I detest Bob Costas more than ever

[Auggie]

If he had real balls he would have written his own comments rather than read and paraphrase the opinion of Jason Whitlock.

Coward!

[Upton]

1. No matter how you feel on this topic..

when I turn on SNF, or any game, I don't want to see someone pushing a political agenda..If I wanted to hear comments of that sort there are plenty of other channels to choose from.

[Auggie]

2. In total agreement with you

Costas only agenda is Costas, BTW. His attempt to mitigate controversy by quoting someone else is a very cowardly act. That makes what he did twice as odious, IMO.

[joeybee12]

4. FUX Noise agreed with you...nice company...

I didn't hear what he said, but they were saying what an idiot he was.

Phuck them.

[Auggie]

5. I support gun control joeybee12 ...

but I do not support its advocacy -- nor any other non-sports related advocacy -- during a live sporting event.

[joeybee12]

8. I didn't hear what Costas said...that said...

I can't blame some people when something like this happens letting loose...

[Hoyt]

3. Whole lot better than Hanky Williams Jr BS.

[TBF]

6. I give him credit -

he is going to be publicly murdered by the NRA for those comments.

[joeybee12]

9. Just go to the Gundgeon on DU...

That'll be bad enough...

[TBF]

24. I suspect so -

I trashed that forum right after my second MIRT term was up. I really have no problem with folks hunting (where I grew up it was common and that venison was food all winter), but I fail to see the need for everyone to possess closets full of weapons designed only to kill other people.

[bluedigger]

7. I respect his willingness to speak out on a controversial topic.

But Jason Whitlock? meh.

[trumad]

10. Auggie---You're one of the good guys in this forum...

But you're dead wrong with this.

This is what Costas said:

"Well, you knew it was coming. In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in Kansas City, that most mindless of sports clichés was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective. Well, if so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf-life since we will inevitably hear about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games. Please, those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective. You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article.

"Our current gun culture,"Whitlock wrote, "ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead."

"Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?"

"But here," wrote Jason Whitlock," is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using with Costas using the opinion of another writer. hell I do it all the time especially if I agree with it.

What Costas said last night had to be said and I'm glad he had the courage to say it.

[madinmaryland]

11. I think Costas/Whitlock were spot on. I am glad he took the time to make the statement.

If he was a coward he would not have made a statement, regardless of who's it was.

[Auggie]

12. He still hid behind Whitlock

Given the national venue, two days of prep, the full production staff of Football Night in America, and his long-time media stature, there's no reason he couldn't have -- better yet, shouldn't have -- written his own commentary. He's done it before.

[Upton]

13. So, you approve of pushing political agendas during football games?

Well, in that case..it must have been okay with you when Al Michaels went after John Kerry during MNF..

During his play-by-play of the New England Patriots-Indianapolis Colts game in Foxborough, Mass., last week - a special Thursday edition of "Monday Night Football" - Michaels somehow discovered an opportunity to stick it to John Kerry.

When co-announcer John Madden marveled at the seesawing of the score - "This is what you call a flip-flop," he said - Michaels retorted: "You're in the right state for that."

By which Michaels meant Massachusetts, the home state of the Democratic presidential nominee, who's constantly being accused by President Bush's campaign team of "flip-flopping" on the issues.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2004-09-13/gossip/18274804_1_al-michaels-night-football-abc-sports

There's a time for politics and there's a time for football. Lets not get the two confused. I want them kept separated..

[El Supremo]

14. Gun control is also a social issue. Kerry was just a candidate.

I'm all for changing the "gun culture" in America. I just wish the egotist blow-hard Costas wasn't the one spewing on national TV during a sports event.

[Upton]

15. It's still politics...

I don't know about you, but when I watch sports I'm trying to get away from all that crap. It's why I prefer the Sports forum. Geez, the election is over, can't it just be given a rest?

[trumad]

16. Oh Horse fucking shit...

A God Damn NFL football player killed his wife and himself...

And Costas talked about it during a God Damn football game.

Yeah I fucking approve.

[Upton]

17. You didn't answer my question..

since you approved of the Costas political statement during SNF, did you also approve of Michaels' shot at John Kerry on MNF? Or, as I suspect, does your approval of this mixing politics with sports hinge on whether or not you agree with the statement?...Which, like it or not, and not for the first time, makes you a hypocrite..

[madinmaryland]

18. False equivalency. John Kerry had nothing to do with football. Jovan Belcher had everything to do

with football. Editorializing about the death of a football player during a football sportscast is appropriate. Editorializing about a political campaign during a football game makes no sense.

[Upton]

19. Okay then...

what if the Whitlock piece, that Costas basically recited part of, had talked about how, while the Belcher and Perkins deaths were a tragedy, guns don't kill, people do?

Would you still feel the editorializing was appropriate? Or, with you, is it a matter of content as well?

[madinmaryland]

21. It was half-time during a football game and Costas was editorializing about an event

that occurred in the football community. Even though I don't agree with the comment you suggested, I would not have been surprised by a talking head spouting another NRA talking point on a corporate NRA owned network (which they all are).

[trumad]

23. i would have disagreed with him...

But respected his right to offer that relevant position.

[trumad]

22. I see guns as more of a political issue.

Period.

[Auggie]

20. If Costas wanted to make an impact,

he could have easily lobbied to devote a longer, more in depth segment during the pregame -- which could have been heavily promoted as well. They have over an hour to fill.

You are right that it did take courage, but his execution was superficial and self-serving IMO. And the Whitlock connection (to beat a dead horse) provided him with the convenient excuse that he's only the messenger here, not the message.