This week, the listeners to Greeny on ESPN Radio were treated to some of the top voices in broadcasting as part of Legendary Broadcasters Week. On Wednesday, Mike Greenberg was joined by Bob Costas, a person who has always been Greenberg’s idol since he started in the business. As he has said in the past, if Greenberg was “called a poor man’s Bob Costas”, he views it as “an extraordinary compliment.”
Costas told Greenberg that he was at Muhammad Ali’s funeral in 2016 in Louisville. There, boxing promoter Don King, had a brief moment where he forgot he was talking to Costas and thought it was a famous actor.
“It is such an occasion that they have to hold it in the arena where Louisville plays their basketball games,” Costas recounted. “For an hour or so, people are gathering and talking in small clusters when in comes Don King in a full Don King getup,
“He greets each person with a short, biographical sketch so he says, ‘Mike Tyson, once the most feared man in the ring’, ‘Sugar Ray Leonard, not a mark on him, still as beautiful as a child’ and he turns to me and goes ‘Michael J. Fox’. Katie Couric goes very gently, ‘Don, it’s Bob Costas’. King is so shameless without missing a beat he says ‘Bob Costas, greatest commentator in the world’.”
In fact, before Costas told that story, Greenberg began the interview with Costas by talking about how his researcher on the show, Paul Hembekides, has thought that Greenberg was older than Costas and how Costas is very spry, which led to him telling the King story.
Of course, one of the things Costas is known for is calling baseball for NBC and most recently, MLB Network. Greenberg asked him what was the event in sports history that he would most like to broadcast and Costas brought up an event he would like to go back and confirm that it actually happened.
“One thought that comes to mind is Jackie Robinson’s first game, but what happened in the game was not eventful. What pops into my head just to be able to verify it, I think I would have liked to be at Wrigley Field in 1932 to decide for myself whether or not Babe Ruth really called his shot or was he just motioning towards the Cubs dugout.”
Greenberg mentioned on the show this week that many other broadcasters have wanted to join him on the show, so the legendary broadcasters week could continue into another week. So, it is safe to say these great stories could continue from some of the top voices in the industry.
