Bob Costas has 19 Emmys. Bob Costas loves baseball. Bob Costas is short. Bob Costas is celebrated for what he does. And as the MLB.com story indicates, now he has another job in addition to his NBC gig. He is joining the new MLB Network as a host for special events and as a play by play guy.
The Fan is trying to get a grip on his emotional response to all this news. The first emotion is: "What the heck is the MLB Network? What is it going to be and what will it be replacing?" Looks like a Google Search is in order so at least this blog can sound educated.
The second emotion is about Costas and the emotion is: "Meh." Costas just never seems real to this sports Fan. He seemed out of kilter as the straight man in the NFL host job as he was paid to look amused by all the goofs around him. He seemed rather wasted in the job actually. He just isn't a host that commands the attention of this viewer. He is either uber-serious or tries to wax poetic and neither seem to work as the Fan watches. In other words, he doesn't reach this viewer.
He is better served as a play by play guy and it seems to be what he does best. But even then, he tries to build up his games almost to the point of hyperbole combining a mix of styles from other announcers who must have been his idols. Perhaps it is his baby face or his youthful appearance, but that doesn't seem to be quite it. Although they are aptly mentioned for the simile the Fan is reaching for here. Costas seems like a kid pretending to grow up to be an announcer. He seems relaxed and natural, but he tries too hard and it doesn't feel natural.
At least not natural in a Vin Scully or Jack Buck sort of way. He is more of the same type of announcer that Joe Buck is. It's like they grew up immersed in the feel of a broadcast, both as big fans of the sport and announce like they think they should announce but it just comes across as pretty pretense.
The only way to describe it is like a writer has a voice. At least that is what we learn in university when we study this sort of thing. A writer has to find his or her own voice in order to write genuinely and movingly. But the danger is in imitating writers that influenced the young writer. Too often young writers find trouble reaching beyond their own writing heroes and never get beyond imitation to find a genuine voice. This writer (whose voice may or may not be his own) sees a parallel with Joe Buck and Bob Costas.
Skip Carey avoided that problem though he followed in Harry's footsteps. He had a unique voice and if the listener did not know of his famous father, the listener never would never have linked the two. Joe Buck and Bob Costas simply sound like an amalgam of what they grew up hearing.
Perhaps time will change that along with age and wisdom. But for the short term, Costas doesn't inspire at least this corner of the world to want to work too hard to figure out if the MLB Network is worth whatever it is they are doing for whatever it is they are going to charge for it.
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