There’s a saying that goes “If the music’s too loud, then you’re too old” well I guess that phrase needs to be tweaked for one Bob Costas, “If the game’s not fun, and it doesn’t tap into you’re inner child, then you’re too old.”
Sunday afternoon two sub .500 teams went head to head in what was basically a meaningless game, the (24-39) Mets hosted the (28-38) Cubs, in a very generic game. A game in which the only real excitement in the first 8 and 1/2 innings came when the hapless Mets managed 3 errors on a single play in the first.
(snoozer…right?)
Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth when the Mets Triple-A call up, Kirk Nieuwenhuis came up to the plate down 3-1 and jacked a three-run, walk-off homer over the right field wall to win it for New York.
Costas found his own special way to rain on the Mets even though he was hundreds of miles away at Merion C.C., covering the 2013 Mens U.S. Open Golf Championship. During an update Costas described the Mets on field celebration as “another indication of the ongoing decline of Western Civilization.”
Bob forgot one thing… games are for the players, and their fans, not the broadcasters. The broadcasters are there to describe the joy, jubilation, angst, and defeat of every game, not to judge actions of the players based on your own pompous standards. (If there were NO games, there would be NO sports broadcasters).
The games are played by men and women who are basically kids at heart, and how do kids react? Exactly how Nieuwenhuis and his teammates reacted…spontaneously! Had Costas witnessed Jackie Robinson or Mickey Mantle react the Mets did, there’s a good chance he would’ve revered it as masterful, passionate, and touching.
.Costas has since apologized for his remark…of course he did.
Costas seems to apologize for a lot he says anymore.
Bush leauge!