Costas Now (Live) on HBO

[spankdatazz22]

Did anyone else catch this show? I accidently stumbled on it 20min in but found the fascinating. The show was live, talking on various hot button subjects in sports/sports media with great panelists. It was done using a town hall format with Bob moderating. Brilliant show; I'm really looking forward to catching the show on race in sports he said he'd have later in the year.

[SPTO]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

Hmm I'll have to watch this. I have to say that Costas excels at just about everything he does. Heck, he even made the Larry King show bearable when he guest hosted a few times.

[mgoblue]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

Hmm I'll have to watch this. I have to say that Costas excels at just about everything he does. Heck, he even made the Larry King show bearable when he guest hosted a few times.

I sometimes catch Costas on the radio on Saturday nights when I'm driving somewhere...he's awesome on that medium, I wish I got HBO to see this. Costas is just great at what he does, true professional.

[EWRMETS]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

I sometimes catch Costas on the radio on Saturday nights when I'm driving somewhere...he's awesome on that medium, I wish I got HBO to see this. Costas is just great at what he does, true professional.

I've never caught his show but I imagine radio is the best format for him. The guy loves talking and is insightful, but the HBO show is too short for him to let loose on his opinions.

[spankdatazz22]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

If you're a fan of Costas, I think you'd love this. It was 90min, and he had great panelists - athletes and journalists. You'd really have to see the show to appreciate it; he was talking over specific hot-button issues in sports today:sports talk radio, ESPN's influence on sports, relationships between writers/athletes, the rise of internet sports bloggers, and race in sports were the segments I caught. There was so much that was being said I can see them dropping a segment to allow more expanded talk for the other segments. The panelists were all big names: the only two active athletes I saw on any of the segments were Michael Strahan and Brandon Edwards (Cleveland Browns). But there was Tiki Barber, Joe Buck, Dan Patrick, Mike Wilbon, John McEnroe, etc. I can't think of all the people but they were all good. Costas is a fantastic moderator and able to speak evenly to a lot of different subjects; he did a great job at keeping the segments focused.

And because it's HBO, people were free to talk openly - cursing, getting angry, etc. It was pretty fascinating stuff. I didn't know many legit sportswriters have huge issues with bloggers (I'm not a big sports blog reader). They had the guy that created www.deadspin.com confronted by [a popular sportswriter; I forget his name]. The race discussion only barely scratched the surface of the issue but it was really well done. If you like intelligent sports talk this was a great show to watch/listen to

[Sandman42]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

I heard they were having Leitch (Deadspin) and Michael Schur (KT from FJM and Mose Schrute from The Office) on. I really wanted to watch it, but I don't have HBO. Hopefully I'll be able to find it online.

[bravosfan]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

Watching a bit of it right now, I don't know or care who this one guy is but he sure is angry at blogs. Someone must feel threatened.

[pk500]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

What was Costas' take on bloggers, if he offered one? If he was anything other than anti-blog, then he's the azz-licking hypocrite I expect him to be. Costas has been on record a few times ranting about blogs and how bloggers aren't journalists and lack credibility, etc.

I find Costas to be an insufferable bore. He's full of himself and too concerned with being glib and polished than offering any substance. He ranks right up there with Jim Nantz as the empty suit of American sports broadcasting.

I need to check out this show.

Take care,
PK

[Sandman42]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

I didn't watch it, but supposedly Costas was just the moderator. He's taken an anti-blog stance in the past though so I wouldn't be surprised if he criticized blogs during the show.

The big one though was Buzz Bissinger (wrote Friday Night Lights) going on a tirade against blogs and he started cursing out Will Leitch.

[spankdatazz22]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

What was Costas' take on bloggers, if he offered one? If he was anything other than anti-blog, then he's the azz-licking hypocrite I expect him to be. Costas has been on record a few times ranting about blogs and how bloggers aren't journalists and lack credibility, etc.

I find Costas to be an insufferable bore. He's full of himself and too concerned with being glib and polished than offering any substance. He ranks right up there with Jim Nantz as the empty suit of American sports broadcasting.

I need to check out this show.

Take care,
PK

Yeah, you should definitely check out the show. With the town hall format, Costas was the moderator, so he really didn't show an opinion one way or another. He framed his questions from both perspectives - when the newspaper guy was cursing out the Deadspin guy (saying he was full of sh*t; was reading a lot of the stuff he authored) it was Costas that would reframe the question or try to keep things civil. He may have a disdain for bloggers, but it wasn't a piling on situation - he was trying to portray both sides of the argument.

When they were talking about race in sports, Costas was the only white guy on stage for that segment (was Michael Wilbon, [a journalist for a Kansas City newspaper I think - he was really good], and Chris Carter). Costas talked from a white journalist's perspective, but also talked openly about what a minefield it is for them to talk race. They all did. It was kinda sad to hear they invited Donovan McNabb to talk about the situation he got in last year and he declined. But surprisingly Chris Carter sounded the angriest; he went back to his time growing up and how black players were "guided" to stray from playing QB to playing other positions. Kellen Winslow Sr. was on tape talking differences between how his son was portrayed in the media with his motorcycle accident versus how Ben Roeslisberger was portrayed with his accident [the Kansas City guy really set Winslow Sr. straight though].

It was just really interesting to hear the different perspectives and how sports has changed relatively quickly over the past few decades. I don't mean to gush over it; it was extremely refreshing to hear truly adult conversation (this is HBO) about various hot-button sports issues

[SPTO]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

What was Costas' take on bloggers, if he offered one? If he was anything other than anti-blog, then he's the azz-licking hypocrite I expect him to be. Costas has been on record a few times ranting about blogs and how bloggers aren't journalists and lack credibility, etc.

I find Costas to be an insufferable bore. He's full of himself and too concerned with being glib and polished than offering any substance. He ranks right up there with Jim Nantz as the empty suit of American sports broadcasting.

I need to check out this show.

Take care,
PK

If your take is anywhere near the truth then thank goodness he didn't become comissioner of MLB a few years back.

[Sandman42]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

Here's a clip from the show where Bissinger comes off as a complete douchebag.

<object width="425" height="355">

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O9fCfgTjlWU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></object>

[snepp]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

Buzz Bissinger, along with Costas, are nothing more than pompous pricks.

[DrJones]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

I find Costas to be an insufferable bore. He's full of himself and too concerned with being glib and polished than offering any substance. He ranks right up there with Jim Nantz as the empty suit of American sports broadcasting.

I've met and worked with Bob Costas in the past, and I approve this message.

And I'm not alone. Another MLB personality with whom I've had dealings described Costas as "the biggest dick in the world".

[catcatch22]

Re: Costas Now (Live) on HBO

I've met and worked with Bob Costas in the past, and I approve this message.

And I'm not alone. Another MLB personality with whom I've had dealings described Costas as "the biggest dick in the world".

I like Costas and he is just an extreme professional. I love the show and it was a very interesting watch.