"I remember the reaction almost verbatim. coaches . And thats the truth. But it doesnt cut to the very heart of the enterprise. (CBS) -- A former assistant football coach in Northwest Indiana was facing serious accusations Wednesday night. I dont care how capable Joe Buck is, and hes very capable, and its amazing that he was able to do an excellent job on both and still be fresh in the eighteenth inning of a marathon game. During the past two years, Costas stepped down from most of his hosting responsibilities at NBC Sports, ultimately reaching an agreement to end his contract. His blend of humor, wit and unfiltered opinion was gold on the talk-show circuit -- from CNN to Bill Maher to NBC's "Today" show -- as well as to anyone who wanted to discuss the dangers of football. Game Seven. Still, Gentile says, the NFL was "never really dictatorial, at least in my lifetime." But theres no way in the world it would have had the same impact. Foster, who got $200,000 for the fight, his biggest payday at the time, and had previously won a decision over Fourie in Albuquerque, was victorious by decision again. Find out more. The decision was a direct response to declining viewership, especially among the network's most sought-after demographic: men, age 18-49. Bob Foster played 20 games over . While the teams owners have traditionally valued stability, Judges 10-23 record in his two seasons was too much to ignore. 3 NCAC (1989-1990, 1992) Bob Foster (born January 12, 1941) is an American football coach. ", Says Costas now: "I was hoping that the whole thing wouldn't cause a stir. This would not only be journalistically responsible, it would be very good television and probably one of the highest-rated things in the entire pregame. "A friend of mine said 'Whether it's news or sports, you can never go wrong being on the right side of history,'" Costas says. 5,837 Followers. Is this at least in part because a place like ESPN is both a partner with these networks as well as an entity reporting on them? Heres the kind of thing that just irks me, and it shows you footballs sway over everything. I don't know if that kind of pushback took place.'". Plus, I asked Goodell about it in December of 2010, in an on-field interview in Foxborough, and I talked about it on Meet the Press. I was an interview subject in documentaries about the C.T.E. to remove posts that include foul language, personal or abusive attacks, or are NEW . ', "And it's just as important to the networks that the NFL continue to be the NFL.". I dont know that theres any one consistent pattern. [The former N.B.A. "It tells you who calls the shots," Costas says. How much did Bob Foster weigh when playing? Can I say it any more clearly than that it is unacceptably brutal?" At the ceremony, he singled out Lazarus and Flood. Subliminally. The league expanded its Rooney Rule in May 2020 to force teams to not block assistant coaches from interviewing for head coach or coordinator roles, and in 2018 began holding an annual summit where nonwhite aspiring coaches and general managers could network and share tips. Charlena Foster and John Hobart, both 63, of Otisco, were killed Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, when an alleged drunk driver turned into the path of their motorcycle in Geneva. ", He then went on a nearly one-and-a-half minute riff about football and brain damage that was punctuated by this statement: "The reality is that this game destroys people's brains -- not everyone's, but a substantial number. Bob Kuechenberg weighed 253 lbs (114 kg) when playing. There, he told a crowd of more than 400, "The issue [in sports] that is most substantial -- the existential issue -- is the nature of football itself. And I returned to that theme at least twice more. Mills started 11 games to Taylors six, and the Texans finished with a 4-13 record, nearly matching the 4-12 total compiled under Bill OBrien (and Romeo Crennel) in the 16-game 2020 season. How tall was Bob Foster? All of it points to the all-encompassing influence of the NFL -- even over the most distinguished broadcaster of his era. When it comes to event coverage, I dont think its much different. in some way, an Adam Silver-run league would be more hospitable to conversations about these issues involving his players. He believed it was his responsibility to address uncomfortable truths, or "elephants in the room," as he often called them. Bob Foster played 20 games over his career. In 1996, journalist Frank Deford conducted a devastating interview of Samaranch for HBO's "Real Sports," in which he confronted the Olympics chief about his ties to the fascist Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and the fact that he had honored Romanian tyrant Nicolae Ceausescu. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. I hope you get what I'm really thinking right now.'". Foster won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association light-heavyweight titles in May 1968 with a fourth-round knockout of Dick Tiger of Nigeria, who had previously been the middleweight champion as well. Costas did host "Inside the NFL" on HBO for six seasons beginning in 2002, but he says he justified that in his mind because the show provided autonomy to offer commentary and typically conveyed a level of journalism. If a young Al Michaels was to come along today, his skills would still stand out. But this is a very important point, when some people say, Well, even if hes right, why interrupt the game? Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He was everywhere -- Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Olympics, Kentucky Derby, golf, boxing, hockey, and on and on. Do you have a sports website? Well, stick to sports is a different thing. Thats a badge of honor? It was a devastating blow for the network, and it literally took years and years to pull out." Bob Foster weighed 192 lbs (87 kg) when playing. Follow. I determined the key dynamics of our football operation werent functioning at a level I want it to be and felt that this decision was in the best interest of the Miami Dolphins, the team owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. "It was a natural lead-in," Costas told Outside the Lines. Costas believed it was important to have viewers confront football's existential crisis and consider their own moral dilemma as fans complicit to the sport's carnage. championship. George will have full authority to select the next head coach of the Broncos, the teams president and chief executive, Joe Ellis, said in a statement. Because as much as we may try to push it into the background, there's a kind of Russian roulette going on on the field tonight and on our television screens throughout the fall and winter, since we know that for all the game's appeal, many of its participants will one day pay dearly for their part in our national obsession.". My guess would be that, if I was still involved with the N.B.A. Bobby Wayne Foster was born on Dec. 15, 1938, in Borger, Tex., and his family moved to Albuquerque when he was a child. And I always preface it by saying, This is the way I feel. Please see our Contributors and Sources page for data source details. The official Hobart Football Coach List for the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Herons Theyre a sports juggernaut, an entertainment juggernaut, and, in some sense, a cultural juggernaut. What does it say about the power of the N.F.L. "It clearly wasn't working," Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp said on a Zoom call with . Costas did, however, use the moment of the Ukrainian women's biathlon team taking gold in the 2014 Sochi Games as an opportunity to address Russia's intervention in the country, its "hostile" record on gay rights and its sponsorship of a vicious regime in Syria. Few subjects are sacred to Costas, even his beloved baseball. In the end, Costas wished he had never spoken to Outside the Lines about any of it: "The upside is not equal to the fear I have.". What some people seem to have overlooked is that I had not hosted a single football game for NBC in more than a year. So in 2005, cognizant of CBS's free fall, NBC committed $3.6 billion over the coming six seasons to get back into the NFL fold. "I purposely toned it down," he says. Foster fought a long-running, and losing, battle to gain weight so he would have a better chance against the heavyweights, and he tried drinking beer to do it. He said in an interview with The Ring magazine that he felt a professional football career would not pay as well as a professional boxing career.. This, Costas says, was hardly unusual throughout his career at NBC -- though he and Ebersol remain close and Costas had nothing but glowing things to say about his mentor. Bring out the hearts and the tinkling piano music, because it really is a touching tableau.". It was a decisive moment in the history of football in America. First, on Nov. 7, 2017, Costas appeared at a journalism symposium at the University of Maryland. he told Outside the Lines. coaches who find themselves out a job now that the regular season has ended. The spots were designed, in part, to counter negative publicity that had come to surround the league, especially around head trauma. Sensing a budding problem with his employer, Costas says he decided to appear on CNN on Saturday morning to make it clear he wasn't being critical of NBC. ESPN does it with Outside the Lines and E:60. But, when you talk about the network that is covering the event, theyll do journalism, if someone ferrets out who the next coach of the Dolphins is going to be, or what this trade is going to be, or what the disciplines going to be for this player whos been suspended for domestic violence. Im sure if I was still doing the N.B.A., Adam Silver [the current N.B.A. As evidence mounted tying the sport to brain disease, Costas says he felt compelled to talk about it. dayton football record Menu Menu. Says Costas: "The networks, all of them, dance to the NFL's tune. It had already ended. Well, theres more of everything. Hed still be coveted. There was a Seinfeld episode where Jerry makes some joke about how he and his fiance are having the only mutual breakup in human history, the joke being that no one actually has a mutual breakup. This weeks personnel changes leave just one Hispanic head coach, Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team, and one Muslim Arab American coach, Robert Saleh of the Jets. What do you think, though, about that larger critique of you having a role in football while you had moral qualms about it? Im not a beat writer or on the beat. Lambert 86 yard punt return (kick blocked) M-. He interviewed George W. Bush and Jerry Sandusky, and his on-air commentary often touched on controversial subjectsincluding gun control, and concussions in the N.F.L.when his bosses probably would have preferred that he stick to sports. From 2001 to 2009, he hosted his own HBO shows