What Bob Costas' pink eye in the Sochi Olympics showed us about him

As has been written across this site and Paste BN Sports today after the announcement that Mike Tirico is taking over as the host of the Olympics on NBC, Bob Costas was an excellent host of the Olympics, one who managed to capture some of sports' most historic moments perfectly.

He was the ultimate professional.

He's tired of discussing it now, but one moment that will always stand out is when he fought through a painful-looking eye infection during the Sochi Olympics.

Conan O'Brien exaggerated the infection in this bit:

But the point he made was accurate. It really began as him having to wear glasses, which were instantly mocked, because of what he called a minor infection. Then, as the Olympics continued, an entire country watched as Costas' eye infection spread - and as he did his best to distract his audience. He even managed to make jokes about it, at one point taking vodka shots with Mary Carillo.

"My eyes can't get any redder," he said. "No matter what I do."

Carillo laughed. "I'll drink to that," she said.

Eventually Costas had to be replaced, temporarily, by Matt Lauer. A few days later, he returned, made some jokes about and went about doing his job again. He apologized to viewers, though he never really needed to. What Costas managed to do while he could barely see was do what he did so well: Be a relate-able voice to bring sports into our homes every night. And one who would laugh with us, instead of ever making us laugh at him.