101 Facts About Bob Costas

1.

Robert Quinlan Costas was born on March 22,1952 and is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019.

2.

Bob Costas has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 1988 until 2016.

3.

Bob Costas is employed by MLB Network, where he does play-by-play and once hosted an interview show called Studio 42 with Bob Costas.

4.

Bob Costas grew up in Commack, New York and attended Commack High School South.

5.

Bob Costas got his first radio experience as a freshman at WAER, a student run radio station.

6.

Bob Costas called for the minor league Syracuse Blazers of the Eastern Hockey League.

7.

Bob Costas would call Missouri Tigers basketball and co-host KMOX's Open Line call-in program.

8.

Don Ohlmeyer, who at the time ran the network's sports division, told 28-year-old Bob Costas he looked like a 14-year-old.

9.

For many years, Bob Costas hosted NBC's National Football League coverage and NBA coverage.

10.

Bob Costas did play-by-play for National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball coverage.

11.

On March 30,2015, it was announced that Bob Costas would join forces with Marv Albert and Al Michaels on the April 11,2015, edition of NBC's primetime PBC on NBC boxing series.

12.

Bob Costas was added to serve as a special contributor for the event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

13.

Bob Costas would narrate and write a feature on the storied history of boxing in New York City.

14.

Bob Costas hosted NBC's coverage of the US Open golf tournament from 2003 to 2014.

15.

Besides calling the 1989 American League Championship Series for NBC, Bob Costas filled in for a suddenly ill Vin Scully, who had come down with laryngitis, for Game2 of the 1989 National League Championship Series alongside Tom Seaver.

16.

Bob Costas anchored NBC's pre- and post-game shows for NFL broadcasts and the pre and post-game shows for numerous World Series and Major League Baseball All-Star Games during the 1980s.

17.

Bob Costas did not get a shot at doing play-by-play for an All-Star Game until 1994 and a World Series until 1995, when NBC regained Major League Baseball rights after a four-year hiatus.

18.

Bob Costas ended up winning a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality, Play-by-Play.

19.

In 1999, Bob Costas teamed with his then-NBC colleague Joe Morgan to call two weekday night telecasts for ESPN.

20.

Bob Costas was filling in for Michael Kay, who was recovering from vocal cord surgery.

21.

In that time frame, Bob Costas called three NBA Finals including the 1998 installment between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz.

22.

Bob Costas was paired with Isiah Thomas and Doug Collins on NBC's NBA telecast.

23.

Bob Costas had previously presided as host of the network's pre-game show, NBA Showtime, while providing play-by-play as a fill-in when necessary.

24.

Bob Costas later co-anchored NBC's NBA Finals coverage in 2002, which was their last to-date.

25.

NBC Sports allowed Bob Costas to opt out from having to cover the XFL.

26.

Bob Costas publicly denigrated the league throughout its existence and remains a vocal critic of the league and its premise.

27.

In 2006, Bob Costas returned to NFL studio hosting duties for NBC's new Sunday Night Football, hosting its pre-game show Football Night in America.

28.

Bob Costas last hosted NFL telecasts for NBC in 1992 before being replaced in the studio by Jim Lampley and subsequently, Greg Gumbel.

29.

Al Michaels called him "Rapping Roberto" during the telecast between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants on September 10,2006, in response to Bob Costas calling him "Alfalfa".

30.

Bob Costas discusses his work on the Olympic telecasts extensively in a book by Andrew Billings entitled Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television.

31.

Thousands of dollars were raised to purchase ads in The Washington Post and Sunday The New York Times, featuring an image of the head of a statue of Apollo and reading: "Bob Costas Poisoned Olympic Spirit, Public Protests NBC".

32.

However, Bob Costas's comments were made subsequent to the suspension of Chinese coach Zhou Ming after seven of his swimmers were caught using steroids in 1994.

33.

An eye infection Bob Costas had at the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics forced him, on February 11,2014, to cede his Olympic hosting duties to Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira, the first time Bob Costas had not done so at all since the 1998 Winter Olympics.

34.

On February 9,2017, Bob Costas announced during Today that he had begun the process of stepping down from his main on-air roles at NBC Sports, announcing in particular that he would cede his role as primetime host for NBC's Olympics coverage to Mike Tirico, and that he would host Super Bowl LII as his final Super Bowl.

