Bob Costas is a mainstay at the Olympic games. Since 1988, before the Berlin wall was torn down and when the Edmonton Oilers were still a relevant hockey team, Bob Costas has not missed a night of Olympic coverage.  He has been on the NBC Olympic commentary team, night in and night out, never missing time, before any current MFS student was born.  Not only has Costas been consistent, but he has been widely thought to be an excellent commentator, with useful insight and honest opinions about each Olympic tournament.

Until Sochi.

Bob Costas will bow out of programming for the time being, as he has a bothersome and unsightly eye infection.  At the onset of the Olympics, the infection was contained to just one eye; Costas could manage, though he had to replace his contacts with intellectual Clark Kent-esque glasses. However, it recently spread to the other eye, leaving Costas unable to continue. Costas, speaking to Variety magazine, said that he doesn’t “feel that bad.  It’s an eye infection, and my eyes are so blurry and watery and become so light-sensitive that even in dim light they’re constantly tearing up. I can’t possibly be in the studio.”

Costas’ temporary replacement will be Matt Lauer. When announcing the switch, Costas compared Matt Lauer to Mariano Rivera, and told Lauer that he would be “coming out of the bullpen” to fill in for the ailing Costas.

This is an obvious step down from Costas, as the rarely funny or particularly insightful host of New Years shows and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade may very well have had his shining journalistic moment in Land of the Lost.

Get well soon, Bob.  We’ll miss you.