Why is NBC Sports afraid to piss off Bob Costas?  Does Costas have compromising photos of top executive Dick Ebersol?  Does Bob have a clause in his contract that gives him first right of refusal on everything NBC sports airs? (Note: That clause would be named the “Joe Buck clause” because of how Fox utilizes Joe for all of their major sports telecasts).  Has Costas pulled a Jedi Mind Trick on the peacock?  Or maybe NBC just isn’t capable, or is afraid to try anything innovative and instead sticks with the same boring script?

That final thought is probably most accurate and the driving force behind NBC’s latest bonehead move.  This week NBC announced that Dan Patrick would be joining their Football Night In America (FNIA) broadcasts; in a move that will reunite Patrick with his old ESPN partner Keith Olbermann.  When I read that I thought it was a masterful move by NBC, who couldn’t appreciate the genius of reuniting this former Sportscenter duo.  I imagined Patrick and Olbermann would fall right back into their old schtick and it would provide an immediate boost to the informative, yet dreary, FNIA broadcasts.

Then I read the key line in the article, “Ebersol said the show will now feature ‘one host and three co-hosts’, with Bob Costas remaining the host along with co-hosts Patrick, Olbermann and Cris Collinsworth.”  Come again?  Did I pass out while reading the article and wake up in an overly PC world where executives hedge every decision, rather than make a choice?  (Don’t answer that.)

The article goes on to say that Patrick and Olbermann will be paired up for most of the first hour of the show, except for a brief Costas/Collinsworth contractual intermission, to do the highlights of that day’s NFL games.  It adds that everyone will be able to chime in during the highlights, even Tiki Barber, Jerome Bettis and Peter King.  Did I mention Barber, Bettis and King yet?  Oh yeah, they are the other three guys on the FNIA studio show; as if it were not enough to have four guys on a studio show, NBC is going to have seven.  Heck, they might even throw in a special in-studio guest from time-to-time if they can expand the square footage of their studio and find enough chairs.

At this point I must mention that Bill Simmons wrote a brilliant piece last Fall on this very topic.  His column “NFL Crowded House” specifically addressed how ridiculous it was for NBC to roll out so many analysts/hosts on one show.  Simmons even says, “I never thought we’d see six on camera at the same time. Will we reach seven?”  Yes Bill, we have finally reached seven.

The two big questions that need to be answered are: why did NBC screw this up and how do I fix it?

I can only speculate why NBC adds a talented, high paid broadcaster like Dan Patrick in a “sub” role; which is equivalent to asking Shaquille O’Neal to run the point.  My guess is they were afraid to change their already bland formula, they probably delusionally figured they already have a good thing going, so why change it.  I watch a lot of sports and rarely does a particular broadcast engage me, so my guess is most sports tv execs are guys who cling to their jobs rather than try to excel at them. 

So how do you fix the problem, because Dan is clearly playing out of position.  You fire remove Costas from the show.  I’ll pause a moment here to let you finish gasping.  Yes, I know it’s shocking for me to spew such crazy talk, but the reality is that majority of fans would not miss Costas.  I’d wager that most NFL football fans would much, much, much prefer to hear Patrick as the studio host with Olbermann as his clear #1 co-host.  Collinsworth could stick around to provide analysis, plus keep Olbermann from getting overexposed, and King or Barber could handle any “feature segments”.  I like Bettis, and have nothing against Costas, but someone has to go.  If NBC is feeling sorry for them, they could throw Bettis in the booth from time-to-time during game broadcasts and Costas already has his Olympics gig.

The solution seems obvious, which leads us back to the question of what NBC sees in Bob Costas that the rest of us in the world cannot see.  They must know something know, or are really afraid of that little guy.