubek to the more prominent Vin Scully-Joe Garagiola team. Then NBC lost baseball, and by the time they got it back following the '94 strike Costas had apparently decided that commenting on the actual game being played in front of him was less important than getting on a soapbox to pontificate upon everything that had gone wrong with the sport, and American society in general. He stopped having fun, and so did we the viewers.

I have no problem with his Olympic hosting, though. Can you think of any other contemporary sportscaster projecting the same gravitas? Buck? Nantz? Tirico? Plee-uhz.
posted by non canadian guy at 1:10 PM on August 6, 2016

I'll always remember him as the KMOX radio voice of the ABA Spirits of St. Louis, a team whose fan enjoyment depended mostly on enthusiasm and love for the game in general, both of which he had to an overflowing degree. He also did occasional short bits on their sports talk radio shows as Mr. Cliche Master, which was funny back in the days when cliche-spouting was something that sports journalists could lovingly laugh at, rather than compete at as many do today.
posted by NumberSix at 9:39 PM on August 6, 2016

I actually preferred him and Kubek to the more prominent Vin Scully-Joe Garagiola team.

You watch your mouth
posted by Joseph Gurl at 11:57 PM on August 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Simone Biles Pulls The Perfect Face When Bob Costas Says She Just Became Famous
posted by Lyme Drop at 10:21 AM on August 17, 2016

Bob Costas steps in it by saying Usain Bolt is bigger than Bob Marley
posted by Lyme Drop at 6:16 PM on August 17, 2016

I tweeted about that stupid Marley comparison when it happened. Only Costas has the balls to try something like that, a total Terry Bradshaw "weird color guy" move.
posted by rhizome at 6:23 PM on August 17, 2016

"Balls" is one word for it.
posted by Lyme Drop at 8:51 PM on August 17, 2016

Stupid and probably racist balls
posted by Joseph Gurl at 9:54 PM on August 18, 2016

To be sure, I did compare him to Terry Bradshaw.
posted by rhizome at 10:26 AM on August 20, 2016