hobart football coach under investigation. What do you think baseball needs to do for the next generation? For the better and for the worse. Bob Foster, a devastating puncher who was one of boxings most dominant light-heavyweight champions but failed in his quest to capture a heavyweight title when he was knocked out by Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, died on Saturday in Albuquerque. His time in the spotlight, from the early nineteen-eighties to this past year, coincided with the networks glory years, when NBCs Olympics package insured that Costas was the most recognizable face of those games. Bringing it up through this current issue, you are staying on good terms with NBC, but also in some ways making clear that you had a disagreement that led to you not having a role there. It didn't take long for Costas to hear from his bosses: Why did he need to take such a gratuitous potshot at NBC's biggest business partner? There are a lot of people out there who have no credentials, no credibility, no accountability. The film told the story of the NFL's attempts to discredit research tying brain damage to football, and Bob Costas wanted to address it on national television. Two months after Costas' "Concussion" essay was rejected and two weeks after he ridiculed the "Football is Family" ads, the NFL announced a contract with NBC to air five Thursday night games in each of the following two seasons. Not an invalid one. I dont care how capable Joe Buck is, and hes very capable, and its amazing that he was able to do an excellent job on both and still be fresh in the eighteenth inning of a marathon game. Hobart's stats have been entered for the 42-25 win @ Highland on 10/28/2022 7:00 PM. And then, subsequently, their explanation for this is, as if it explains everything, is Mr. Goodell hasnt done an interview for any of the four Super Bowls that NBC has done since hes been commissioner. Published Jan. 10, 2022 Updated Jan. 13, 2022. Why Costas was removed from NBC's Super Bowl telecast (2:19), OTL: The inside story of how Bob Costas got yanked from the Super Bowl, QB Young 5-10 1/8, 204 pounds at NFL combine, Horns' Robinson: Versatility worthy of early pick, Edey leads Wooden finalists; Bama's Miller off list, 'Not going out this way': Nets, down 28, stun C's, Scherzer tries to test pitch clock limits, gets balk, Sources: Patriots tell QB Hoyer he's being cut, Shiffrin, in fifth, gets 'big goal' with overall title, Ledecky sees 9-year win streak in U.S. snapped, Inside the long-awaited return of Jon Jones and his quest for heavyweight glory, The future of the NFL combine: Is there really a chance it could end forever? When he's not on the sidelines trying to help the Brickies impose their will at the line of scrimmage, Foster is working as a firefighter and emergency medical technician for the Portage Fire Department. Costas, who is sixty-six, now works for the MLB network, where he calls games and does interviews. This would not only be journalistically responsible, it would be very good television and probably one of the highest-rated things in the entire pregame. Everyone walks on eggshells around the NFL.". The network was paying the NFL billions to air games on Sunday nights. Its just timing and leverage, he once said in accounting for his fearsome left hook. What do you think, though, about that larger critique of you having a role in football while you had moral qualms about it? Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. And, in the case of Ali, he put so much more on the line. Did I say Billie Jean King? He wrote, "To its credit, the NFL now has put millions into medical research and the possibility of improving equipment. in particular. At the start of the season, the NFL had introduced an ad campaign called "Football is Family." And it isn't even close.". The movie was set largely in Pittsburgh, and former Steelers great Mike Webster was a major character in the story. Game Seven. This isnt a tortured rationalization; its a damned good reason. This is it. Which non-quarterback group will define each top-25 team's season? As it happened, only a month later, like I kind of expected, Fox bought up all the World Series rights. It contains the billions of dollars that we're going to pay you for the right and privilege to televise your games. Foster, who was stripped of his W.B.A. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. What I tried to do was, when there was an interview that could be done, I tried to ask the pertinent questions, and when there was an opportunity for an essay, I tried to present my best understanding of that issue, maybe in a way that others werent inclined to doon the network level. And so the idea that sports and politics do not intersect is insane. And when, in 2015, NBC, understandably, because they have their prerogatives and I have my own concerns and they dont always coincide, said that they couldnt air the proposed essay that would have roughly coincided with the premire of the Will Smith concussion movieit was at that point that I realized, since the reason for that was that they were in negotiations for Thursday Night Football, that those windows of opportunity to address these subjects in front of the largest possible audience were closing and getting ever narrower. In a New York Times piece about the interview, TV critic Richard Sandomir wrote: "Nothing quite so controversial occurs Wednesday at 9 p.m. during 'Prelude to the Games,' the two-hour Olympic preview show produced by Sports Illustrated TV for NBC. Eventually, sooner rather than later, Ill go back to doing something thats a hybrid of what I used to do on HBO and what I did on Later. And theres always been an intersection of sports and society, sports and issues beyond the playing field. The 2005 South Central graduate, who now serves as Hobart's offensive line coach, has always viewed life and football through the same lens. In the late eighties and early nineties, he hosted a talk show, Later, that followed Late Night with David Letterman, and he frequently filled in for other talk-show hosts and anchors. NBC was scheduled to air Indianapolis at Pittsburgh on Dec. 6. Im not comparing myself in quality, but there was some Dick Cavett in me and