Costas to MLB Network; Costas Now Done
Bob Costas is leaving HBO for a new television station – the MLB Network, a network that is barely a month old, in order to call some play-by-play and handle other on-air duties for the new channel.
Costas had been the host of the aptly named Costas Now on HBO, as well as hosting various events for NBC. He will keep his duties at NBC, including hosting the Olympics, but was forced to leave HBO for his new gig.
While it comes as no surprise that at some point in his career Costas would take a chance at working on baseball year round, the decision to jump in with such a new network could be considered risky.
Costas was ranked numbers six and eight by the ASA and Yahoo! Sports, respectively, in recent rankings of the greatest sportscasters of all-time. While I like Costas as a sportscaster, he just doesn’t call games anymore. There are times when he is a fantastic studio host, but most of them occurred prior to the prominence of the Internet. Since then, Costas has been more vindictive of the blogosphere and the new sports media than he has been dedicated to calling sports like he did when he was younger.
I would love to see this as an opportunity for Costas to get back to his roots of calling baseball as a true fan of the sport. I don’t want any more Joe Morgans, who are afraid of stats. I don’t want any more Joe Bucks, who admittedly don’t care for the game. And I don’t want Costas to feel like he needs to save the sport, as he’s appeared to do with regards to Barry Bonds. I just want someone that will call the game, and call it well.
When it comes to interviews and specials, I want Costas to embrace his love of the game, not take it upon himself to by the historian of the “Steroid Era.”
Among his duties at the new network, Costas will host MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas, an hour-long program that will likely be similar to Costas Now, but only about baseball. It premiers on Feb. 5 with Joe Torre as his first guest.
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