Salon.com > Bob Costas

Why can Limbaugh speak, but not Costas?

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:13:00 +0000

One way to understand Bob Costas' comments about gun violence during halftime of NBC's Sunday evening football game is to interpret them as yet another example of media self-absorption. And in fact, by turning a horrific story of domestic violence and suicide into a cheap story about the overwrought reaction to a professional commentator, the national press did proudly fulfill the timeless jeremiad of "Broadcast News" to "never forget (that) we're the real story, not them."

But as repulsive and predictable as that narcissism is, it did inadvertently spotlight a significant problem plaguing our civic discourse. Call it Shut Up and Sing Syndrome.

Bob Costas slams gun culture

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Following Saturday's murder/suicide by Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, Bob Costas delivered an anti-gun monologue during Sunday Night Football halftime. In it he quoted this column by sportswriter Jason Whitlock:

The speech provoked an instant outcry on Twitter:

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Olympics recap: Michael Phelps reaches the end

Sun, 29 Jul 2012 12:24:00 +0000

I first met Michael Phelps in June 2004 when he was still an 18-year-old Olympic hopeful. I talked to him for Interview magazine, but it wasn’t much of an interview. Michael wasn’t the most reflective kid in the world – I don’t think I’m dropping any secrets here -- and it was one of the things I liked best about him. I had interviewed baseball star Alex Rodriguez a few months earlier, and every question was torture – or rather, A-Rod’s replies were tortured, as if he had to consider each word three times before saying it.

In contrast, Michael was happy to give me the first thing that came off the top of his head. For instance, when he wasn’t in his Spartan-like regimen, what did he like to gorge on? “Oh, man, give me French vanilla ice cream served in big-ass waffle cones with so many Butterfinger chips that you’ve got to fight to get to the ice cream.” He loved DMX’s “Party Up” – “especially the extended version, the one that runs for nine minutes.”

That was pretty much the interview; the kid already had an agent, who told me, “We’ve had to turn down media. Every 15 minutes in Michael’s life is accounted for.” I thought, that’s a shame, because Michael really enjoyed being a boy, and I wished he had more time to work at it.