Famed sports talk host Mike Francesa appeared to have one message for TBS broadcaster Bob Costas after hearing him call four games of the Yankees American League Division Series with the Cleveland Guardians: Pipe Down.
In a bit of an ironic twist, Francesa has taken umbrage with how Costsas, a decorated sports broadcaster has been calling games since the series started. It had become a talking point for the Sports Pope on his reaction podcasts following Yankee playoff games.
“Costas, who will not be quiet no matter what,” Francesa bemoaned following Game 3 over the weekend. “He thinks I guess that every word is golden because he just will not shut up. Everything’s a history lesson. We don’t need a history lesson every two seconds! Everybody’s a Yankees fan. They understand Yankees history. They know it backwards and forwards! This is not a history class! It’s a baseball game! Be quiet! Do the game!”
Part of Francesa’s beef had been with Costas making the same points over and over again rather than just once and moving on.
“He’s driving everybody crazy. He must’ve said a thousand times,” he continued. “‘The Yankee home runs…’ We know the Yankees have doubled their home runs this year! We know the [Guardians] hit 127 homers and Yankees 254. We know that! Everybody knows it! Make the point once, not 4,000 times!”
Francesa hasn’t been alone in his criticisms of Costas’ play-by-play job since the series started last week. Social media has been littered with baseball fans voicing displeasure over the way Costas has called games.
This season marked the first time in 22 years that he had called a full series of baseball in 22 years.
“Just gotta get through one more game of Bob talking so much. I feel bad for Ron (Darling). Ron’s gonna hear Bob in his sleep. We all know that Bob Costas is a very talented announcer, a talented sportscaster, I’ve known him my whole adult life,” Francesa said after Game 4 on his podcast. “But he has absolutely just talked on and on and on and just droned on and on and on this entire series about absolutely nothing, for the most part. I mean, just please give the game tomorrow night a chance to breathe, please, it’s a Game 5, it’s a dramatic series, a dramatic fifth and deciding game.
“Let it breathe, Bob please. You’ve squeezed this thing for all its life. It’s almost like Bob has been locked away somewhere, dying to talk, and now you can’t shut him up, because he just has not stopped talking for a second in the Yankees series. Not even a little has he stopped talking. About everything! No matter what it is, he just never stops. Please, let the dramatic Game 5 breathe a little bit.”
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Costas will move to the anchor chair once the American League Championship Series stars as he’ll serve as the onsite studio host for TBS.
Francesa is no stranger to talking long-windedly about sports in the New York market having helped popularize the current sports talk radio format during his successful run on Mike and the Mad Dog on WFAN before proving equally as successful on his own. He retired from hosting a daily radio show on WFAN in 2017.
