The Yankees and Royals were providing enough drama in ALDS Game 4 in a tight ballgame on Thursday night in Kansas City, and fans were on the seats watching.
Bob Costas, the legendary broadcaster, thought it was a good time to bring up actor Kevin Bacon.
Baseball fans were not exactly thrilled.
In the top of the ninth inning and the Yankees up by two runs in the ninth inning, Costas, on the play-by-play call for TBS, started likening Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s life to the movie game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” in the sense that the skipper — who has a long lineage of baseball playing and coaching relatives — is not many degrees of separation removed from most MLB teams over the last half century or so.
The discussion came at an interesting time, with outfielder Alex Verdugo up and the Yankees trying to tack on insurance runs in a potential clinching game, which the Yankees did eventually win, 3-1.
Fans on social media, who have had plenty to say about Costas throughout the series for his loquacious style, were mostly not pleased with his Boone story.
“9th inning of an elimination game and Bob Costas is explaining to America how to play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon,” WFAN host Shaun Morash wrote on X.
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“Still trying to figure out why Bob just regaled us with that haunting “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Only Now We’re Talking About Aaron Boone” soliloquy,” wrote Sportico reporter Anthony Crupi.
One fan seemed to be praying to get the Yankees on another network for the ALCS, though that series will still be broadcast by TBS.
“Bob Costas yappin about Kevin Bacon please for the love of Christ get us back on Fox next week,” they wrote.
“Commentary equivalent of pretty much any cooking recipe on the internet,” another chimed in
Some thought more highly of Costas.
“I love him on the mic perhaps because of nostalgia from my youth. I also love the history and the connections to the game that he delivers,” wrote one.
YES Network announcer Michael Kay, on his ESPN Radio show before Game 4, also strongly defended Costas, who has spent decades calling games throughout the major sports.
“Bob Costas is one of the greatest sports broadcasters that has ever lived. Alright? Now, if you listen to Bob Costas call a baseball game, cause he used to be the backup to [Vin] Scully, and then he took over the number one job [on NBC], Kay said.
“If you listen to him call those games then, he called them the same way then as he calls them now. Understated. Kinda teaching you as he goes along. All of that. I think that the industry has changed. But to see these young people on social media eviscerating a broadcasting god. … You can say, ‘Hey, I don’t like the cut of his jib, but he stinks.’ You’re out of your minds!”