35.

Bob Costas explained that he was not outright retiring and expected to take on a role at NBC Sports similar to that of Tom Brokaw, being an occasional special correspondent to the division.

36.

On January 15,2019, it was announced that Bob Costas had officially departed from NBC Sports after 40 years.

37.

Bob Costas decided to leave Later after six seasons, having grown tired of the commute to New York City from his home in St Louis and wishing to lighten his workload in order to spend more time with his family.

38.

Bob Costas turned down an offer from David Letterman, who moved to CBS in 1995, to follow him there and become the first host of The Late Late Show, which was being developed by Letterman's company to air at 12:30 after the Late Show with David Letterman.

39.

In June 2005, Bob Costas was named by CNN president Jonathan Klein as a regular substitute anchor for Larry King's Larry King Live for one year.

40.

Bob Costas said that because there were no new developments in the story, he felt it had no news value, and he was uncomfortable with television's drift in the direction of tabloid-type stories.

41.

Bob Costas hosted a monthly talk show Bob Costas Tonight on NBC Sports Network.

42.

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

43.

Bob Costas remained host of Inside the NFL through the end of the 2007 NFL season.

44.

Bob Costas hosted the show with Cris Collinsworth and former NFL legends Dan Marino and Cris Carter.

45.

Bob Costas left HBO to sign with MLB Network in February 2009.

46.

At the channel's launch on January 1,2009, Bob Costas hosted the premiere episode of All Time Games, a presentation of the recently discovered kinescope of Game5 of the 1956 World Series.

47.

Bob Costas hosted a regular interview show titled MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas as well as special programming and provides play-by-play for select live baseball game telecasts.

48.

In 2017, Bob Costas called Game1 of the American League Division Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros on MLB Network.

49.

Bob Costas went on to become an internet meme after using the term the "sacks were juiced" to describe the bases being loaded.

50.

On October 7,2021, WarnerMedia officially confirmed that Bob Costas would be joining TBS for their postseason baseball coverage starting on October 16.

51.

Bob Costas will be the studio host for TBS's ALCS postseason coverage and provide play-by-play for TBS's ALDS postseason coverage between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees.

52.

Bob Costas provided significant contributions to the Ken Burns, PBS mini series Baseball as well as its follow-up The 10th Inning.

53.

Bob Costas appears in another PBS film, A Time for Champions, produced by St Louis's Nine Network of Public Media.

54.

In July 2020, it was announced that Bob Costas would join CNN as a contributor.

55.

June 23,1984: Bob Costas called NBC's Game of the Week with Tony Kubek, where Ryne Sandberg hit two separate home runs in the 9th and 10th innings against Bruce Sutter to tie the game.

56.

October 28,1995: Bob Costas called Game 6 of the 1995 World Series, where the Atlanta Braves finally won their first ever World Series championship since moving to Atlanta in 1966.

57.

October 26,1997: Bob Costas called Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, where Edgar Renteria hit a walk off single to give the Florida Marlins their first World Series championship.

58.

June 4,2000: Bob Costas called Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals for NBC's NBA coverage.

59.

September 25,2014: Bob Costas called Derek Jeter's final game at Yankee Stadium for MLB Network, where he hit an RBI single to win the game.

60.

June 26,2015: Bob Costas called Pedro Strop's atrocious performance at Busch Stadium for MLB Network, where he gave up a home run for a blown save.

61.

In eulogizing Mantle, Bob Costas described the baseball legend as "a fragile hero to whom we had an emotional attachment so strong and lasting that it defied logic".

62.

Bob Costas has even carried a 1958 Mickey Mantle baseball card in his wallet.

63.

Bob Costas delivered the eulogy for Musial after his death in early 2013.

64.

Bob Costas was outspoken about his disdain for Major League Baseball instituting a playoff wild card.

65.

Bob Costas believed it diminishes the significance and drama of winning a divisional championship.

66.

Bob Costas prefers a system in which winning the wild card puts a team at some sort of disadvantage, as opposed to an equal level with teams who outplayed them over a 162-game season.

67.

