There has been intense debate about the performance of Bob Costas in the MLB on TBS booth during the American League Division Series matchup between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals. Costas’ calls here have come under a lot of scrutiny, with some questioning his enthusiasm level, others criticizing how much he brings up the past, and others still (including ESPN New York/YES broadcaster Michael Kay) going after the critics and citing Costas’ impressive broadcasting career.
The latest notable comment here came from ESPN/SiriusXM host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. That was in an interview with Nick Kostos on Audacy’s BetQL Network ‘s You Better You Bet Thursday. There, after Kostos asked him to evaluate Costas’ performance so far, Russo went off on the Game 3 coverage Wednesday as a “George Brett documentary” given the lengthy in-game interview Jon Morosi conducted with the Royals’ legend (which drew plenty of negative comments from others as well ):
“I watched a George Brett documentary last night and a baseball game broke out— the old Rodney Dangerfield line . I mean, what are they doing? And I love George, but jeez, six questions in the middle of a playoff game?”
That wasn’t Russo’s only criticism of the TBS broadcast Wednesday. He also had a lot to say about Costas’ work on that game (which came with some on-air mistakes).
“You know, Bob had a tough night. He blew the call in left, the home run that he thought Judge hit. Obviously, the bottom of the eighth on the single and he thought it was a single and it was an out.
“He loves telling you the stories. We learned a lot about ballpark construction with the foul territory last night, too, he brought that up. You know, he’s brought up, we know enough about the ’76-’77 Yankees and Royals.
“Yeah, he’s gotten pounded here. He’s gotten pounded. I don’t read the social media that much, but I’m aware of what has been said. I feel bad for Bob because he’s a legend, he’s an all-timer, probably it bothers him.”
Russo finished this up by offering some criticism of TNT Sports’ other broadcasters, including analyst Ron Darling (working with Costas) and play-by-play voice Brian Anderson (working the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Guardians series alongside Jeff Francoeur).
“You know, Darling has to figure out where he fits in. Now, Brian Anderson screams too much for me, he’s a great, a good announcer, but he’s way over the top sometimes with some of his calls. But Bob, I think, maybe has got to let the game breathe a little bit. I’m sure he’s aware of this. But let’s see how he adapts tonight.”
Thus, Russo obviously sees Costas’ current work (or at least his work Wednesday) rather differently than Kay does. (It’s notable that Kay’s defense of Costas on his ESPN New York radio show Thursday came with a counterpoint from co-host Don La Greca, who pointed out that much of Costas’ legendary status is about his hosting work, not as much his play-by-play work.)
It’s maybe particularly interesting to hear Russo go off on the “George Brett documentary.” That’s because an often-referenced theme of Russo’s First Take appearances comes from his discussions of athletes and coaches from decades ago . (Sometimes, that even comes with criticism of excited announcers , similar to what he said about Anderson here, and contrary to many current takes on Costas.)
Of course, there is a distinction in what Costas and TBS did Wednesday and what Russo does on First Take and High Heat . Perhaps Russo wants those conversations in studio programming, but not in games. And he’s far from the only critic of the way in – game interviews are currently being handled during these playoffs. But it’s notable that the Brett interview Wednesday (which came after TBS kept showing Brett in Game 2 Monday, drawing plenty of fan and media criticism itself ) was too much for even the often-nostalgic Russo.
A big question ahead of this series was how much of the Royals-Yankees 1970s and 1980s history Costas and TBS would bring up. Apparently, the answer is “More than Chris Russo would like.”
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