Bob Costas

Bob Costas
Image:Bob Costas.jpg
Born	March 22 1952 (age 56) Queens, New York
Occupation	Sportscaster
Spouse	Jill Sutton
Children	Keith and Taylor

Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s. His mother was of Irish Catholic descent, and his father was of Greek descent. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. Bob's father, John Costas, was an electrical engineer, baseball fan, and gambler.

Life and honors

Bob Costas was born in Queens, New York, and grew up in Commack on Long Island and went to Commack South High School. Following high school he attended the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, though he left school before graduating to begin his professional career.

Prior to joining NBC in 1980, he was a play-by-play announcer for the Spirits of St. Louis of the American Basketball Association, worked at KMOX Radio in St. Louis, and was briefly employed by the CBS network.

Costas is a prominent contributor to the ABA book Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association. He is extensively quoted on many topics, and the book includes his reflections of ABA life during his tenure as radio voice of the Spirits of St. Louis.

He is a devoted baseball fan (he's been suggested as a potential commissioner) and wrote the best-selling Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball in 2000. For his 40th birthday, Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa allowed Costas to manage the club during a spring training game. The first time Costas visited baseball legend Stan Musial's St. Louis eatery, he left a $3.31 tip in homage to the Musial's lifetime batting average (.331). Costas delivered the eulogy at Mickey Mantle's funeral. In eulogizing Mantle, Costas described the baseball legend as "a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic." Costas has even carried a 1958 Mickey Mantle baseball card in his wallet.

Costas has been fairly outspoken about his disdain for Major League Baseball instituting a wild card. Costas believes that it diminishes the significance of winning a divisional pennant. He prefers a system in which winning the wild card puts a team at some sort of disadvantage, as opposed to on an equal level with teams by which they were outplayed over a 162 game season. Once, on the air on HBO's Inside the NFL, he mentioned that the NFL regular season counted for something, but baseball's was beginning to lose significance.

Costas was married to Carole Randall Krumenacher, who went by "Randy", from 1983 to 2000. They had two children, son Keith, born in 1986, and daughter Taylor, born in 1989. Costas once jokingly promised that if Kirby Puckett was batting over .350 by the time his child was born he would name his kid Kirby. True to his word, since Kirby was hitting better than .350, Bob gave his son, Keith Costas, whose first name comes from Bob's first wife's brother, the middle name Kirby. On March 14, 2004, Costas married Jill Sutton, who also works in the broadcast media industry.

Bob Costas has won multiple National Sportcaster of the Year awards (from the National Sportcaster and Sportswriter Association) and nearly 20 Emmy Awards for outstanding sports announcing. In 1999, Costas was a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Award, which is awarded to members of the electronic and print media for outstanding contributions to baseball. He is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Television career

NBC Sports

When Costas was first hired by NBC, Don Ohlmeyer, who at the time, ran NBC Sports sarcastically told the then 28 year old Costas that he looked like a 14 year old. Ohlmeyer presumably based his reaction on Costas' diminutive size and boyish, babyfaced appearance.

See also: NFL on NBC, The NFL on NBC Pregame Show, Major League Baseball on NBC, The Baseball Network, NBA Showtime, and NBA on NBC

He has been an in-studio host of National Football League coverage and play-by-play man for the NBA and for Major League Baseball. Costas has teamed with Isiah Thomas and Doug Collins for basketball telecasts (from 1997-2000) and Tony Kubek (from 1983-1989), Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker (from 1994-2000) for baseball telecasts. Before becoming the studio host for The NFL on NBC in 1984, Costas did play-by-play with analyst Bob Trumpy for NFL games.

One of Bob Costas' most memorable broadcasts occurred on June 23, 1984 (in what would go down in baseball lore as The Sandberg Game). Costas along with Tony Kubek, were calling the Saturday baseball Game of the Week from Chicago's Wrigley Field. The game between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in particular was cited for putting future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (as well as the 1984 Cubs in general, who would go on to make their first posteseason appearance since 1945) "on the map." In the ninth inning, the Cubs trailed 9-8, and faced the premier relief pitcher of the time, Bruce Sutter. Sandberg, not known for his power, slugged a home run to left field against the Cardinals' ace closer. Despite this dramatic act, the Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the tenth. Sandberg came up again in the tenth inning, facing a determined Sutter with one man on base. Sandberg then shocked the national audience by hitting a second home run, even further into the left field bleachers, to tie the game again. The Cubs went on to win in the 11th inning. Costas said when Sandberg hit that second home run, "Do you believe it?!"

While broadcasting Game 4 of the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics on NBC, Costas angered many members of the Dodgers (especially the team's manager, Tommy Lasorda) by commenting that the team quite possibly had the weakest-hitting lineup in World Series history. Later, after the Dodgers had won Game 4 (en route to a 4-1 series victory), Lasorda sarcastically suggested that the MVP of the 1988 World Series should be Bob Costas.

Besides calling the 1989 American League Championship Series for NBC, Costas also filled-in for a suddenly ill Vin Scully (who had come down with laryngitis.) for Game 2 of the 1989 National League Championship Series. Game 2 of the NLCS occurred on Thursday, October 5, which was an off day for the ALCS. NBC then decided to fly Costas from Toronto to Chicago to substitute for Scully on Thursday night. Afterwards, Costas flew back to Toronto, where he resumed work on the ALCS the next night.

