When Brian was growing up, his dream was simple — move to New York City and be a broadcaster for NBC Sports. He wanted to be Bob Costas.

That didn’t happen. But this week Brian gets to interview his boyhood idol, as Bob joins him to discuss writing, broadcasting and sports media.

Bob and Brian talk about Bob’s memories of Syracuse University, and his mentor Stan Alten (1:35); the uneasy relationship between sports television and the leagues they cover, and how that has gotten harder to navigate over the past decade (5:45); how writing plays a role in his job, his process for writing commentaries, and how Bryant Gumbel was a master at writing to a specific time (11:00); the sports writers he looks up to (16:34); the newspapers he read growing up (all 5 of them) (21:05); Bob’s legendary story about Goldie Goldthorpe, the inspiration for Ogie Oglethorpe in Slapshot (22:15); and the best thing Bob’s read lately (27:02).

I Wanted to be Bob Costas

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches by Tyler Kepner

You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins

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