You may be familiar with the old saying: if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Little Bobby Costas apparently never heard that old saw, because the dirt just seems to continue flying around him at an alarming rate. The more he tries to ‘splain what he meant about guns and why he said what he did, the more he reveals himself as deserving of the uninformed media twit moniker so many have hung around those narrow shoulders since Sunday night’s broadcast . . .
Bob’s latest stop was the oleaginous Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC talkfest last night. He even sounded a little apologetic at first for any misunderstanding about what he’d been trying to say on the subject of firearms.
He told O’Donnell that if only he’d had enough time during his now infamous halftime editorial, he’d have covered some of the other possibilities that could have played a role in causing Jovan Belcher to murder his girlfriend in cold blood and then commit suicide. You know, well-known societal ills like alcohol, drugs, domestic abuse, mental illness and the heart-rending toll that football itself takes on those who sacrifice their minds and bodies, all for the entertainment of the masses.
Then, after dutifully proclaiming that he’s really not against the Second Amendment and thinks shotguns and hunting rifles are probably not too objectionable, he got back to what really wrinkles his Wranglers, America’s gun culture. And this time, he focused in on a subject he arguably knows something about: sports.
And (the gun culture) plays itself out — and this I know the whys and wherefores of — in the sports world. Where young athletes are disproportionately armed. Tony Dungy, one of the most respected people in all of sports, on our program on Sunday night said that one year when he coached the Colts, he had 80 players before they cut the roster down. Eighty players in training camp.
He said, “how many of you guys own a gun?” And roughly 65 hands went up. Even if all those guns were obtained legally, you can’t have 65 guys in their 20s and 30s, aggressive young men, subject to impulses without something bad happening.
Of course Bob couldn’t let his little palaver with O’Donnell conclude without re-issuing his challenge to all within the sound of his sonorous voice. He still hasn’t heard of one instance — not one — in which a professional athlete has actually used a firearm to defend himself or his family. We guess he’s too busy making his case about guns cause us to do violence to have seen the fruit of RF’s mad Googling skills.
Anyway, don’t let those still boyish good looks fool you. Despite being able to pass for a gray-templed former Up With People cast member, Bob’s a classic media elitist from the old school. If those same yoots in the Colts’ locker room had joined the Army instead of signing NFL contracts, he’d have no problem with their decision-making skills. But as highly compensated civvies, fuggedabouddit.
What? Young men in their twenties and thirties — men with impulses, mind you — free to own guns? This cannot stand!
Less charitable observers might draw attention to a possible racial undertone as the basis for Bob’s lack of trust in the ability of a roomful of NFL players who’ve reached the age of majority to conduct themselves responsibly while owning bangsticks. But we won’t.
No, Bob clearly knows best where young people and firearms are concerned. And the fact that — since the kerfuffle Sunday night — he’s appeared on just about any show that will have him, demonstrating his earnestness and forthright good intentions for the benefit and safety of the poor benighted proles out there in TV land, just shows he’s really just doing this for all of our sakes. He’s convinced that if he just repeats his truths long and often enough, they may actually penetrate a few Dorito-chomping skulls full of mush out there.
We’d probably do well to go ahead cede the decision-making authority concerning who may and may not exercise the right to keep and bear arms to him now, before something really untoward happens.