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Synopsis
On the season premiere of Costas Now, Bob Costas headed to Broadway to talk baseball with Billy Crystal, and went one-on-one with NBA Commissioner David Stern, who takes time from his busy playoff schedule to visit the show. Also on the program, an investigative look into the problem of amphetamines in baseball, a look back at forgotten Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro, and the first All-Star panel of the season, featuring three outspoken stars, Charles Barkley, John McEnroe, and Cris Collinsworth.
Correspondent Armen Keteyian spoke with three former players and others around the game to uncover what some consider an unknown epidemic in baseball - the use of illegal amphetamines, commonly known as greenies. The piece featured future Hall-of-Famer Tony Gwynn, who recalls seeing the pills spilled out all over the clubhouse floor before games, as well as former big leaguer Chad Curtis, who estimates that 85% of players use the drugs, which players use to boost energy and focus. Currently, Major League Baseball's drug policy does not include amphetamines, though Commissioner Bud Selig has announced that he hopes to ban them in a revised program.
Speaking of commissioners, David Stern has been at the helm of the NBA since 1984. With the playoffs heating up, he came to the HBO Studios in New York for an interview with Bob Costas. Plenty of issues are on the table, including the tumultuous year for Stern's league, lowlighted by the November melee in Detroit, as well as the pending labor discussions that include such issues as a possible age limit for young players entering the league.
Actor and comedian Billy Crystal played an NBA referee in his film Forget Paris, but the subject of his interview with Bob was his megahit Broadway show, "700 Sundays," and the role that baseball plays in it. The very personal one-man show is about Crystal's childhood and family, and the title refers to the number of Sundays that Crystal estimates he spent with his father, Jack, before the older Crystal died when his son was 15. Among the passions that father passed along to son was a love of baseball and, in particular, the Yankees. Billy opened up about all of it with Bob.
Also on the show, a roundtable discussion with three of sports' most outspoken voices: Charles Barkley, John McEnroe, and Cris Collinsworth. Topics included performance enhancing drugs, race, and the notion - crazy as it might sound to some - that Michael Jordan was overrated. Also, the Costas Now premiere featured the sad story of Tony Conigliaro, the Red Sox right fielder who was the American League home run champion at age 20 in 1965, but whose long and tragic fall began during the epic season of 1967, when he was hit in the face by a pitch. Finally, for a different take on the sports world, correspondent Wanda Sykes debuted her segment, "Disrespecting the Game."
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