Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Bob Costas is always a bit melodramatic for my taste, but when he goes political, it's particularly embarrassing.
As he did during the halftime of the Cowboys-Eagles game tonight when he spoke in favor of gun control. A few selected tweets in response to his rant:
@THATAllenCovert: Bob Costas should stick to sports and being short. I'll stick to being a safe gun owner. Responsibility lies with the individual.
@BritHume: Bob Costas quotes KC sportswriter to make gun control case re: Jovan Belcher murder/suicide. Cites all known gun control cliches.
@ExurbanKevin: Relax, Costas, there's NO chance the average blue-collar football fan also owns guns. Oh, wait...
In another tweet, Allen Covert put it well: "Don't exploit a tragedy to forward your agenda."
These are wise words for each and every one of us. It may be our instinct when something happens to spin it as confirmation of our biases, but we should resist that temptation. Allow the dead their burial. Take a few days. Learn a bit more about the situation. Read the Constitution. Think about the complexity of the problem. But don't go Keith Olbermann. It never goes well.
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Jun '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Yeah, I'm having a lousy day of football watching. This morning a rain storm knocked out my cable, causing me to miss most of my Niners game. Though considering how poorly they played you could argue that was an act of divine mercy. Now that my cable's back on, I have to sit through a lecture on gun control. Can't we even have one politics-free zone in American life?
Jul '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Yeah, I was going to post on this very topic. Couldn't bring Myself to gather a coherent thought after listening to Costner. UNbelivable.
Two story buildings don't enhance Our safety. Pools of water don't enhance Our safety. Automobiles don't enhance Our safety.
Whatever. Y'all get the idea.
Asininity on parade.
Aug '12
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Mrs. Hemmingway: There is no good way to go Keith Olbermann. Not in any possible universe.
Oct '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Jay Nordlinger often mentions the Sportcaster syndrome (I don't think he calls it that) in his Impromptus - basically sportswriters who feel they need to comment on politics to be significant and show they're serious people. I think part of it is the principle that you never get more serious than what you assume the audience seeks you out for: if you're a political writer and you make a sports reference, it's probably okay, since it's a lighter mood, but if you're a sports writer, you can't darken it up with politics. There are exceptions - George Will handles both tenderly - but I think it's true in most instances.
Jan '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
The 40-some percent who pay no taxes outvoted the 40-some percent who cling to their bibles and guns.
The bible helps us earn what we have. The guns help us keep what we earn.
Their gonna try and take all we have.
May '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Whom do you believe?
Sep '12
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
A firearm is an equalizer. It permits a 90-lb woman to defend against a 250-lb assailant.
Therefore, gun control advocates want more women to be beaten and raped.
Mar '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
That was both tasteless and tactless, in the proud tradition of NBC.
I neither know nor care where Bob Costas lives, but he probably has a security service watching over him while he sleeps.
Nov '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
That Whitlock piece is disgusting.
Self-awareness much?
I'm fairly certain that a 6'2, 228 lb 25 year old man who shoots his girlfriend 9 times would have found other means than a firearm to end her life. I'm also fairly certain that armchair psychoconjecture about murder/suicides is a little bit tone deaf.
Jun '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
I knew I felt some kinship for Allen Covert. I've been one of his Twitter followers for quite awhile now.
Jul '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
...and wearing make-up by the gallon.
On camera that man has rosier cheeks than a chubby toddler in a roomful of pinch-happy great aunts.
Oct '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
I couldn't believe he was scoring cheap political points when the two bodies were still warm.
He talks about how guns enhance our drive for violence. Let me see...what else can do that? Hmmm....how about...FOOTBALL! Why else are big hits such a big part of the game? Football doesn't "enhance" anyone's safety either.
I'm sure if Belcher decided to go into a different career path he might not have killed anyone. I'm sure if the two lived in different cities they might not have died. And on and on it goes. There are a million things that could have changed the path of their two lives.
Dec '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Frankly, I've lost patience with most sportscasters; it's all about them and the game seems to be the secondary attraction.
Exceptions from the good ole days: Cheryl Miller and Steve Young.
Edited on December 3, 2012 at 6:14amOct '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
One of the better snarky tweets on the subject:
#BobCostas blaming guns for murders is like me blaming his microphone for his monotonous crappy commentary.
Jan '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Yes, we all know how accurate "instant reflections" have turned out to be.
Oct '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
If Bob Costas wanted a job at MSNBC I'm sure all he had to do was call Keith Olbermann and they would have set him up with something. He didn't have to cook up such an elaborate media stunt to get attention.
Nov '11
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
I reckon we can send old Costas and Whitlock over to Syria, they'll have that mess straightened out in no time. Ba'athism does not enhance our safety! Give these men the Nobel Peace Prize now, they're at least as deserving as the EU.
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
"Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way"
Wait, what's a good way to go Olbermann?
Jun '10
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
A perfect example: Ted Johnson recently opened his column for Niner Insider with this:
You see, he's a serious person! He drinks single malt and ponders deep questions! Never mind that the rest of the column is all about NFL mock drafts...
Oct '12
Re: Bob Costas Goes Keith Olbermann -- And Not In A Good Way
Costas said, "Those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of truly achieving perspective." But exploiting sports' human interest stories is Costas' own bread an butter. What is he doing in this segment, but what he always does these days? He's enveighing down as a moral force, using sporting events to shape opinion and to promote his views. Those views would be his refined, gauged, politically correct views calculated to evoke the highest targeted lauds. Once, years ago, Costas was a remarkable sportscaster. You'd be hard pressed to find a better baseball color man, a guy who knew the game, one familiar with the vast arcana of baseball lore, and one also genuinely and infectuously excited about all things going down on the field. That Bob Costas is long dead. Now he's an absurd schoolmarm, with a stuttering strange screen mannerism and weird makeup. And he's got nothing to add intellectually or morally. All he's got is strained theatrics. So, we have a tragedy among the Kansas City Chiefs? What do we do, but wheel out Bob Costas to exploit it to the hilt.