there was some Jim McKay in me and there was some Vin Scully in there. And then you throw in social media, the Twitterverse, and everything else. Costas also was concerned with what internet trolls and commenters might say about him after they read the story. IN DECEMBER 2015, the movie "Concussion" was set for a Christmas Day release in nearly 3,000 theaters across America. No, it literally happened. So some kid right now is doing AAA baseball, and hell be the voice someday of the Padres, the Mets, the Cubs, or whomever, and its still the same basic skill set. But asked about apartheid before the fight, which came days after Arthur Ashe was defeated by Jimmy Connors in South Africas first interracial mens tennis championship event, he stayed away from the issue. I dont know that theres any one consistent pattern. Well, in many ways, the best thing I ever did was Later. It had a texture to it. Id be called upon for essays or commentary or special events or special interviews that would seem to be a good fit for me. What happens to the people he is said to have paidand the unknown numbers like them? "I think the words were, 'You've crossed the line,'" says Costas, who says he no longer has the text. I have no reason to say otherwise. "Commissioner Goodell has done one sit-down interview in the last five years with the network airing the Super Bowl," says McCarthy. Bob Foster was a standout on his high school football team, but he chose boxing over football. Do you think that thats a fair criticism, in either case? He was moved by the film and even thought Will Smith might earn an Oscar nod for his performance as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who had ignited the NFL's concussion crisis a decade earlier by first positing that former players had died with a brain disease caused by football. Plus, I will say that the networks do not have investigative units in their sports departments. games, the faster style of play that leads to more dramatic head and neck injuries, and the potential long-term damage to players' brains. So in 2005, cognizant of CBS's free fall, NBC committed $3.6 billion over the coming six seasons to get back into the NFL fold. After joining the network at age 27 in 1979, he had become one of NBC's signature go-to voices. As part of every broadcast, Costas would take two minutes at halftime to speak directly to the program's 18 million viewers about the NFL issues of the day. issue. So I happily agreed with them and we quietly moved on from it. Weve hit a point of diminishing returns; lets just close it out so that I can go someplace to do the kind of long-form interviews and the kind of essays and commentary and programming that I used to do at other times in my career and would still like to do. This is just a square-peg-in-a-round-hole situation. Every time he clocks in, Foster doesn't know what he'll have to face. title for a time in a dispute over whom he should defend it against, retired after his last unified title defense when, as the champion, he was awarded the victory in a draw with Jorge Victor Ahumada of Argentina in June 1974. Police said they are investigating claims of inappropriate. HOME; INTERIORS; EXTERIORS; OFFICE & PORTRAITS; PUBLICITY/EVENTS; CONSTRUCTION; INFO But, as ever, there are issues, and this is our opportunity to get to it, so lets do it. Gary Bettman [the N.H.L. Im sure if I was still doing the N.B.A., Adam Silver [the current N.B.A. Im not sidestepping it, but the truth is that, in my position over the last many years, Im not involved in the day-to-day coverage of much of this stuff. Subscribe to Stathead Football: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Pro Football Reference Database. Foster successfully defended the title 14 times before his first retirement, in 1974. Credit. Follow. Still, he says he and NBC recognized that pulling him off the Super Bowl would raise questions. The impact in popular culture and the brands of these athletes seem to be through the roof. I did a couple of essays for them, subsequent to that. It's like, 'You know I sort of have to do this. You know the list. He offered major contracts that backfired to offensive tackle Nate Solder and the receivers Golden Tate and Kenny Golladay. Bob Foster after knocking out the light-heavyweight champion Dick Tiger during the fourth round in 1968. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Friday, March 3, 2:32PM. "NBC Decides It Can't Live Without Football," declared a headline in The New York Times. For the better part of a year, during dozens of conversations with Outside the Lines -- short ones, long ones, in person, on the phone -- Costas made a point of noting how, in spite of everything he was saying, he had no issues with anyone at NBC. Im grateful to them. championship. Posts will be signed with the first and last initial and home city associated I have long had ambivalent feelings about football, so at this point, it's better to leave the hosting to those who are more enthusiastic about it. Mills started 11 games to Taylors six, and the Texans finished with a 4-13 record, nearly matching the 4-12 total compiled under Bill OBrien (and Romeo Crennel) in the 16-game 2020 season. commissioner] never said no. It doesnt mean that he cant, if he should return to the field, take a knee if he feels like taking a knee. NEW . ", Wladika recalled an incident during the 1993 NBA Finals when Costas interviewed then-commissioner David Stern in the throes of gambling allegations involving Michael Jordan. How do you think the dynamics between the broadcast networks, the major networks, including Fox and ESPN, and the sports leagues have changed since you got into broadcasting? Because of the stakes, the NFL has enormous influence over how networks portray the sport. Jon Gruden of the Raiders and Urban Meyer of the Jaguars left their posts earlier in the season. Yes, 'Football is Family.' Finals. ESPN does it with Outside the Lines and E:60. But, when you talk about the network that is covering the event, theyll do journalism, if someone ferrets out who the next coach of the Dolphins is going to be, or what this trade is going to be, or what the disciplines going to be for this player whos been suspended for domestic violence.