How Bob Costas really feels about hosting the Olympics

When the opening ceremonies of the Torino Games get underway 4 days from now, veteran NBC Olympics host Bob Costas will be calling the action, so to speak, with Today show host Katie Couric. (Yuck. Already I can see how he'd be less than thrilled with the idea. No offense to Katie, but keep her to the morning show.)

Costas recently summed it up this way in this NY Times aricle:

What looms before Costas most immediately is a decidedly unintellectual challenge: the Winter Olympics. For Costas, who will be the host of his seventh Olympiad with NBC, the Games can be a source of embarrassment, no part more so than the opening ceremonies. Costas thinks that job would best be handled by Kofi Annan and Mary Hart.

Instead, the honor has fallen to Costas and Katie Couric. As athletes stroll through the Olympic stadium, Costas and Couric resort to a game Costas resignedly calls ‘‘tidbit Ping-Pong.’’ At the first appearance of the delegation from, say, Azerbaijan, Couric will serve up a tidbit: ‘‘Say, Bob, did you know that Azerbaijan is a leading exporter of precious metals?’’ And then Costas will bat it back: ‘‘Well, Katie, I bet President Ilham Aliyev would settle for just one precious medal. ... ’’

And on and on they go. In our phone conversation, Costas wants to make clear that the exuberance of the ceremonies is not his. As he puts it, ‘‘I feel my real job of hosting the Olympics begins on Day 2.’’

I happen to really like Costas. But generally speaking, major televised spectacles like the opening and closing ceremonies would be a lot more enjoyable if the TV hosts would just shut up so we can enjoy the show, already.

Written by torinoelle Blog about this entry

This entry has 2 comments: (Add your own)

#2 Comment from perry52
2/10/06 10:48 PM | Permalink

There are more important things to talk about. Let's think about the athletes. They are the reason we watch the "games".
#1 Comment from monponsett
2/7/06 12:01 PM | Permalink

"I tell ya, Bob... it's nice to work with a co-host that DOESN'T look like he caught the Die Slow."

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