Bob Costas has suggested a further tweak: Make the wild card round a best two of three, instead of a single game, with all three games, if necessary, on the homefield of the wild card of the better record.

68.

Bob Costas has disdained the Designated Hitter rule, saying baseball would be a better game without it.

69.

Bob Costas serves as a member of the advisory board of the Baseball Assistance Team, a 501 non-profit organization dedicated to helping former Major League, Minor League, and Negro league players through financial and medical difficulties.

70.

Bob Costas considers himself left of center but has said that he has voted for Republican candidates at times as well.

71.

Bob Costas did suggest that more regulation be placed on America's gun culture:.

72.

O'Reilly then aired a portion of an Olympic commentary in which Bob Costas was pointedly critical of the Russian leader.

73.

Bob Costas had been scheduled to work Super Bowl LII, his eighth as a host.

74.

Bob Costas originally denied such, saying it made more sense for McHugh, who had been hosting Thursday night games on NBC, to serve in that capacity.

75.

Bob Costas was married from 1983 to 2001 to Carole "Randy" Randall Krummenacher.

76.

On March 12,2004, Bob Costas married his second wife, Jill Sutton.

77.

Bob Costas's children have won Sports Emmys: Keith has won two as an associate producer on MLB Network's MLB Tonight, and Taylor as an associate producer on NBC's coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

78.

In 1994, Bob Costas appeared as the play-by-play announcer for the World Series in the movie The Scout.

79.

Bob Costas appeared as himself in the 2001 movie Pootie Tang, where he remarks that he saw "the longest damn clip ever".

80.

Bob Costas's voice appeared in the 2011 documentary film Legendary: When Baseball Came to the Bluegrass, which detailed the humble beginnings of the Lexington Legends, a minor league baseball team located in Lexington, Kentucky.

81.

In 2021, Bob Costas played himself in Here Today directed by Billy Crystal.

82.

Bob Costas has been alluded to several times in popular music.

83.

Bob Costas was mentioned in a Ludacris song after Costas mentioned the rapper on the late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly.

84.

In June 2013, Bob Costas provided the voice of God in the Monty Python musical Spamalot at The Muny Repertory in St Louis.

85.

Apart from his normal sportscasting duties, Bob Costas has presented periodic sports blooper reels, and announced dogsled and elevator races, on Late Night with David Letterman.

86.

In 1985, Bob Costas appeared on The War to Settle the Score, a pre-WrestleMania program that the World Wrestling Federation aired on MTV.

87.

In 1993, Bob Costas hosted the "pregame" show for the final episode of Cheers.

88.

Bob Costas once appeared on the television program NewsRadio as himself.

89.

Bob Costas hosted an award show and later had some humorous encounters with the crew of WNYX.

90.

Bob Costas once appeared as a guest on the faux talk show cartoon Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

91.

Bob Costas has been impersonated several times by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live.

92.

In 1999, Bob Costas appeared as a guest on Space Ghost Coast to Coast during its sixth season.

93.

On June 13,2008, Bob Costas appeared on MSNBC's commercial-free special coverage of Remembering Tim Russert.

94.

On January 30,2009, Bob Costas guest-starred as himself on the television series Monk in an episode titled "Mr Monk Makes the Playoffs"'.

95.

Bob Costas apparently sold Costas a cat that allegedly tried to kill him with a squeeze toy.

96.

Bob Costas guest-voiced as himself in 2010 Simpsons episode, "Boy Meets Curl", when Homer and Marge make the US Olympic curling team.

97.

Bob Costas guest-voiced as himself on the Family Guy episode "Turban Cowboy" in an interview with Peter after he wins the Boston Marathon by hitting everyone with his car.

98.

Bob Costas later made a cameo appearance on the February 25,2010, edition of Colbert's show.

99.

In January 2013, Bob Costas appeared as himself in the Go On episode "Win at All Bob Costas" with Matthew Perry, wherein Ryan King auditions with him for a TV show.

100.

Bob Costas appeared on the September 22,2017, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher to discuss issues such as concussions and the role of political activism in professional sports.

101.

In 2002, Bob Costas was the play-by-play announcer, alongside Harold Reynolds, for Triple Play 2002 during the ballgame for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.