Bob Costas always looks and sounds as cool as the other side of the pillow. The flawless diction. The encyclopedic mind. The rapier wit. The meticulously parted hair.
But no one can be under control — and look so good while doing it — all the time. Not even the still boyish-looking Costas.
That’s why it’s somewhat refreshing to hear the veteran sports commentator, often characterized as an easy listening version of Howard Cosell, barking orders and raising his voice, even if it’s only for a few seconds.
“As I said, I’m not arguing with you, I’m just telling you what I already knew!”
Costas is yelling at an unknown staffer in his St. Louis office. He was chatting about “On the Record with Bob Costas,” his new sports magazine series debuting at 10 p.m. Wednesday on HBO. But something — or someone — has clearly irritated Costas. He politely excuses himself from his telephone interview.
“Tell them right now that we have to start in five minutes!” he shouts.
A few seconds pass.
“Sor-eeeeeeee,” he says sheepishly.
Bob Costas certainly doesn’t have much to apologize for. The 11-time Emmy winner is one of television’s best broadcasters and most engaging storytellers. In his 27-year career (21 with NBC Sports), Costas has covered numerous World Series, Super Bowls, NBA Finals and four Olympics. He also hosted NBC’s critically acclaimed “Later with Bob Costas,” his own late-night interview show.
But NBC no longer broadcasts football. (The outlandish XFL doesn’t count.) It also lost the rights to air Costas’ beloved Major League Baseball. And he recently bowed out of the network’s pro basketball coverage.
That means the 48-year-old New York City native has more free time on his hands than ever before. While HBO approached Costas nearly six years ago to host a sports show, only now has NBC Sports — and his lighter workload — allowed him to do it.
So, what is “On the Record?”
Well, Costas and executive producer Ross Greenburg admit it will be a “freewheeling” hybrid of many shows. It’s going to be part “Nightline.” Part “Politically Incorrect.” Part “The David Suskind Show.” Part “Later.”
For instance, Costas will chat with one well-known personality (actors, writers, directors, comedians, politicians) about his or her passion for sports. Tom Hanks, Dennis Miller and George Clooney are already lined up. Don’t be surprised if President George W. Bush drops by to talk about his collection of 250 autographed baseballs in the coming weeks. Costas will also interview a sports figure each week. New York Yankees manager Joe Torre is scheduled to be the first guest.
“On the Record,” to air for 12 weeks, will also tackle a topical issue in which Costas will host a live roundtable debate. First up: the state of the NBA. Finally, Costas will get an opportunity to wax poetic during his weekly commentary.
Greenburg says the live show has been tailored to Costas’ strengths.
“He’s a one-of-a-kind talent,” Greenburg says. “He has this uncanny ability to connect to the viewer and cut across all demographics. He’s ready to explode. As a play-by-play broadcaster, he had to focus on the game at hand and wasn’t able to give his perspective on a variety of subjects. He had to give you Derek Jeter’s batting average and fill you in on what kind of season Jeter is having at the plate rather than dive in on the kinds of issues swirling around Derek Jeter the ballplayer.”
Although Costas is too smart to publicly bad-mouth NBC for not letting him do the HBO show sooner, he will admit it’ll be more liberating for him on cable.
“There’s no place on network television to do this kind of extended program on a consistent basis given over to issues, interviews and commentaries,” he says. “Here I can do the show I always wanted to do.”
On the surface, it looks as if HBO is trying to do for Costas what CBS unsuccessfully tried with Bryant Gumbel. After all, CBS launched the newsmagazine show “Private Eye” and specifically tailored it to Gumbel’s talents as a skilled live interviewer.
“Public Eye” failed, but, as Greenburg points out, “we (HBO) did build a successful news magazine around Bryant (“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”) so we have a little better track record. There’s something about Bob’s likability factor that we’re real confident in. We’re not reinventing television here.”
Since Costas was 7, he always knew he would be a sports commentator either on television or radio. The die-hard baseball fan (Mickey Mantle was his boyhood hero) grew up loving sports. And he listened to all the legendary announcers — Red Barber, Marty Glickman, Mel Allen.
“No ballgame was complete without the soundtrack of those announcers,” Costas says. “I knew I wanted to be one of them.”
He started his broadcasting career at Syracuse University in 1970. But Costas left Syracuse in 1974, one semester shy of getting a degree in public communications, to take a job as the play-by-play voice of the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis.
“It was a big radio station and I would’ve been nuts not to take that job,” Costas recalls.
Part of what has made Costas so successful is he makes everything he does look ridiculously easy. He’s as comfortable chatting with Holocaust survivors as he is with high-priced NBA superstars. His off-the-cuff quips are funny and insightful. He doesn’t scream or have a gimmick. He just does what all good interviewers and announcers do — he listens and he’s prepared.
“It’s important for viewers to feel comfortable with you and for the person you’re interviewing to be comfortable in your presence,” he says. “I’m most at ease when I believe I’m doing exactly what I should be doing. When I feel ambivalent to any extent about the circumstances of a broadcast, I think I’m capable of doing a professional job, but . . .”
Costas’ voice trails off. Clearly he’s referring to NBC’s tape-delayed, prepackaged Sydney Olympics, which was a critical and ratings failure. Costas wasn’t happy with NBC’s decision to show most of the events on tape delay. But, he adds a network is basically in a no-win situation when covering a sports event as huge as the Olympics.
“The opening ceremonies are always tricky because I don’t think there’s one right way to do it,” he says. “Some people want it to be very reverential and solemn and for you to take due note of every country coming in. And some people are going to say, `My gosh! Can you do that for three hours?’ You need a little bit of levity, but some people are not going to be amused if that particular bit of levity happens over their ancestral country. Exactly what the balance is between the lighthearted, the factual, the current and historical is anybody’s guess.”
No one, however, has to guess whether HBO hired one of TV’s best — and coolest — sports commentators.
