HoS: Bob Costas

And now for a man who needs no introduction, but we will be re-introducing on account of technical difficulties last time. It’s the great Bob Costas, legendary broadcaster of all things, and current baseball announcer for TBS and the MLB Network. In this episode, we’ve sent over friend of pod and big time WFAN muckety muck Spike Eskin to Bob’s place to deal with any tech issues. The result? A quality podcast wherein we discuss, among many topics, learn that HoS is a fine product!

Pod outline written by the astute Sam Schuette:

1. Why are so many New Yorkers prominent broadcasters?

   1. The lineage of Costas, Cosell, Breen, Albert, Tirico, and more

   2. The law of averages and New York as the mecca

2. Talking Shohei Ohtani

   1. How Ohtani resembles Michael Jordan (but LeBron does not)

   2. The one thing he’s missing

   3. Should Ohtani get surgery now or later?

3. The trajectory of the MLB

   1. The association between a team and its stars

   2. The imbalance between teams like the Rays and the Dodgers

4. Informed commentary vs. hot take commentary

   1. Avoiding egregiously hot takes and personal blows

   2. How exclusively positive commentary can make you seem less authentic

5. Why Costas regrets speaking to ESPN about leaving NBC

   1. Clickbaity titles and the distortion machine made his Super Bowl removal a bigger deal than it was

   2. How it created a false “Bob vs. NBC” storyline

6. “Your prerogative vs. their prerogative”

   1. Trying to be honest vs. making trouble for your bosses

   2. The bar for controversial commentary has gotten so low that anything can cause a fallout

7. Bob’s Pat Riley story

   1. How a botched teleprompter let Bob save Pat during a broadcast

8. How David Stern and Roger Goodell differed as commissioners

   1. Goodell ducked an interview with Bob

   2. Stern enjoyed the fight and accepted contentious interviews

9. The gambling tsunami taking over pro sports

   1. The moral issues behind it

   2. Legalization and convenience enlarging the scope of its damage

   3. Does it take away the authenticity of being a fan?

10. The Pete Rose Hall of Fame controversy

    1. If steroid users are on the ballot, should Rose deserve a spot?

    2. Does the influx of gambling in the MLB make the Rose lifetime ban unwarranted?

11. Bob appearing on Bill Maher

    1. Not having to prepare for it

    2. The difference between Real Time and Club Random

12. Aggregators mistranscribing podcast words

    1. How the internet misrepresents everyone’s words

13. Bob’s defense of network TV

    1. The edginess and intelligence it offered to the average viewer despite its timidness