Bob Costas Tells O’Reilly: I Don’t Back Up On Anything I’ve Said

Bob Costas visited The O’Reilly Factor tonight to discuss those gun comments he made a few days ago in the wake of the Jovan Belcher suicide/murder tragedy. It seemed that the two guys had a prior friendly relationship and if they didn’t before, they do now. Costas stood by his comments and added on to them, with minor challenges from O’Reilly. In fact, O’Reilly’s biggest concern seemed to be that Costas “call a Christmas tree a ‘Christmas tree.’”

Costas emphasized that he is “not looking to repeal the Second Amendment… I didn’t call for any specific prohibition on guns, never used the words ‘gun control.’ But he had a powerful message that O’Reilly let him deliver almost completely uninterrupted.

Since I made these comments, I have heard from players past and present, from coaches, from executives in the NFL saying they have long been alarmed and concerned by the number of players who cavalierly believe that you have to have a gun.

… I am not the least bit afraid to talk about the gun culture, to talk about domestic violence. I thought it was self-evident that this was a domestic violence case, self evident. To talk about the effects that football and the culture of football have on many of the people who play it. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. I will look for places where there’s more time to do it.

In retrospect, I don’t back up on anything I said, but I think it might have been more effective if I said, ‘Look, if we’re looking for perspective on this, we’re gonna have to have a serious discussion within sports, an ongoing discussion, not five minutes of faux tears about it, but a serious discussion about domestic violence, about the culture of the game itself, about the easy access to guns, about steroids, drugs and alcohol and in the future, we will soon do that… I think that would have… led to less misunderstanding of where I was coming from.

…I can not think of a single instance involving a professional athlete whereby that athlete having a gun averted or diminished a dangerous situation but I can give you a long list of tragedies that came about because guys were packing.

O’Reilly, ever grandiose, concluded by telling Costas, “Anytime you get in trouble, you come right here, we’ll get you out of it.”

Costas said, “Merry Christmas.”

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Showing 5 reactions

commented 2012-12-07 03:43:34 -0500 · Flag

@Doug: I see your five incidents and raise you the tens of thousands who are killed or maimed every year by crazies who found it all too easy to get their hands on a gun. The issue here is not the smart ones but the crazies and your impassioned defense of their right to kill and maim is mind-boggling. I’ve lived in Florida and some gun carries live in such constant fear that they don’t even cry out “who’s there?” before starting to shoot. I gave up trying to look up my classmates after that happened to me.

I’d be delighted if the presentation of a certificate of competence from a recognised shooting club were to be made obligatory, along with background checks and obligatory insurance coverage. I somehow don’t think you’d go along with any of that. People as fully trained as you claim to be should not have any problem with that but seems you do and that’s why I use words like bluster and splutter.

You see, anyone (who is not a police officer) who carries a gun during peacetime is – IMO- revealing a deep-seated sense of insecurity not strength and manliness. And anybody who’s had to face down an angry dog knows that fear is contagious.

commented 2012-12-06 15:38:28 -0500 · Flag

@Doug: Packing a gun pretty stupid IMO, because that other person you are so afraid of will be ready to shoot first, before you know he or she is even there. Visiting classmates during my last trip back home was a pretty harrowing experience because far too many of them are reputed to be trigger-happy. For the life of me, I can’t understand all this fear that causes people to swagger and boast about their guns. Childish (IMO).

commented 2012-12-06 11:36:24 -0500 · Flag

Funny that. Brian of the fox and friends farce claimed that Bob Costas had pulled back from his original words because he admitted that the venue was probably not the best for doing justice to the topic (that’s the gist as I remember it).

Fact is that people do kill people but ALSO that fewer people would kill others if they had a bit more difficulty getting their hands on a gun. I’m fed up with the gun-lovers who refer to using pistols or assault weapons on coyotes or bears or wolves, even for hunting deer (!!). Requiring prospective gun buyers to undergo a background check is NOT an issue for most people with the mental balance to pass the check.

Background checks become a problem only for skeered people who know that they might not pass muster. They know themselves very well, indeed, and that reassuring weight in a holster helps them overcome feelings of inadequacy and F-E-A-R.

Rifles are for shooting game and varmints. Pistols and assault weapons are for shooting people and there’s no reasoning with anybody who lives in permanent F-E-A-R.

What gets my goat is that most people terrified of losing their pacifiers are so dellusional as to say that they live in the “Land of the brave (!) and the free”. Totally outta-touch.

commented 2012-12-06 11:16:53 -0500 · Flag

I managed to gag myself through the Bile circus act last night.And I was thrilled to see Bob Costas make a total ass of Bile in a calm classy way,making great sense.Bile did his best to gain some leverage over the “Debate” but failed miserably.At the end of the segment Bile pompously suggested For Mr Costa to call him if he needed any help should he get in trouble.Bob Costas was almost able to go through the whole interview without being interrupted or overshouted,this must be because Bile knew he was on the losing end of this “Interview” .

commented 2012-12-06 01:00:56 -0500 · Flag

â¦I can not think of a single instance involving a professional athlete whereby that athlete having a gun averted or diminished a dangerous situation but I can give you a long list of tragedies that came about because guys were packing.

I have been saying this to people, especially gun nuts who defends possession of any kind of weapon a right that God gave us ’Mericans in the Constitution. Tell me how many times in a week we hear about someone being killed by a gun. Then tell me how many times in a week we hear about someone defending themself from harm with a gun. And if the only answer you can come up with is George Zimmerman, you aint winning an argument with me.

O’Loofah didn’t even try to challenge Costas tonite. He knew it was a losing proposition. Very surprised that O’Loofah let Costas go uninterrupted on his messsage that Ellen posted above. Very powerful and true and comes from a man who know the inside and outside of the sports world. And you are right Ellen, O’Falafel was more concerned that Costas called Xmas Xmas that anything else he had to say about ’Mericas gun culture.