Larry Brown Sports

The New York Mets scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon to come back and beat the Chicago Cubs. The game ended on a three-run walk-off home run from center fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who was greeted at home plate like a conquering hero by his teammates. This did not please Bob Costas.

The win was only the Mets’ 25th of the year and they remain 13.5 games out of first place in the NL East. The Cubs are 15 games out of first place in the NL Central, so it’s not like New York had just defeated a powerhouse. That’s why Costas ripped the Mets during the US Open broadcast when recapping the game.

“The Mets with four in the bottom of the ninth to win it, 4-3, and a team 14 games under .500 celebrates as if it just won the seventh game of the World Series,” Costas said. “Another indication of the ongoing decline of western civilization.”

Let’s not get overly dramatic, Bob. Costas has been known to give a moving eulogy and entertain us by rapping Ludacris lyrics, but that comment seemed a bit much. Teams are always going to celebrate walk-off wins no matter what their division standing is, let alone a comeback that took four runs in the bottom of the ninth. I don’t think it has anything to do with western civilization.

H/T Amazin’ Avenue

If anyone ever tells you Bob Costas has no game, you tell them they’re wrong. You tell them they are so, so wrong. Costas is usually the man who handles all of the most serious issues in sports and does so with grace and professionalism, but the return of the MLB season had him in a unique mood on Tuesday.

When discussing Robinson Cano’s decision to sign with Jay-Z’s agency, MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds asked Costas who his favorite rapper is. The exchange that took place after that was solid gold.

“I have got to give props to Ludacris,” Costas said. “Although he’s not the only one, I think he was the first one to name check me. I believe it went something like this — and for you youngsters out there we’re not encouraging this behavior. This is just a lyric and I’m just quoting it and it’s Ludacris talking about himself.”

Then came then unimaginable.

“I be rollin’ torpedoes, get blunted with rastas,” Costas rapped in hilarious fashion. “For a hefty fee I’m on your record, like Bob Costas.”

For those of you who don’t know, the song that mentions Costas is “Chicken and Beer.” I don’t know if he was adjusting his ear pierce or motioning like he had a blunt tucked behind his ear, but I’m going to assume the latter for my own entertainment. Costas then said he was so flattered by the shout-out from Ludacris that he could die a happy man today.

“It was at that point where I said to myself, ‘If I step off a curb right now and get hit by a bus I’ve lived a full life. It’s all good,’” he said.

After watching this clip, I feel the exact same way.

H/T Twitter/Drew Silva

Stan Musial was an exceptional ballplayer and by many accounts exceptional human being. It was fitting that he was eulogized in an exceptional manner.

Veteran sportscaster and St. Louis native Bob Costas spoke for over 19 minutes at the funeral for Musial Saturday, a week after the Baseball Hall of Famer died at the age of 92. Costas says he spoke at the request of Musial, who asked him late in life to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.

Costas discussed the underrated nature of Musial’s playing career. He noted that while Musial had excellent overall numbers, there was no single stat from his career that stood out, nor were there any remarkable or captivating aspects of his personality.

“It seems that all that Stan had going for him was more than two decades of sustained excellence as a ballplayer, and nine decades as a thoroughly decent human being,” noted Costas.

Costas also talked about the strong connection Musial had to St. Louis, and how the two were great matches for each other.

“He remained the perfect embodiment of baseball in the city where baseball matters the most.”

19 minutes is a long time to spend watching a video, so if you are unable to sit through the whole thing, we highly suggest you skip to the 8:00 mark where Costas tells a great story about Musial breaking a color barrier in an All-Star Game clubhouse.

According to Costas, at one of the all-star games in the 1950s, several black members of the NL All-Star team — guys like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson and Ernie Banks — were gathered in a corner of the NL clubhouse playing cards. They kept to themselves likely because they did not feel welcome. As the story goes, Musial walked over to the group and asked them to deal him in for their next hand. As Costas says, that was Musial’s way of telling the players they were welcome.

Costas cried a bit while telling that story, and it was hard not to get caught up in the emotion and cry with him.

Costas delivered a wonderful tribute to someone who by many accounts was a wonderful man.

Video via KTVI/FOX2
H/T Deadspin

One local news anchor was not happy with NBC’s Bob Costas for apparently going over his designated time frame last week during Olympics coverage, so he spent the first minute of his newscast ripping into the veteran broadcaster.

Dan Hicken, who as been the sports director of 12 News in Jacksonville since 1991, ranted about Costas taking up too much time doing Olympics coverage.

“Bob doesn’t know that 12 o’clock means 12 o’clock,” Hicken ranted. “It doesn’t mean 12:02, it doesn’t mean 12:04, it certaintly doesn’t mean 12:07. Bob, when it’s 12 o’clock, you say ‘goodnight.’”

“I love him, though,” Hicken said. “He’s a great broadcaster.”

So maybe Hicken isn’t so crazy after all? Yes he is. He apparently began railing on Costas via Twitter well before his TV meltdown.

Read The Rest of the Story…

The 2012 Olympic Games mark the 40th anniversary of one of the most tragic events in the history of international competition. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by a Palestinian terrorist organization known as Black September. Two athletes were killed initially and nine others were later killed after being taken hostage. Shortly after the hostages were taken, the Palestinians demanded that the 234 prisoners being held in Israeli jails be released. The nine hostages — along with five of the eight members in Black September — were killed during a failed rescue attempt.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected Israel’s initial request to pay tribute to the athletes during the Opening Ceremony and has rejected several appeals since. IOC President Jacques Rogge simply explained that “the IOC has officially paid tribute to the memory of the athletes on several occasions.”

This has not pleased Bob Costas, who is planning to acknowledge the 40th anniversary of the tragic event when the Israeli national team enters the Olympic Stadium on Friday. Costas, who has never been shy about speaking his mind, described his plans to The Hollywood Reporter and called the IOC’s decision “baffling.”

“I intend to note that the IOC denied the request,” he explained. “Many people find that denial more than puzzling but insensitive. Here’s a minute of silence right now.”

It will be interesting to see how NBC reacts to the somewhat controversial move by Costas, but it certainly sounds like he is doing the right thing. A political disagreement cost 11 athletes their lives 40 years ago at the same event that is about to take place. It’s tough to imagine what the harm would be in acknowledging those victims.

H/T Deadspin

Good thing MLB Network isn’t an over-the-air channel, because I do believe you can get in trouble for saying “son of a b****” on TV, which is exactly what Bob Costas did. I’m not even kidding. Of all sports broadcasters around, I’d probably put Costas in the same category as Vin Scully and Dick Enberg for guys I’d least expect to hear a dirty word or phrase come from. Here’s the video:

That video was aired Thursday on MLB Network and it featured Costas providing Hall of Fame thoughts to Matt Vasgersian. To clarify the title of this post, Costas actually says Cobb was by all accounts an SOB, but that’s not really our concern. The simple stunner is that he said “Ty Cobb by many accounts was the worst son of a bitch who ever lived.” As I wrote on twitter, I didn’t know he had that in him. Then again, he is friends with Buzz Bissinger, so I guess that makes anything possible.

For more broadcasting flubs, go here.