Bob Costas

Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952 in Queens, New York) is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s. Costas is known for his knowledge of sports and his quick wit.

Bob Costas has won four National Sportcaster of the Year awards (from the National Sportcaster and Sportswriter Association) and three 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 basketball.

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 and Tony Kubek (from 1983-1989), Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker (from 1994-2000) for baseball telecasts.

Costas hosted Later with Bob Costas on NBC, 1988-1994, and syndicated radio program Costas Coast to Coast, 1986-1996. 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. Costas has been fairly outspoken about his disdain for Major League Baseball instituting a wild card. Costas believes that it diminishes the integrity of winning a divisional pennant.

Costas has frontlined many Olympics broadcasts for NBC. They include the Olympics in Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, Sydney in 2000, Salt Lake City in 2002, and Athens in 2004. A personal influence on Costas has been legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay, who hosted many Olympics for ABC from the sixites to eighties.

In 2001, Costas was hired by HBO to host a 12 week series called On the Record with Bob Costas. On the Record.. is similar to the format of the old Later program as they both concentrated on in-depth celebrity interviews. In 2002, Costas began a stint as co-host of HBO's long running series Inside the NFL. In 2005, On the Record... 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.

Costas earned his bachelor's degree in 1974 from Syracuse University. Prior to joining NBC in 1980, he was a play-by-play announcer for the Spirits of St. Louis of the American Basketball Association, and was briefly employed by the CBS network.

In June of 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. [1] (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/09/entertainment/main700753.shtml)

Trivia

• 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.

• For his 40th birthday, Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa allowed Costas to manage the club during a spring training game.

• Bob Costas is of Greek and Irish heritage.

• While calling the 1989 American League Championship Series between Oakland and Toronto for NBC, unexpectedly came under fire by many Blue Jay fans. After the A's won the first two games, Costas said the Blue Jays had better win Game 3 (which they did, as it turned out) or "Elvis has a better chance of coming back than the Blue Jays." The Blue Jay fans decided to retaliate by displaying signs reading "Nuke Bob Costas" around the SkyDome.

• Costas moved from being NBC's studio anchor for NBA telecasts to the lead play-by-play man after Marv Albert's unexpected dismissal due to personal issues. Costas made his debut on Christmas Day of 1997 for a game against the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. Perhaps as a way to return the favor to Costas (for agreeing to step in for Marv Albert), NBC allowed Costas to front a weekly sports interview series (which would ultimately become On the Record with Bob Costas) for HBO.

• 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).

• To fulfill a deal he made on The Late Late Show (CBS) 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 (http://snl.jt.org/imp.php?i=209) several times by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live.

• Costas appeared as himself along with his rival/counterpart Al Michaels from ABC in the movie Baseketball.

• Costas delivered the eulogy at Mickey Mantle's funeral. Costas has even carried a 1958 Mickey Mantle baseball card in his wallet.

External Links

• Bob Costas: Hollywood.com (http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/190332)