Distinguished journalists Costas, Ley dish on media business, Kaepernick, NBA/China, more
Bob Costas and Bob Ley - probably the two most intelligent, articulate TV sports journalists of our era - sat on a stage inside an auditorium at Seton Hall University in New Jersey on Monday, addressing the state of sports media and other issues with a level of depth and substance that is too often lacking in our business.
Ley, in June, retired after nearly 40 years as an ESPN anchor and as the longtime host of ESPN’s award-winning Outside The Lines. And Costas, who left NBC in 2018, has appeared on television this year only as a play-by-play announcer for MLB Network, though he suggested that next year he likely will have the opportunity to again do the type of commentary and long-form interviews that have distinguished his work.
During the forum on Monday, Costas was particularly blunt in discussing his industry and some polarizing issues in sports. Among his comments:
▪ Costas said he told NBC that he would like to interview NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during coverage of the 2018 Super Bowl, and his suspicion is that NBC executives asked Goodell casually but never pressed the issue with the reluctant commissioner.
Costas said this is what he would have liked for NBC to have told Goodell when he refused to do an interview: “‘Hey, we pay your league billions of dollars. You ducked us in 2015 and every regular season since. Bob has politely asked when do you want to do it?’”
Costas said the “NFL is the only business relationship where the buyer has to continually flatter the seller. And the commissioner of the NFL gets to say, no, I’m not doing an interview on The Super Bowl.”
Costas - who left NBC midway through last year after doing the Triple Crown races -said he was not fired by NBC and he did not resign.
“I left NBC because we mutually agreed that they were no longer inclined to do the things I was interested at this stage in my career of doing.” He enjoyed doing a journalism-heavy show on NBCSN, but that show was canceled.
“It was disappointing to me when I signed my last contract, they stopped doing the shows,” he said. “I would have been perfectly content to stay [otherwise]. But there was no place for me to do the things that at this point in my life would be gratifying.”
▪ Costas disapproves of the NBA’s handling of Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s preseason tweet in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, which drew the ire of the government in mainland China, where the NBA does business.
“If free speech is a core value of the NBA, then so too is basic human rights,” Costas said. “Not only did Daryl Morey have the right [to speak], but how was he not right? Nobody in the NBA said that forthrightly [that] ‘we are in that market but we will affirmatively state we do not approve of policies that oppress human right and China is one of the greatest violators of human rights on the planet.’ I would prefer they would say that.”
▪ Ley asked Costas about the appetite of sports fans for thoughtful dialogue and analysis of important issues.
“Cable outlets are the place for that,” Costas said. “ESPN spends the day debating questions they make up. In May,... the question is who’s under more pressure - [Cowboys coach] Jason Garrett or [quarterback] Dak Prescott.”
Costas cited ESPN’s E-60 and Outside the Lines and CBS Sports Network’s 60 Minutes Sports as bastions of good journalism, and said HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel has been going strong for a quarter century; that’s the gold standard.
“On the networks their feeling is people tune in to see the games, the action. The only thing the networks - ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox - do is acknowledge issues but they will not delve into them or run the risk of alienating one portion or another of their audience.”
▪ Costas said Fox should have acknowledged when President Trump was booed vociferously during a commercial break in the World Series, and CBS should have acknowledged when he was cheered during the Alabama-LSU game last weekend.
On the stick to sports argument that sports journalists often hear, Costas said: “Stick to sports generally comes from a right of center crowd because they don’t want these social issues to be addressed. When you are saying what they want to hear, the floor is yours ... [Fomer MLB pitcher] Curt Schilling is on Fox. [Former Indiana coach] Bob Knight has been on Fox. Knight is a Trump supporter and right wing guy and he had the microphone anytime he wanted. This is so hypocritical. [It’s actually] stick to sports unless you’re saying what I want to hear.”
▪ On Colin Kaepernick: “First of all, the issue that he’s calling attention to is a legitimate and important issue. And I give him credit for giving on his own, proving that he’s walked the walk. I think it doesn’t diminish the respect for that when you say that he’s not necessarily the heir to Muhammad Ali or Arthur Ashe.
“Here’s a guy who says: ‘I don’t vote because the oppressor will never allow you to vote your way out of your oppression.’ Well I guess it doesn’t matter to him when you first kneeled, Barack Obama was president, and then Donald Trump who vilifies him and others like him is the President of the United States. If you’re going to pick socks that depict cops, not some cops but all cops, as pigs, you’re going to diminish the credibility of your own message....
“There are some people who respect the issue and will honestly say, ‘choose any other venue,’ but the anthem represents not only the nation’s flaws and shortcomings, because until a country becomes utopia every country has its flaws and shortcomings, it also represents this country’s ideals and aspirations. When you see a 98 year old veteran on a harmonica the other day at Madison Square Garden, I don’t care where you fall on the political spectrum, that gives you goosebumps.
“And you realize to a lot of decent Americans, Americans who don’t want Colin Kaepernick or people who superficially look like him to be oppressed in any way, that song means something else. Colin Kaepernick cannot expect that what he intends will be what people universally get from it.
“On the other hand, I think that the negative response has been so irrational and over the top. Think of it this way, if any team signed Colin Kaepernick, and I don’t know about now, but in 2017-2018, it’s ridiculous to think how Colin Kaepernick was not one of the 100 most eligible quarterbacks in America. You got 32 teams, 64 quarterbacks, training camp injuries, guys running in and out, and when you think some of the guys [who signed instead of Kaepernick].
“… He was clearly blackballed, but, think of some of the players the Bengals have drafted, think of Tyreek Hill and Kareem Hunt, when those guys who were guilty of domestic violence and others with long rap sheets. Pacman Jones played on multiple teams, he was a multiple offender, he was a criminal. Were there protests outside the stadium? Did he get taken off his team? There’s a weird disconnect here, we meaning the public, that have a more negative response to Colin Kaepernick than we do to criminals, especially criminals who get into the end zone for our team.”
Here’s a link to the Costas/Ley symposium, which I would recommend; they touched on several other issues not addressed here, including new media, Costas’ commentary about the merits of a Redskins name change, important lessons learned in their careers, more on Costas’ NBC departure, increased opportunities for women in the industry and Costas’ eulogy to Mickey Mantle and more.
ANOTHER RADIO CHANGE
790 The Ticket dropped Brian “The Beast” London, a morning host and the station’s assistant program director. London was told his position was being eliminated.
“Most fun and satisfying thing I’ve done in my 25-year radio career was work with Brendan Tobin, Leroy Hoard and Robbie Cambo every day,” London said. “They are superstars and I will miss our hijinx and shenanigans.
“Also want to thank [790 and WQAM-560 program director Len Weiner], who has been the best boss, mentor, friend, champion of mine and big brother I’ve ever had.”
London, Tobin and Hoard switched from early afternoons to mornings in August as part of major changes that also included the dismissal of hosts Curtis Stevenson, Josh Friedman and Alex Donno. That followed the earlier departure of morning host Brett Romberg.
Donno is working as a freelancer for the station on UM and Panthers coverage.
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 7:11 PM.
