Bob Costas explains why he roots for his broadcasting successors

Bob Costas has done it all during his storied broadcasting career. While the 72-year-old isn’t calling the biggest games of the year anymore, he’s not resentful at all about those who followed in his footsteps.

Costas recently announced that he was retiring from calling Major League Baseball games. However, he will continue contributing to MLB Network, where he works as a host and analyst. That news was a true end of an era as the Syracuse product had been calling MLB games for nearly a half-century.

In addition, he was a ubiquitous figure for American sports fans for decades, calling the World Series and NBA Finals while hosting various studio shows, many Super Bowls, and 12 Olympic Games. Mike Tirico, Joe Buck, and Joe Davis are among the broadcasters who now fill those roles.

Costas appeared on the most recent episode of the Sports Media Watch Podcast and was asked if he sometimes wishes he was still calling some of the most significant sporting events he used to, like the World Series. He offered a candid response about where he stands.

“You know, this is very honest on my part. I’ve just never had that feeling,” said Costas. “Does it run through your head occasionally what you might have said in a certain situation? But not from the standpoint of, ‘Boy, I really resent the fact that I’m not there.’

“I know there are some people in the business, I hope it’s a minority, who root not only for their own success, but they resent the success of others. I’ve never had a thimble’s worth of that feeling ever. At any point in my life. I’m happy for other people’s success. How, to an intelligent observer, does that in any way diminish me? If Joe Buck does great, or if Mike Tirico, who I think was a worthy successor to both me and Al Michaels, if he thrives as he has, how does that in any way reflect negatively on me? It reflects positively on him, and I’m applauding him.

“Plus, if you have any legitimate self-confidence, not conceit but legitimate self-confidence, you’re aware that if you’re any good at all, there are things that distinguish you. Not elevate you above, but distinguish you from even the best of your contemporaries and colleagues. So I was good in somewhat different ways than Al Michaels was good, or Jim Nantz was good, or now Mike Tirico or Joe Buck or Ian Eagle or whoever you want to name is good. I did things differently, and I did different things. Some of the things I did, other sportscasters of my era didn’t do it all. But even within the things that we all did, I had a different approach. Sometimes took a more journalistic approach, leaned more toward being an essayist as well as a play-by-play man. That doesn’t make me better, but it does make me distinctive. Just as Vin Scully was always distinctive and so was Jack Buck. They’re both great baseball announcers in their own distinctive way.

“So to your point, when I watched those World Series, quite honestly, my first thought was, ‘Wow, what a great World Series.’ Or ‘What a great LCS.’ And my second thought was, ‘Hey, Joe [Davis is] doing a great job.”

You can listen to Costas’s full appearance here.