NBC Sports' Bob Costas once mistook Michael Jordan's wife for his mom while interviewing Bulls star after '91 championship win
Bob Costas was NBC Sports’ studio host when Michael Jordan reached his first NBA Finals in 1991. Jordan’s Chicago Bulls faced the legendary Magic Johnson and his LA Lakers in the championship round. “His Airness” was looking to prove his critics wrong with a title while Johnson was hoping to lift his sixth Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Costas was also assigned to be the sportscaster to handle the trophy presentation ceremony and the celebration in the locker room. The championship eventually went to the Bulls who ruled the NBA for the first time in franchise history.
Naturally, the then 39-year-old Bob Costas had to interview Michael Jordan who fiercely held on to the championship trophy. The newly-named NBA Finals MVP basked in the glory of the long-awaited title beside his then-wife Juanita Vanoy.
One of the biggest moments of Costas’ career ended up being one of his worst gaffes on national TV. He said this during the interview amid the rowdy celebration inside Chicago’s locker room:
“I’m here with the MVP who got all 11 votes. Here we are with Michael [Jordan], surrounded by his mom and his dad.”
Jordan had to interrupt and tell him that the “mom” Bob Costas referred to was “my wife.” Costas recovered so well from the error that the people around them probably didn’t notice immediately. The reporter said that what he said “wasn’t fair” and that his mistake was a result of too much champagne in his eyes.
Everyone managed to shrug off the error and the interview was finished. Years later, Costas appeared on The Ringer’s “The NBA Show” to open up about that infamous blunder:
“There’s a few things you want to mulligan out of thousands and thousands of things; you want a do-over. I would like to do that one over.”
Bob Costas added that he met Juanita Vanoy a few years after the incident. He said that Michael Jordan and his wife never gave him a hard time for that mistake.
Bob Costas had a front-row seat to Michael Jordan’s greatest accomplishments
Only a handful of reporters can claim that they were in the mix of the events where Michael Jordan achieved his greatest success. Bob Costas is one of those enviable few who has that distinction.
In Jordan’s first three-peat with the Chicago Bulls, he served as NBC’s studio host as well as the trophy presentation and locker room reporter. He was there when Jordan cried in relief and joy when he vanquished Magic Johnson’s LA Lakers. Costas was in the thick of the celebration when Jordan got his third at the expense of Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns.
In Michael Jordan’s next grand slam with the Bulls, Bob Costas was part of the team that covered those championships only in 1996 and 1998.
The multi-awarded sportscaster was the play-by-play commentator in the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. His comments after Jordan nailed the shot that beat the Jazz for the championship for the second straight year might still be familiar to many:
“That may have been, who knows what will unfold over the next several months, but that may have been the last shot Michael Jordan will ever take in the NBA.”
The shot by Jordan over Bryon Russell didn’t turn out to be his last in the NBA as he unretired to play for the Washington Wizards. It was, however, the last basket by “His Airness” for the Bulls and the 25th game-winning basket by the six-time champ for the franchise.
Bob Costas was there and his voice over national TV became a part of that iconic moment.