NBC’s Bob Costas appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” Friday night, with host Jay Leno calling him the “most admired sportscaster in America.” Leno, noting Costas has been with NBC Sports for 33 years, said, “You must get stopped wherever you go.” Costas: "Sometimes you’d be surprised because there will be a time once every couple of weeks where someone will call out from across the street, ‘Hey! Good to see you, Mr. Musburger!’" Costas said of Lance Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, “I thought that he did about as well as he could do in that he didn’t … get all weepy, he didn’t make an obvious plea for sympathy. He was almost matter-of-fact. Now many of his detractors interpret that as, ‘Well, that just shows you how cold-blooded the guy is.’” Leno replied, “I’ll go with that.” Costas said, “I’m not saying they’re wrong.” Leno said cycling “is not just an American sport, it’s a world sport, and the fact that America looks like a bunch a liars and cheaters, that’s what I think really hurts.” Costas said Winfrey did a “great job” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 1/17).
CBS’ David Letterman: “People come up to me on the street all the time and they say, ‘Regis, how do you do it night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year?’ And I say it’s simple: Performance-enhancing drugs. … How many of you, because of Lance Armstrong, are selling your bicycle? He was on Oprah, a two-parter on Oprah, last night and then tonight. Monday he’ll be on the Rachael Ray show making his performance-enhancing linguine. I was thinking, you know what Lance could use right now? An imaginary girlfriend. How many of you here tonight are with you imaginary girlfriends? There’s a guy who played football for Notre Dame, Manti Te’o, and early in the season he was telling people about his imaginary girlfriend. Some people are better off with imaginary girlfriends. And then the kid is such a good football player he’s the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy voting and I thought, ‘I bet that really impressed her imaginary parents’” (“Late Show,” CBS, 1/18).
NBC’s Jay Leno: “As you know, Lance Armstrong now has been stripped of all of his endorsements except for one. He now has a juicer coming out. … A new article says that Manti’s imaginary girlfriend may have hoaxed other unsuspecting guys. What a little tramp? This imaginary whore was sleeping with every guy in town. I just hope this one painful online experience doesn’t cause Manti to give up on all imaginary girlfriends. Manti only communicated with this woman online. At one point he was thinking about getting another computer so he could have a three-way. Well, now people are saying that Manti knew this was a hoax way back in early December. He’s gone from being the Fighting Irish to the Lying Hawaiian” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 1/18).
