European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                I Page 6 continued from Page 5 when Iacre Wasny to school or after school when i. Wasny to playing sports. Whatever was in season we a played. We played tackle football without equip mint and i got the crap knocked out of me but i always played. I liked it a. Lot but i never got any flu Sions i was going to be a major Teague ballplayer. I think by the time i was 12 i wanted to be red bar her instead of Mickey Mantle because it was a More practical thing to do. Costas looks up at the game. A what is it a lapses into that polished practice announcers voice �?o91-88 kicks. Pacers with the Ball. Just under 4  a amps so did you read. Costas yeah i read a lot As a kid. I read a lot i watched a lot of television. I watched a lot of old movies its strange i done to know How to explain this. I remember being like 10 years  being nostalgic for stuff that happened before i was born. I was always like that. I Tomk politically especially in the 60s and �?T70s, i would be described As a Liberal politically but i think i had Prlain conservative fundamental beliefs. There were some things about America in the �?T40s and �?T50s that you would never want to embrace. The racism was More extreme the opportunities for women were fewer there was less tolerance in popular culture for people who were a a different and outside the mainstream. I  want to embrace All those things. But there was something saner about what was at the Core. There was something saner and More secure and i think i relate to that. A is amps some of the things we be  about decency fairness. A. Costas and a certain agreement on Universal values. Civility kindness working for something Opportunity rather than a guaranteed outcome a those arc american values that can be preserved even As America changes and evolves and moves closer toward eliminating the injustices that were always a part of society. A amps How did becoming a father change you Costas it made me feel things that always were my beliefs  Al the More. A amps such As. Costas whatever my values were it just . Its hard to Tell. 1 think your own. Experience raising kids makes something that should be obvious All the More Clear to you which is a and this is not a conservative notion nor a Liberal notion a i believe its something that should be close to accepted As a Universal truth. You can have All the social programs you want and in the absence of Strong family units in the absence of some family Structure. In the absence of some direction that comes from Home you re lost. A. A a. A a a a ,. A amps Timothy Cahill Bob Costas listens to analysts Bill Walton and Julius Erving on the Abc set during the Aba playoffs. If you took someone who cared about a kid in any strata of society Black White Middle class More or. Less Well off a wherever they fell whatever the demographic is a and there were two buttons and you. Could Only push one of them. You push the first Button and it would ensure that the child had a healthy family environment. Not perfect a cause its never per feet. Not without pain or pathos or mistakes a cause its never that Way but if you could push that Button. And ensure that that would happen All right and. Take Yourchak Leswith the rest. Or you could push the second Button and the second Button ensured that the entire panoply of societal problem would be done away with no More racism no More sexism nothing but the kid does no to have a Strong family background. So you push the second Button and he or she takes his. Chances. No thinking person if they could push Only one Button As desirable As it might be to push the second if they cared about the outcome of that kids life no thinking person would push any Button other than the first. And then take your chances on traversing the Gauntlet of whatever obstacles society puts in your Way. If you be been equipped by a healthy family life and a a reasonably stable childhood. A amps anyhow do you help your kids through that Gauntlet of societal obstacles. Costas 11 think my wife is More responsible that l am. My wife is just a great Parent. She was a kindergarten and third Grade teacher has a tremendous Affinity for children her own children in particular. A amps yes but you embody a number of Virtues yours if. Costas Well you re never the Best judge of yourself but there a absolutely no doubt a my kids. Can to have any doubt a How much i care about them and How much i love them. There a no Shade of Gray in that. 5&s when your son gets to be a certain age. A of Are you going to Tell him  Dayou want. Him to know about what it Means to be a Man Costas. I think it has to do with integrity stake out something you believe in try to be True to it try to hold to your values despite the inevitable influences or trendy not  pressures that push you away from it. That does no to mean be rigid i think a _ lot of times people confuse stubbornness and close minded Ness for integrity. Your poin t of viev and your values can change As you mature and evolve but they should change through reflection and experience not through fear of peer disapproval or some. Latest flighty notion. I think i would try to impress. That upon him. / v and being a Man is doing the b c s t to u can doing the Best you can with what you be been Given. Do the. Best you can to maximize your talents Best you can to maximize your relationships. And the Best thing that any Man or woman can do is try As much As you can to. Be kind to people around you. Its pretty simple. His pitch against new look baseball by Lorraine Kee is. Louis Post Dispa Chi a. Bob Costas Abc sports authority reared Back and let Loose. Costas says he a no fan of the new six division realignment and wild card playoffs in major league baseball. And he Good Nat redly chided those such As St. Louis cardinals announcer Joe Buck who would shake him off As a Purist. R a Joe uses the term a purists As if anybody w to disagrees with these harebrained changes is part of the baseball version of the Amish people who  want to see any change at All because people would come to games in streetcars Little Straw hats and their sleeves rolled up and have ladies Day and everybody gets in for , right a Costas said. A baseball has changed before and it will change again. But All great institutions baseball or any other institution have enduring  a. Baseball by realigning strayed from those principles and ripped apart its competitive essence Costas said. A a there a no More Pennant races.�?�. Costas thinks baseball mias Hurt itself. Baseball has Many Virtues he said adding that its essential prob a lems Are distribution of income and controlling a a Ries. But baseball Hurt its competitive integrity by its realignment he said especially in the Western division in each league. A a scintillating 162-game race to decide the supremacy of the National league West Between the giants the dodgers the Rockies and the padres 1 he said. A the wild card format alters the meaning of a pen Nunt race and pets another layer of games Between the end of the regular season quid  series a a he  Beauty of the old system be said was _ that teams traversed a season Long Gauntlet. A baseball depends for its Appeal on context,1�?T cos tas said. A baseball cannot compete with other sport from moment to moment slam Bam excitement the excitement in baseball All comes from anticipation and context. The entire context of a regular season has been  Quot. Stepps Hov Aru flows Grewcox a a. A amps Timothy Cahill Bob Costas a there s no More Pennant races.�?�. A sunday july 3, 1994