Bob Costas Baselessly Criticizes Unvaccinated MLB Players For 'Hurting' Their Teams

Legacy sports media personalities continue to embarrass themselves while bending over backwards to defend the indefensible.

Bob Costas is the latest example, making several ridiculous statements during a recent interview with CNN.

His appearance was supposed to discuss the significant number of prominent MLB players who have been barred from playing in Toronto due to their vaccination status.

Canada, as well as the United States, has disgracefully banned unvaccinated travelers from entering the country.

Recently, this cost the Royals 10 players on their roadtrip to play the Blue Jays:

The St. Louis Cardinals also missed star players Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmit, while the Phillies' J.T. Realmuto, among others, did not make his team's trip.

Costas implied that all of these players are selfish for refusing to get vaccinated to play in Toronto, saying that beyond the political or medical side, baseball is a team sport:

“The St. Louis Cardinals’ two best players – Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt – both unvaccinated, missed the two games just this past week in Toronto,” Costas said. “The Cardinals are in a race with the Brewers in the National Central and in a race for a Wild Card spot. So, leave aside any medical opinion, leave aside the politics of it, this is a team sport.”

He continued, casting aside any potential concerns with mandates or issues individuals might have with Canada's entry rules:

“No matter whether you agree or disagree with the mandates or any country’s rules and regulations, you are hurting your own team when you don’t get vaccinated under these circumstances.”

“Forget about geopolitics. What do you tell your teammates? You leave them in the lurch. I don’t get it.”

In every possible way, Costas is approaching this incorrectly.

Making a personal health decision is entirely up to the individual, and COVID vaccines inarguably have no benefit to others. This particular decision is also not without risk of complications from side effects like myocarditis, which especially affects men in this age group.

When there's risk and no external benefit, it must be up to each individual person to make their own choice.

Good teammates would understand that not everyone shares their priorities or values the same things.

But most importantly, it's absurd to excuse the political element or justifiable refusal to submit to discriminatory government mandates.

Costas is so concerned with securing his place among the acceptable society of "follow the science" ideologues that he hand waves away the single most influential factor.

Instead of going after the players, why not turn your ire towards Canada for enforcing such a ludicrous, offensive policy? After all, the President of the United States has had four COVID shots and just tested positive for the virus for second time this month.

MLB equally shares blame here; they campaigned ferociously against Georgia's voting rights bill, with commissioner Rob Manfred claiming he'd make the same decision again.

Meanwhile with this situation, they've avoided any action even though its actually justified.

Costas's willingness to ignore the reality of the COVID vaccines and inaccurately reframe the conversation to suit his needs is as unsurprising as it is frustrating.

Until prominent voices like his are more concerned with defending individual liberty than toeing the party line, absurdist policies like Canada's will continue indefinitely.