“The truth,” says Mr. Costas, “is that this issue was a powder keg waiting to explode somewhere, and ours just happened to be the match that set it off. I think Buzz (Bissinger) realizes he did a disservice to the journalistic standards he was claiming to uphold by jumping on Will that way. At the same time, it’s easy for many of those in the blogosphere to dismiss Buzz’s outburst as representative of the objections the mainstream sports media has to the excesses of the Internet.
“Put it this way: Though I would have preferred more light and less heat on the subject, I think we did a service by putting the issue out there to be discussed. And it won’t be the last time that we’ll be discussing it. Next time we’ll be better prepared. For now, I’ll leave it at this—though Buzz is a friend, those who suggest that he was expressing my views on sports blogs are wrong.” His own feelings about the Internet, say Mr. Costas, echoing Alan Ladd’s gunfighter in “Shane” on the subject of his weapon, is that “it’s just a tool. No better or worse than the person using it.”
...“Every year,” says Mr. Costas, “there’s a controversy about someone who was elected to the Hall of Fame or someone who was left out. Numbers alone don’t prove anything; the game changes so much from decade to decade that statistics are like signposts in a sandstorm—exactly what they indicate is hard to determine. We’re going to talk about what makes a player Hall of Fame worthy with two first ballot Hall of Famers who also excel at analysis as well as someone who most fans say deserves the honor.”
“Bob Costas is at a point that Howard Cosell was at about 35 years ago in terms of influence and audience credibility, and he thrives in this setting,” says HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg.
Stop, stop…I just split my wrecktus abdominus from laughing.
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I agree, but that doesn't exactly seem to be consistent with his earlier statements.
Threw it right at Bob Costas.
But, he also realizes that he made himself relevant again and is getting work.
I have access to the first 2 and voluntarily avoid the third and have never heard of this.
Well, the reason it's easy is because it's essentially accurate and it's FAR from just Bissinger saying it, though he was less graceful than most.
The bottom line to me is that baseball writers have gotten used to a world where they hold the information and get to develop their voice and analysis based on information they have uniquely. Today, though, far less of the info they have is unique (some still is, of course, as they travel with the teams) and they are discovering that many of them don't have the voice and analysis skills to survive without that information advantage. Those writers who have those things don't fear the internet, but those who lack it...it's going to be the death of them and they well know it.
If he's arguing that era adjustment is hard, it would be nice if he noted the crazy huge advances we've made in the last 20 years along that path. If he's just saying that "numbers alone don't prove anything", then hello, strawman.
“Bob Costas is at a point that Howard Cosell was at about 35 years ago in terms of influence and audience credibility, and he thrives in this setting,”
That seems about right. I'm too young (29) for Cosell, but Costas sure seems to think we all care about his opinion on everything sport, just like what I've read about Howard.
Yeah, but Cosell was kind of a put on, too, and he knew it. Costas is 100% unironic in his self importance.
And probably would have been an early/great blogger.
I'm not sure at what point I stopped liking Costas (still don't dislike him), but I did. Maybe the NBC Olympic coverage. Frankly, I'm much more likely to listen to Kornheiser or Wilbon on sports topic X than Costas.
I'm not sure at what point I stopped liking Costas (still don't dislike him), but I did. Maybe the NBC Olympic coverage. Frankly, I'm much more likely to listen to Kornheiser or Wilbon on sports topic X than Costas.
The problem with that is that while Wilbon and Kornheiser are both great entertainers, only Wilbon and Costas have any real knowledge of sports. Take Wilbon off PTI and you've got nothing but a Borscht Belt comedy routine mixed in with a bunch of half-asssed opinions. Kornheiser's far more in his element talking about action flicks or American Idol than he is talking about sports.
Maybe the only reason I've always liked Costas is that I've never watched the Olympics, but whenever I've heard him doing baseball or basketball he's always been knowledgeable, interesting and thoroughly professional. Most of the criticism I read about him seems to come from the sort of people who see "elitism" in everything this side of a Bud Lite commericial.
Ahem. I fretted over the intellectual challenge provided by "That's not a light, *this* is a Lite!" commercials for weeks. You damn English majors and your homophones.
Okay, you got me there. I should have said Coors Lite instead. I loved those early Bud Lite commercials myself.
That batch of commercials is amongst my earliest memories, along with "Where's the Beef?" Excepting the bizarre fascination with Cedric the Entertainer, BL has always put out quality ads.
Yes, I'm a real Blue Collar Comedy hour kinda guy and hate Costas with all his big words and fancy shampoos. A-har a-har a-har!
I liked Costas back in the day when he was a sort of nerdy guy with a big love of baseball and it's nuances and history that was infectious. The Bob Costas Institute of Sports Culture and Philosophy is not so much fun.
That's a frigging Primey, right there.
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