I don´t think I´ve ever seen Bob Costas, so I googled. His height comes up as short as 5´3" and as tall as 5´9".

Wiki says: Following high school, he was majoring in communications and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University, before he dropped out of school.

There´s the explanation! Rhetoric is defined as: 2.Language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but is often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content

No wonder he ended up doing sports commentary.

Back in the early 90s I had a 10ft sat dish that would pick up network live feeds that weren´t meant to be seen by the general public. I´ve seen Costas getting his make up applied and it was obvious what a prima donna he was. Never have been able to tolerate him.

No kidding!

Consider Keith Olbermann, for starters.

Full disclosure, I dye my hair. But every time I see Costas´ laughable hair dye job, I wonder ´shouldn´t he be able to afford better?´ And don´t get me started on that horrible toop he wears. As far as the obvious plastic surgery, it´s hard enough to do it well on women , but it rarely works on men. Short, bald , & plastic is no way to go through life, Costas! Phony.

Re poster comments: The same can be said about the Hollywood airheads and others in show business.

Al and Cris are among the good guys. I wonder what they thought about Costas´ bedwetting rant.

Why do you think they didn´t want Rush?????

I´m not alone in flippantly calling sports journos "jock sniffers", it´s not a throw away cheap insult. I´ve worked in news, been in locker rooms and seen the interaction between the jocks and journos. It can be very strange and uncomfortable.

Not to say there hasn´t been great writing about athletics, there has.

Somewhere along the way, sports became a conduit for bigger sociological agendas from the media. As slanted as general news is, sports news is worse. Today it´s a runaway train.

Only 90 percent?

90%? 95 bid here

1. There´s no doubt the evidence supports Levin´s contention.

They all seem sure that the very, very best players in any and every sport played in the last 10 or 15 years. The lack of perspective, not to mention any depth of knowledge on a sport´s history, is jaw-dropping.

2. "Smart" sportscasters -- some are certainly much smarter than others, but without engaging them in a ranging conversation, it´s hard to tell how much of that apparent intelligence is real. I´d add Chris Berman and Tom Jackson to the list, and agree on Collinsworth.

3. Abuse and ignorance of language: how many "degrees" of "unique" do we hear from them in, say, a week? It means "one of a kind." How can something be "sort of one of a kind"? While this next goes double for jock-to-sportscaster converts, it applies to the SCs, too: how many hours a day, or week, does a pro athlete devote to both game specific skills and general fitness? OK, now how many hours a week do these people who "earn their livings" using English devote to language competence? I´d bet not one in ten spends a single hour.

4. "Dead air." Shut up! Shut up! We know he made the catch. We just saw it! What´s worse than "dead air"? Deadening air!

5. Clothes: my eyes! My eyes! Plaid suit, checked shirt, and striped tie! Tie knots big as my fist [Merrill -- Pratt knot!] And those wacky wide-spread collars that look like the wings of a landing seagull! Where is Gallagher when we need him?

Calling Costas a ´hobbit´ is an insult to Hobbits everywhere.

Boy Levin sure likes the word stupid. I wonder how many other words he knows.

While most sportscasters are either blowhards of the first rank or rank morons, often the BEST and most objective writing is found on the sports page. But then again those guys write and the other ones just talk.

Why was Bob Costas given 30 minutes to rant his politics during a football game?

LOL, #11. Well said by you and Mark. Helps to relieve the aggravation caused by "that little hobbit".

He works for NBC clue #1

#16: Thanks very much.

I admit my #11 was fun, and let me air a few pet peeves.