Bob Costas anchored NBC's pre and post game for NFL broadcasts and the pre and post-game shows for numerous World Series and Major League Baseball All-Star Games during the 1980s (the first being for the 1982 World Series). Costas didn't get a shot at doing play-by-play (as the games on NBC were previously called by Vin Scully) for an All-Star Game until 1994 and a World Series until 1995 (when NBC split the coverage with ABC). It wasn't until 1997 when Costas finally got the chance to do play-by-play for a World Series from start to finish. Costas ended up winning a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play.

Costas filled in for Tom Hammond at the hosting desk during the 2002 Breeders' Cup when Hammond had to undergo open-heart surgery.

In 2006, Costas returned to studio hosting duties on The NFL on NBC (under the Football Night in America banner), which was returning after a near ten year hiatus. Costas last hosted NFL telecasts for NBC in 1992.

Costas is nicknamed "Rapping Roberto" by New York Daily News sports media columnist Bob Raissman.^[1] Al Michaels also called him "Rapping Roberto" during the telecast between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants on September 10, 2006 in response to Costas calling him "Alphalpha."^[2]

Olympics

Costas has frontlined many Olympics broadcasts for NBC. They include the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, Athens in 2004, and Turin in 2006. A personal influence on Costas has been legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who hosted many Olympics for ABC from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Later

Costas hosted Later with Bob Costas on NBC, 1988-1994. This show was something of a break from the typical TV talk show format of the era, featuring Costas and a single guest having a conversation for the entire half hour, without a band, opening monologue or studio audience. On several occasions, Costas held the guest over for multiple nights, and these in-depth discussions won Costas much praise for his interviewing skills. (Following his departure, the show became a much more conventional talk show, hosted first by Greg Kinnear and later by Carson Daly. Daly still hosts the show today.) During the Later era, Costas also hosted the syndicated radio program Costas Coast to Coast, 1986-1996, which has recently been revived as Costas on the Radio.

HBO

In 2001, Costas was hired by HBO to host a 12 week series called On the Record with Bob Costas. On the Record with Bob Costas was similar to the format of the old Later program as they both concentrated on in-depth celebrity interviews. The XFL featured a pregame show in some league cities hosted by shock radio jocks Opie & Anthony. During an interview with XFL founder & WWE Chairman Vince McMahon on On the Record with Bob Costas, Costas called the pregame show an "abomination", which Opie & Anthony later mocked on their nationally syndicated radio show. When Costas' interview with McMahon turned ugly, Opie & Anthony played clips of McMahon verbally blasting Costas.

In 2002, Costas began a stint as co-host of HBO's long running series Inside the NFL.

In 2005, On the Record with Bob Costas was revamped to become Costas Now, a monthly show that would focus more on sports and air year-round in a 9 p.m. ET/PT time slot. Costas Now is more akin to HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Larry King Live

In June 2005, Costas was named by CNN president, Jonathan Klein, as a regular substitute anchor for Larry King's Larry King Live for one year. Costas, as well as Klein, have said that Costas is not trying out for King's position on a permanent basis. Nancy Grace was also named a regular substitute host for the show.^[3]

On August 18, 2005, Costas refused to host a Larry King Live episode where the subject was missing teen Natalee Holloway. Costas said he had no hard feelings about the subject, but that he was uncomfortable with it.^[4]

Miscellaneous information

• Costas attended the same high school as Rosie O'Donnell. He later interviewed O'Donnell on Larry King Live while filling in for Larry.
• Costas once appeared on the television program NewsRadio as himself. He hosted an award show and later had some humorous encounters with the crew of WNYX.
• In a supposed effort to fulfill a deal he made on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, as coverage of a game resumed he sipped a glass of pink lemonade and said "Ah, that's restaurant quality lemonade."
• Bob Costas has been impersonated several times by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live.^[5]
• Costas appeared as himself along with his rival/counterpart Al Michaels (who now works for NBC) from ABC in the movie BASEketball.
• Apart from his normal sportscasting duties, Costas also announced periodic dogsled and elevator races on Late Night with David Letterman.
• Costas is very loosely associated with the Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw morning show of San Diego, California, and has been known to appear frequently on that show, where, due to one of the show's in-jokes, some of the show's hosts (as well as many San Diego residents) know Costas, belovedly, as the "King of Doucheville."
• Costas is a critic of the raunchier side of pro wrestling. He condemned Karl Malone during a live NBA broadcast for participating periodically in WCW matches.
• Costas was name checked in a Ludacris song after he had mentioned being a fan on the late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly.
• Costas guest-voiced (as himself) on the Family Guy episodes "Patriot Games" and "Petergeist".
• Jim Rome considers Costas to be one of the most intelligent people he's interviewed on The Jim Rome Show. Costas has also been frequently mentioned as supposedly "good friends and colleagues" of controversial Jim Rome Show caller (and 2002 Smack-Off winner) 'Jeff in Richmond'.
• In 2002, Bob was added a play-by-play announcer with ESPN's Harold Reynolds for Triple Play 2002 during the ballgame for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
• In 2006, Costas voiced the animated character Bob Cutlass, a race announcer, in the movie Cars.
• Costas appeared as himself in the movie Pootie Tang.

Notes

Wikipedia information about Bob Costas This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bob Costas". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.