Bob Costas Makes Shane/Justin Bieber Gaffe And Digs Deeper Hole While Desperately Trying To Cover-Up Blunder
Shane Bieber is the best pitcher for the Guardians, he is definitely not an international pop star. Bob Costas must have forgotten.
During Friday's ALDS game between Cleveland and New York, the 70-year-old sportscaster got mixed up. He tried to cover-up his blunder, but it only dug a bigger hole as the cringe-factor was turned up to 11 and he got roasted, just as he did during Game 1.
It started in the bottom of the 6th inning with Giancarlo Stanton at the plate. Bieber threw a strike on the first pitch of the at-bat, which was his 84th pitch of the day.
That is when Costas made his gaffe. He said that it was Justin Bieber, the 28-year-old international icon, who threw his 84th pitch, not Shane.
Things happen. People misspeak.
But Bob Costas made the Shane/Justin Bieber error so much worse.
In a situation where he definitely should have laughed it off, begged our pardon and let things lie, he continued to bring up his mistake.
A few moments later, Costas said that he vowed it would not happen... but it did. And then he just. kept. going.
To defend himself, Costas laughed that it wasn't the first time Shane's name was confused for Justin's. And to his credit, it wasn't!
Back in 2019, Topps accidentally put Justin's name on Shane's baseball card. That led to the latter wearing a 'Not Justin' jersey on Player's Weekend and the former responding with a jersey of his own.
Costas is not alone in his slip-up, but he did not need to keep harping on his mistake. He should have just let it go viral online and moved on.
This is not the first time that Costas has gone too far. Back in 2019, during the first inning of Stephen Strasburg's first start, he compared him to Walter Johnson, one of the best baseball players of all-time.
It is too late for an old dog to learn new tricks, but Costas continues to get ripped for his baseball calls and perhaps it is time that he gets a sense of the climate. Get with it, Bob!