in addition to his work for NBC. He didn't soften any of his comments -- in fact, he reiterated them -- but he did attempt to defend the network. On the other hand, if any team over the last two years had signed Colin Kaepernick, although many of us would have supported that, there would have been huge outcries: Im burning my season tickets in front of the stadium. Culley was hired in January 2021, mere weeks after the team owner Cal McNair tabbed Nick Caserio as General Manager. He had suggestions for how to phrase and contextualize certain elements of the piece, and he regularly lamented that some people might perceive him as bitter -- again, despite regular assurances that the story would not reflect him as bitter. immediately shot it down. It doesnt mean that he cant, if he should return to the field, take a knee if he feels like taking a knee. Bob Foster, a devastating puncher who was one of boxings most dominant light-heavyweight champions but failed in his quest to capture a heavyweight title when he was knocked out by Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, died on Saturday in Albuquerque. It was nothing like, for example, the network's relationship with The Masters, which kept intense pressure on CBS by signing only one-year contracts. In the late eighties and early nineties, he hosted a talk show, Later, that followed Late Night with David Letterman, and he frequently filled in for other talk-show hosts and anchors. Bob Foster has not been elected into the Hall of Fame. Posts will be signed with the first and last initial and home city associated "I don't know how far they went," Costas says, positing that they could have demurred without argument "as opposed to what you could say, which is this: 'Hey, we pay you guys billions of dollars, and 99 percent of what we do celebrates and promotes the league. CBS almost proved nobody could," says former TV executive Rick Gentile, who was with CBS from 1982 to 1998 and oversaw coverage of some of the world's biggest sporting events, including several Super Bowls. The conversations would end, Costas would appear to trust the process, and then, days or weeks later, it was like Groundhog Day and the same conversation would occur again. And, in the case of Ali, he put so much more on the line. HOME; INTERIORS; EXTERIORS; OFFICE & PORTRAITS; PUBLICITY/EVENTS; CONSTRUCTION; INFO Costas says he submitted the essay to Ebersol's successor, NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus, and executive producer Sam Flood and awaited their response. The very fact that somebodys talking about this indicates the impact that it had. So the more Costas talked definitively about the connection between football and brain damage, the more it created tension between him, his bosses and the NFL. (John Smierciak/Post-Tribune ) Hobart High School football . Costas insists that rather than being upset or feeling punished, he felt relief. Bob Kuechenberg lived life large, once owning 10 houses, his brother Rudy said. The Giants havent made the playoffs since the 2016 season and havent won a playoff game in a decade. Absolutely. I had no problem with it. It's all about preparedness and adaptability. ESPN changed the game in that they made everything more plentiful. We welcome comments from registered users. Some of what it was able to do must have stuck to the wall, or else you wouldnt be talking to me. They get their way on everything. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Thats an affront to anyones intelligence. I did a couple of essays for them, subsequent to that. All rights reserved. BY THE TIME NBC was officially signing its new deal, Costas says he had invoked a clause in his contract that would allow him to step away from football and the Olympics to take on an emeritus role. And the following year, on "The Last Word," he called the sport "inherently violent and brutal" and suggested that head trauma could lead to off-field criminal conduct by some players. NBC had fled the football arms race back in 1997, complaining that rights fees had risen out of control. "We're in negotiations with the NFL for Thursday Night Football," he says he was told. People are evidently more comfortable with literal criminals than they are with someone who protests peacefully and in a dignified way. I think people have different sensibilities about sports and focus about sports. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. West with a 7-10 record. One hundred eighty-one pounds., Bob Foster, Whose Left Hook Decimated All but the Heavyweights, Dies at 76, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/sports/bob-foster-whose-left-hook-decimated-all-but-the-heavyweights-dies-at-76.html. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. And dont talk about any of this stuff when Tom Brady is conducting another last-minute drive or Patrick Mahomes is doing something incredible.. inRacine,WI. Its been another great year for the N.B.A., its filled with excitement and drama. Thats part of what people like. We conducted polls at Seton Hall and you could see the numbers go up of parents who didn't want their kids to play football. David Culley, who won four games in one season as the Houston Texans head coach, was fired Thursday, adding to a growing list of N.F.L. In 1957, Foster joined the United States Air Force, where he was not only a member of the Air Force Boxing Team, but also a coach. Baseballs supposed to have a pleasing, leisurely pace.